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* Report: 3.5M in Illinois spent time uninsured
* 22 firms plan mass layoffs
During the month, 22 employers advised state government of their plans to cut workers, mostly this spring. In total, the companies disclosed they were shedding at least 2,486 jobs.
Chicago area employers making the list include NBC Universal Inc., which said it is cutting 103 positions at its Chicago offices, home to WMAQ-Channel 5.
The largest of the March layoff announcements were outside the Chicago area. Engine manufacturer Android Industries LLC said it will close a Belvidere operation, costing 273 jobs. Soybean processor ACH Food Cos. Inc. said it will close a Champaign operation and lay off 246 people.
Last week, state officials said the unemployment rate in the Chicago area spiked to 9 percent in February, from 5.6 percent a year earlier, and many experts expect further increases into double digits.
* AMA laying off Chicago staffers
The American Medical Association is laying off about 100 workers, or 8 percent of its staff, to “offset declining revenues amid the ongoing economic downturn,” the Chicago-based national doctors group said this afternoon.
The staff cuts at the nation’s largest doctor group will trim “open and existing staff positions” at both its Chicago headquarters and Washington offices effective May 4, the AMA said. The AMA has about 1,200 staffers.
* AMA to lay off 100 workers, 8 percent of staff
* Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge closing 5 of 6 Chicago-area locations
* Mars closing Ill. Ethel’s Chocolate stores
* Hold those layoffs
The other steps companies are taking to cut costs are not exactly harmless to workers. Chief among them: capping the number of hours employees can work, cutting or freezing pay and suspending matching payments to 401(k) plans.
* Laid-off workers are fired up over Asian steel
* Chicago suburban downtowns: Officials find ways to lure businesses
* Private lenders take students to cleaners
* Chicago Olympics: Pothole protesters stopped in their tracks
For months, South Side residents have called the city complaining about the craterlike potholes along Garfield Boulevard near Throop Street.
So on Monday, they scheduled a protest in Englewood, demanding that the mayor fix potholes in all neighborhoods, not just at proposed 2016 Olympic sites visited by an international commission this week.
But moments before Monday’s protest, Chicago Department of Transportation crews showed up, filling holes along a stretch of Garfield, including the area where the demonstrators had gathered.
CDOT spokesman Brian Steele said the timing was coincidental.
* Chicago Promotes Blue-Green Games
Chicago’s Olympic team told the visiting international committee today that the city would host the most environmentally friendly games ever if Chicago gets the 2016 bid.
* Is it too late to switch bid to Winter Olympics?
* Hip-hop artists rap to CPS beat
Backed by Microsoft, which donated $15,000 to help restore CPS music education programs, the artists headlined a star-filled benefit at the downtown Hard Rock Cafe.
* Illinois to track students’ school progress
Illinois will begin tracking schoolchildren as they progress from preschool through college, logging the schools they attend, the educators who teach them and the high school courses they take, state officials said Monday.
The State Board of Education announced a $9 million grant from the U.S. education department to fund the data system.
* Chicago mental health centers closing: After sit-in at Mayor Richard Daley’s office, supporters meet with top aide
* Plan to close nCENTER also upsetting seniors
* Teamsters Local 743: Chicago Trial opens in rigged-election case
* Contempt ruling challenged: Cook County prosecutors appeal cut in jail time for not testifying
* 911 subpoenas just shoved in a drawer
An employee at Chicago’s 911 emergency center has been disciplined after four months worth of unprocessed subpoenas for 911 tapes were found stashed in her office drawer.
* Seat-belt use up; highway deaths down 9 percent
* Sox Opening Day Not a Second Too Early for Some
* Manzullo’s earmarks beat online deadline
* Hare, Braley seek $545 million in earmarks
* Rep. Hare digs at Schock over his votes, abs
* Rep. Schock seen as crucial to GOP’s outreach efforts
* Rep. Aaron Schock: ‘Hottest freshman’ in Congress pushes beyond his media-friendly profile
posted by Mike Murray
Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:04 am
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Rich,
With these mass layoffs, what is the word on Madigan putting HB 3860 back in Rules? Is there a plitical end-game to get the UI 13 weeks without hitting businesses, as more people are looking for work?
Comment by 'pop' in the ...Populist Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:19 am
White Sox
White Sox
Go! Go! White Sox!
Comment by Scooby Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:22 am
So that’s how we have to get potholes fixed in Chicago? Schedule an Olympics themed protest over potholes and then wait for the CDOT crew to show up? Gee, if only I had known it was that easy.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:29 am
How many jobs have been created by the Mini-Capitol bill that just was signed into law? Hopefully those jobs will begin the turnaround in our continued job loss in Illinois each month.
Comment by Tom Joad Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:29 am
Cynic, careful or you may end up at the botom of one of those potholes. But of course, it would be merely coincidental!
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:30 am
pop, I think that was folded into the omnibus stim bill.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:31 am
===How many jobs have been created by the Mini-Capitol bill that just was signed into law? ===
It was just signed into law, for crying out loud. Be patient.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:32 am
The figures from the study quoting the uninsured have been proven to be overstated.
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/20/the-myth-of-the-46-million
Comment by trafficmatt Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:39 am
Actually, trafficmatt, after reading your link I believe the headline is accurate. It’s about whether people spent time uninsured, not whether they are all uninsured now.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 9:51 am
Rich - no problem with the headline - it is the base information in their report. It is not whether people are uninsured all year or just for a period - it is the base data used.
Comment by trafficmatt Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 10:09 am
Thanks Rich.
Comment by 'pop' in the ...Populist Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 10:23 am
If you look around baseball, in both leagues, just about half the teams play at warmer-weather or retractable dome sites and half do not.
Why do we open in this weather? Makes for great football, lousy baseball.
Take the first two series on the road, and come home in the middle of the month. We could use these home dates in summer when we could enjoy them.
Bud, for more advice, just call me. I’ve got plenty.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 10:47 am
===Take the first two series on the road, and come home in the middle of the month.===
I completely agree with this. If we’re gonna start so early, we should have many more games in favorable climates during April. At least we have some Tampa games this month, but we have five straight home games, then three in Detroit. Too much cold.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 10:50 am
Sox win! Three run home run to come from behind, by Thome.
Comment by Capitol View Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 3:58 pm
And so it begins…
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 7, 09 @ 3:59 pm