The Cook County Board of Commissioners had a contentious meeting yesterday as they tried to resolve a looming budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. The board must pass a budget by Feb 29 or face a partial shut down of the county government. more ›

deplorable. more ›

.] Now Jesse Jackson's candidate Larry Suffredin is under renewed scrutiny for his work as a corporate lobbyist. more ›

The race for Cook County state's attorney has been hot and heavy in the past few weeks, with candidates taking plenty of shots at each other in a debate last week. (You can watch the debate here.) more ›

Don't settle for another Wednesday of and Girl Scout cookies that have been in the freezer for months (not ... that ... we do that ...). There's a shitton of stuff going on tonight! more ›

Crook County Board President Todd Stroger unveiled his $3.2 billion budget Wednesday. Stroger has struggled to give the appearance that his government is small and fiscally responsible, eliminating about 735 positions over the last three fiscal years, and reducing 1,800 positions from this year's budget. Now he claims that bringing the county's tax take to $888 million by 2009 — by tripling the county sales tax and doubling gas and parking taxes — is necessary... more ›

Modest hero saves toddler and brushes off praise after locating boy, and putting his own air mask on him. The family of a missing Plainfield woman hopes two billboards to be unveiled Tuesday in that community, asking "Where is Lisa Stebic?" will help generate new tips. Somebody's lovin' it. McDonald's turns some heads by sponsoring a music tour featuring Chicago's Twista, a rapper whose raunchy lyrics have been identified by a billboard campaign decrying... more ›

"Lion of the Disenfranchised, Disenfranchised" via Michael DaKidd. more ›

At Wednesday's first meeting of the newly installed Cook County Board, Todd Stroger kept his first promise of the new term — moving to appoint a tougher, more independent inspector general. Under a bill introduced by Commisioners Mike Quigley and John Daley, a new inspector general will soon have broader powers of oversight across all county offices. Assumed to be retired Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki, thanks to an agreement between the county and attorney Michael... more ›

In a shocking bit of news, no one is accepting responsibility for the election night delays that came out of Cook County Clerk David Orr's office. By 7:55 p.m. only 37 precincts had been processed. The Chicago Board of Elections, on the other hand, uses the same system and completed processing much earlier. Orr stated the $50 million to $60 million Sequoia Voting System would be able to handle all absentee and early votes directly... more ›

• Wal-Mart has been taking some heat for selling shirts with Nazi SS logos on them. Days after they claimed they were pulled from stores, a local blogger found some still for sale at a Schaumburg Wal-Mart.
• Mayor Daley denies being behind a Chamber of Commerce move to install pro-business alderman in city council.
• Obama's not the only one; Guiterrez is in trouble over land deal with Rezko.

The Cook County government may be corrupt, but apparently they have some limits. For example, they won't let you expense more than $185-an-hour for private attorney fees. Cut it a little close, and maybe they'll give you a break, but try to charge $485-an-hour, well, that's where they put their foot down. The Sun-Times reports that the County Board rejected a request by an employee to pay their attorney's exorbitant $485-an-hour rates. The firm of... more ›

In the movies, traveling around with a dead guy makes for great comedy (see Weekend at Bernie’s, Little Miss Sunshine). In real life, it’s just, well, kinda gross, and sad. But that’s exactly what a Grayslake woman did this weekend when her 80-year-old father died on a cross-country Amtrak trip. Daniel Stepanovich of Hammond, Ind., passed away somewhere around Glenwood Springs, Colo., but he wasn’t officially pronounced dead until just after midnight on Tuesday, seven... more ›

The suburbs have suffered a rash of disturbing deaths and murders in the past week--not that all murders aren't disturbing, but this batch seems extraordinarily heinous and bizarre. Even more troubling is that almost all of them have a domestic element. Here's the death toll so far: more ›

Chicagoist has never served on a jury so we can only imagine what a mind-numbing inconvenience it is, even with the sexiest of cases. However, we're not so sure even we can condone a juror whipping out a cell phone and texting away. more ›

Last night we had a dream (or maybe a night[da]mare). In the dream, a parade of Chicagoans marched to city hall (torches and pitchforks in hand), up 5 floors and through the doors of Daley's office. Ron Huberman tried to stop them, but somebody kicked him in the nuts, and the mob plowed past. They grabbed the squealing Daley, tied him up and headed outside with him in tow on a rope. They headed to the Richard J. Daley Center's plaza singing "Ding dong! The Boss go'n' be dead. Which old boss? The second one!" more ›

Yesterday the city council's police and fire committee discussed a new weapon, called the Cobra StunLight, as a possible alternative to Taser International's controversial stun gun. A 54-year-old man died after, but not necessarily because, Chicago police officers shot him with a stun gun last month. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office has not yet released a decision about what exactly caused the man's death. Also in February, a 14-year-old Chicago boy went into cardiac... more ›

Has all the scandal stuff made you numb yet? City Hall...old governor...current governor...Is everything beginning to blend into one big money and favor-grubbing mess? Chicagoist is beginning to think so. And we have a shocking opinion on it: Voters don't really care about scandals. more ›

Every fall two big budgets get rolled out in Chicagoland: the Chicago city budget, and the Cook County budget. This year the Chicago budget started with a $146 million shortfall, and before it was even public, the County budget also had a reported $146 million (kismet?). But over the years Mayor Richard M. Daley has managed to dominate/play nice with the City Council, while County Board President John "I've got a county hospital named after... more ›

Did you know there are two other people besides Barack Obama and Alan Keyes registered as candidates with the State Board of Elections for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat? Well there are and neither of them will win, but both of their names are eerily similar to those of two political celebrities. And that's hard-hitting political news--right? more ›