The top cash cow is the light at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Lake Shore Drive which made the city $1.57 million in 2011. more ›

Chicago Public Library branches reopen Monday afternoons starting tomorrow, the man pulled from the Lake today has died, and other news. more ›

Gov. Quinn heads to Brazil, the state unemployment rate falls, and other news. more ›

A preview of Governor Quinn’s budget shows that he will attempt to avoid cutting education and health care, but there are still cuts to be made. more ›

Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper thinks the James R. Thompson at Clark and Randolph would be the perfect location for a casino in Chicago. more ›

Gov. Pat Quinn says the state will lay off more than 1,900 state workers and close seven state facilities to help close the $313 million budget shortfall. more ›

Although no big businesses have left our dear state of Illinois quite yet, that all might change in the near future. Heavy machinery giant Caterpillar, Inc. has been thinking about uprooting from its headquarters in Peoria, Illinois and seeking a home base elsewhere. more ›

The period of extending and pretending is finally coming to a close. The stimulus money has run out, government departments are being consolidated and the programs for the poor are first in line to be cut. Our legislators have been delaying the day of reckoning and it’s no surprise that it begins after the elections. more ›

• The family of the man whose decapitated body was found in Evanston yesterday believe he committed suicide.
• Mayor Daley: not a fan of Race To The Top.
• Toni Preckwinkle: not a fan of Forrest Claypool.

The expected personal income tax increase that Gov. Quinn proposed earlier this year was supposed to be increased from three percent to four percent. But it could actually increase to five percent budget director David Vaught said today: “We’re going to pass a tax increase in January,” Vaught said. “We expect it is going to be substantial.” Meanwhile, Quinn is also taking a hit in the polls which show GOP candidate Bill Brady with a lead. [via ChuffPo] more ›

• A Chicago Police Officer was killed in a shooting in Englewood late this afternoon as he tried to stop a crime. The shooter was also injured in the incident and is in custody. We'll have more information as it becomes available.
• Jerry Hobbs will remain in jail while prosecutors investigate his defense's claim that DNA results clear him of the 2005 murders of his daughter and one of her friends.
• The family of Ramiro Guevara, the teen shot and killed inside of the Logan Square club V-Live last fall, have filed lawsuit against the club because he was allowed into the club with a fake ID (he was 17).

It took a few months but Gov. Quinn finally got around to signing into law a bill intent on protecting bicyclists. The new law imposes stiffer penalties for the all-too-often occurrence of motorists exhibiting threatening behavior towards bicyclists. From a press release: more ›

Gov. Quinn signed into law yesterday anti-bullying legislation which expanded the state's bullying laws to include cyber-bullying as well as bullying that pertains to sexual orientation. Darren Reisberg, of the Illinois Board of Education, said that it gives the Board the authority to withhold financing from the school district if they don't feel particular concerns and specific incidents are being addressed: "We ultimately have the ability to come in and address the district's funding." Each school must also have gang-prevention training and the law also creates a 15-member bully-related task force. more ›

We awoke to rain and thunder yesterday morning and, for just a moment, we thought it might put a damper on yesterday's Pride parade. Luckily, though, by the time the parade stepped off, the rain had moved on and the skies cleared up for a gorgeous - if somewhat hot and humid - afternoon for a fantastic parade that featured country singer Chely Wright as grand marshal and the Stanley Cup as well as dozens of floats, creative costumes, politicians (save for GOP Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady), and a hell of a lot of fun. more ›

The deadline is approaching for Gov. Quinn to wrangle more votes for the $3.7 billion pension borrowing plan. The house passed the bill, but Senate President John Cullerton D-Chicago said he would not reconvene the senate without bipartisan support before the fiscal year ends on June 30. more ›

Legislators have scrambled for solutions over the state’s looming budget cuts. Gov. Quinn’s $55 billion budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would reduce the Illinois State Police force by nearly a quarter and close five of the 21 district offices. A bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly to increase revenue for the state police is sitting on Quinn’s desk. New fees paid by guilty defendants or those granted supervision for felony, traffic, misdemeanor or local ordinance violations is a partial revenue solution and could help prevent the cuts to many of the officers slated to be laid off. The proceeds will go directly to a new fund specifically for the Illinois State Police. “It will generate approximately $22 million a year,” Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica told Illinois Statehouse News. more ›

With the May 31 deadline looming to get a budget passed without a super-majority, the state House managed to pass a $4 billion borrowing plan to cover the state's five public employee pension plans. It took two votes to get the legislation passed as it fell one vote short of passage earlier Tuesday before being passed with the necessary 71 votes last night. The swing vote, according to the Tribune, turned out to be Rep. David Miller, D-Lynwood, who also happens to be running for state comptroller. Miller apparently had a change of heart after a pow-wow with House Speaker Mike Madigan and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie in Gov. Quinn's office in which Miller insists he wasn't promised anything in exchange for his vote, telling reporters after the vote, “You’ve got to do the mature thing which is to at least get us through this crisis, no matter how bad it is... At some point you have to do some soul searching about why you’re here in the first place." You can check out the voting breakdown here [PDF]; GOP Reps Bob Biggins and Bill Black voted with Dems on the plan. more ›

Oh, by the way, the state legislature adjourned over the weekend without a final state budget passed. With Gov. Quinn wanting that income tax increase and a $13 billion hole to fill, there's still work to be done, especially for Dems who have until May 31 to pass any budget. After that day, the legislature will require a super-majority (i.e., Republican support) to pass the budget. So when will the legislature reconvene? more ›

