Mayor Lori Lightfoot describes her upcoming 100-day mark as a “Hallmark holiday”—a contrived event and early benchmark in the mayoral career of Chicago’s new chief.

By any account, her biggest challenges still lie ahead: settling contracts with teachers and police, tackling this year’s $750 million-plus budget deficit, meeting the city’s growing pension obligations, reducing violence and attracting investment to downtown and the city’s neighborhoods.

Before Illinoisans can start putting dollars down on sports contests, state regulators want their two cents on how to roll out the newly legitimized world of sports betting.

The Illinois Gaming Board on Tuesday opened a month-long public comment period seeking input from the sports-wagering industry and any “other stakeholders,” including the regular Joes and Janes who still are jonesing for sportsbooks to launch two months and counting since Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a sweeping gambling expansion into law.

If you’re a senior and you own a home, a new state law makes it a little easier for you to collect an often-overlooked property tax break that easily can run to hundreds of dollars a  year.

Under a measure signed yesterday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Senior Citizen Homestead Exemption will be automatically renewed each year after once granted.  That means people no longer will have to reapply every year, something that can be forgotten amid other daily concerns.

Cook County’s public health system expects to provide an estimated $544 million in medical care this year that it won’t get paid for — the highest amount in at least six years.

The outcry from county leaders has been consistent for years: This tab is unsustainable.

A nearly 43,000-square-foot grocery store is on its way to the former Babies R Us site on Golf Road in Schaumburg after winning village trustees’ approval Tuesday — even though the store’s name or corporate identity wasn’t revealed to them.

But will the new business be more interesting to shoppers or less once its air of mystery has been shed?

The discussion about how Peoria County will tax, zone or otherwise deal with recreational marijuana began Tuesday with a brief discussion at one of the board’s subcommittees.

Board members got an update on the possible ramifications of the new law from County Administrator Scott Sorrel, who noted the measure could bring in additional revenue to the county’s coffers as recreational pot can be taxed at a rate of 3 percent. He also noted there were possible zoning issues that had to be dealt with as well as the overall ramifications of whether the board wanted to allow marijuana to be legal within the unincorporated areas.

A legal dispute between two Madison County officials that cost the county $100,000 in legal bills has come to a close.

County board members voted at a recent meeting to agree to a settlement between Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler and Auditor Rick Faccin, ending a disagreement over access to county financial records that ultimately led to a lawsuit.