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Their place of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange as major financial players in Illinois might explain why some lawmakers wanted to give them a big tax break. A proposed bill would trim the futures exchanges' income tax rate on the bulk of their trades.

This is a huge news day. On huge news days, the task of ranking news stories becomes more difficult. So pay attention to what the local media chooses to be the lead stories.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle revealed the 2012 county budget Tuesday.

CANCUN, Mexico  — Authorities evacuated fishing communities and closed schools on Mexico's resort-studded Caribbean coast while some tourists began to leave as Hurricane Rina took aim at Cancun and the island of Cozumel on Wednesday.Hundreds of residents from the fishing town of Punta Allen, so

The great historical turns in the evolution of the city have been agriculture, industrialization, globalization and now, what has been called the “information revolution” in the last thirty years.

Closing arguments in the trial of William Cellini were scheduled to begin Tuesday. In some ways, Cellini’s case represented the end of an era in Illinois: His could very well be the last trial resulting from the federal investigation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Updated 10/25/11 at 12:26 p.m.Saying there's "nothing easy about this," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle officially unveiled a budget Tuesday that calls for tax increases, cuts to public safety departments and more than 1,000 layoffs to help close a projected $315 million budget