A Minneapolis technology company has sued the city of Chicago for banning advertising inside the private cars used by Uber, Lyft and other ride-share company drivers.

Vugo, founded in 2015 and looking to expand its digital advertising business to ride-sharing vehicles here, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in Chicago, saying that the city’s ban on ads in and out of ride-share operators’ vehicles violates the company’s constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection. By contrast, ads are allowed in and on taxis.

Two Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday to ensure that state employees continue receiving paychecks even if a judge agrees with the state attorney general’s argument that their pay should be halted during the budget impasse.

Republican Rep. Avery Bourne of Raymond and Democratic Rep. Sue Scherer of Decatur introduced separate measures that would keep paychecks flowing in response to a motion filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan last week. Madigan asked a judge to reverse a previous court’s ruling that found withholding paychecks violates a provision in the Illinois Constitution requiring all contractual agreements to be honored.

Gov. Bruce Rauner sounded a bit more optimistic than he usually does about the prospect of a state budget being passed soon during a meeting with the Register Star Editorial Board today.

“The good news is that Senate leaders are trying to step forward” and craft a grand compromise that raises revenue while making budget cuts, he said.

Illinois Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, is introducing a bill that freezes cost of living adjustments, mileage and lodging reimbursement rates for legislators.

“Springfield politicians need a reminder that they represent the people of Illinois who pay for their perks,” Stuart said in the release. “I am proud to fight for freezes to legislators perks to hold politicians accountable to taxpayers, and save taxpayers money. That is why I am refusing to accept my legislative salary until a budget is in place and am rejecting a taxpayer-funded legislative pension.”

The longtime Cook County judge overseeing the first-degree murder case against Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke has talked tough on transparency.

At a recent hearing, Judge Vincent Gaughan scolded a city attorney for seeking to keep emails related to the high-profile case out of public view, suggesting that the move might violate the mayor’s pledge to be more open in the wake of the Laquan McDonald scandal.

O’Hare International Airport has long been a critical aviation hub and engine of economic growth for the city. But it now finds itself falling behind other U.S. airports in terms of passenger growth.

Negotiations are currently underway between the city and United and American Airlines, and other smaller airlines, over a new gate lease agreement that could determine O’Hare’s future development for a generation.

Discrimination lawsuits involving the Chicago Fire Department’s hiring and promotions have cost taxpayers nearly $92 million over the past nine years — easily outpacing all other major cities except New York.

Chicago police misconduct cases have been in the spotlight over the past few years, but the array of discrimination lawsuits aimed at the fire department — with a reputation for a macho culture that has long resisted diversity — is also rapidly burning through city cash, a Better Government Association analysis of city data shows.

Residential and commercial high-rises may soon start paying through the nose for violating Chicago’s 20-year-old recycling requirement thanks to tenants who have ratted them out.

The Department of Streets and Sanitation has received 130 complaints of noncompliance since the ordinance took effect Jan. 1.

Federal prosecutors probing Lincoln-Way High School District 210 issued another grand jury subpoena in December, this time for payment records to a lettering company tied to an employee who did private work for ex-Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, records show.

The subpoena, issued Dec. 21, asked for all records related to work done by Evans Custom Lettering from January 2005 to the present, including invoices, quotes, payments and communications. District officials this week confirmed that Evans Custom Lettering is connected to Tom Evans, a district employee who in 2013 acknowledged doing private side jobs for Wyllie.

State lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to register as organ donors when they receive their driver’s license or state identification card.

The proposal would give parents and legal guardians the authority to overturn their child’s decision until age 18.

Aiming to curb Chicago’s vacant lot epidemic, the Cook County Land Bank Authority has made more than 4,000 once tax-delinquent vacant lots available for sale.

The 4,437 properties are available in 22 community areas, primarily on Chicago’s West and South sides and in 12 west and south suburbs, for $3,000 to $5,000. Many of the lots have sat vacant for a decade or more, and are among 8,000 tax-delinquent properties the land bank aims to sell to local developers, not-for-profits, block clubs and community organizations to help revive neighborhoods hit by the foreclosure crisis and the decline of manufacturing.

Long-term diversification of economic development efforts in the Peoria region will blunt the long-term effects of the decision to move Caterpillar Inc. global headquarters to the Chicago area.

A cadre of elected and business officials pointed Thursday to already executed plans and programs currently underway as fundamental reasons why the moniker “Caterpillar global headquarters” is not the primary marketing tool to attract visitors and development.

The Quincy School Board ratified a one-year contract Thursday morning with the Quincy Federation of Teachers and Educational Support Personnel.

The pact, ratified two weeks ago by an “overwhelming majority” of QF members, provides employees a step — a pay increase based on years of service — and up to a 2 percent raise if the School District finishes the fiscal year with a surplus.

Before diving into politics, Gov. Bruce Rauner made his bones as a private equity investor. But the Republican said Thursday he earlier had been interested in bones of a different type.

During a visit to a Rockford elementary school, Rauner told students that his third-grade dream was to become an archaeologist.