Justin L. Fowler / AP

Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, walks off the Illinois House floor during the overtime session at the Illinois State Capitol, Saturday, July 1, 2017, in Springfield, Ill. Madigan said there would be a vote on the House floor Sunday on a plan "modeled on the bill supported"

Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, walks off the Illinois House floor during the overtime session at the Illinois State Capitol, Saturday, July 1, 2017, in Springfield, Ill. Madigan said there would be a vote on the House floor Sunday on a plan "modeled on the bill supported"

(Justin L. Fowler / AP)

Kim Geiger and Monique Garcia

Talks between Republican and Democratic lawmakers aimed at striking a broad agreement to end the state's record budget impasse broke down Saturday, with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan abruptly announcing plans to call a vote on legislation to raise taxes. The move set up a Sunday showdown.

Illinois election officials on Friday acknowledged receiving calls of concern over information being sought by President Donald Trump's Election Integrity Commission, but said they have yet to receive a formal request for the state's voter data. On Wednesday, the panel's vice chairman, Kansas Secretary.

Israel Del Toro Jr. still remembers the sizzling sound as he jumped into a small creek in Afghanistan after his team was hit by an improvised explosive device, or IED. He lost most of his fingers in the blast and was severely burned on 80 percent of his body. Doctors said he would never walk again.

Twenty federal gun agents have been assigned to Chicago to join a newly formed task force aimed at cutting the flow of illegal guns into the city and cracking down on people repeatedly arrested on gun charges. Hours after the Chicago police department sent out a news release about the task force.

Here are some of the top stories of the week from Chicago and beyond (Sunday, June 25 through Friday, June 30). 3 cops indicted in Laquan McDonald shooting Three current or former Chicago cops were indicted on Tuesday, accused of conspiring to cover up wrongdoing by Officer Jason Van Dyke in the.

Public art is in the headlines, even on the front page. A sculpture of an oversize deer has taken up residence on the Chicago Riverwalk. A beloved mural, which richly depicted Mexican and Mexican-American culture, has been erased from the walls of a building in gentrifying Pilsen. People take smartphone.

House Democrats and Republicans temporarily set down their arms Friday as they attempted to nudge closer to an agreement to end a budget impasse now in its third year, even as both sides warned of major sticking points in the way of a resolution. The day began with Republicans running an ad attacking.

Former federal prosecutor John Lausch is President Donald Trump's pick to serve as the next U.S. attorney in the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois, sources said. Lausch, 46, has not been formally nominated and the White House hasn't publicly named him. By tradition, Sens. Dick Durbin and.

A Cook County judge this week tossed cable sports network ESPN and commentator Stephen A. Smith from a year-old lawsuit filed by the parents of 13 former Jackie Robinson West Little League baseball players who claimed the sports personality defamed them after a residency scandal led to the team's.

State Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, a three-time unsuccessful candidate for governor, was chosen as the new leader of the Illinois Senate Republicans on Friday to replace departing Sen. Christine Radogno. Brady, 56, had been serving as the top deputy to Radogno. She announced Thursday she would.

As Illinois hurtles toward a third year without a budget agreement, the state's political leaders have managed to accumulate a series of notable, if inglorious, distinctions — the lowest credit rating of any state, just a whisker above junk status; a growing pile of unpaid bills that now stands.

Nation & World

In his latest jab at the media, President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted a mock video that shows him pummeling a man in a business suit — his face obscured by the CNN logo — outside a wrestling ring. It was not immediately clear who produced the brief video, which appears to be a doctored version.

Security forces chased three explosive-laden vehicles through Damascus Sunday, intercepting two of them at checkpoints but failing to stop the third before it exploded in the city center, killing at least eight people, state media and others reported.

As many in the United States celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, some minorities have mixed feelings about the revelry of fireworks and parades in an atmosphere of tension on several fronts. How do you celebrate during what some people of color consider troubling times? Blacks, Latinos and immigrant.

