Mayor Daley sure is busy. Or at least chatty. Yesterday Mayor Daley said he asked the Cook County Board of Review to reopen the appeals process for a special two-week period, March 17-31, for homeowners who feel that their property tax has been assessed too high as a result of the downturn in the housing market. The City has given the board of review data about which areas have seen declining home values, and it......

The Cook County Board of Commissioners had a contentious meeting yesterday as they tried to resolve a looming budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. The board must pass a budget by Feb 29 or face a partial shut down of the county government. Board President Todd Stroger has been trying to convince county commissioners and the public that unless the county sales tax is raised to two percent from its current 0.75 percent, county health......

According to a new Sun-Times analysis of last Tuesday's county-wide primary races, those candidates that attempted character assassination of their rivals by associating them with unpopular Cook County Board President Todd Stroger lost, almost across the board. Stroger's approval ratings are basically in the same territory as President Bush's—somewhere between rock bottom and Herbert Hoover—so the prevailing logic was that if you could associate a candidate with Stroger, it would be like transferring his unpopularity......

It wasn't all about roasting pigs out in the 'burbs this week: An Aurora couple (pictured above) was busted for running a prostitution ring on Craigslist, which included offering up the services of a 17-year-old runaway from Wisconsin. It looks like the GOP chairman in Will County liked our drunken election night idea. But we said nothing about drinking and driving, sir! Let's drink and vote responsibly, people. Steger school administrators dyed their hair......

One of the more contentious races in Tuesday's election is at the Cook County Board of Review, where incumbent Joe Berrios is facing a stiff challenge in trial lawyer Jay Paul Deratany. For many homeowners throughout Cook County, the Board of Review is their best chance at finding relief from both the monster property tax increases proposed by Mayor Daley and the County Board and the skyrocketing assessments of County Assessor Jim Houlihan. The......

Just days after the death of his father, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has indicated that he may agree to give control of the county hospitals to an independent agency. Stroger's chief of staff Lance Tyson told Crain's Chicago Business "the intent is to take health services for the poor out of the sphere of politics and put it into a sphere of greater business expertise." The proposal to turn the county's health care......

Former Cook County Board President John Stroger has died, Mayor Daley announced this morning. He was 78. Born in Arkansas, Stroger moved to Chicago in 1953 and was named Democratic committeeman of the 8th Ward in 1968. He was elected to the Cook County board in 1970, and was elected board president in 1990. He never fully recovered from the stroke he suffered in March 2006 and officially retired in July of that year; his......

In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's......

We're not very good at this rah-rah patriotism stuff sometimes. Especially when it seems like there's so very little to be patriotic about. Day in and day out, we're bombarded with information about our dysfunctional County Board, our crumbling mass-transit system, a stumbling economy, a dismal federal government and a long-term embroilment in a far-away sandbox, so on and so forth, fill in your own blank here: _________________ So when we take these few yearly......

Don't settle for another Wednesday of Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl and Girl Scout cookies that have been in the freezer for months (not ... that ... we do that ...). There's a shitton of stuff going on tonight! PostSecret's Frank Warren will be at the UIC Barbara's Bookstore tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a reading/signing/Q&A about the newest PS book, A Lifetime of Secrets. Please, someone ask him how he feels about lolsecretz. The Cook......

Crook County Board President Todd Stroger unveiled his $3.2 billion budget Wednesday. Stroger has struggled to give the appearance that his government is small and fiscally responsible, eliminating about 735 positions over the last three fiscal years, and reducing 1,800 positions from this year's budget. Now he claims that bringing the county's tax take to $888 million by 2009 — by tripling the county sales tax and doubling gas and parking taxes — is necessary......

Amid criticism and sermons, the Cook County Board voted 9-7 this afternoon to defer until mid-October any further action on theproposed two percent sales tax increase. So while the tax hike isn't off the table yet, the deadline for first-quarter tax increases was today under state law — which means any increase that may happen won't take effect until April 1, 2008, at the earliest. (The county's fiscal year ends November 30.) County Commissioner Roberto......

SHOOTING: Two homeless men shot in a 24 hour span in Uptown -- they appear to be unrelated. In more shooting news (why is there so much?!): Police have two "persons of interest" in custody Sunday morning after two teenagers were shot in a playlot on the South Side in the Woodlawn neighborhood, blocks from the University of Chicago campus. TRAINS: Our dear friend warns us: This is why you NEVER put headphones in......

Bill Clinton was in town today to sign books at Borders on North Michigan. A woman arrested for battery of an off-duty police officer claims that the arresting officer offered the cop filing the complaint a "free shot" while she was cuffed in the squad car. She also claims that the next day she was pulled over as a joke and let go. What is he smoking? Cook County Board President Todd Stroger says......

