Pope Leo XIV is busy in his first full week of work in the Vatican, but will he consider making a trip home to Chicago in the near future?

The pope’s schedule is packed with a variety of meetings, including a gathering of thousands of journalists at the Vatican on Monday who had been in Rome to cover the events of the conclave.

He thanked reporters for their work, and even made a joke about his ability to captivate an audience as he gets settled into his new role.

“Thank you for this wonderful reception. They say when they clap at the beginning, it doesn’t matter much. IF you’re still awake at the end and still want to applaud, thank you very much,” he said.

The pope addressed a variety of topics in the world of journalism, calling for incarcerated journalists to be freed and urging caution with the advent of artificial intelligence in the profession.

After the event, Leo spoke to several prominent journalists, including NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.

Holt, who spent more than a decade of his career in journalism in Chicago, told NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern that he asked Pope Leo directly if he planned on visiting his hometown any time soon.

“I asked him specifically ‘any chances of getting back home,’ meaning Chicago or the United States, and he said ‘I don’t think so,’” Holt said. “I think that falls in line with what we’ve been hearing, that he has a lot of work to do in the Vatican, and that’s his main focus.”

Holt also reported that the pope had heard of people returning to Catholicism after he was chosen as the first-ever American pope, but that he’s still “finding out for himself” what that legacy means as his tenure begins.

When and if Pope Leo XIV visits the United States, he would join a select group of pontiffs to do so. The last four popes have visited the United States, with the most recent visit coming when Pope Francis visited Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia in 2015.

Only one pope has ever visited Chicago, with Pope John Paul II visiting the city in 1979 and holding a mass in Grant Park in October of that year.

Pope Leo XIV will continue holding a series of events and meetings throughout this week leading up to a big day Sunday when his official inauguration takes place in Rome.

Those with seasonal allergies have likely experienced the itchy and watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing and scratchy throat, but there are some lesser-known symptoms you might also want to watch for.

According to Rachna Shah, the allergist and immunologist who heads Loyola Medicine’s pollen count in Chicago, skin rashes are also a sign of seasonal allergies, but they could easily be mistaken for other things.

“Seasonal allergies can increase the risk of getting different types of skin rashes,” Shah told NBC Chicago.

There are two specific types of rashes Shah said she commonly sees with seasonal allergies.

“The first is more of an immediate type of rash,” Shah said. “So it’s on contact. So let’s say you’re doing like gardening or lawn work or playing outside, then the allergens from the grass or from the trees or things that are in the air, touches our skin, and then we have an immediate reaction where it’s almost like a mosquito bite or it can even be larger or different sizes too, where it’s red, raised, itchy.

This type of rash is usually smooth to the touch, Shah explained, and often lasts 24 hours of less.

“Most of the time we just wash up and those kind of rashes get much better,” she said. “Sometimes we put a little bit of like hydrocortisone or like take an antihistamine and these rashes go away.”

Then there’s a second type of rash, which is a different immune response to allergens.

“It’s more of what we think of as a delayed reaction. So it’s essentially you get exposure to the allergens and then the rash that occurs may not occur immediately,” she said. “Even like a few days afterwards, but it’s red, it’s more rough. And it can last a couple of days, not just immediately come and immediately go away.”

Shah compared this rash to being similar to eczema, and noted it commonly occurs on eyelids, the face and the neck, though it can also heighten pre-existing rashes for people who suffer from eczema.

And this time of year is particularly ripe for these types of rashes.

“I would say grass is notorious for this, like grass pollen,” Shah said.

Grass and tree pollen are extraordinarily high in the Chicago area currently, Shah said.

“So we’re definitely in our, what I think of as like our high spring season. And so it’s when tree pollen is really at its height and then grass pollen is almost at its height,” Shah said. “Probably in one or two more weeks, [grass will] be at its height as well, but both are at high levels.”

According to the latest pollen count Monday, both trees and grass were high, while weed, ragweed and mold were “absent.”

“Today, the tree pollen was so bad that – typically it takes me anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes to do the count – it took me over an hour because there’s just so many pollen grains that are teeny tiny, in particular the mulberry tree,” Shah said.

Thanks to changing climate and increase CO2 in the air, Shah said research shows certain allergens are becoming more allergenic. This has led to an increase in people experiencing seasonal allergy symptoms, as well as a worsening for those who already experienced such symptoms.

“Not only is there longer seasons, longer duration of pollen, but the actual pollen becomes almost stronger in some ways,” Shah said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one quarter of adults reported suffering from seasonal allergies in a 2021 study.

And skin rashes aren’t the only unusual symptom to look for.

Another possibility is what Shah called “oral allergy syndrome.”

“It’s essentially that the pollen and the proteins that are in the fruit, if you look under a microscope, look very similar and your body can’t tell the difference. And so some people, when they eat these fruits or vegetables in the raw form, they’ll feel itching inside of their mouth or feel like sometimes you can even get tiny hives or other things like that,” Shah said. “Typically speaking, it’s not any life-threatening reaction, but definitely uncomfortable to have those kind of fruits and vegetables.”

