During his first in a planned series of interviews with Chicago Tonight, Mayor Emanuel asserted he balanced the city’s budget in each of the last four years. But while the budgets may have been balanced on paper, budget analysts and journalists say the record is far muddier.

For the first time, Gov. Bruce Rauner discussed his concerns over the constitutionality of his and Senate President John Cullerton’s pension proposals. The governor also spoke about taking several of his turnaround agenda items “off the table,” but he wouldn’t say what those items were.

Chicago magazine digs further into the Chicago Police Department’s homicide numbers a year after the magazine came out with two explosive reports by David Bernstein and Noah Isackson. The reporters detailed a number of incidents in which crimes were reclassified in order to fit the narrative that crime overall was falling in the city. A year later, the duo reports that CPD continues to undercount the city’s murders in New Tricks.

Should Chicago declare bankruptcy as its financial challenges grow in light of its credit downgrade to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service? We talk to a panel of experts about whether Mayor Rahm Emanuel should consider the move and what it would mean for city. 

President Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett sounds off on what it took for Chicago to land the Obama Presidential Library and Foundation. Paris Schutz has the details. 

Hearings on pension funding and Amtrak funding are happening in Springfield today. We discuss these issues and more with Chicago Tonight Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky.

We speak with Mayor Rahm Emanuel about the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that found the 2013 pension reform law unconstitutional. What does that mean for Chicago’s pension reform? We’ll also ask him about the downgrading of the city’s credit rating to junk status and Obama Presidential Library coming to the South Side of Chicago. 

After months of speculation, the Barack Obama Foundation officially announces the library is coming to the South Side of Chicago. But when and where will it be located exactly? Paris Schutz has the details. 

It's official. The Obama Presidential Library is coming to Chicago. What will it mean for the South Side? We'll hear more details about the city's triumph.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been lobbying hard for a Chicago casino ostensibly to help tackle the city's pension and budget woes. Meanwhile, state Rep. Bob Rita is sponsoring two bills that would create as many as five new casinos in Illinois, one of which would be a mega casino in Chicago. How would a casino in Chicago impact the city? And how would it affect existing state casinos? 

In the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court’s pension ruling, we analyze the options on a way forward for Illinois and Chicago.

On Friday, May 8, the Illinois Supreme Court found the state’s 2013 pension reform law unconstitutional, affirming the ruling made six months earlier by a lower court. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said “crisis is not an excuse to abandon the rule of the law.” We discuss the decision with a panel of lawmakers.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will discuss what last week's Illinois Supreme Court ruling means for her plan to change the county's pension system. 

The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the state’s 2013 pension reform law. Chicago Tonight hosts a special 30-minute edition on the ruling.

Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss the Burge police torture reparations package. They also delve into the impact of director Spike Lee's upcoming movie that will reportedly be called Chiraq.

The Illinois Supreme Court has struck down the state's landmark 2013 pension reform law, upholding a lower court ruling that it violated the state constitution. In the ruling, the court rejected the state's defense that its contractual obligations were not absolute, because it reserved "emergency powers" in a time of crisis.