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 ›

Quinn defended his decision Tuesday to go back on a deal struck with union representatives last year that would have protected state workers from layoffs during the current budget crisis. more ›

The Sun-Times pending printing plant layoffs leads a group of local companies handing out layoff notices. more ›

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said as only she can that layoffs will be a part of any effort to balance the county's $315 million budget deficit. more ›

Emanuel's decision to lay off city employees most likely intensified any tension between the city workers and the new mayor. more ›

Labor organizations were unable to meet Rahm's deadline to come up with a viable strategy to handle the debt, and it looks like more than 600 city employees will be seeing pink slips on Monday. more ›

Even though Illinois schools are still $1 billion in the hole, there are fewer districts on the Illinois State Board of Education's “financial watchlist” this year than last. While that may sound like better news, it comes with a price tag of more than 2,600 Illinois teachers out of work. The Sun Times reports that a state board “Reduction in Force Survey” showed more than 2,102 teaching jobs had been cut in Illinois, which doesn't include 554 teaching positions eliminated in Chicago last year. more ›

Last week, an agreement between BNSF railroad and a subcontractor used to hire Teamsters union members as hostlers to load the double-stacked shipping containers between trains and trucks expired. in the weeks leading up to the expiration, BNSF had been laying off those employees hired by the subcontractor. Now that there's no agreement in place, BNSF is able to fill these positions directly. Teamsters workers have been invited to reapply for their jobs but are facing a litany of excuses for not being hired, including being overweight. more ›

Whenever we talk about the budget mess here at home we always remind ourselves that it's worse elsewhere. Case in point: Gary, Indiana, which is set to hand out pink slips to 34 firefighters by tomorrow unless a federal grant comes through. more ›

Venus Zine, the Chicago-based magazine focusing on women in music, culture, fashion and the DIY scene, is ceasing print operations. Editor-in-chief sent out an e-mail acknowledging the move and her impending layoff, saying that finances are the reason behind the move. more ›

As a sign of the continuing difficulties transitioning out of the current economic recession, a handful of Chicago suburban communities are making deep cuts in their police departments to bring citywide costs down. Arguing that police department budgets are some of the highest around the city of Chicago, officials have reduced the number of police officers on duty all around. Prospect Heights recently laid off six police officers, and Naperville also let go of six police officers recently, right after its city council approved a new police union contract. Additional cuts are pending in places like Aurora, Arlington Heights, and Palatine. more ›

• 13-year-old Ronald Freeman, an incoming eighth grader at Oglesby Elementary School, was killed while riding his bike in West Pullman last night, shot 22 times by a gunman who police are continuing to search for.
• Convicted former police commander Jon Burge will continue to receive his pension until the moment he is sentenced.
• At the press conference where Mayor Daley took on Michigan, oil, and Asian Carp, it was also announced 225 “non-instructional” employees will be laid off from City Colleges.

Chicago Public Schools began their first round of layoffs this week, axing 400 teachers and 200 support staff. The layoffs are part of an attempt to close a $370 million budget gap. The Sun-Times reports this is the first of at least two rounds of layoffs, with the total number of people finding themselves out of job projected to be as high as 2,000. Budget talks are scheduled to begin Friday with CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union. CPS Chief Ron Huberman has said the layoffs might have been avoided if the CTU agreed to concessions, but CTU President Karen Lewis disagreed. Lewis pointed out that the 26,000 member union already took a hit via pension concessions and said that lawmakers in Springfield need to do a better job of paying their bills. more ›

• U.S. Rep. - and GOP U.S. Senate candidate - Mark Kirk opens up about the award kerfuffle.
• Stedman speaks and he doesn't think we appreciate Oprah.
• Another student bullied to suicide.

Omron Automotive Electrics Inc., is shifting production from its Toronto, Ontario plant to its St. Charles, Illinois plant, taking advantage of both the weaker U.S. dollar and the Illinois plant's proximity to GM and Ford plants. “Both our Canadian and St. Charles facilities have been operating at low capacity, so consolidation into just one made sense,” Omron’s Canada-based human resources director Dawn Hoffman told Crain's. “With the strong dollar here [in Canada], we’ve lost a ton of manufacturing in Canada. It makes it very difficult to produce here for export.” Omron will add 250 jobs to the 300 jobs already at the St. Charles plant. The semi-skilled positions, which are non-union, will pay between $12 and $15 an hour, plus benefits, and Omron plans to use temporary hires to fill the initial gaps in the local workforce. The Japanese-owned auto-parts company makes switches for electric seats and windows for GM and Ford vehicles. more ›

Facing a financial crisis that has spiraled out of control with a deficit potentially nearing $1 billion, the Chicago Public School system has announced another round of cuts. CPS chief Ron Huberman announced yesterday that there would be three more weeks of furlough days and 500 non-union job cuts in an effort to stave off a 2010-2011 deficit that is projected to reach $975 million. The projected budget shortfall for the CPS is $700 million but Gov. Quinn's new budget adds in an additional $275 million in cuts. Huberman is also asking the Chicago Teachers Union, due a four percent cost of living increase in wages next year ($169 million), for concessions as well as for pension reform and a delay in payments due to the pension. According to the Tribune: more ›

