The Evening Rush for Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Lawmakers work on pension legislation on the House floor Tuesday at the state Capitol in Springfield. | Seth Perlman/AP

Pension showdown

The battle over the pension plan continues this afternoon in Springfield. It’s a heated showdown between some very vocal critics and very vocal supporters. After several rounds of caucuses, committee hearings and some in-chamber action, we’ve still gotten nowhere. So follow along with our live updates as the drama continues to unfold. And then? Chicago could be next. [Sun-Times, Live blog]

CPR for ACA

In a speech today, President Barack Obama rolled out an initiative to breath new life into the Affordable Care Act as the website is brought up to full speed. [USA Today]

No more

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is setting up a task force to help break the city’s devastating cycle of domestic violence. [Sun-Times]

Grocer and conquer?

Mariano’s is looking to conquer Chicago and they’re starting with a handful of area Dominick’s stores. [Crain’s]

Bad communications

A federal report blames poor communication on the situation that resulted in the death of CFD’s Herbie Johnson last fall. [Sun-Times]

Detroit’s plan

A judge has ruled that Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy protection. [L.A. Times]

Some help

Sen. Dick Durbin is a big force behind a bill that would help ease repaying student loans. [Sun-Times]

Top notch

Chicago’s Chance The Rapper found his “Acid Rap” mixtape ranked No. 2 on SPIN’s annual best-of music list, behind another rapper with Chicago ties. [SPIN]

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Naperville wants to shut down cage fighting. [Sun-Times]

Demoted

The Bulls send Marcus Teague to the D-League. [ESPN]

Mr. November

Patrick Kane was the NHL’s first star for the month of November. Take THAT, Circus Trip. [Sun-Times]

The Bright One

Mark Brown weighs in on today’s hot topic: the pension crisis and the proposed bill to fix it. [Sun-Times]

Commute

Sudoku; Weather; Traffic; CTA; Metra; Flight delays

And finally

A lawsuit currently being debated in New York aims to give chimps “personhood.” As long as that means people are also allowed to behave like chimps, I’m all for it because eating grubs and sleeping all day sounds pretty great. [ABC News]