* Chicago home sales fall 37% from 2008, prices 26.8%

Home sales in Chicago plunged 37 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, and prices fell 26.8 percent, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Friday.

There were 2,909 existing single-family homes and condominiums sold in the first quarter of this year, down from 4,617, and the median price was $216,000, down from $295,000, the group said.

In the Chicago metropolitan area, sales dropped 26.4 percent to 10,306 homes from 14,012, and the median price fell 22.8 percent to $187,500 from $243,000.

* Door open to union sit-in at Des Plaines Hartmarx plant

* Potholes are really money pits for American drivers

The nation’s rough roads are leading to higher driving costs for motorists — $400, on average, and $750 for drivers in urban areas, according to a report released Friday.

A third of major U.S. interstates and major highways and 46 percent of Chicago’s streets are in poor or mediocre condition, said the report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the road advocacy group TRIP.

* Federal funding pours into potholes, road resurfacing, reconstruction

Normally, about 35 miles of city arterials are resurfaced each year. But only a few miles were done last year and in 2007, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.

That’s because state funding dried up after 2006, with the one major exception being about $6 million that the Illinois Department of Transportation provided last year to resurface a scarred section of North Lake Shore Drive, from Irving Park Road to Foster Avenue. The fix cured the pothole contagion for now, but the work will have to suffice until many more millions of dollars are identified for a complete reconstruction of the lakeshore roadway, which was built in the 1950s, officials said.

The more immediate good news for drivers weary of potholes is that the city began seeking bids Friday for several dozen projects that will use $86 million in federal economic stimulus funding.

* Opponents rip CN’s report as misleading

* CN critics want monitor to eye rail performance

* Chicago police report murders decline 20 percent

* City Dwellers Risk Later Cancer Diagnosis

* Polluted water forum draws 100s in Crestwood

* Poisoning public trust

* Growing in style

When the $300 million expansion opens this week, visitors will find the museum easier to navigate and see 20th century masterpieces in a whole new light — from the sun

* Quinn declares 3 S. Ill. counties disaster areas

Gov. Pat Quinn has declared three southern Illinois counties state disaster areas after severe storms swept through the region.

The declaration allows the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to coordinate state assistance for Franklin, Jackson and Williamson counties.

Friday’s storms packed high winds that uprooted trees and damaged vehicles and buildings. Tens of thousands were still without power Saturday.

* Storm cleanup continues in southern Illinois

* State swine flu cases hit 466

* Swine flu numbers still creeping up in Illinois

* Ammo, guns continue to fly off the shelves

As the owner of Midwestern Firearms Company in East Peoria, John Meek aims each business day to sell as much ammunition as he can to responsible owners of handguns.

Lately there’s been one big hitch in his business model.

He has no ammunition to sell.

“I’ve been out for about two weeks,” Meek said. “I get spare cases in now and then, but people are keeping an eye on what’s coming in, and those don’t last long.”