Opinion: Education, underfunded pensions, public safety – the list is virtually endless. But when the Legislature and the governor enact a budget, they have to make the numbers balance.

Here is the original transcript of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

Opinion: When supermajority Democrats recently passed a law requiring legal challenges to executive orders or new laws to be heard in just two of the state’s 102 counties, they said it was necessary to prevent “judge shopping.”

Opinion: As Illinois continues to wrestle with burgeoning costs of Medicaid for citizens and non-citizens alike, another struggle persists for the hospitals called on to serve them.Legislation presently simmering in a Senate committee seeks to help.

Opinion: Voters should vote for the board candidates of their choice based on their own instincts, not the governor’s vacuous smear tactics.

Opinion: Cash windfalls create opportunities and raise questions.Fired up by unanticipated revenue growth, Gov. JB Pritzker recently raised the possibility of tax cuts.Holy cow. It’s not even an election year.

Opinion: For every benefit there is a cost, and the question is, who pays?There are few activities politicians love more than handing out benefits that others must pay for.

Opinion: Consumer Reports’ well-read auto issue spends a lot of time exploring so-called range anxiety, the worry that consumers have about the battery life of an electric vehicle.

Opinion: Companies that use fossil fuels have come under pressure to address their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and climate change.