Stories by Charles Jefferson

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.

In April, Chicago Tonight got a behind-the-scenes look at a school of comic book and sequential art that started in Italy in 1979. When Italy's International School of Comics opened its first North American location, they chose a quiet block of Hubbard Street on the near West Side.  We revisit that story.

Chicago-based rock critic Jessica Hopper has earned a reputation as a sharp observer and a fearless firebrand of the form. She joins us to discuss her newest book, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic.

We share what you had to say about the troubles of North Chicago school district and how government values education, a lawsuit targeting three suburbs for their alleged lax regulations on gun sales, and what’s keeping Illinois mired in budget woes when we read some of our viewer feedback.

Chicago Public Schools says it will issue budgets for schools on Monday. As reported by Chicago Tonight on Wednesday, many principals throughout CPS are growing increasingly frustrated that they are expected to plan for the new school year and finalize hiring decisions with little idea of how much money they will have to spend. It now appears principals will soon get some clarity.

The 35th annual summer event, billed as the world's largest festival of its kind, returns to Grant Park this week with food, fun, and live music from Spoon, Erykah Badu, and others.

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.

Chicago school principals are faced with the unenviable task of trying to plan for the new school year amid massive financial uncertainty. At a time when most would be hoping to finalize hiring decisions, they have no idea what their budget will be and how many teachers and other support staff they can afford. We learn what it's like to try and plan for the new school year with so many unknown factors.

According to a Crain's Chicago Business analysis, Chicago police and fire pensions could drive up property taxes by more than 30 percent. Crain’s senior reporter Thomas A. Corfman joins us to explain the analysis.

Construction gets underway this week on the Argyle Streetscape project in Uptown, which will create a first-of-its-kind Chicago street that's shared among bikes, cars, and pedestrians.

We take a look at a local organization that helps transgender people improve their work skills, find jobs, and overcome social stigmas facing the trans community. 

The Chicago Botanic Garden's Eliza Fournier joins Chicago Tonight with tips and demonstrations on how to make the most of your garden in July.

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? 

A story by WBEZ and This American Life in April revealed that heroin abusers from Puerto Rico were being sent to unlicensed drug rehab programs in Chicago, many of which appear to be little better than flophouses and use methods that are questionable at best. The facilities often force clients to give them their identity papers for safe keeping, and don't always give them back when the clients leave. A follow-up report from WBEZ has found that some of the Puerto Rican addicts sent to Chicago appear to be victims of identity theft.

Can Chicago condo buildings ban smoking in owners’ units? Some buildings are making the change. We talk with Crain’s Chicago Business real estate reporter Dennis Rodkin about that, the new disclosure rules coming, and the latest trends in the housing market.

Last summer, Sean Graney, founder of The Hypocrites, debuted All Our Tragic, his lengthy adaptation of every extant Greek tragedy. As the performance returns to the stage, we revisit our story on the 12-hour play.

The Art Institute of Chicago offers a fresh perspective on French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas in Degas: At the Track, On the Stage, an exhibition focusing on works that feature movement or performance.