Governor Bruce Rauner's refusal to compromise and agree to a state budget is tearing at the fabric of our state's human service and higher education infrastructure. Families, children, students and seniors are suffering.

Here's the spots serving up the funnest fare that you can enjoy on any splurge day, not just when the munchies hit.

Creating resilient communities, providing the resources that can take conflict out of isolation and put it into a constructive context, strike me as a crucial step in our social evolution.

Songquan Deng via Getty Images

Spring is finally here in Chicago, and while I'm still waiting for it to keep warming up a bit more so I can pack away my coats, I am thrilled to say goodbye to winter. Luckily the move is coinciding with spring and we will be able to fully enjoy the warm weather downtown this year!

Popartic via Getty Images

Today we recognize Equal Pay Day, a day that symbolically represents when a woman's wage finally catches up to what a man was paid in the previous year. Despite often being equally qualified, a man's pay outpaces a woman's by 79 cents for every dollar.

Will we ever see the day when it's not unusual to see men of color as a part of high society without thinking they were part of some affirmative action program? Time will tell and God-willing we will see the day.

manley099 via Getty Images

Would someone who gave vital information to police stand more to gain, or more to lose? And if the bad guys should come for them, masked and under the cover of night, which of us could they then call? Would the cavalry arrive too late, if at all?