The CTA's train operators' union said the CTA issued a notice last night warning the union of impending layoffs in 2010. As Chicago Current reports, the notice was made in accordance with the WARN Act which requires employers to give employees 60 days notice of mass layoffs. Union president Robert Kelly told Chicago Current the CTA is planning to organize the layoffs based on seniority which violates the contract the CTA has with the union and that trying to circumvent that stipulation would be a waste of time and money: "I’ll wait til they go through the court systems and waste money, and when the court says no, you have to lay off with seniority — and seniority means the day you were hired — then they will have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars." more ›

• Another day, another bandit, this time a pair of robberies downtown by The Citibank Bandit.
• A strange story out of Minnesota where an airplane overshot it's destination by 150 miles because the pilots were engaged in a heated discussion.
• An Arlington Heights man has been arrested for stabbing his grandmother in an attempt to kill her. Why? "For not showing him respect."

• The Reader's resident investigative badasses, Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, do it again, explaining to us the city's shadow budget.
• The CTA wheels and deals on parking lots and vending machines to garner a little cash to close their budget hole.
• The sale of the Old Main Post Office is back on again.

With bus services slashed under the CTA's new budget proposal, CTA bus drivers made up a large chunk of around 2,000 CTA employees who received layoff notices in the mail. The jobs will be laid out over the next two months as the transit authority prepares for a budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. [Sun-Times] more ›

Sticking to his vow not to increase taxes to close next year's budget deficit, Mayor Daley announced on Monday a portion of his plan to save millions of dollars in city spending next year. That includes 24 furlough days for city non-union workers (that's five weeks off, the equivalent of a 10 percent pay cut), no cost of living increases and three reduced service days. “The economic recession that has plagued our nation for well over a year continues to affect most of Chicago working families,” Daley said at a City Hall news conference. “I understand that times are still tough for people and I don’t feel right asking them to pay for more city government right now,” he said. more ›

As Governor Quinn struggles to find ways to balance the state budget without help from the General Assembly, an unlikely duo of litigants have filed separate suits to stop cuts in state spending and further tax hikes. AFSCME, the largest public employee union in the state filed suit in Johnson County earlier this week to prevent the 2,600 layoffs that Quinn has threatened to impose if an agreement can't be reached the cut the state's payroll obligations. And Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new video poker law as well as liquor, candy and a menu of other tax increases set to take effect September 1. more ›

Chicago's Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold is predicting that the city's budget hole will be worse next year. This is after the city burns through a new $320 million "rainy day fund" created from the parking meter lease. Saffold predicted a deficit of upwards of half a billion dollars next year, citing declining tax revenue and increased wages, compared against a projected budget of $6 billion. (Is this the first time the city has engaged in long-range financial planning? Publicly, at least?) While raising taxes is a last resort, according to Saffold, "nothing is ruled out at this point," Saffold told the Tribune. "The mayor has instructed us not to look at property taxes as we move forward in 2010." more ›

As the city looks hard to close a budget hole of more than $300 million, Mayor Daley is announcing plans to furlough more than 2,000 non-union employees in the park district, the public schools, the city colleges, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Public Buildings Commission and the CTA. The unpaid days are expected to save the city $18 million. "We must continue to demand more from every employee and do more with less," Daley said at a press conference Tuesday. The bulk of the cuts will happen at the management level, affecting those earning around $90,000 a year or more. "Those savings demonstrate that we, starting at the top levels of governments in Chicago, understand the need to be part of the solution during these very, very difficult times," he said. Last month city hall laid off more than 400 city workers, after they refused to take overtime reductions and 15 unpiad furlough days. more ›

As the deadline passed for two holdout unions to agree to concessions with the City of Chicago, the Mayor announced over 400 layoffs of city workers Wednesday. "I don't want to lay anyone off. It could have been avoided," Daley said Wednesday. "I feel for the members and of course their families." Referring to the truck drivers, library and public health and safety employees that were laid off, he said that Teamsters Local 726 and AFSCME Council 31 "have failed to reach an agreement with the city to take unpaid furlough days for the rest of the year to help us address our budget deficit and of course save our taxpayers money." more ›

We mentioned it yesterday, but the numbers are in and they aren't pretty. In the first round of cuts meant to save money, the Chicago Public School System has cut 557 jobs. The cuts lower the CPS deficit by about $100 million, from $475 million to $375 million with even more cuts expected in the near future. According to the Sun-Times: more ›

• R.I.P. acting legend (and Chicago native) Karl Malden.
• Bail was denied for Harold Turner, the blogger from New Jersey currently in jail for threatening several Chicago-area judges over their upholding of Chicago's handgun ban.
• Layoffs began today at the Chicago Public Schools.

There are conflicting reports this morning that the game of chicken between the unions and Mayor Daley may be at an end. The Sun-Times is reporting this morning that the two sides are in the process of finalizing a two-year deal that will cut costs but save 1,504 city workers who had otherwise been selected for layoffs. Of course, as the Sun-Times points out, a two-year deal would conveniently carry through the aldermanic and mayoral elections of 2011. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon wouldn't discuss details, but did say, "There's a deal in the works." 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 ›

In an effort to balance next year’s budget, the Art Institute of Chicago is laying off 22 staff members, accounting for 3% of their workforce. The cuts are being made across the board, and take effect immediately; employees were notified on Thursday. more ›