Your State

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s anti-union rhetoric and resolve will be tested in the leadup to June 30th, the date that a contract with 38,000 state employees expires and a statewide strike or lockout could ensue. Contentious negotiations between the Rauner administration and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have come to a near standstill, but the governor does not seem to mind. He intends to make good on his campaign promise to “accept a strike or lockout if that’s what it took to win concessions from state workers on their contract.” Democratic leaders and union representatives continue to attempt to negotiate, but Rauner is poised for a final showdown.

In an update to a story about Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner “earning” the endorsement of the Chicago Sun-Times, the reporter who claimed the Rauner campaign attempted to meddle with his position at the company after he wrote a negative Rauner story has quit. Rauner’s unethical use of power to manipulate the paper, in which he owned a stake until just before he announced his campaign, is becoming a hot topic — and for good reason. It's dangerous.

Privatization is not the cure-all politicians like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel would have us believe. When custodial services were pawned off to the lowest bidder for the city's public schools, cleanliness became an afterthought.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's administration wants to double down on long-acting birth control methods for the poor in an effort to save taxpayer money on unplanned pregnancies, a strategy that is raising concern among Catholic health care systems. Officials with the Illinois Medicaid program plan to increase payments to doctors and clinics for methods such as intrauterine devices, using an approach advocates say could save millions of dollars.

Dozens of couples are challenging Indiana's and Wisconsin's gay marriage bans in a case being heard Tuesday in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Looming large in the case is the issue of medical emergencies faced by same-sex couples.

Illinois medical regulators have indefinitely suspended the medical license of psychiatrist Michael Reinstein, who prescribed more of the most powerful and riskiest antipsychotic drug clozapine than any other doctor in the country. The board determined that Reinstein received "illegal direct and indirect remuneration" from the maker of generic clozapine; did not consider alternative treatments for his patients; and disregarded patients' well-being because of potentially life-threatening side effects of the drug.

A video has surfaced of Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner promising members of the Tazewell County GOP that he will shut down the state government and conduct a mass firing of public workers if elected. The comments came during a dinner held by the organization.

Seems that some doctors have found a pretty lucrative side job: billing Medicare for massive numbers of group therapy sessions – even if they aren't licensed psychotherapists.

Quick—how much food, paper and plastic have you thrown in the garbage the past two years? It’s a question you likely can’t answer, but whatever the amount, it will certainly exceed the output of Justin Vrany and his Chicago café, Sandwich Me In.

Amid a concerted effort to scare and intimidate, Northwestern's football players voted on unionization Friday. We may not know the outcome for months, though, until a court can decide on the actual legal implications.

On windy days in the Windy City (which happen a lot, as you might imagine), an oily dust wafts into the air and settles on rooftops, patio furniture, and playgrounds all across Chicago’s Southeast Side. When wiped away, the dust leaves a dark smear.

Autism and dementia are punishments from God, said the Illinois Republican who narrowly won her 9th district primary. Oh yeah – and gay rights cause natural disasters. Susanne Atanus is a real piece of work.