Cub Scouts being kicked out of a campground in New Jersey may be the most visible sign of budget problems in American states, but New Jersey is far from alone in struggling to work out a spending plan. As the budget year started most places Saturday, 11 states did not have budgets in place, according.

The morning after 17-month-old Semaj Crosby was reported missing from her Joliet Township home, state Department of Children and Family Services investigators and supervisors went to a strip mall office three miles away and began filing reports. As police searched frantically for Semaj on April.

Telemarketer Safety Publications Inc. has agreed to cease operations in Illinois after the state's attorney general alleged the firm misled donors to raise millions of dollars on behalf of veterans and other charitable causes. Safety co-founder Arthur Olivera also signed a lifetime ban from raising.

As state child welfare investigators probed allegations of abuse in the Joliet Township home where 17-month-old Semaj Crosby would later be found dead, their supervisor was launching a contest that awarded $100 gift cards to the two workers who closed the most cases in a month, according to agency.

A new report describes a litany of failures by state child welfare investigators who opened at least 10 investigations into abuse and neglect in the home of 17-month-old Semaj Crosby before her death in April. As investigators for the Department of Children and Family Services walked through the.

Far from a home

Janet Meakin Poor began, as many gardeners do, by growing flowers in her yard. But from there she went on to take a leadership role with the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she Her vision focused on conservation, research and the value of plant diversity, subjects she explored in two books. "Unquestionably.

Chuck Renslow was an entrepreneur who for decades owned a variety of businesses that catered to Chicago's gay community, including print media publications, bars and a bathhouse. Through his businesses, Renslow helped to build a community for many gay and lesbian Chicagoans, said Chicago journalist.

After an unflattering but fateful haircut in 2009 led Meechy Monroe to chop off her chemically treated hair in favor of a short Afro, women on the street would walk up to her and ask how they could get their look to resemble hers. "People would come up to me and ask what I did to my hair," Monroe.

Chaka Khan and Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White studied with him. The globally influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) was co-founded by him. And generations of musicians drew inspiration from the pioneering work of Chicago composer and multi-instrumentalist Kelan.

Federal authorities have arrested and charged a 28-year-old man with kidnapping Yingying Zhang, a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois who disappeared three weeks ago and now is presumed dead. Brendt Christensen, a former Ph.D. candidate who had studied physics at the university, was.

Cub Scouts being kicked out of a campground in New Jersey may be the most visible sign of budget problems in American states, but New Jersey is far from alone in struggling to work out a spending plan. As the budget year started most places Saturday, 11 states did not have budgets in place, according.

The Des Moines River outside the right-field wall of Principal Park looked inviting to Kyle Schwarber as he took batting practice in his American flag gym shorts, the ones with Jon Lester's "NVRQT" logo embroidered on the front. But Schwarber was not in Iowa to work on his Schwarbombs. He was here.

A website that hosted an "Abduction 101" forum linked to a 28-year-old suspect in the kidnapping of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois bills itself as the most popular sexual fetish networking site on the internet — and it has faced pressure in recent months to be clearer about not.

The temptation for the Cubs to complain about their lack of All-Star representation was offset by the reality of better competition. That's what they said collectively Sunday after learning that closer Wade Davis — who wasn't a part of their 2016 World Series title team — was their lone selection.

CHAMPAIGN — When a promising young scholar went missing in a university town in the middle of America, it sent shockwaves throughout China, international students said Sunday. The June 9 disappearance of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Authorities said six people aboard a Cessna airplane were killed when it crashed in northern Wisconsin. The Price County sheriff's office said the airplane crashed at 3:21 a.m. Saturday near the city of Phillips. WSAW-TV reported that the crash victims were all adults, but no names have been released.

Before playing his former team this week at Wrigley Field for the first time as Cubs manager, Joe Maddon obliged when the Tampa Bay Times asked him to write a column reflecting on nine seasons leading the Rays. "For me, it was kind of like participating in baseball Camelot," Maddon wrote in an.

