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The jury has spoken: The Anthony Abbate case was not just about an off-duty cop who got drunk and beat up a female bartender half his size....
Well, we almost got there. We got tantalizingly close to a full week without the arrest or indictment of a Chicago politician. One whole...
A group of 21 Illinois lawmakers filed a new pension reform bill Wednesday and hosted a news conference to unveil it. That may not sound...
"What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further....
The David Petraeus sex scandal, which occurred after an FBI investigation of allegedly harassing emails sent to a Florida woman he knew, was...
Even when the United Nations sets out to do the right thing, it can count on a skeptical response in the U.S. That's happening now, as the...
The housing recovery in Chicago is lagging behind the comeback in many other U.S. cities, and the main reason is no mystery.
Illinois has a reputation for being an expensive and difficult place to do business, a big reason why the state has the ninth-highest...
Democratic honchos in the 2nd Congressional District are fretting that the race to replace U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is turning into a...
Here's some good news from a new hospital report card: The Chicago metropolitan region had more hospitals score A's — 33 of them ...
Maybe in the holiday rush you missed this intriguing school reform news. Teachers in Newark, N.J., recently approved a new contract. What'...
Where are those binders full of women when you need them? The Republican Party could sure use a few.
For two years, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has vigorously defended the indefensible notion that citizens shouldn't be allowed...
Now here's an economic stimulus program that every American has good reason to support: After a decade of posturing, U.S. and European Union...
Undocumented immigrants can't drive legally in Illinois. That doesn't mean they aren't driving.
In a state that's broke, two words can trigger palpitations in groups that rely on state funding: supplemental appropriation.
Closing a school, no matter how poorly it performs, is emotionally wrenching for students, parents and teachers. Now imagine that you had to...
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had a problem with the country's judges, who came to office under former dictator Hosni Mubarak and who he...
Call it a "modest reduction in discounts." Call it a fare hike. Either way, you're likely to pay more for your commute starting in January...
Time may not heal all wounds, but it does let scar tissue fade. Today's loss is, come some tomorrow, a heartache only to those who...
Leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have been meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn's top aides once a month...
Any kid trudging home to deliver a lackluster report card knows the first question from a parent: How will you do better next time? That's...
Tribune reporters Jared S. Hopkins and Alex Richards recently exposed one of those head-scratching how-Illinois-works stories that will...
When French voters seated a Socialist Party president in May, they were led to expect a break from the pressures of excessive debt, budget...
"Fortunately, there may be a middle-ground in which Democrats can raise revenues from higher earners and Republicans can avoid rate...
The cost of a typical turkey-with-all-the-trimmings meal rose by about three cents this year. At less than $5 per serving, the traditional...
More than 360,000 people have signed an online petition started by a Target employee, urging the retailer not to open on Thanksgiving.
For about a week, the Israeli military and the militant leaders of Hamas have been in a simmering war, Israeli warplanes pounding targets in...
Ohio, the mother of all tossup states, gave its 18 electoral votes — and with them, the White House — to Barack Obama on Nov. 6....
Twice in recent months, Tribune reporters were surprised to learn that their interviews with city officials had been secretly — and...
Friday's news that the company making Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread is preparing to liquidate touched off a blame game among...
BP has agreed to settle criminal charges stemming from its leading role in the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill of 2010, which cost 11...
If U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s constituents were troubled by the uncertainty that has enveloped him for months, you wouldn't have known it...
It may sound odd to say the danger Israelis face from rockets in Gaza grew too large to tolerate: How many such attacks would most nations...
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said something the other day that briefly caused a ruckus, before all attention in the Middle East...
Fans of classic Peanuts know that, once again, Linus van Pelt spent this Halloween night waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Each year as Linus...
It's tough to get excited about billboards, even the shiny, electronic variety.
In a courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building this week, clout lost. That's good. But Chicago taxpayers lost, too. A civil case that...
U.S. House and Senate leaders will meet Friday at the White House with President Barack Obama. The president plans to greet Republicans with...
Curtis Gardner is an 11-year-old Chicago fifth-grader who has already lost 186 days of school. That's right — more than a...
It didn't escape anyone's notice that Latino voters helped carry President Barack Obama over the finish line Nov. 6. Suddenly, everybody's...
David Petraeus is hardly the first leader in government to have an affair. What's stunning about his admission and resignation Friday as CIA...
Months into Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to shut down a handful of obsolete state-run facilities, the task is proving difficult. It is taking...
For years, the debate about same-sex marriage was mainly an intellectual controversy. But in 2003, it moved into the realm of actual policy....
Day by day we learn more about why U.S. officials and security forces failed to protect Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans...
Illinois Democrats have scored a political trifecta: With veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly and an incumbent...
Tuesday's election was more than a wake-up call for the Illinois Republican Party. Think supersonic cannonade.
