SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Transit Authority on Friday filed a federal lawsuit seeking restoration of $2 billion in commuter rail expansion funding that President Donald Trump's administration stopped last fall.
The action, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, contends the administration acted arbitrarily in halting transit construction money for the city in an effort to restrict race- and gender-based contracting, which it believes is unconstitutional. It names the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transportation Authority as defendants.
The Transportation Department responded that it is trying to choke off a “discriminatory” and “illegal” contracting process.
The lawsuit comes days after New York City authorities filed a lawsuit seeking resumption of similar federal transit funding to the tune of $60 million.
Critically affected in Chicago is a 5.3-mile (8.5 kilometer) extension of the Red Line of the elevated L rail system with four train stops to reach 100,000 additional residents in disadvantaged and largely Black neighborhoods. Additionally, the federal dollars had been financing continued work on a North Side project that replaced century-old rails and built four new, accessible stations.
"We are fully committed to the success of these projects, and we will take every step necessary to ensure that they move forward,” CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen said in a statement. “The Red Line extension is a historic investment into the far South Side of Chicago that will transform public transit and create new economic opportunity for the communities it will serve."
In September, the Trump administration wrote a new rule removing race- and gender-based contracting preferences but applied the rule retroactively only to grants to Chicago and New York, according to the lawsuit. The grant funding was paused on Oct. 3, 2025, and the CTA provided requested documentation a few weeks later.
The Transportation Department requested additional records in December, and since the CTA responded, there has been no further communication, according to the lawsuit, which calls the government's actions “unlawful many times over.”
It complains that the holdup penalizes the CTA for following the rules in place at the time and for failing to “explain why grants to the hundreds of other projects nationwide” that were following the same rules saw no interruption in funding.
The Transportation Department said in an email that it will fight “discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices.”
“The American people don’t care what race or gender construction workers, pipefitters, or electricians are,” the department said. "They just want these important projects built quickly and efficiently.”
FILE - Cars pass the 95th Street Red Line Station, the train station currently the farthest south on the line and where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to extend from in 2025, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
FILE - A train pulls into the Clark Street and Lake Street Blue Line on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley,File)
CAIRO (AP) — Iran's government on Friday called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered a key Yemeni port and intensified their threat to a key global shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iran's foreign ministry said Yemen’s sovereignty must be respected and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances.
Iran also said it was ready to help support negotiations. Meanwhile, experts say the developments in Yemen could give Tehran more leverage in any negotiations with the United States after over six months of war.
The Houthis' entry into the Red Sea port of Mokha on Thursday brings them within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important alternative for global shipping as Iran targets vessels on the Strait of Hormuz. It's the rebels' biggest territorial gain in years.
The Bab el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea is especially important to neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, whose blockade of the Houthis has fed into the rebels' escalating attacks on Saudi shipping as the kingdom tries to get its oil out of the region. About 12% of the world’s goods are typically shipped through the strait.
Disruption to the waterway could mean trouble for all shipping and for the price of crude oil, which has now soared again. Already, the Houthis in recent weeks have been targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and ships on the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia, which earlier this week said it had always offered “opportunities for negotiation,” also has said it has the right to defend itself in response to the Houthis' actions under the blockade they declared on the kingdom in July.
Shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb had fallen by about 60% since the Houthis began attacking some ships there in late 2023 while expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Shipping increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have "curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
In a statement released Friday, the National Defense Council of Yemen's Saudi-backed and internationally recognized government on Thursday strongly condemned the Houthis' renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying it would respond to threats. It said a military operation by Yemeni forces would not be limited to a single front.
The sharply escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen's civil war since 2022.
At stake are the 40 million people in the Arab world's poorest country who fear a return to the conflict that killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.
The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels swept from their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.
Anna reported from Jerusalem.
Yemen's Houthi rebels ride a motorbike during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
