* Kadner: When the unemployed no longer count

“I’m what they call a 99er,” the 43-year-old Oak Lawn resident said.
I had heard of 49ers, in reference to the football team in San Francisco and to the California Gold Rush. But I didn’t have a clue what a 99er is.

“It means I’ve gone past Tier 4 in unemployment benefits, which goes to 99 weeks,” Hannah explained. “So they call those of us who are no longer eligible for unemployment ‘99ers.’ “

And so the Great Recession has created its own language.

No one knows the exact number of 99ers, although the government estimates that they represent about 10 percent of all the people who are jobless. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s 1.4 million Americans, but the number in all likelihood is much greater.

* 60 Gang Members Arrested After Murder

* Two Chicago cops sue Jody Weis for slander

Two Chicago police officers are suing Supt. Jody Weis, alleging the city’s top cop defamed them when he stripped them of their badges after a high-profile internal investigation was launched into a group of officers who allegedly beat a handcuffed suspect.

A global-positioning device in the officers’ squad car showed the Gresham District Tactical Unit officers, Lynn Meuris and Jason Vanna, weren’t present during the alleged Oct. 11 beating and they were returned to street duty .

* Lynwood chief says his cop should sue Will County

* Fire Commissioner Says No Way To Cutting Fire Crews

* Who has the scissors to cut City Hall biz red tape?

Outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley took a couple of stabs at one-stop-shopping for permits and the like, but the fact is, Chicago remains an extraordinarily difficult place for someone with a good idea but little time and capital to get on his or her feet.

* Sun-Times: Budget ideas deserve a closer inspection

* Gas City files for Chapter 11

* Elmhurst flooding: ‘It’s a capacity issue’

* Glen Ellyn OKs boost in pay for village clerk

* 30 years as Wheaton’s manager

Historical accounts indicate that in DuPage, only the late Elmhurst City Manager Robert Palmer, who held his post from July 1953 until December 1983, served longer. And next spring, Rose will surpass Palmer to become the county’s longest-serving city manager.

* State OKs cancer center in New Lenox

* Rolling Meadows still facing budget crunch

* E.M. schools have new superintendent and board president

* Keystone project a ’slap in the face’ to labor

After receiving millions of dollars in state assistance over the past decade, Keystone Steel & Wire Co., stunned area legislators by hiring out-of-state labor for a current plant upgrade. […]

What the company requested and received was a lower employment threshold to qualify for a utility tax exemption. The exemption is normally granted only to companies with employment of at least 1,000 people.

When layoffs at the Bartonville plant caused employment to dip to 165 salaried workers and 668 hourly workers, the utility tax would normally have kicked in.

A bill signed by Gov. Pat Quinn last January extended the company’s utility tax exemption, a move that saves Keystone an estimated $120,000 to $140,000 a month.

* Peoria City Council left waiting for more budget information

* Sales tax supporters joust with county board members at meeting

* Jackson County Board set to meet today to approve 2011 budget