* Ameren customers urged to take action against rate hike

* ‘It’s greed’: Groups want to stop Ameren rate hikes

* Madigan wants state to drop security firm

llinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is calling on the state health department to cancel its contract with VIP Security & Detective Services, citing a Chicago Sun-Times report that raised questions about the firm’s nursing home safety deal….Madigan described a State Police takeover as ideal.

* Jim Warren resigns as Reader publisher

Mr. Warren said in an interview that his resignation was effective today and that Alison Draper, who last month became Creative Loafing’s chief sales executive based in Chicago, will now be interim publisher at the Reader. While he acknowledged “differences” with Ms. Petty, he said there was nothing unusual about the transition.

* Mostly smooth transition following [Bank of Illinois]’s failure

* Survey finds more Peoria employers plan to add jobs

The survey showed that 21 percent of the employers interviewed expect to add to their payroll during the second quarter, April through June, while only 6 percent said they will likely reduce employment. Another 70 percent expect to maintain current levels, and 3 percent are uncertain.

The next employment outlook of 15 percent for the quarter is well above the 5 percent outlook from a year earlier, when 19 percent of the employers interviewed said they would add staff and 14 percent said they would cut staff, with 63 percent maintaining then-current levels and the rest uncertain.

* Dick Simpson back in saddle as protests grow over state budget cuts

“It seems like old times,” quipped Dick Simpson, who, as 44th Ward alderman from 1971-79, once railed against misdeeds by Mayor Richard J. Daley. He’s now chairman of the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Gov. Pat Quinn’s threatened 15% cut in spending on higher education in fiscal 2011 literally will leave students unable to get the classes they need, Mr. Simpson charged, with 150 students to lose slots in poly sci classes alone due to professor layoffs and cutbacks.

* Architect who designed Willis Tower, John Hancock dies

* City Council stealth payroll criticized

Fund that has helped aldermen’s friends, relatives and political operatives appears to violate ban on political hiring, court monitor says

* Aldermen discuss who inspector general should report to

* New construction projects to begin in Chicago

The 53-year-old Congress bridge over the south branch of the Chicago River is about to get a well-needed face lift. Beginning April 1, dot will close the eastbound side for repairs and shift traffic to the westbound side….

At the same time IDOT begins the Congress bridge project, CDOT will begin the three-year reconstruction of upper and lower Wacker from Randolph to Congress.

This year, crews will be doing utility work on Lower Wacker, which will be open for local traffic only. The ramps to and from Lower Wacker and the Eisenhower will close April 1st for the duration of the project. This could create more congestion on Upper Wacker.

* Downsizing jail not guaranteed to save money

* Fines, Safety at Odds Where Chicago Has Red Light Camera Intersections

A study conducted by Texas A & M University found that adding one second of yellow decreases crashes 35 to 40 percent and violations by 60 percent. But Brian Steele, Chicago Department of Transportation director of communications, said he envisions more crashes if the city were to add an extra second of yellow at its intersections.

* Cook County, U Of C Explore Partnership

The collaboration could bring university doctors to Cook County’s Provident Hospital in Chicago where they would work alongside county providers.

* Grandson of Ex-Cook Co. Commissioner Fatally Shot

Bowen, who was in the Navy but was recently unemployed, is the grandson of Charles Bowen, who served a four-year term on the county board in the early 1980s. Charles Bowen, 76, later spent more than 15 years as Mayor Daley’s chief liaison to black ministers before retiring.

* Tribune: On to college…

Every one of the 107 students in Urban Prep’s first senior class has been accepted to a four-year college.

That’s a remarkable achievement, especially considering that the overall college acceptance rate for Chicago public school graduates is 52.5 percent. And that number doesn’t include the many students who start high school but don’t finish it.

* Two D204 schools could enter new program

* New Dist. 203 contract calls for freeze, then 2 raises

* Geneva schools forced to cut $1.4 million

* District 300 board lays off more than 100

* [Round Lake] School Board looks at $4 million in cuts

* Harlem School Board to cut programs, about 120 jobs

* Moline school board OKs $3.5 million in cuts

* District 205 cuts 78 staff

* District 150 approves staff reorganization

* Foreclosures continue high in Kendall

Foreclosures jumped by 87 percent in Kendall County from 2008 to 2009, and it appears there is no break yet early in 2010.

* Suburban taxpayers angry about pancake house bailout

[Country Club Hills] voted to pay the restaurant’s overdue $7,200 electric bill.

* East Dundee’s budget in the black

* Pingree Grove looks to plug budget deficit

* Some Elgin managers could see pay bumps

* [Rockford] resurfacing projects wait to make cut for IDOT funds

* Will brick streets survive in Moline?

Some of the city’s historic preservationists hope the council will delay such a decision so they can find options to help with upkeep of the streets.

The proposed amendment to the city’s brick street ordinance would require residents living on those streets to help pay for repairing them.

* [Quincy] City Council OKs accepting nearly $700,000 in rehabilitation grants

* [Quincy] Aldermen approve lobbyist, consultant for hydro project

* Galesburg aldermen back 3.25% police pay raise

* Bloomington considers hiring six amid cuts

* Higher garbage-collection fee may linger in Bloomington