Chicagoist is a big fan of alternative sports. No we are not talking about underwater hockey but sports that are popular around the world that have just-under-the-mainstream-radar following here in Chicago. We're talking Gaelic Football, Rugby, and Australian Football. Chicagoist was excited to see there are some great alternative sporting events heading to town in the coming month. This weekend, Chicago United Australian Football Club is hosting the Nashville Kangaroos in a Mid-America Australian Football......

Hell may freeze over yet. After all of daddy John’s efforts to demolish old Cook County General Hospital, Todd Stroger’s leading the charge to renovate the beast. The Toddler plans to make it an agenda at next week’s County Board meeting. Preservation and renovation carry a price tag of roughly $140 million. For now, the plan is to turn the 93-year-old structure into medical office space, libraries, a day-care center and, if there’s any space......

There's no love lost here between Chicagoist and Cook County government. In fact, not only has Todd Stroger (as well as the other comedians that pass for "Commissioners" on the county board) been a target for our anger, frustration, and disappointment, they've been fodder for our ridicule and a symbol of what's wrong with local government here. Looking back at the news from last week, we've been following the story of Sally Lemke, the nurse......

Modest hero saves toddler and brushes off praise after locating boy, and putting his own air mask on him. The family of a missing Plainfield woman hopes two billboards to be unveiled Tuesday in that community, asking "Where is Lisa Stebic?" will help generate new tips. Somebody's lovin' it. McDonald's turns some heads by sponsoring a music tour featuring Chicago's Twista, a rapper whose raunchy lyrics have been identified by a billboard campaign decrying......

Remember when all the county hacks on the payroll were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, crying about how Forrest Claypool was going to destroy Cook County by laying off everybody? Remember when progressives and reformers were begging people to vote for Tony Peraica and all the DINO pork-choppers were saying that he was Ronald Reagan reincarnated, hell-bent on destroying the social safety net of Cook County? We hate to say we......

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......

Although the week is shorter, that doesn't mean that there hasn't been political news out there to round up! This week, we're making a special dedication to Chicagoist's favorite bad guy, the man that makes us the national butt of every political joke in town, the guy that represents everything that is wrong with our local political system, Todd "The Toddler" Stroger. Without further ado, let's take a gander at his follies and foibles, and......

Vito Zaccaro was working at Cook County ... that is Stroger Hospital as a Cook County Sheriff's officer when the inmate he was guarding pulled a shank on him, stabbed him in the neck and wrestled with him for his gun. Losing blood from his neck, he retained control of his weapon, and chased down Willis Reese in his attempt to escape. Now, two months later, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's office has denied......

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn...

That Todd Stroger. He makes being Cook County Board President seem easy. When he isn't slashing budgets, trying to hand out no-bid contracts to his mobbed-up friends, and devastating the already minimal social safety net that the county has set up for the most vulnerable residents, he's running late to an endorsement session held by black ministers or trying to get family members cushy jobs on the county payroll. And this week was no exception.......

It's been another spring week of wacky weather here in in the Windy City. And just like the sunshine, our elected leaders have been coming out to shine. Let's take a look back at some of the more notable events thus far: Black Business Group Doesn't Like Blago's Tax Plan. The Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), a group representing African-American businesses has reviewed the governor's proposed budget plan, and they've given it what......

Late last month the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to disband the Stroger Hospital Police Department, in response to allegations of abuse and unnecessary roughness. You may remember back in September when three Stroger Hospital police officers were accused of pulling a 77-year-old man from his car and beating him in front of the medical center. And last month Sun-Times reporter Steve Patterson was "roughed up and manhandled" by that same police force as......

Mike Quigley would have you believe that he supports good government for Cook County. He came into office in 1998, the lone reformer on the bloated and corrupt board. By his second term, he found brotherhood: joining forces with Forrest Claypool, Larry Suffriden, and Tony Peraica, they managed to form an alliance and win some victories against John Stroger's Machine. In 2005 he threw his hat in the ring to challenge the former County Board......

Sorry, Chicago, no Troutman news on this weekend's blotter. But there's always next week, right? An 84-year-old man was charged with killing his 89-year-old wife early Saturday morning in Englewood. The couple were engaged in a domestic dispute shortly after midnight when Betty Smith, who had Alzheimer's disease, threw a picture frame at her husband, Charles. He then allegedly shot in her in face. Police say the two had been arguing more lately due to......

No doubt you've heard of NIMBYism - that "not in my back yard" philosophy that causes concerned communities to turn away that which is controversial enough to have been turned away elsewhere. The concern in question could be anything from nuclear power to adult entertainment. In suburban Lisle's case, it's a proposed shelter for immigrant children. Heartland Alliance Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the impoverished, wants to convert a 2.5-acre estate near Naperville......

Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool...