A hiring settlement between the Cook County Forest Preserve and job seekers who said they were passed over for less-qualified, politically connected hires will cost taxpayers $555,772. more ›

Jerry Miller, who spent 25 years in prison for a rape that he did not commit, will receive a $6.3 million settlement from the City Council committee. Miller was convicted when a Chicago Police crime lab technician allegedly withheld important evidence, and he ended up being exonerated by DNA testing. In 1981, Miller--a 23-year-old cook with no criminal record--was "accused of kidnapping, raping, and robbing a 44-year-old woman in a Rush Street parking garage," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. more ›

• A City Council committee approved the $3 million settlement proposed for a woman who suffered a permanent brain injury in a crash stemming from a 2004 police chase (the car she was in was not part of the chase).
• The Tribune company has filed their bankruptcy reorganization plan but not everyone is happy about it.
• State business leaders are making a plea to keep locks on the the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal open - despite the threat of Asian Carp - for the sake of, well, business.

Lisa Hofstra, the nurse who was handcuffed because she refused to collect a blood sample from a suspected drunken driver and subsequently sued the City, has reached a settlement with the City for $78,000. more ›

According to the Tribune, a key city council committee approved a $700,000 settlement with two Southwest side men for alleged police brutality in the summer of 2008.

The settlement, set to be considered Wednesday by the full council, relates to a July 2008 early morning incident at the Southwest Side home of Gustavo Arreola and his son, Juan-Carlos Arreola. more ›

RC2 Corporation, the Oak Brook-based maker and marketer of Thomas & Friends wooden train toys, has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civil penalty in a settlement reached Monday with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission. The CPSC charged that RC2 had "knowingly" imported and sold Chinese-made toys with paints and surface coatings that contained excessive lead levels in violation of the federal lead paint ban. While the CPSC said it was the second largest penalty even imposed against a toymaker, RC2 denied that it had knowingly violated the federal lead paint ban. "All similar products that RC2 markets today meet or exceed not only safety standards set by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, but toy safety standards worldwide," the company said in a statement. "Toy safety is our top priority at RC2, and we have a comprehensive testing program in place that creates a strong protective barrier to provide parents added comfort and assure continued full compliance with product safety standards around the globe." more ›

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit against the CTA yesterday alleging the transit agency was infringing upon their first amendment rights by refusing to display ads for "mature audience" video games. Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, said in a statement: more ›

The Chicago City Council voted 35-4 yesterday to award a $2.5 million to the family of Juan Salazar (pictured left), a 14-year-old shot and killed by Rafael Balbontin (pictured right), an off-duty police officer in 2002. The Council reasoned it was less than would be awarded if the case went before a jury. But here's the first thing that makes this strange: Salazar was shot during a home invasion of Balbontin's parents' home.

Officer Rafael Balbontin was in the basement of his parents' Northwest Side home when two men wearing yellow ponchos and masks and armed with a pellet gun knocked on the door and forced their way into the house. more ›