Emanuel, ally highlight need for overhaulOne of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's top aides privately briefed aldermen on the city's pension woes Wednesday as the mayor's closest City Council ally prepared for hearings that will put city retirement fund officials in the hot seat.

North Side funeral director one of the few in 1980s to provide services for AIDS victimsDuring the mid-1980s, when AIDS was emerging as a major health crisis, many funeral homes were reluctant to take victims of the disease.

Exec Neal Zucker buys million-dollar unit in Lake Shore Drive's Carlyle building Former Chicago Bears safety Danieal Manning , who is with the Houston Texans, has become the latest homeowner to take a hit from the housing crisis, selling his four-bedroom house in Libertyville recently for $308,500

Train rider's medical crisis, heroic attempt to save her life highlight action needed from MetraAnother Monday morning, the Metra train to town. A routine 16 minutes from Oak Park to the Loop.

As Obama spreads blame for economic crisis backward , La-La left helps him stick it to Bush 43HBO was still apologizing for putting a rubberized President George W. Bush head on a pike in the medieval fantasy show "Game of Thrones" when President Barack Obama put his predecessor's head on a pike

3-building plan, backed by Kennedys, would be biggest Chicago development since recession, financial crisisTouting what would be downtown Chicago's largest new real estate development since the 2008 financial crisis, representatives of the Kennedy family and three financial partners on Tuesday

$7 billion windfall can't stave off pension crisis, health care cuts and slashes in service — all being tackled this weekSixteen months ago, Democrats pushed through the largest income tax increase in Illinois history, an unpopular decision that was billed as a crucial step

At luncheon in Chicago, she says international system still coping with triple shock since 9/11, describes 3 major policy focus points in AfghanistanThe international system is still grappling with the triple shocks of the Sept. 11 attacks, the global economic crisis of 2008 and the Arab Spring

The last thing President Barack Obama needs is a domestic crisis of gargantuan proportions, one that threatens to swallow up the NATO Chicago summit:

Missouri judge's ruling to open group's records to church lawyers sends chill through survivors' communityA prominent activist group in the Roman Catholic Church's clergy-abuse crisis is fighting a Missouri judge's ruling to open more than two decades of correspondence with victims, lawyers

So what to do when you find yourself in the midst of a medical crisis? Getting a second opinion can help you get more information, clear up questions or confirm the direction that you're heading, experts say.

'The best of the nation leave, if they can'— I traveled to Greece to see the land of my fathers, to see its beauty and its economic crisis firsthand.

Accounting firm finds there's still room for improvement, howeverThe DuPage Water Commission has made significant strides toward cleaning up a recent financial fiasco, but the agency can benefit from further reforms that would increase transparency and improve operations, according to a report released Wednesday.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

New approach offers more welcoming environment, less expensive careNot long ago, a woman who had just weathered a mental health crisis at the Living Room, a low-key alternative to emergency room treatment, was headed out the door when she offered her take on the service.

Her decision to report alleged sex assault shook up MarquetteThe night began with alcohol, athletes and a group of freshman women. Before sunrise last Halloween, two female students would say they were sexually attacked by Marquette University athletes, touching off a crisis that quietly engulfed

Protesters develop list of demands to address economic crisisThe crowd of protesters in downtown Chicago, often criticized for being haphazard and unfocused, has taken steps to make its mission clearer.

Claypool explains dire financial situation, doesn't rule out fare hikesCTA President Forrest Claypool attempted to prepare transit riders on Tuesday for the possibility of fare increases and service cuts as early as January by explaining the roots of a financial crisis that has culminated in a near

Since 2000, district enrollment down 5 percent, expenses up 47 percentOf all the sad statistics related to the financial crisis at Chicago Public Schools, one of the most alarming is simply this: The school district is spending millions more every year to educate fewer children.

by environmental crisis.

Housing crisis was final nail in the coffin of once-promising recoveryEnglewood is rapidly being abandoned, many of its blocks now little more than weed-choked and trash-littered urban prairies.

Foreclosure crisis 'is our tsunami,' expert saysThe young woman sat naked and sobbing on the rotting front porch at 5964 S. Lowe Ave. in Englewood when neighbors found her. She had been raped by three men inside the boarded-up house, yanked by her ponytail and pulled inside after walking

35-year-old group 'no longer talks about exporting bananas'In the early 1970s, a looming international oil crisis prompted the White House to create an informal gathering of senior finance officials from Europe, Japan and the U.S. It was dubbed the "Library Group" and stuck mostly to economic

Governor's move is called a 'manufactured crisis' in bid to boost spendingGov. Pat Quinn on Monday threatened to shut down summer road construction if lawmakers don't return to Springfield, a move critics contend is a "manufactured crisis."

Activists plan route to deliver healthy options to food desertsNext month, a group called Food Desert Action, will unveil a solution to the healthy food crisis in poor neighborhoods -- a renovated CTA bus transformed into a mobile produce stand.

Some who live near Illinois' nuclear sites have faith in the plants, while others are fearful as they track the crisis abroadJapan's partial nuclear meltdown may be playing out thousands of miles away, but given that Illinois has more nuclear sites and a larger stockpile of spent fuel