The Blackhawks needed to get under the NHL salary cap. To do so, they traded center Marcus Kruger to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, the team announced Sunday. In return the Hawks will receive "future considerations," which is one way of saying salary-cap space. The return isn't as consequential.

Talks between Republican and Democratic lawmakers aimed at striking a broad agreement to end the state's record budget impasse broke down Saturday, with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan abruptly announcing plans to call a vote on legislation to raise taxes. The move set up a Sunday showdown.

Cristie Kerr has a one-word explanation for why some LPGA players are so quick to switch caddies. "Hormones," she said. "Honestly. Women are moody. I'm moody. Sometimes when I wasn't playing well early in my career, I'd take it out on my caddies." Kerr figures she has gone through six or seven.

The young woman got as close as she could to the red SUV where two women were found shot to death in the Washington Park neighborhood Wednesday night.She got on her knees and yelled out, "That's my momma!"The South Side crime scene was quiet as she raised her right hand to her face and cried out.

In his latest jab at the media, President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted a mock video that shows him pummeling a man in a business suit — his face obscured by the CNN logo — outside a wrestling ring. It was not immediately clear who produced the brief video, which appears to be a doctored version.

Diane Hunter had just returned to her South Carolina home when she got a call from an old friend in Chicago. “Dee Dee,” the friend said, “do you know there was a shooting on the porch of your mama’s house?” Hunter’s mind immediately went to her younger brother, who lives at the family home on 57th.

Venus Williams, who is readying to make her 20th Wimbledon appearance on Monday, opened up about a fatal car crash she was involved in earlier this month that left a 78-year-old man dead. "I am devasted [sic] and heartbroken by this accident," she wrote on Facebook on Friday night, speaking of.

Three people have been wounded, one of them critically, in shootings since about noon Sunday in Chicago, according to police. In the Gage Park neighborhood, a 19-year-old man was shot in the stomach in the 5100 block of South Christiana Avenue about 2:15 p.m. according to a police media notification.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon made a confession Sunday regarding rookie Ian Happ's defensive ability. "Honestly, from spring training, seeing him at second base, I did not think it was going to work," Maddon fessed up. " I'll be the first one to tell you that. He's proven me absolutely wrong. He's done.

Property taxes on the climb. An income tax hike debated in Springfield. An unpopular soda tax in Cook County. Residents with their pockets inside-out in Chicago. It appears there's an awakening among Illinois voters. And it's about time, after decades of risky borrowing, faulty promises, weak-kneed.

A judge on Friday put Cook County's penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages on hold at least until July 12. It was set to go into effect Saturday. The ruling by Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak to grant a temporary restraining order came days after the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and.

A doctor who appears to have been the intended target of a former physician who started shooting at a New York hospital, killing one person and injuring six, said he has no idea why he would have been singled out. Dr. Kamran Ahmed told the New York Post he wasn't the only one Dr. Henry Bello had.

Authorities are asking for patience as they continue to investigate the mysterious death of a 17-month-old Joliet Township girl found dead under a couch in her family's home more than two months ago. Will County sheriff's investigators have no suspects in custody, and the Will County coroner's.

Navy Pier is preparing to light up the Chicago skyline with a fireworks extravaganza Tuesday that's part of its annual Independence Day celebration. It's the city's only official lakefront fireworks show and will feature a 15-minute display synchronized with patriotic music. Here's what you need.

There was no caravan of Volkswagen Microbuses parked in an empty field, but the devoted still found their way to the Dead & Company show at Wrigley Field on Friday evening. Exiting the CTA Red Line station in droves, Deadheads flooded Addison Street to prepare for a night of mellow jams. But even.

Will Caskey, a ride-sharing driver, said he often hears from passengers who say they dropped Uber because of concerns over the company's culture. Caskey has dropped Uber, too. A political consultant who drives for extra income, Caskey used to work for both Uber and and its smaller rival Lyft, both.

Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper. But before we run out of the essentials, let's finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally.