Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said the city would hire more police officers next year, but a police department spokeswoman seemed to contradict the statement later. more ›

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made clear that the county government needs to make tough cuts to balance a $470 million budget deficit. County Assessor Joe Berrios has complied by laying off 53 workers from his department. But readers familiar with Berrios' records should not be surprised that his sister, son and daughter were not among those laid off. And Berrios found room in his department budget to hire a woman who's long been rumored to have more than a professional relationship with him, as well as her son. more ›

(Soon to be former) Cook County Board President Todd Stroger beat back an attempt by county commissioners to reign in his hiring authority, after the board failed to override his veto of a hiring freeze ordinance by two votes. The board voted 9 to 6 to override the veto, with one member voting present, even though the voted 16-1 in favor of the original hiring freeze. The failed veto override comes after an opinion from the state's attorney's office that found a hiring freeze would "result in an unconstitutional change in the form of government,” and therefore be unlikely to survive a legal challenge. more ›

Amid the hoopla over Carla Oglesby's alleged steering of a county contract to her PR firm, one voice has been absent in the local news: Carla Oglesby's. But no more! In an interview with ABC7 Chicago, Oglesby defended her work before the county. "I think working for President Stroger period is a political liability, how about that?" said Oglesby in defense of her work with the county. She says she sees nothing unethical about her business, CGC Communications, getting a contract worth $24,975 - $25 below the threshold of county board oversight. "You certainly can be working on a campaign or for any other client and be working for the county on a project. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and certainly nothing illegal about that," she told Ben Bradley. more ›

At the end of this year, Chicago could be short 800 cops compared to last year the police union told the Sun-Times. The shortage is attributed to vacancies, attrition rates, and Mayor Daley’s 2009 budget which has significantly slowed down hiring. Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis told the Sun-Times last week that the CPD hopes to use federal grant money to hire 150 new officers this year. In the short term Weis will manage the officer shortage by shifting officers from desk jobs, or pay officers overtime with federal grants to cover the streets this summer. more ›

According to a survey of local employers conducted by temporary employment service Manpower Inc, 14 percent said that they expect to add more workers during the third quarter of this year, from July through September. That's an increase from the 10 percent that employers said they expected to hire in the second quarter, from April through June. Furthermore, fewer employers said that they expected to cut their workforce in the third quarter, suggesting that the recent declines in the labor market may be slowing. The survey also showed that 12 percent of employers polled expect to reduce payrolls, compared with 14 percent who said they were cutting jobs in the prior quarter. 71 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels. The construction, financial services, professional and business services, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality services sectors showed the best prospects for growth, while durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, and wholesale and retail reported plans to cut jobs. more ›

Mayor Daley's public troubles grew yesterday as news emerged that the mayor has taken some 46 trips abroad in the last two years, 19 of them at taxpayer expense. The Sun-Times is reporting that "seven of the trips were fully or partially bankrolled by the Daley campaign fund, seven by the Chicago 2016 Olympic organizing committee, four by the Sister Cities program, three by World Business Chicago and two by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce." Two trips - to Washington, D.C. and Kona, Hawaii - were aboard a private jet owned by Educap, a nonprofit organization under federal fraud investigation. more ›

Blagojevitch lawyers Sam Adams, Jr. (left) and Ed Genson (right) confer while facing the state's impeachment committee. AP Photo/Seth Perlman