Mayor-elect Emanuel intensified his defense of Jean-Claude Brizard as his choice for CEO of Chicago Public Schools yesterday. Emanuel specifically said that a federal discrimination lawsuit filed against Brizard during his time as head of the Rochester Public School District doesn't shake his confidence in him, because former CPS CEO Arne Duncan (now Secretary of Education) faced a similar lawsuit. more ›

City Colleges of Chicago received approval today to use $1.8 million in tax increment financing to take over the financially beleaguered Harold Washington Cultural Center in Bronzeville. The center, built on the site of the former Regal Theater, has long been plagued with cost overruns and accusations of patronage, nepotism, mismanagement and possible violations of federal tax law. more ›

• Federal investigators on the Jon Burge torture case have widened their scope to include several of Burge's former colleagues.
• A new police unit on the West Side, led by commander James Roussell, has seen dramatic improvements in violent crime statistics. Roussell credits using a similar strategy he used against insurgents when fighting in Iraq as a Marine Reserve officer.
• State Representative Cynthia Soto is asking for a one-year moratorium on the closing and reorganizing of several Chicago-area schools.