Illinois education officials reported last week that more than eight in 10 elementary school students met or exceeded standards in math...
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner made their opening statements Friday in negotiations to resolve the nation's budget...
On Tuesday, the voters spoke. On Wednesday and Thursday, investors took a turn. And their concern about the fiscal cliff put financial...
Democrats and Republicans in Washington each had spent two years counting on Tuesday's election to give their party the upper hand in...
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the reformer, wasn't on the ballot this week. But her evil twin was campaigning hard.
Our congratulations, our good wishes, to President Barack Obama. Watching his momentum wash west Tuesday night, we were struck by how many...
Two years ago, when voters nationwide delivered a stinging rebuke to a Democratic president and his party, the state of Illinois was a...
Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett says the school system needs to delay a state-imposed Dec. 1 deadline to deliver a list of...
The Tribune completes its endorsements today in contested races for the Illinois Appellate Court and collar-county circuit courts. We...
Chicago's teachers often tell us that they alone can't educate kids. They need help from parents. The teachers are disappointed that some...
Endorsements, paper, scissors: To be direct, we hope you'll go to the polls Tuesday with the Tribune endorsements that appear on this page...
If you're in Beijing this week, there are some things that you may not find. Balloons or ping-pong balls, CNN on the TV in your hotel...
In the annals of legislative failure, the night of 1/11/11 looms large. Democrats in the General Assembly raised the personal income tax...
In 1836, public officials who oversaw creation of the Illinois and Michigan Canal were shrewd. Protective. They foresaw that future...
The Cook County Democratic Party can think of no reason why you shouldn't vote to keep Circuit Judge Cynthia Brim on the bench. We can:
Mitt Romney got the crowd's attention during a recent campaign stop in Defiance, Ohio, when he announced that Chrysler, a major local...
The biggest day of this presidential campaign is Tuesday: Election Day. The second-biggest comes a bit earlier: this Friday.
On Sunday afternoon, millions of Americans moved through their daily routines, secure in the belief that they were in command of their...
Skokie/Morton Grove School District 69 has decided what it wants to be for Halloween: a party pooper.
By Dec. 1, Chicago Public Schools officials must deliver to state lawmakers a list of schools slated to close at the end of this school...
If you want to make God laugh, says the proverb, tell him your plans. The American people plan to go to the polls next Tuesday to elect a...
If you've ever been mired in a major traffic jam on a Chicago expressway — meaning, if you commuted during rush hour last week —...
If you go to a college or high school football game, you'll see dedicated athletes giving their all in a pastime that in some cases,...
After dickering for seven years before the World Trade Organization, the Boeing Co. and its European rival, Airbus, finally got some action.
European leaders talk and talk, but they can't change the most important facts about the debt crisis that has put much of the continent into...
John Franklin Stephens is a Special Olympics athlete who has written a letter that we hope all Americans will read.
More than 100 of the nation's business leaders made Thursday an uncomfortable day for President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, but a...
One of the highlights of the budget presentation Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle made last week to the Tribune editorial...
Two years into her term, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is headed toward a coup de maître in Cook County...
The Illinois Constitution needs a fix that would enable reforms to public pensions statewide. Unfortunately, the proposed pension...
Monday night, before President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney debated, a new Washington Post/ABC poll showed how treacherous a...
Cook County voters will face decisions in a long list of races in 2014. This year, only four contested races are on the ballot for county...
Taxpayers are in a fury over government expenditures that go well beyond necessities. Yet commissioners of the Metropolitan Water...
Cook County Circuit Judge Cynthia Brim isn't allowed in a courthouse without a sheriff's escort. She's still drawing a $182,000-a-...
For years now, thanks to deregulation, a lot of people have been cutting their electric bills by signing up with suppliers who charge less...
61st District: Republican Rep. JoAnn Osmond of Antioch has represented the Lake County area since 2002....
Confronted with a do-or-die debate on Oct. 3, an energized Mitt Romney surprised America — and that lifeless opponent standing to...
Day by day, the public is learning more about what happened in the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three...
Maybe he just can't help himself. But freshman Republican Rep. Joe Walsh has been alienating people since he unseated three-term incumbent...
Mitt Romney has a tax plan that is clear, comprehensive and highly appealing. He wants to cut income tax rates for everyone, eliminate...
Do you need to read once more that Wednesday night's presidential candidates' debate — 8 p.m. Chicago time — really, really...
Gail Purkey wasn't employed by the state of Illinois long enough during the 1980s to earn a state pension. Her stint with House Speaker...
The American and Israeli governments are in complete agreement that Iran is moving toward building a nuclear arsenal — and that it...
The third Friday in August should be a good day to get a tee time in Illinois. Gov. Pat Quinn just called Illinois lawmakers off the golf...