Alison McKenna

The "doomsday" budget with cuts of 50 percent in social programs didn't pass in Illinois--but those that did go through are still devastating.

Today is the day when a new fiscal year begins in Illinois--and the state government's "doomsday budget" could become a reality.

Marking the sixth year of the Iraq war, more than 1,000 people came out in Chicago to raise their voices on a range of issues.

Congress overrode a Bush veto to end a weeks-long fiasco in the Medicare program that threatened to cut payments to doctors by over 10 percent.