What the state’s $53 billion budget plan could mean for taxpayers. A push to establish a statewide public defender system. And the cicada invasion is here — what to know about our new neighbors.

Illinois is one of seven states that do not have a statewide public defender body. Currently, 60% of Illinois counties have no office of public defense and instead hire private attorneys on a part-time basis.

The Democratic National Convention, where the president would otherwise be formally nominated, comes after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. The party’s convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22.

While proponents of carbon capture technology say it is key to addressing climate change, it is often criticized for the risks it brings with it. A pipeline can burst, resulting in a flood of carbon dioxide for miles that can poison those caught in it.

If you wouldn’t eat a vegetable grown in that soil, don’t eat a cicada.

Chicago Public Schools on Tuesday published individual school-level budgets amid as some have expressed concerns about how the district’s new funding model could affect its selective enrollment and magnet schools.

An expansion of O’Hare International Airport’s Concourse C would add more gates and serve both international and domestic passengers, according to elected officials who unveiled design renderings Tuesday.

With five bedrooms and six bathrooms, the Georgian-style property, built in 1921, has plenty of space to accommodate hijinks like those from the iconic 1990 film.

Chicago’s city shelter is waiving adoption fees on weekends through the end of the year, in addition to waiving adoption fees for animals who have been in the shelter for more than 60 days.

The 5-year-old, Reig Ware, was fatally shot at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of South Campbell Avenue.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is once again under the spotlight after a manager failed to consult a collections committee before purchasing a 21-star flag whose description as a rare banner marking Illinois’ 1818 admission to the Union is disputed.

The fiscal year 2025 spending plan, which came together over a stretch of late nights and closed-door dealmaking, spends $400 million more than what Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed in his February budget address.

Some of the early “They’re here!” excitement has definitely given way to “Wait, they’re staying for how long?” At the opposite end of the spectrum, Chicagoans are wondering why they got left out of the great 2024 emergence.

The Illinois House gave final approval Saturday to a pair of bills that limit the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage or steer individuals toward lower cost, and sometimes less effective, treatments and medications, strategies sometimes referred to as “utilization management.”

Amid the flurry of legislation was a measure prohibiting state universities from admitting students based on familial and donor ties, an expansion of the ban on sales of e-cigarettes to minors and a bill prohibiting stores from stocking alcoholic beverages near non-alcoholic lookalikes.