Politics
President Barack Obama has proposed a change in overtime regulations that could make an additional 5 million Americans eligible for overtime pay. Join Chicago Tonight for a conversation about who this will affect, when the proposed change might go through, and where the rules stand currently.
Joel Weisman and his panel of journalists discuss this week’s top headlines.
State employees will continue to be paid while the budget stalemate between legislators and the governor continues. Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger received verbal authorization from a St. Clair Circuit Court to allow her office to process state payroll.
Lawmakers in the Illinois House on Thursday approved an emergency one-month budget which passed on July 1 in the Senate with no Republican support. But a pass in the House may not resolve the budget impasse, as Gov. Bruce Rauner has vowed to veto the temporary spending plan.
The City of Chicago will have to wait two more weeks before a judge's ruling on whether pension legislation supported by Mayor Rahm Emanuel is constitutional. Lawyers representing city workers, as well as the city and the employee pension funds made their cases to Cook County Circuit Court Judge Rita Novak Thursday morning. Novak said she will issue a ruling on Friday, July 24.
Is Gov. Bruce Rauner's newest pension proposal constitutional? How will it impact city and state employees? John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, and Ralph Martire, executive director for the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, analyze the plan.
Experts from the American Security Project are in Chicago to sound the alarm that inaction on climate change weakens the United States' national security position. We'll talk with retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Lee Gunn and Andrew Holland, senior fellow with the American Security Project and a former aide to ex-Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel during Hagel's time in the Senate.
Illinois House lawmakers are back in session in Springfield a week after representatives failed to pass a one-month spending plan. The Democrat-controlled House led by Speaker Michael Madigan is scheduled to take up the temporary spending plan again despite opposition from Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republican lawmakers. We talk with Chicago Tonight's Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky about the status of the budget and more.
Several mothers of young men killed by gun violence in Chicago are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against three suburban Chicago communities: Lyons, Riverdale, and Lincolnwood. Attorneys who filed the suit Tuesday morning explain that those towns have lax or insufficient methods of licensing and regulating their gun dealers, and are therefore disproportionately impacting poor and minority communities in Chicago.
State lawmakers are expected to meet this week to consider a temporary, one-month budget in an effort to stave off the devastating effects of a government shutdown. But as the budget stalemate between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-controlled General Assembly continues with no clear resolution in sight, who wins and who loses?
Lawmakers left Springfield for the Fourth of July weekend without a budget deal in place triggering a partial government shutdown. We talk with legislators from both sides of the aisle about what to expect if the impasse continues and what's on the session's agenda this week to resolve the fiscal crisis.
Vice President Joe Biden has run for president of the U.S. twice, most recently as an early Democratic contender in the 2008 primary. A Chicago-based movement called Draft Biden is hoping he’ll run once more.
On Wednesday, July 1, the Illinois Senate passed a one-month temporary budget by a vote 37-0. View an interactive graphic of how each senator voted.
On Wednesday, July 1, the Illinois House of Representatives failed to pass a one-month temporary budget by a vote of 67-32. View an interactive graphic of how each representative voted.
The state's failure to reach a budget agreement has caused a government shutdown, and now top officials are hashing out in court what exactly can and can't stay open. Medicaid and social service providers are in limbo wondering if they and other government providers will be able to make payroll and stay open, as the legislative standoff drags on.
The Cook County Board will soon vote on whether or not to increase the sales tax, as proposed by Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle. Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer and Cook County CFO Ivan Samstein join us tonight to share their thoughts on the proposed tax hike.