Rauner slams Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville. The battle over school funding ramps up. Lawmakers try to stamp out the soda tax. And the Cubs hold a slim lead in the National League Central division. 

As the debate over Confederate monuments heats up following the Charlottesville tragedy, some Chicago aldermen want to get rid of a name with a fascist history.

The Republican legislator who was instrumental to the passage of Illinois’ first budget in more than two years is leaving state politics. Find out why.

The 83-year-old Illinois secretary of state said last year that he would retire at the end of his current term. Thursday, he said will run for a sixth term in 2018.

Republicans meet at the Illinois State Fair while the House convenes to hammer out a compromise on school funding. 

Harsh local reaction Wednesday to President Donald Trump’s comments that “both sides” are to blame for the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As Gov. Bruce Rauner’s supporters rally Wednesday for “Governor’s Day” at the Illinois State Fair, representatives will be returning to the capitol to take an ax to his vision for education funding.

More trouble for the Cook County sweetened beverage tax.

A day after the Illinois Senate killed his vision for a new method of funding Illinois schools, Gov. Bruce Rauner kept up hopes that legislators will come around to his way of thinking.

The violent confrontation between white supremacists groups and protesters has sparked nationwide outrage and condemnation. How some local politicians are responding.

The city of Chicago will need to come up with an additional $269 million to help Chicago Public Schools make it through the year, according to the schools’ new budget. Where will this additional city money come from?

“This law sends a message to survivors of felony child sex crimes that it is not too late to come forward,” said Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, in a statement.

Governor Bruce Rauner’s attempt to put his stamp on school funding met its demise Sunday, when a single Republican senator joined with the chamber’s 37 Democrats to reject Rauner’s rewrite of a significant school funding measure.

The governor’s sit-down with WTTW will come a day after the Illinois Senate is scheduled to vote on his amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1—a plan that rewrites how Illinois decides how to divvy up state funding for schools. 

Illinois blows the deadline for payments to public schools. Mayor Rahm Emanuel sues the Trump administration. Lawsuits fly over Cook County’s soda tax. And Mitch Trubisky shines in the Bears first preseason game.

At a rally Thursday, the Democratic candidate for governor introduced his pick for lieutenant governor. “We need real solutions, and that is what J.B. and I will provide,” state Rep. Juliana Stratton said.