In spring, the most common foods that can lead to oral allergy syndrome are cherries, apples, pears, carrots, celery and certain other fruits and vegetables, Shah said.

Ragweed pollen, seen more in the fall, can also cause this syndrome, but is associated with other fruits and vegetables like avocado and bananas.

Eating triggering fruits and vegetables cooked, however, often eliminates the reaction, Shah noted.

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, oral allergy syndrome occurs in 50-75% of adults who reported an allergy to birch tree pollen.

“Some people report symptoms with only one food and others with many different fruits and vegetables. Some people report that only certain varieties of the fruit cause symptoms, for example specific apple varieties,” the group noted.

Treating seasonal allergies depends on the symptoms, Shah said.

In addition to over-the-counter medications that can treat more common symptoms like itchy or watery eyes and a runny nose, Shah said those experiencing skin reactions specifically can try hydrocortisone creams for a short amount of time.

“Less than two weeks on the affected areas to help control those symptoms,” she said.

Closing windows in your home, rinsing off after spending time outside and changing clothes can all also help limit your body’s reactions.

A stalemate between President Donald Trump and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker that threatened a $1.2 billion plan to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes appears to have been settled after the Trump administration offered assurances it will cover its share of the costs.

After a delay that has stretched on since February, Illinois officials are set to resume closing on property they need to continue work on a project that will generate vast bubble curtains to deter the carp, stun them with electrical fields and play sound frequencies to disorient them.

Here’s what to know:

The project has been on the drawing board for years

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers along with state officials in Illinois and Michigan have been planning since 2020 to install a gantlet of technologies in the Des Plaines River near Joliet, Illinois, to deter invasive carp from entering Lake Michigan.

The Corps and the states signed a deal in 2024 to work together on the project using $226 million allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. And elements of the Water Resources Development Act adopted last year call for the federal government to cover 90% of operating and maintenance costs.

Pritzker demands assurances from Trump

Construction on the project began in January. Pritzker’s administration was set to close in February on a parcel of property for the project and transfer it to the Corps.

Everything appeared on track until late January, when the Trump administration froze federal grants and loans as it reviewed whether spending aligned with Trump’s priorities on issues such as climate change and diversity. The administration rescinded the freeze less than two days later but questions persist about the federal government’s spending commitments.

Pritzker, a billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel empire and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, is one of Trump’s fiercest critics. He has described the early months of the Trump administration as “true villainous cruelty by a few idiots.”

Days before Illinois was to finalize a property deal for the carp project, Pritzker hit pause and demanded assurances that the federal government would honor its spending commitment. Site preparation has continued since then, but substantial work to install technology has been on hold.

Trump signals the project is a priority

The White House issued a memo late Friday saying the Trump administration recognized the threat invasive carp pose to Great Lakes recreation and fishing and that it’s committed to protecting the lakes.

The federal government is prepared to do its part so long as states cooperate, according to the memo, which calls on Illinois to complete the property deal by July 1 and promises the federal government will streamline permitting and environmental reviews.

“My Administration fully supports preventing the spread of invasive carp,” the memo said. “The State of Illinois, where the (project) is located, must cease further delay in cooperating with this effort, for the sake of its own citizens and economy and for the sake of all of the Great Lake States.”

Pritzker’s office issued a news release late Friday evening saying the governor was satisfied.

Work on the project isn’t slated to finish until 2032, but Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Alliance for the Great Lakes, said Monday that prospects suddenly look dramatically better than they did last week.

“We’re back to business as usual. That’s a good thing,” he said.

Why the carp would be bad news for the Great Lakes

Four species of carp were imported to the U.S. from Asia in the 1960s and 1970s to clear algae from sewage ponds and fish farms in the Deep South. They escaped into the Mississippi River and have moved north into dozens of tributaries in the central U.S.

Government agencies, advocacy groups and others have long debated how to prevent the fish from reaching the Great Lakes, where scientists say they could out-compete native species for food and habitat in waterways where the fishing industry is valued at $7 billion.

A shipping canal that forms part of the link between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan has a network of fish-repelling barriers, which the Corps says is effective, but critics consider inadequate.

The new project at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River near Joliet will provide another layer of protection at a downstream choke point between the Illinois River, which is infested with invasive carp, and Lake Michigan.

“I’m hopeful everyone is taking this project seriously now and we’re not going to see any more delays,” Brammeier said.

The trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing an 11-year-old as the boy tried to protect his pregnant mother is now underway.

Crosetti Brand is facing trial in connection to the Edgewater attack that occurred in March 2024, accused of killing 11-year-old Jayden Perkins.

Prosecutors allege that Perkins was trying to protect his pregnant mother from Brand, who allegedly broke into the Edgewater residence and stabbed the boy multiple times.

