Going into the final week of the veto session in Springfield, the big ticket items on the docket were pension reform, same-sex marriage and mandatory minimums. Chicago Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney joins us with the latest details.

A restoration pioneer celebrates 30 years of working in the forest preserves. Elizabeth Brackett has the story. Read an article.

Just how long have the antique-looking Chicago streetlights been burning? Geoffrey Baer reveals the age of these beauties in this week’s edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss joins us to review shows currently on Chicago area stages. Learn more about the plays, and watch Hedy's web extra video review.

The Illinois House narrowly approved the same-sex marriage bill that passed in the senate earlier this year. Chicago Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney joins us to with the latest.

Influential chef Charlie Trotter, whose culinary skills and eponymous Chicago restaurant became world famous, died today at the age of 54. We take a look back at his celebrated career and the impact he had on the world of fine cuisine with three chefs who trained under Trotter. Watch a web extra video from our archives.

We look at the contribution Chef Charlie Trotter made to the Chicago fine dining scene with journalist Louisa Chu, food contributor for WBEZ and host of weekly podcast, Chewing the Fat, writer David Tamarkin, media director for Chef Rick Bayless and editor of Middlewest magazine, and Chicago magazine executive editor Jennifer Tanaka.
 

Chicago Transit Authority and Ventra officials promise a quick fix to the new Ventra system. How? Paris Schutz has the details.

Researchers at two local universities are looking into how poverty impacts young minds. We have the story. Learn more about the studies, and view a photo gallery.

In what turned out to be a battle of backup quarterbacks, Josh McCown and the Chicago Bears beat the Packers and secured a share of first place in the division. James “Big Cat” Williams joins Ann Kreiter to break down the Bears improbable road win.

It’s profane to even call it “art.” Art usually inspires a viewer to think deeply. But this art wasn’t about inspiring -- it was about conspiring.

The Legislative Veto session is winding down. If something is to get done this year on the big ticket items like pension reform, marriage equality and mandatory minimum prison sentences for gun offenders, it has to happen in the next three days. Which of these will get done and which will get put off yet again? Paris Schutz has the details.

What does Chicago’s borrowing $9.8 billion over 13 years buy?  A Chicago Tribune investigation found it bought obsolete software, trash bins, flowers and dog waste bags—among other spending that’s driven up the city’s long-term debt.  We talk with the journalists who uncovered the unmonitored spending spree.

This year, for the first time in this country, more poor people live in suburbs than in American cities. Here in the Chicago region, the number of suburban poor increased 99% over the past decade. Brandis Friedman has the story of how some are confronting these challenges.

Author Rich Cohen joins us to talk about Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, his new book that captures the heart of the 1985 Monsters of Midway. Read an excerpt.