Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republican leaders officially announced on Wednesday their ambitious agenda to allow for an emergency financial authority appointed by the Illinois State Board of Education superintendent to take over Chicago Public Schools in the wake of a $500 million funding shortfall.

Republican state leaders want to take away mayoral control of the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools. Instead, they want the nation's third largest school district under the purview of a state emergency board. Democratic legislative leaders in Springfield immediately opposed the plan, with some calling it "dead on arrival." We speak with state legislators from both parties.

New reports show that Earth’s surface temperature last year was its highest since modern temperature record keeping began in 1880. The global record was also broken in 2014, although 2015 saw dramatic increases by comparison.

The best strategy for dealing with Chicago winters, some say, is to embrace it and get outside for some winter fun, like ice skating. Last winter, Jay Shefsky laced up his skates and hit the ice ribbon at Maggie Daley Park, where he met the Zamboni driver. We revisit his time on the ice.

Many Illinois college students face the loss of their MAP grants because of the state's fiscal crisis, and Chicago State University says it won't be able to make payroll in March. Amanda Vinicky joins us with details.

Geoffrey Baer investigates the history of Asylum Place, the explosive story behind a 1930s death caused by a manhole cover and what happened to magical Chicago restaurant chain. 

It was a wild day for the markets. Stocks plummeted deeply this morning—then bounced back a bit in the afternoon. Crain's Chicago Business columnist Joe Cahill joins “Chicago Tonight” with the latest on what has been the worst yearly start for the markets on record.

Wednesday marks Museum Selfie Day – the perfect marriage of learning and self-indulgence created by blogger and "Culture Snatcher" Mar Dixon as a way to get the masses packed into those cultural fonts of wisdom: museums. We take a look at 15 of the best selfies from local museums.

"Chicago Tonight” has learned that Gov. Bruce Rauner and top Republican leaders are planning to introduce legislation aimed at an emergency financial takeover of the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. Paris Schutz has details.

Sure, the museum's coal mine ride is fun, but does it also need to be accurate? We revisit the popular exhibit.

Earlier this month, North Korea claimed to have successfully detonated its first hydrogen bomb as a "self-defense against the U.S." While it was known that the secretive, totalitarian dictatorship had atomic weapons, the assertion to have successfully tested a far more powerful hydrogen bomb has been greeted with skepticism.

Illinois is in an unprecedented budget stalemate that's lasted more than half a year and has sucked up much of the oxygen in Springfield. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers plan to unveil legislation that would take away mayoral control from Chicago Public Schools. We speak with a panel of legislators.

The two men at the center of the Netflix documentary series, Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, are serving lengthy sentences, but one of Dassey's Chicago-based attorneys is questioning the interrogation methods used by the police. He joins us to discuss the series and what’s next for his client.