* New law OKs GPS to enforce protection orders

* Illinois constitutional convention needs to amend the redistricting provision

One part of the Illinois Constitution is clearly broken (even Dawn Clark Netsch agrees) and that’s the provision that governs redistricting.

The General Assembly gets to draw the map. And if they can’t, then a Commission is set up to do the job, 4 Dems and 4 Republicans. And if they can’t do the job, then guess how the ninth member of the Commission is chosen, pursuant to the Illinois Constitution?

* Democratic leaders need constitutional jolt

That leaves a state Constitutional Convention. Truly, I’d be glad if we didn’t have to resort to opening up the entire constitution to alteration as the price of straightening out this state. But what else is there?

So, to the well-funded special interests that oppose a Con Con, as the convention is informally known, I again ask this question: What is your solution?

* Trading Places - The demographic inversion of the American city

In the past three decades, Chicago has undergone changes that are routinely described as gentrification, but are in fact more complicated and more profound than the process that term suggests. A better description would be “demographic inversion.” Chicago is gradually coming to resemble a traditional European city–Vienna or Paris in the nineteenth century, or, for that matter, Paris today. The poor and the newcomers are living on the outskirts. The people who live near the center–some of them black or Hispanic but most of them white–are those who can afford to do so.

* Pontiac’s fight to keep prison may include state lobbyist

* Closed Abe site annoys tourists

* Lincoln-related protest calls for common cents

White, who fancies himself an amateur historian and idolizes Lincoln, said he’s been trying to think of a way to send a message to Blagojevich and state lawmakers.

“What better way than to send pennies down to Springfield?” White said. “Lincolns for Lincoln.

* Unions must step up to help plug budget gap

Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Mayor Daley is making it clear he wants union workers to share some of the pain.

Last week, he set the tone with non-union city employees. He ordered them to take two or three unpaid furlough days and canceled the next two rounds of pay raises. He also offered buyouts.

* From Joliet to powerful D.C. ‘prince’

* Brian Dugan’s lawyers to get DNA reports in Jeanine Nicarico slaying case

The state’s main evidence against Dugan is his DNA that was allegedly found on the victim. Dugan’s team of attorneys contend that the case against Dugan is based primarily on DNA evidence, and that they want to leave no stone unturned in the 25-year-old case.

* Local Ad Dollars, Slip Sliding Away

There’s a good but depressing article in the Wall Street Journal about how newspapers are continuing to fall behind in the local online advertising derby–even as their print ad revenues are ebbing away. According to Borrell statistics cited in the story, newspaper share of the local online ad market has fallen to 27.4 percent from 35.9 percent two years ago. Things aren’t going in the right direction. That’s not good–especially when the overall local online advertising market is growing, ahem, at a 57 percent annual clip.

* The Web of Wanton Cruelty As ‘Trolling’ Turns More Vicious, What, If Anything, Can Stop It?

* Photo appears to show McCartney at Clear Lake Circle K