* Non-profits struggle as state delays funds

* IDOT to stop planting ash trees

* Giannoulias: Cap costs to death penalty fund

* Illinois treasurer proposes reforms in litigation fund

* Sweeps week at Illinois legislature

* Do we want to offer police protection only to candidates who can afford it?

* Freedom’s Watch Drops $150K Into IL-10

* GOP congressional hopeful explains donation to Democrat

* Ozinga defends Blagojevich donation, meeting

* GOP congressional candidate gave to Blagojevich

* Foster’s Playground

* Local lawmakers split on failed bailout

* Congress Plans for Next Step in Bailout Negotiations

* Oberweis on the bailout

* Vote On Bailout Plan Split Among Illinois Reps

* Bill to stop sale of EJ&E dies in House

* War in Afghanistan calls

The state is in the midst of its largest guard deployment since World War II, sending to Afghanistan one in every four citizen soldiers in the Illinois Guard.

* A reminder that police are heroes

Officer Taylor was 39. He had been on the force 14 years. He was, we are told, studious and ambitious, and he loved being a cop. He leaves behind a wife and young daughter.

Ask any cop and he or she will tell you — Officer Taylor’s widow and daughter are now family for life to the entire Chicago Police Department, kept close to the heart behind every badge. They will be welcomed to every police picnic, embraced at every police ceremony.

But, as they would be the first to add, it will never be enough.

All the kind words and all the warm embraces can never make up for the loss of one living husband, one living father.

And Chicago can never say thank you enough.

* City Paper Owner Files for Bankruptcy

* SPECIAL REPORT: Editors/Reporters Respond to Tribune Cuts

While the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune have earned the headlines in the Tribune shakeup, it’s the company’s other dailies, like The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and Florida’s Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, that are feeling some of the most significant effects.

* Wrigleyville bars agree to stop serving alcohol after 7th inning

Tunney noted that the Daley administration initially wanted the seventh-inning cutoff to apply to all playoff games, not just potential title clinchers. They also wanted to implement it without notice when the Cubs clinched the Central Division championship.

“At the beginning, they didn’t want to do anything [to compromise. But], we listened. We’re all interested in the same goal,” he said.

* Strolling 63rd Street

* Tactics for reducing bus gaps

* Ride the CTA? Now you can wear it too

* Voter Registration Drive Targets Homeless