Alan Dixon talks about 40 years of public service in his new book, The Gentleman from Illinois. Read an excerpt and watch web extra interviews with Dixon from WTTW's archives.

It’s the world’s most powerful digital camera and it sits atop the Blanco telescope in the Andes Mountains of Chile. But it was constructed on the campus of Fermilab in far west suburban Batavia. The Dark Energy Camera officially began its work on August 31 and has already captured some amazing images of outer space. Its real mission, though, is to help scientists figure out if so-called Dark Energy is responsible for the universe’s accelerating expansion. We learn how the camera is helping scientists unravel one of the greatest mysteries in the cosmos. Watch videos and view a slideshow.

Randall Wells, one of the world’s leading dolphin researchers, joins us to discuss the longest-running study of a wild dolphin population and his commitment to conservation. Read an interview and view a slideshow.

Lawmakers take the governor to court over getting their paychecks back. Paris Schutz has the latest. Read the full lawsuit.

We take a look at what Bill Daley was like inside the Obama administration. Read a book excerpt.

Chicago and Cook County home prices are up nearly 12 percent in the second quarter of 2013. We get the latest on the housing recovery from Geoff Smith, the Executive Director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, and Loretta Alonzo, the 2012 president of the Illinois Association of Realtors.

We hear the latest on the big rollout of the CTA’s new Ventra card fare payment system, the status of the CTA’s Ashland Avenue Bus Rapid Transit proposal, and the CTA’s push to keep riders away from the dangerous third rail and oncoming trains.

The horrors of the meatpacking industry are well-documented in history but the current state of meat production may be equally as grim. We talk with the “conscience of the food movement,” vegan activist Gene Baur. See before-and-after photos and read stories of Farm Sanctuary’s successful rescues.

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss joins us to review shows currently on Chicago area stages, including Other People’s Money by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, The Mountaintop at Court Theatre, and In the Heights at The Paramount Theatre. For our online audience, Weiss will also review A Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine Theatre. Learn more about the plays, and watch Hedy's web extra video review.

We revisit a story about a pair of artists who met, married and lived at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Depression era. Their works are currently on view at the Koehnline Museum on the campus of Oakton Community College in Des Plaines. Read an interview and view a slideshow.

Bill Daley faces the public after announcing that he is dropping out of the race for Illinois governor. Paris Schutz has the details. View a timeline of Daley's political career.

Bill Daley shocks the political arena and drops his candidacy from the race for Illinois governor. What does this mean for Gov. Pat Quinn and for the Republican field? We have analysis.

Will the U.S. government run out of money and shut down within the month? We take a look at how the country got back to fighting against the debt limit clock.