Cornelia Grumman

Fire up the bulldozers. Pass out the hard hats. Illinois may be in for its biggest public-works projects since FDR occupied the White House. Or at least since Dwight Eisenhower...

Diane Hirtzig's life now is contained in nine boxes stored on the floor of a friend's apartment. In them are a television set, a radio, a fan and a blanket...

After a year's worth of pilot programs, policy changes and new laws, the number of Illinois children in foster care recently reversed course and fell below 50,000--a landmark figure that...

By age 13, Kenny R. had packed enough trouble into his short life to make Illinois child welfare workers deem him dangerous enough to ship out to other states where...

Whether delivery truck drivers are owed a paid lunch hour might seem the sort of question for labor and management to thrash out and not state lawmakers. But almost any...

Rep. Ralph Capparelli is one generous guy, so big-hearted that over the last two years he shelled out $3,269 cash in wedding and anniversary gifts to 15 happy couples he...

Insiders refer to Mike Madigan's annual fundraising bash as the "Kiss the Ring" party--a ritual worthy of a Damon Runyon tale where high and mighty swells pay both cash and...

Jacque Shannon-McNulty wanted her first child to be born into a world that was familiar and full of family instead of foreign and cluttered with strangers. The 24-year-old mother-to-be, who...

One of the hottest items at Comdex-Las Vegas is not for sale: a 40-inch, flat-screen, thin computer/TV monitor. This is unfortunate for Sharp, the monitor's developer: In the past few...

The show's over at Comdex, and about 1,000 weary exhibitors are ready to pack up and go home. Away with the throbbing hip-hop bass at every booth, the overpriced food,...