Patrice Bedford had never questioned raising her baby in Chicago.

But on a springtime stroll during the first trimester of her pregnancy last year, a heightened sense of smell — piqued by pungent neighborhood odors — made her view the city differently.

Could a formal bankruptcy proceeding for the State of Illinois be the answer to it’s fiscal crisis? If you think that’s out of the question, as many do, you’re wrong. On the contrary, though Congress isn’t working on it now, the option is quite viable, though subject to obstacles and open issues. The question is certain to gain growing national attention as a number of states sink further into insolvency, so it’s time to get up to speed. I have yet to see a single Illinois politician or reporter raise the question, but plenty of others outside the state are talking about it for Illinois. More on that later.

This article summarizes the basic issues.

Lawmakers are proposing to legalize recreational marijuana in Illinois but say the legislation probably won’t come up for a vote until next year.

Sponsors on Wednesday introduced bills that would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess, grow and buy limited amounts of marijuana.

Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to replace guards in watchtowers with closed-circuit cameras at nearly two dozen lower-security Illinois prisons, an effort to cut expenses for a cash-strapped state that has gone two years without a budget.

The administration is projecting $4 million in annual savings through reduced overtime pay and “more efficient management strategies,” Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis told The Associated Press.

State agencies under Gov. Bruce Rauner are being told to decide if vacant positions can be moved to Sangamon County as part of the process to fill the jobs.

A memo was issued by the Department of Central Management Services Wednesday that outlines the procedures needed for agencies to transfer jobs – either vacant or currently occupied – to the state capital.

An Illinois House committee on Wednesday approved a bill to improve staffing levels at nursing homes and make it harder for long-term care centers to “dump” troublesome patients at hospitals.

“Residents and family members are scared, confused and quite frankly baffled by the current system that clearly provides an advantage to the facilities,” Illinois long-term care ombudsman Jamie Freschi told the House Human Services Committee.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s latest effort to upgrade her office’s out-of-date computer system stalled Wednesday after one County Board commissioner accused her office of “a number of potential half-truths.”

Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, urged his colleagues to delay consideration of a $36.5 million contract to upgrade to the electronic case-management system. In doing so, he referred to a PowerPoint presentation from Brown’s office backing the proposed four-year contract with Plano, Texas-based Tyler Technologies.

Chicago Public Schools’ CEO Forrest Claypool lashed back at Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday, saying the governor’s recent assertion that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was causing a crisis at the school district was “a statement of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ absurdity.”

“The governor is not holding up school funding for predominantly white school districts in the rest of the state in order to achieve his political agenda, he is not holding them hostage — he is only holding hostage our students,” Claypool said.

As the stalemate over Chicago Public Schools funding persists, Wednesday’s CPS board meeting saw more rhetoric, with the school district and the state continuing to lay blame at each other’s feet.

“Yesterday, Governor [Bruce] Rauner, in a statement of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ absurdity, blamed the city for the immediate financial crisis that threatens to close our school doors early,” CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said.

Sometime politician, businessman and gospel television host Willie Wilson says he’ll open his checkbook again, this time for Chicago-area homeowners in danger of losing their property in a county tax sale next month.

Wilson, who rose from poverty to own McDonald’s franchises and a multimillion-dollar plastic glove distribution business, is donating $150,000 for the creation of a property tax relief fund with the Cook County Treasurer’s office. That money, along with a $5,000 donation from Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, will be given out as interest-free loans to home owners trying to pay off property tax debts ahead of the Cook County property tax sale April 3.

Is there such a thing as doing your job too well or producing too much volume with too much zeal? Apparently so, if your job is to write Chicago parking tickets.

A parking enforcement aide has been yanked out of a Far Northwest Side ward after the office of Ald. Marge Laurino (39th) fielded a barrage of complaints about over-the-top ticketing.

President Donald Trump’s preliminary proposed fiscal 2018 federal spending plan may be the “skinny budget,” to use Washington lingo. But there’s nothing skinny about the reaction of local officials so far. They’re horrified.

Though local bean counters still are tallying up the score, the city of Chicago says the plan would cost it at least $100 million a year plus close to that in heating assistance funds that are distributed throughout the state.

The interminable waits for teenage cashiers in Chicago grocery stores to track down managers to drag a six-pack of beer across the scanner could become rarer under a City Council plan to let 18-to-20-year-olds sell alcohol at some businesses.

The proposal would allow the younger liquor servers in restaurants and at grocery stores. But the minimum selling age of 21 would remain in bars, liquor stores, sports stadiums, convenience stores smaller than 10,000 square feet and any business with a “late night” license that allows it to stay open past 2 a.m.

Fox River Grove trustees recently approved a $250 million plan to redevelop part of the village’s downtown.

The first round of Caterpillar Inc. executives and support staff will move to a new global headquarters in the Chicago area in the fall, with more to follow over the next year and a half.

That’s the timeframe Amy Campbell, director of investor relations, revealed Wednesday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials & EU Autos Conference in London.

The day after Metamora Grade School’s carnival last week, hallways were still awash in the bright colors of student art work posted on the walls. Along with the school’s regular art program, the art teacher organizes parents to give monthly art lessons.

“It’s one of those programs we hope would not be eliminated if we have to make cuts,” says Wendy Vogel, a kindergarten teacher who has been a driving force behind the grade school district’s efforts to get out of debt.

The city council unanimously approved a collective bargaining agreement Tuesday that will bring raises to union workers.

The deal between the city and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Local 1960 calls for 3 percent pay increases in fiscal 2016 and 2017 and a 1.5 percent increase in fiscal 2018, according to a report from city human-resources director Jason Hood.

Sales taxes will be lower in four Northeast Missouri counties starting in August after the local share of construction work on U.S. 36 is paid off.

“We are thrilled that we can repeal this sales tax some three and a half years early, and we want to thank the voters of the four-county district for supporting this safety project,” said Larry Craig, executive director of the Interstate 72 Corridor Transportation Development District.