Extra, Extra

• Illinois budgets are in trouble all over -- at a meeting with legislative leaders late Tuesday, Gov. Blagojevich warned that unless a budget deal is reached, state government could shut down next month.
• Selling sex toys on the side and earning a $64,000 salary wasn't enough. Karen Bailey, a top assistant to Cook County Commissioner Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, faces felony charges for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from an 87-year-old woman, prosecutors and police said Tuesday.
• The janitors still have their jobs over at Oak Forest Hospital. Faced with their first hard choice in implementing Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's cost-cutting budget, commissioners put the issue aside for now.
• The state legislature is making a push to increase competition in the cable television market with legislation that promises if your cable technician doesn't show up within a four hour period, you'll automatically gets a $25 account credit. Also, companies would have to devote a large portion of their new systems to low-income neighborhoods.
• The faint sound of disappointed groans were heard in the halls of Gurrie Middle School Tuesday, as the winner was announced for a drum cymbal signed by the award-winning rock band My Chemical Romance. (They were groaning because they didn't win.)
• What was first thought to have been a runaway escapade last Thursday on the South Side may have turned into an abduction miles away on the city's far West Side.
• Daley's not the only one on the anti-gun stance -- Rev. Jesse Jackson is urging lawmakers to ban semi-automatic weapons. His call to action came during the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's annual conference in Chicago.
• DePaul University broke ground on its second new science building in 10 years, as part of an effort to put new emphasis on the sciences.
• The Illini aren't going to get the Chief back through the courts -- a Champaign County circuit judge on Tuesday dismissed two lawsuits that alleged that the University of Illinois broke state law when it eliminated its Chief Illiniwek mascot.

"Lonely Balloon" by kookybites