City employees who don't participate in the wellness plan will pay $50 more per month for health insurance. more ›

Among the mayor's more quixotic statements, his declaration yesterday that he is "leading the way" on ethics reform is at the top. At a press conference where he outlined his wishlist from state lawmakers (including more education funding, better gun control laws and property tax reform), he left out ethics reform. When asked why, he announced that Chicago is "more transparent than any other government." Said the mayor: "We've done everything here. We're leading the way with our inspector general, office of compliance, all the things we've done." Adding that "we're doing a tremendous job here, we lead by example," he noted that he hasn't finished reading Governor Pat Quinn's reform commission's recommendations. "I haven't completed reading it yet," he said. more ›

Mayor Daley's plan to enforce furlough days on nonunion city workers has been delayed indefinitely while some changes are made. The City Council balked at Daley's original plan and insisted, instead, that a sliding scale be implemented: the higher a worker's salary, the more furlough he or she has to take. Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) told the Sun-Times, "It would have been very difficult to pass without it. When you get to a certain level of income, the impact should be greater. We have to take that into consideration for those on the lower end of the pay scale." And while Daley seems to have agreed to make the concession, he wasn't happy about it, especially the suggestion that workers making under $35,000 should be exempt from furlough days altogether. more ›

Mayor Daley took issue with President Barack Obama's assessment of the economy yesterday, saying that he didn't see the "glimmers of hope" for an economic recovery that Obama does. "When you talk about a glimmer of hope, I don't know what that meant," Daley said. "I don't know where you see it. Maybe you see it in Washington, D.C., but I don't think you're seeing it across the country," he added. "I don't want to do it [layoffs]. But if next year, everything falls apart and the economy gets worse, what do we do? ... That's the problem," Mayor Grouchypants said. "I'm not trying to be a doomsday person. I'm just telling you the facts. ... Someone said, 'There's a glimmer of hope' [for the economy]. What is the glimmer of hope? Where is it? We don't see it. ... The recession could last for a few more years." more ›

Da Mayor giveth and Da Mayor taketh away. On the heels of finally showing his hand on plans for the city's stimulus money, Mayor Daley is back to huffing and puffing about the budget shortfall. Apparently tired of waiting on the unions to get back to him on an agreement, Daley will take out his budget rage on 3,500 nonunion employees who will have to take up to 16 unpaid days by December via furlough days and an elimination of sick and vacation days. Da Mayor's hoping by taking his frustration out on nonunion employees, he'll spur the unions to action. A mayoral aide told the Sun-Times, "We can't control the unions. But this is a piece we can control. We're facing a serious budget deficit. The unions will have to help us, or there will be layoffs." more ›