Senator Mark Kirk, who suffered a stroke last weekend, has been improving after surgery this week. more ›

Illinois Senate Pres. John Cullerton had decent comedic timing, laying a political burn down on Gov. Pat Quinn. more ›

So what's the matter with Illinois? Well, the researchers place a lot of the blame for the decline in higher education on the state government. more ›

According to Wired, the water pump had simply reached the end of its life span and burned out. And what about the evidence that the system had been accessed by a Russian IP address? more ›

Two downstate state lawmakers think Cook County should be its own state because it is always bossing around the rest of Illinois. more ›

The two officers also were accused of stealing guns and drugs and receiving monetary compensation for their efforts. more ›

We can't help but see the resemblance between the Grammer's Tom Kane and a certain Elective Majesty, and the series draws inspiration from infamous Illinois scandals such as the Burr Oak Cemetery debacle. more ›

Extra cash flow coming in from a federal government grant will benefit not only Chicago but other Illinois cities. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced this week that the state of Illinois will receive around $26.5 million dollars in funding to "support community development and produce more affordable housing" for its residents. The official press release by HUD provides a breakdown of how much of the $26.5 million is going into different areas in Illinois, including which housing programs the money is set to benefit. more ›

The tension between CPS and the CTU only tightens going into the weekend. more ›

The new boundaries would make Walsh's 8th district more Democratic, and the Tea Party darling must be predicting his chances of reelection would be much slimmer. more ›

The state expected the Amazon tax to bring in $150 million, but lack of enforcement and the online retailers' closing of local affiliates leaves little money for the state to pick up. more ›

Despite a federal lawsuit filed by 10 Republican congressmen, a judge ruled that U.S. House candidates can start circulating ballot petitions after Labor Day. more ›

Yesterday, Governor Pat Quinn signed a legislation that would improve school facility planning as well as "increase transparency and accountability in Chicago Public Schools." more ›

Nice Cream owner Kris Swanberg said that she would fight the regulations, which essentially requires small-batch makers like Nice Cream to adopt preparation and production processes that "macro" ice cream producers use. more ›

Fourteen of the 21 same-day surgery centers that were inspected in Illinois were cited for infection control problems within the last year. more ›

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. is leaving on a jet plane for Israel tomorrow to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to learn more about foreign policy issues that affect the region today. more ›

Badass Esquire: A Northwestern Law School alumna completed the bar exam an hour early while in labor, then gave birth two hours later. more ›

Those who wish to have corporate-sponsored license plates could pay a reduced vehicle registration fee for a sponsored license plate. more ›

It's been just over a month since the civil unions law went into effect state-wide, and Illinois is seeing a lot of love. more ›

Remember that corporate tax hike and the hullabaloo that ensued? Well, things are still a bit up in the air, as Illinois lawmakers re-think their original plan. more ›

Why put stupid things on your license plate like promoting autism awareness or declaring your love for the Cubs when you can shill for a corporation instead? more ›

The right for Illinois craft brewers to self-distribute their beer is just a signature away from becoming Illinois law, and the veto-proof majority in both houses of the Illinois legislature means that SB754 is almost a done deal. Yesterday, by a vote of 112-0-3 in the House, Illinois overwhelmingly voted to allow small breweries to self-distribute their own product (up to a certain amount). We say it's almost a done deal because there's one last hurdle to cross - the motion filed by Anheuser-Busch in the courts that continues to argue in favor of a solution more beneficial to them. more ›

In a Cook County lawsuit involving a car dealership and some very unhappy clients, an attorney has been noticeably distracted from the legal case at hand. Apparently, legal counsel at Gauthier & Gooch for the defendants, Exotic Motors, Inc., drafted a motion pointing out that the plaintiffs' attorney resorted to "theatrics" in allowing a "large breasted woman" without "any evidence of legal training" to sit at the counsel's table during the trial. The counsel for Exotic Motors was so distraught by this woman and her abilities to "distract" the legal case at hand that he drafted the motion to displace her from the counsel's table. more ›

It's finally happened - we knew things would come to this. The recession has turned us all into hunter-gatherers, scraping our dinners off the side of the road. We're clearly about 5 months from Soylent Green. According to the Trib, a bill passed the Illinois Senate yesterday which will allow people to pick up and keep roadkill and eat it for dinner. You will still need a permit to do this, and the animal would have to be in season as per regular hunting rules, but according to the language of the bill, citizens can now pick up any "fur-bearing mammal" (our favorite legal term of the day) off the side of the road. more ›

Illinois' own U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has announced that he's going to take another stab at getting his pet project DREAM Act passed, and plans on reintroducing the bill on Wednesday in conjunction with a similar bill to be filed by U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA28) in the House. more ›

24/7 Wall St. conducted an analysis of the environmental issues affecting the states in the Union. Let's just say Illinois doesn't fare so well. more ›

The Illinois House approved legislation yesterday to ban trans fats from restaurants and school cafeterias throughout the state. Under the terms of the legislation, trans fats would be banned in restaurants, movie theaters, and school vending machines in 2013, with school cafeterias following suit three years later. If the Senate approves and Gov. Quinn signs the bill into law, Illinois would become the second state in the Union to ban trans fats, after California. more ›

A new study released that details the health rates of the nation on a county-by-county basis finds that Kendall County is the healthiest county in Illinois, while six of the ten least healthiest counties are downstate. more ›

The recently leaked letter from Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has been making the rounds around the state, lending itself to a lot of bloviating and freaking out by those who are generally nervous about the future jobs outlook in Illinois. If you're not up to speed on this drama, Oberhelman sent Quinn a letter last week, which was leaked to the press, telling the Illinois governor that he's been courted by other states, to move the company's headquarters out of it's East Peoria home. In spite of the outcry by local politicians (like Peoria's congressman, Aaron Schock), Oberhelman has been pretty upfront with Quinn that he's not threatening to move the company out of state, so much as he's offering to work with Quinn as an ambassador from the business community to find ways to solve the state's fiscal problems while maintaining Illinois's competitive edge among manufacturers. more ›

High-speed rail took another step to reality yesterday with the announcement yesterday of funding for a second phase of a line between Chicago and St. Louis. more ›