During yesterday's City Council budget hearing with the Law Department, department head Mara Georges said the City plans to ask for an end to the Shakman decree early next year. Georges claimed the city is in "substantial compliance" in regards to laws forbidding political hirings and firings and that the city is no longer involved in such corrupt practices. It would also mean the end of the road for the city's hiring monitor, Noelle Brennan, with whom the city has long feuded. As recently as this summer, Brennan suggested that there could still be as many as 50 city employees that need to be disciplined or counseled for political hiring abuses. According to the Trib: more ›

Mayor Daley's Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-Mckenna told the press yesterday that she would accept a one-day suspension for alleged hiring abuses related to a contractor in her department. The city inspector general recommended the suspension, as well as the firing of one of her deputies, who is accused of lying to investigators about the matter. “If that’s the recommendation, I’ll take the recommendation,” Malec-McKenna said Monday. more ›