In time for Valentine's Day, The Newberry Library in Chicago has searched through its extensive archives for artifacts of love. Taking suggestions from its staff across many areas of expertise, the library has created an exhibition of works on paper that express love in all its forms over the last eight centuries. We revisit the story.

Geoffrey Baer tells a sweet South Side success story, tests the waters at an unusual car wash, and finds the facts behind a fascist monument in this week's edition of Ask Geoffrey.

• State Budget Crisis

President Barack Obama plans to visit Chicago next week where he’ll reportedly declare part of the Pullman neighborhood on the far south side a national monument, Chicago’s first.

Ald. JoAnn Thompson (16th) died Monday night of heart failure. Thompson, 58, overcame alcoholism and homelessness and was seeking a third term on the Chicago City Council, representing parts of Englewood and Back of the Yards. 

While the talk today is about the governor's executive order on unions, a projected $2 billion budget deficit still goes unsolved. We have the latest details.

The governor issued an executive order absolving state workers who don't want to be union members from paying so-called "fair share" fees. Is this the first step toward Illinois becoming a so-called "right-to-work state?"

The James Beard Foundation is honoring Chicago's own restaurateur Rich Melman with a Lifetime Achievement Award. We talk with him about the honor and his recipe for success.

It has been thought that almost nothing can survive in the watery depths near the South Pole. But a group of researchers sent a robot armed with a camera a half-mile below Antarctic ice and discovered an entire ecosystem. It is the farthest south that fish have ever been found. 

Pop diva Beyoncé is arguably the most popular performer in the world. But there's much more to her than her success as a provocative pop icon. That's the idea behind a new college course at UIC that delves into Beyoncé's role in shaping "feminist perspectives and [the image] of U.S. black womanhood."

Early voting has begun for the Chicago mayoral and aldermanic races. The Board of Elections opened up 51 locations today.

• Rauner Signs Executive Order Aimed at Unions

Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 57th annual Grammy Awards Sunday. Watch a 2006 interview and performance with Buddy Guy on Chicago Tonight.

Gov. Bruce Rauner steps up the attack on public employee unions with an executive order allowing members to opt out and not pay union dues if they so choose.

A new book takes a comprehensive look at the patronage, cronyism and criminality in Illinois politics -- from stolen elections and crooked courts to corrupt congressmen, governors and aldermen.