Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and his party’s top leader on the Judiciary Committee, announced Wednesday that he won’t seek a sixth term in 2026.

“I know in my heart it’s time to pass the torch,” the veteran senator said in a social media post Wednesday.

Durbin, who is 80, confirmed what many Democrats have expected for months — that the veteran senator would step aside after three decades in office.

On Tuesday, The Free Press had a major scoop: The State Department is launching its biggest shake-up in decades in an effort spearheaded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The reorganization, done with the help of Elon Musk and DOGE, looks to eliminate 132 agency offices dedicated to efforts like advancing democracy and combating extremism. It will also lead to the State Department eliminating hundreds of positions intended for career officials. Additionally, top officials are being asked to reduce their offices by an additional 15 percent.

Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk told Tesla shareholders on Tuesday that he’s planning to dramatically cut back on his work for the Trump administration next month. 

“Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla,” the electric car company CEO said on Tesla earnings call, according to Business Insider. 

Tesla boss Elon Musk has pledged to "significantly" cut back his role in the US government after the electric car firm reported a huge drop in profit and sales for the start of this year.

Musk has led the newly created advisory body - the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) - since last year, putting the world's richest man at the heart of cutting US spending and jobs.

But Musk said his "time allocation to Doge" would "drop significantly" from next month, adding he would spend only one to two days per week on it after accusations he has taken his focus off Tesla.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he’d be reducing his time with the Department of Government Efficiency beginning next month after the company reported disappointing earnings, missing Wall Street expectations.

Musk said in a Tuesday earnings call that he would begin stepping back from his Trump administration role next month and return his focus to his ailing EV brand.

He added that the ongoing Tesla blowback, consisting of nationwide protests and violent vehicle attacks, left him with two options: Let the government’s waste and fraud continue or fight it.

When President Donald Trump chose Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, incoming officials knew they’d need to surround the inexperienced Fox News host with accomplished staff who could handle the nation’s largest bureaucracy. Hegseth would be the show horse, they figured, and others at the top would keep the Pentagon on track.

As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth finds himself staring down yet another controversy and more calls from critics to resign, he has a potent ally not just in President Trump, but in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

Influential MAGA voices have used their platforms to back Hegseth, who they see as a product of the movement. He is considered a dyed-in-the-wool Trump backer who is attuned to the president on culture war issues. Where critics see a lack of experience, supporters see a government outsider capable of enacting change. 

A federal jury in Manhattan on Tuesday found the New York Times (NYT.N), opens new tab not liable for allegedly defaming Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial about gun control, dealing the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate a second loss at trial.

The verdict came in a retrial of Palin's case, after a federal appeals court threw out a 2022 verdict in the Times' favor.

Elon Musk has vowed to spend “significantly” less time working for Donald Trump’s administration and focus on Tesla after profits plummeted to a five-year low.

The electric car company’s net income slumped by 71pc to $409m in the three months to the end of March, marking its least profitable quarter since 2020.

A Congressional delegation traveled to Louisiana on Tuesday to demand the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, and Mahmoud Khalil, a 2024 Columbia University graduate, and to examine conditions at their separate detention facilities.

It’s the first time a delegation has visited with either detainee. The visit was first reported by CNN.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) shared on X that he was heading to Louisiana to demand the release of Ozturk, one of his constituents.