Chicago is corruption capital, report showsSo Chicago isn't quite the birthplace of hope and change after all, is it?

Bill's sponsor wants money to go toward rape crisis counselingSPRINGFIELD — Illinois already charges so-called sin taxes on smokes, booze and casino gambling. Now state lawmakers are thinking about imposing a $5 skin tax to get into strip clubs.

Execs foresee financial benefits from summits in Chicago, but are taking precautionsTalk to business leaders about the G-8and NATO summits coming to Chicago this spring, and they universally say they hope the events are a chance to showcase the city as a global commercial center, political player and tourism draw.

Ho-hum candidates, political alienation, no local connection add up to historic voter-registration lows for 2012 presidential primary in Chicago Primary? What primary?

Group says limits unconstitutional in wake of Supreme Court decisionAn abortion rights group that funneled more than $400,000 to help elect Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking to strike down a portion of a new Illinois campaign finance law that limits how much donors can give to political action committees.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday that he didn't direct a political consulting firm with close ties to him to organize faith and community groups in support of his education agenda, nor was he aware the company was doing so.

Resolute Consulting CEO Greg Goldner says mayor, CPS have not asked for his involvement to organize community groups, faith leaders in support of longer school day, charter schoolsA political consulting firm with close ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel has funded and helped organize community groups and faith leaders on behalf of the mayor's contentious education agenda as a counterweight to fierce oppos...

Will Jeanne Gang's inventive ideas for Cicero work in the real world?Cicero, infamous for its history of corruption, and Jeanne Gang, famous for her futuristic buildings, would seem an unlikely pair. But something unexpected has brought them together: America's foreclosure crisis.

Money came from Chicago men whose brother is fugitive casino owner in MexicoPresident Barack Obama's re-election campaign announced Monday that it will return about $200,000 raised by two Chicago men whose brother is a fugitive casino owner with suspected ties to political corruption in Mexico.

While the Academy for Urban School Leadership has 'turned around' several failing Chicago Public Schools, some critics say improved test scores don't tell the whole storyOver the last decade, a nonprofit teaching academy with strong political ties has launched an education revolution inside Chicago Public Schools, tearing down and rebuilding some of the city's worst-performing schools.

With all 177 lawmakers up for re-election in new territory, not much is expected to get done— Delivering an overly optimistic State of the State address last week, Gov. Pat Quinn urged lawmakers to muster the "political courage" to tackle the tough issues this year.

State, Cook County team up to combat foreclosure crisisIllinois is teaming with Cook County on a trial program in which a loan fund will be created to buy vacant foreclosed homes, renovate them and resell them at low interest rates.

11 members who OK'd fare hike are political appointeesThe major fare hike that goes into effect Wednesday was approved Nov. 11 by Metra's board of directors, but who are they?

Newt Gingrich calls Obama 'the most successful food stamp president in American history'Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently offered to attend an NAACP convention to explain why African-Americans "should demand paychecks instead of food stamps." And he has described President Barack Obama as "the most successful food stamp president in American history."

Goal is to prepare new generation for public serviceAs he finishes what he called the "last campaign," the re-election bid of President Barack Obama, top strategist David Axelrod also is planning the next chapter of his life — a return to his alma mater, to direct a new institute of politics at the University of Chicago.

Political bank accounts controlled by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan received more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions in the final three months of 2011, records filed with state elections officials showed Tuesday.

Just 2 aldermen needed to hold off decision for several daysMayor Rahm Emanuel called a special City Council meeting for Thursday to consider a new map of the city's 50 wards, but the aldermen leading the effort to reach a political compromise said a final vote may not come until early next week.

Rally speakers emphasize similarities between civil rights leader's message then and protest movement todayReligious and civil rights leaders joined forces Sunday with the Occupy Chicago movement, urging those fighting for economic and political equality to remember the passion and purpose with which the Rev.Martin Luther King Jr. helped change the country.

Emigrants can cast ballot in upcoming election, though few doLeaders of Mexico's seven political parties were in Chicago on Thursday to attract expatriate votes in their country's upcoming presidential elections.

President was expected to raise about $2 million. 'We won't give up. Not now,' he tells supportersPresident Barack Obama returned to the comfort of a supportive hometown Wednesday to raise campaign cash but also faced up to the discomfort of trying to re-energize a political base once built upon hope and change.

President Barack Obama, a stranger to these lands of late, returns to Chicago on Wednesday to pick up oodles of ridiculous political cash from rich people in private so he can demonize other rich people in public and play the reformer.

Settlement is less than half the original billMcHenry County is on the hook for less than half of the legal fees accrued to defend the county's top prosecutor and his administrative assistant against political corruption charges.

A federal judge granted Cicero Town President Larry Dominick a new trial in a civil lawsuit, six months after a jury sided with a former employee who claimed Dominick fired him for political reasons.

Ohio police officer on way to FBI job interview had right skills for shooting crisisThe fifth person on the State Street Bridge was on his cellphone with his mom when the shot was fired.

Illinois' junior senator lauds former Massachusetts governor's 'managerial talent,' foreign policy stanceMark Kirk will endorse former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's bid for the GOP presidential nomination Monday, sources close to the political operation of the first-term Illinois Republican senator said Sunday.

Temporary enforcement ban has conservatives glowing, but conservationists take a dim viewIf ever a political squabble has shed light on differences over the role of government in people's lives, it's the one that earlier this week led to a temporary ban on enforcing light bulb efficiency standards set to go into effect Jan. 1.

Springfield politics wreaked havoc on retirement codeIllinois' pension system was in precarious enough shape in 1994 that Democrats and Republicans came together to solve a crisis threatening the state's financial future.

A Chicago Tribune reporter does not have to turn over her notes from an interview with a juror whose recently discovered criminal history has prompted efforts to obtain a new trial for political power broker William Cellini.

New alderman criticized for blocking plan favored by City HallA rookie alderman got a taste Tuesday of what it's like to publicly challenge the City Hall power structure on a sensitive issue at the same time the political struggle of redrawing Chicago's ward boundaries plays out privately.

Sister Rosemary Connelly is not the typical Chicago political operative.