Illinois could finally see the resolution to one of the longest running labor disputes in the state’s history.

That’s the unresolved negotiations between the governor’s administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the labor union that represents by far the largest bloc of state workers.

The fight to be governor was brutal — but to what end for the winner?

During the recent gubernatorial campaign, incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner fought hard to keep his job while eventual winner — Democrat J.B. Pritzker — worked just as hard to take it away.

Billionaire Pritzker outspent multimillionaire Rauner, investing $170 million-plus of his own money in the effort to take the reins of the state’s executive branch of government.

When the unprecedented trial over an alleged cover-up by Chicago police in Laquan McDonald’s fatal shooting gets underway Tuesday, the spotlight will fall on a Cook County judge praised for her legal chops but unfamiliar to the pressure of handling a so-called heater case.

Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson, who will be sitting in judgment in what’s expected to be a weeklong bench trial, has more than a decade of experience but was only assigned her own courtroom a year and a half ago.

In an “historic” move that could trigger a transformation in how small suburban municipalities deliver emergency services, Calumet Park has outsourced its fire department to a private contractor in an effort to cut costs, village attorney Burt Odelson said.

The board voted unanimously Nov. 8 to approve a separation agreement with its firefighters union and to enter into a five-year contract with Kurtz Ambulance Service to provide fire suppression and ambulance services to the village, he said.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Wednesday continued to keep secret details in a report that preceded the firing of her security chief, releasing a heavily redacted document in response to a records request.

County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard last month found a county SUV used primarily by Preckwinkle security chief Delwin Gadlen was improperly used to transport political materials touting the board president and her allies. She then ordered a review of the detail’s practices, and the Chicago mayoral candidate’s administration released the initial results Wednesday in the form of a three-page document dated Oct. 26.

About two years ago, state environmental regulators announced a controversial move to close the last two vehicle emissions testing facilities in Chicago, along with two other testing sites in the suburbs.

Officials with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the closures stemmed from a new seven-year contract with the Chicago-based company Applus Technologies to conduct vehicle emission tests for the state starting in November 2016. The agreement, officials said, would save the state agency $100 million over the course of the contract, reducing the cost of each emissions test from $6.95 to $2.85.

Both Algonquin Township and its highway department have submitted proposals for next year’s property tax levies.

While the township hopes to keep the same $1.56 million levy officials requested last year, Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser has asked to reduced his department’s levy by about $67,000.

The Woodstock City Council extended tentative approval this week to provide economic incentives for two projects.

A business owner and a developer each have asked the City Council for money to help with developments in a proposed tax increment financing district – TIF No. 2. The district has not yet been enacted, and it is the subject of a recent debate among local taxing bodies and residents.

Mount Prospect village board members this week gave their taxpayers something for which to be thankful.

Trustees on Tuesday unanimously passed a $19 million levy that will lead to no increases in the village’s portion of residents’ property tax bills, officials say. The village accounts for about 11 percent of the typical homeowner’s property taxes.

Belleville city leaders have spent $737,000 to help kick-start two westside housing projects that have missed construction goals, including one development featuring homes and professional office buildings that was supposed to begin in 2016.

The original Parkway West proposal called for homes worth $500,000 to $1 million and office buildings near Belleville West High School off Frank Scott Parkway.