Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleads guilty to federal charges connected to a hush-money scheme. Did anything else come to light about this mysterious case?

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's record $588 million property tax hike sailed through the City Council today with only 15 aldermen voting against it. The hike is the centerpiece of Emanuel's bad news budget that imposes additional taxes and fees. We speak with a panel of aldermen about the budget and how they voted.

After weeks of public debate, rallies and demonstrations, the Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday approved two new charter schools out of 13 that applied.

The Bears and City Hall strike a deal on the Lucas Museum, Chicago-based Walgreens wants to buy a rival and the Bulls go international for sponsorship deals. We’ll discuss these stories and other top business headlines of the week with Crain’s Chicago Business deputy managing editor Ann Dwyer.

Though almost unanimously approved Wednesday, the museum could still be stopped by a pending lawsuit.

The hit Netflix show "House of Cards" has a devoted following, but did you know that one of the people responsible for it is an Evanston native and Northwestern alum? Laura Eason, executive story editor of "House of Cards," takes us behind the scenes of the popular drama.

Geoffrey Baer cruises by with the history of the Illinois Tollway oases, a Chicago lass on Irish cash and O'Hare's sleek new air traffic control towers in this week's edition of Ask Geoffrey.

President Barack Obama talks guns, crime and policing in Chicago at a gathering of police chiefs from around the country. But he acknowledges the growing the violence in his hometown and being a victim of racial profiling. 

"I'm not going to allow Springfield's dysfunction to become Chicago's dysfunction," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said during an extended interview before Wednesday's City Council vote on his proposed budget that includes a nearly $600 million property tax hike.

In honor of its 150th anniversary, the School of the Art Institute has teamed up with the Art Institute of Chicago for a new exhibition called “Homegrown." The show highlights the many influential American artists who received instruction at the school and later became part of the permanent collection of what has been called “the world’s best museum.”

There's a new book for kids detailing the historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the LBGT movement, which also benefited society, science, the arts and the civil rights movement. The book's author, Jerome Pohlen, joins us.

Halloween is here! As you put the finishing touches on your kids’ costumes (or your own—who said grown-ups can’t get into the spirit, too?), we share some safety tips for trick-or-treating.

Despite being $5 million short on funding, the president of a museum planned to honor American writers seemed confident Tuesday that the museum would reach its goal of a 2017 opening in Chicago.