The March 13, 2024 attack occurred just one day after Brand was released from prison, according to prosecutors. Brand, whom Chicago police said “had a history of domestic abuse,” was the subject of multiple orders of protection at the time of the attack.

Prosecutors say Jayden’s mother Laterria Smith was on the phone with her mother when Brand forced his way into the family’s apartment. Court documents say Brand began stabbing Smith, with her mother hearing the attack on the phone before someone hung up.

Jayden tried to intervene in the attack and was fatally stabbed, according to prosecutors.

Smith was the first witness to take the stand in the trial, shining a light on more than a decade of abuse and romantic relationships with the man who stands accused of killing her son.

 Prosecutors say Smith was 15 and Brand was 19 when they first met, and trouble began in short order, as Smith sought a protection order against him when they were still teens.

Brand was ultimately incarcerated for abusing another woman, but prosecutors say when he was released from prison, he resumed a secret relationship with Smith.

The tumultuous relationship came to a head in March 2024 when Smith told Brand that she no longer wanted to see him, which ultimately led to the fatal attack.

The trial is expected to continue Tuesday, with Brand serving as his own defense attorney in the case.

The public knew Sean “Diddy” Combs as a larger-than-life cultural icon and business mogul, but behind the scenes, he was coercing women into drug-fueled sexual encounters and using violence to keep them in line, a federal prosecutor told a jury Monday during opening statements in Combs’ sex trafficking trial.

“This is Sean Combs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the Manhattan jury as she pointed at Combs, who leaned back in his chair as she spoke. ”… During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up.”

Those crimes, she said, included: Kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.

Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos, though, described the trial as a misguided overreach by prosecutors, saying that although her client could be violent, the state was trying to turn consenting sex between adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.

“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Geragos told the eight men and four women on the jury. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise,” she added, noting the intense public attention the case has received.

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Geragos conceded that Combs’ violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not the sex trafficking and racketeering counts he faces. She also told jurors they might think Combs’ is a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex,” but “he’s not charged with being mean. He’s not charged with being a jerk.”

Witnesses allege observing violence from Combs

With the trial’s first witness, Israel Florez, prosecutors went right to proof of violence by showing footage of Combs kicking and dragging the R&B singer Cassie, his longtime girlfriend, on the floor outside a Los Angeles hotel’s elevators in March 2016. Jurors ended up seeing the video four times, including once in which Combs’ lawyer tried to poke holes in Florez’s recollection of events.

After CNN aired video of the attack last year, Combs apologized and said he was “disgusted” by his actions.

Florez, who worked hotel security in 2016 but is now a Los Angeles police officer, said he knew who Combs was when he encountered him sitting by the hotel’s elevators as he responded to a report of a woman in distress.

He said he encountered Combs by the elevators in only a white towel and slouching in a chair “with a blank stare … like a devilish stare, just looking at me.”

He said that as he was escorting Cassie and Combs to their room, she indicated she wanted to leave and Combs told her: “You’re not going to leave.” Florez said he told Combs: “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave.”

Cassie left, and Florez said Combs called out while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top, telling him, “Don’t tell nobody.” Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, “I don’t want your money. Just go back into your room.”

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, was expected to testify Tuesday.

The second witness called, Daniel Phillip, said he was a professional stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions, with the first encounter in 2012. He said he stopped meeting with them after he saw Combs throw a bottle at her and then drag her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed.

On cross examination, defense attorney Xavier Donaldson tried to attack Phillip’s credibility, mocking the slogan of the male review show company Phillip worked for and their slogan that they “provided the ultimate ladies night experience.”

Combs watched Monday’s proceedings attentively. When he entered the courtroom, he hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up to family and friends. The case has drawn intense public interest, and the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs’ mother and some of his children attended, including three daughters who left the courtroom when the testimony turned lurid.

The allegations against Combs

Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted. Since his September arrest, he’s been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn.

Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but not illegal.

Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called “freak-offs,” “wild king nights” or “hotel nights,” then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair.

In her opening, Johnson said Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.

The prosecutor said Combs last year brutally beat another woman — identified only as Jane — when she confronted him about enduring years of freak-offs in dark hotel rooms while he took other paramours on date nights and trips around the globe.

The sex parties are central to Combs’ sexual abuse, prosecutors say. Combs’ company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said. Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said.

Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a freak-off without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. Combs threatened to ruin Cassie’s singing career by publicly releasing videos of her sexually involved with male escorts, the prosecutor said. “Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,” Johnson said.

Cassie sued Combs in 2023, and the lawsuit was settled within hours, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits making similar claims.

Geragos claimed Combs’ accusers were motivated by money. She told jurors that Cassie demanded $30 million when she sued him, and another witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit.

She also conceded that Combs is extremely jealous and “has a bad temper,” telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or “did the wrong drugs.” But, she said, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”

The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.

The trial is expected to last two months.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.