Late Friday, Todd Stroger and nine other county commissioners worked to close the Cook County budget for 2008. The compromise deal doubled the county parking taxes and raised the sales tax to 1.75 percent - making Chicago one of the highest taxed cities in the nation. Those tax hikes, coupled with an agreement to cede control of the county Health Services Bureau to an independent oversight panel yielded the elusive ninth vote that Stroger had been seeking to pass his budget. Larry Suffredin, who brokered the health services deal, was the swing vote. more ›

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Jim Oberweis campaign will be announcing “a major endorsement” today, and that that endorsement will be from Dennis Hastert. Oberweis is running for the 14th Congressional District seat that was vacated when former Speaker of the House resigned earlier this year. Although Hastert endorsed Oberweis for US Senator in the 2002 Republican primary, Jack Ryan won that race, later withdrawing after his (sexy) divorce files were unsealed. An... more ›

Now that Todd Stroger has put together his executive management Dream Team — what the Chicago Tribune aptly termed "The Friends and Family Plan" (and we wish we came up with that one here at Chicagoist) — he's certainly got his work cut out for him. Unlike the Tribune, however, we hold no illusions that The Toddler will actually fix the problems that his predecessor (did we mention that it was his father?) helped to... more ›

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn more ›

Renato "Ron" Turano, president of the Berwyn-based Turano Baking Company, wants to be a Senator. But not an IL Senator, and not even a US Senator. Turano is going to run for a seat in the Italian Senate. Way to be different, dude! A restructure of Italy's legislature now allows Turano, who has dual US and Italian citizenship, to represent Italian citizens living in North America. And a new Italian law now allows millions of... more ›

O'Hare is one of the world's busiest airport, and Midway is undoubtably the world's most penned in airport. So what's a growing city gonna do? Build what could be the nation's biggest and most expensive public works program in the middle of Southwest suburban farm country, in the form of an airport. more ›