Yesterday, Governor Quinn’s office announced its “Put Illinois to Work” program will initially create more than 2,825 jobs, less than a week after its launch. The program provides subsidies for employers who hire unemployed workers that earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($2,428 a month for a household of two). Employers are encouraged to hire people for six months, where the goal is for an employee to learn marketable skills while supporting themselves and their families. If an employer keeps an employee longer, a tax credit will benefit the employer. Overall, the Governor hopes to create more than 15,000 jobs. more ›

Multiple plans to change the way districts in the state are re-drawn have fallen short of getting on the November ballot. more ›

Thousands descended on Springfield yesterday, rallying for higher taxes in the bizzaro Tea Party protest, under the name "Save Our State." The aim of the rally - comprised of over 200 groups including many unions - was to encourage state legislators to raise taxes to fill the state's $13 billion budget hole instead of depending on cuts to important sectors like education and social services. Gov. Quinn has proposed the one-percent point income tax hike from three percent to four percent as well as a slew of other tax hikes (including the infamous "iTax" we mentioned yesterday), none of which have caught on with anyone in Springfield. And none of them likely will, at least until after this November's big election, a sentiment expressed by members of both parties. State Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria). “What I’m hearing in the state Capitol is that it’s going to be pretty tough to see a tax increase before the November election. I think the earliest would be in the fall veto session.” More telling was state Rep. Raymond Poe (R-Springfield), who said, “We got a lot of things to do before guys like me would be interested, and once they do, then I’ll be interested in a temporary tax." more ›

Gov. Quinn celebrated Good Friday by issuing 147 pardons and allowing two people who had already been pardoned to seek expungement. None of the pardon recipients were in prison and most of the original sentences were probation. But the governor also denied 258 request for a pardon. more ›

• With all the hand-wringing over Scott Lee Cohen's replacement done, Simon & Quinn have kicked off their official campaign.
• There's been some controversy at the University of Chicago over a censored Facebook status that was declared a "death threat" by the university.
• With all the talk about red light cameras, Rajiv Shah, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication at UIC, has pinpointed the 11 city cameras that netted the city $2 million or more since 2007.

Gov. Quinn signed a bill today that shifts state primaries back a bit on the calendar. The primaries had been moved in 2007, allegedly to help out home-state then-candidate Barack Obama, according to CBS 2. But the more skeptical pundits suggested it was to help incumbents by assuring lower turnout, which certainly happened this year. Either way, the next time around - 2012 - the state primary will be March 3. Said Gov. Quinn via press release: "Having the general primary election in March will increase voter turnout and encourage the people to have a greater voice in the election process, which is what democracy is all about. It provides voters with more time to delve into the issues and to know the candidates who seek to represent them." more ›

As we mentioned yesterday, Illinois is on the verge of a big financial fail and has been for quite some time. Today, Governor Pat Quinn’s office launched a website to show the dire straits we’re in and ask the people of Illinois for help. According to the site, almost three-quarters of current spending goes towards education, health care and human services. The site reports that because those funds are sometimes tied to federal matching funds, cuts could mean more lost revenues. more ›

• A disturbing update to last week's NIU shooting.
• A Cook County judge rejected a motion by the Chicago Teachers Union to block the closing and consolidation of a pair of local schools.
• Tammy Duckworth has ever-so-politely withdrawn her name from consideration to run for Lt. Governor.

Yesterday, Governor Quinn signed into law a bill that regulates oversight for the state's cemeteries, a bill introduced in the wake of the horrific Burr Oak scandal. The Trib reports, "The new regulations will require cemetery owners, managers and customer-service employees to be licensed and undergo continuing education courses. Cemeteries will be required to keep burial maps, which will be stored in a database maintained by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation." State Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) said, "We cannot legislate morality, but as lawmakers ... it is our responsibility and our duty to ensure that those that provide services in this state operate under regulations, operate with oversight." more ›

• Once terrorism detainees are transferred to Thomson Correctional Center, the prison will also be the site of military commission trials.
• The Sun-Times suggests there's a rift between Todd Stroger and the Daleys, though Mayor Daley denied such a rift exists.
• Gov. Quinn went on the defensive over his decision to shut out WBEZ from investigating the state's juvenile prison system.

An announcement will be made later today that President Obama has given the go-ahead for the federal government to purchase the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois to hold federal inmates and some detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Gov. Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will be in Washington, D.C. today to meet with officials over details of the acquisition. Both have supported the move which they claim could create over 3,500 jobs. The Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, who indicated over the weekend this move was coming, reports: more ›

Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported on "MGT Push," a "program" of sorts that has allowed over 850 prisoners to be released early from prison. And in the wake of that report and outrage over it, Gov. Quinn suspended the program yesterday. The "MGT Push" program, according to notes obtained by the AP, is saving money by ignoring a policy that requires inmates to serve at least 61 days and is instead awarding them discretionary good-conduct credit as soon as they enter prison, which means some prisoners have enough good-conduct days to be released almost immediately. "MGT Push" is different than the early prisoner release program that Gov. Quinn announced earlier this year in an attempt to save money for the state's budget; plans finalized in September arranged for the release of 1,000 prisoners of which so far only 117 have been released. more ›