Madigan’s legal headaches heated up in February 2018 when political consultant Alaina Hampton accused one of his longtime political aides of sending her unwanted texts.

Mike Madigan’s troubles a boon to lawyers — legal bills exceed $1.5 millionHouse Speaker Mike Madigan dipped into his campaign funds for more than $418,597 in legal fees over the past three months, brin...   < read more >

We have known from the beginning that the child welfare system failed 5-year-old AJ Freund. Social workers should have removed this child from his home long before his parents allegedly beat him to death and buried him in a shallow grave.

But if the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed this week on behalf of AJ’s three siblings are true, maybe the parents arenR...   < read more >

By this time tomorrow, barring some 11th-hour contract deal, Chicago Public Schools teachers likely will be well into their first day on strike.

With hope all but gone, the question turns to how long the walkout could last.

Whatever the case, the gloves are off, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot saying the Chicago Teachers Union — which backed her opp...   < read more >

-- Chicago teachers beginning a massive strike Thursday have rejected offers that would increase their pay, hoping that will keep pressure on the district to commit to lower class sizes and more support staff in schools.

Illinois law allows the district and the union to negotiate on those issues, but educators can only strike over a few points including pay and benefits. ...   < read more >

A Republican state lawmaker said Wednesday she plans to introduce legislation to establish a State Ethics Task Force to tighten ethics rules within Illinois government.

“To have the public’s trust, we must take action whenever confidence is broken,” state Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, said in a news release. “We’ve seen the headlines of the ...   < read more >

The company made the announcement about CEO Anne Pramaggiore's retirement Tuesday.

WalletHub ranked the...   < read more >

The tensions could come to a head Wednesday as high-level staffers for the freshmen governor and mayor meet to hash out the details.

Political insiders say Gov. J.B. Pritzker was completely blindsided by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s new proposal for a publicly-owned city and state Chicago casino and first read details of her plan in the newspaper.

“This stri...   < read more >

For the past few days we’ve been thinking about the paperwork from a September raid on the Springfield office of state Sen. Martin Sandoval. We don’t know why the feds went snooping — Sandoval has not been accused of wrongdoing — but we know the search reflected a broadminded curiosity about video gambling, construction, a suburban red light camera company and ComEd.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is pitching two options for a Chicago casino to Illinois lawmakers, one a “public structure” that would be split between the city and state, the other a more conventional private operation.

Either of Lightfoot’s proposals would need the Illinois legislature to approve taxes lower than those written into expanded gambling legislation ...   < read more >

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s rules for recreational marijuana sales in Chicago advanced Wednesday morning after African American aldermen pushed for greater assurances that minorities will get a fair shake to get in on the lucrative business starting next year.

The zoning ordinance laying out where marijuana dispensaries would be allowed and prohibited throughout the city...   < read more >