Riley O'Neil and Joe Dredge in the morning

I recently read a piece about comfort foods throughout the United States, and while the article gave lots of praise to what the south, the west, and even the east consider to be wonderful comfort foods, they didn't have many nice things to say about Midwestern comfort foods.

Not surprisingly, it costs more in Illinois to raise a child than in any of our neighboring Midwestern states.

Look, we all get it. They're creeping looking, they build ugly nests and attach them to your house, and they are capable of stinging you multiple times (unlike honey bees). However, Illinois' wasp population does more good than you might think they do, in spite of their looks, their houses, and their attitudes.

Sure, Illinois' gas taxes just went up, and yes, several other tax-hikes have kicked in, but having 4 Illinois cities with the highest property taxes in the nation makes it easier to understand why Illinois leads the Midwest in people looking to leave the state.

The home was finally sold back in December after nearly 13 years on the market, but now you've got the opportunity to spend some time there if you've got a dozen friends and some disposable income.

Call it bad timing or whatever else you want, Illinois' gas tax hike that goes into effect on July 1st is something you're going to feel if you're doing any traveling over the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Let's take a look at what a notable food website chose as Illinois' absolute best burgers, and while we're at it, we'll see what the top burger joints are in Illinois' neighboring states, too.