* Chicagoans to pay higher heating bills than suburbanites

Just as the cold weather takes hold, Chicagoans will be paying about one-third more to heat their homes in December with natural gas from Peoples Gas than suburbanites served by Nicor Inc.

A price-hedging strategy that appears to have backfired on Peoples and locked in higher-than-market prices for the natural gas it buys on behalf of customers is partly to blame for the gaping disparity between the city and suburban utilities, a Peoples spokesman confirms.

Peoples customers will pay 93 cents per therm for natural gas in December, 43% higher than Nicor’s December gas charge of 65 cents per therm, which mirrors the market price for gas as of early December.

* Workers get paid and end sit-in at Chicago factory

In July, JPMorgan wrote off $5 million in loans and a $7 million investment that gave it a 40 percent stake in Republic, and resigned its seat on the company’s board, a spokesman said.

President-elect Barack Obama and other politicians have voiced support for the workers’ cause, arguing the Wall Street bailout was not serving its purpose of loosening credit for Main Street businesses. Bank of America has tapped the bailout for $15 billion and JPMorgan for $25 billion.

* Sit-In at Republic Ends in $1.75 Million Loan Agreement

* Press release: AG Madigan Reaches Agreement for Republic Workers

* Department of Human Services Takes Action to Reduce Poverty in Illinois

The poverty summit, entitled Opportunities for Change: Taking Action to End Extreme Poverty in Illinois, comes as the effects of the national economic crisis are being felt in Illinois and is a significant step toward the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty’s goal of eliminating poverty by 50 percent by 2015. The summit focused on income supports, employment, healthcare access, housing, and the elimination of assets tests, which would allow for thousands more families to become eligible for state assistance during dire economic times.

* STATE PANEL TO HEAR TESTIMONY ON PLAN TO CUT MENTAL HEALTH, DEVELOPMENTAL CARE FOR SOUTH SIDE AND SOUTH SUBURBS

Tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 11) in Tinley Park, a bipartisan panel of state lawmakers will take testimony from stakeholders concerned with Governor Blagojevich’s push to close the South Side and south suburbs’ only public providers of intensive, in-patient care for individuals with severe mental illness and profound developmental disabilities.

* CTA ridership at highest level since ‘92

* All she wanted for Christmas was heat

* Student Homelessness Increases by a Third

* DOC temporarily reassigns more employees to other prisons

The Illinois Department of Corrections is temporarily reassigning another 119 employees because a legal dispute involving the Pontiac Correctional Center is preventing the department from following through on plans to open a maximum-security unit in Thomson.

* The GOP and the Hispanic Voter: Full throttle on wrong track

Hispanics voted 67 percent for Barack Obama, playing a key role in flipping Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida to the Democratic column. The growing Hispanic vote in Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania was important to Democratic victories in close races in those states. Even more frightening for Republicans is the strong possibility that Latino voters could soon deliver Texas and Arizona to the Democrats. If this happens, Republicans can turn out the lights on their presidential hopes, lock the door and go on vacation for a decade or three.

* Rep. Davis wins spot on powerful Way and Means Committee

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Chicago, won a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, promising to make healthcare reform a top priority.

“It’s great for our district,” says Yul Edwards, the seven-term congressman’s chief of staff. “Given the number of hospitals we have and the need to create a better system of healthcare, his background and role in working on health for 30 to 40 years can be an asset.”

* Daley chief of staff heads to Olympic bid

Mayor Richard Daley today named Paul Volpe his new chief of staff.

Volpe, currently the city’s chief financial officer, replaces Lori Healey, who is leaving to become president of Chicago 2016, the city’s Olympic bid.

The promotion continues Daley’s latest shuffling of the deck at City Hall. Last week, Budget Director Bennett Johnson III resigned.

Daley last week also named Patricia Scudiero the first commissioner of the new Zoning and Land Use Planning Department. She’s a former protege of Ald. William J.P. Banks (36th), chairman of the City Council Zoning Committee since Daley became mayor in 1989. She served as a Banks aide from 1989 to 2004.

* Ex-mayor’s political endorsement on village letterhead questioned

Former Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in October, has been sending out letters on village stationery endorsing Acting Mayor Robert Callero in the April 7 election and setting the village up for a potential conflict of interest, Pioneer Press has learned.

* 2008 Serafin & Associates Christmas Party Video (Interviews with Pols)