* Allstate joins others in raising Insurance rates

Allstate said rates will rise an average of 17 percent and range from an increase of 8.5 percent to 27.5 percent beginning June 20.

Meanwhile, American Family Insurance hiked rates 8.4 percent in Illinois last November and Country Financial recently raised rates 6 percent.

The increases here exceed the average rate hike forecast nationally by the Insurance Information Institute. The group forecast the average homeowner’s policy would rise 3 percent to $841.

The state’s biggest insurer, State Farm Insurance Cos., which has a 29.2 market share here, hasn’t raised rates here this year, but for anti-trust reasons would not say whether it plans to do so. It did, however, raise rates 16.7 percent in Indiana, 11.6 percent in Minnesota and 10.9 percent in Wisconsin.

* Chicago parking meltdown: Malfunctioning machines send drivers, ticket writers and lease firm officials scrambling

Daley defended the parking privatization as recently as last week, saying company officials were “correcting many of the things that they found out.” He said there should have been a longer “transition” period after the city relinquished control. When pressed by reporters to say whose fault the meter mess was, Daley replied, “I’ll take the responsibility.”

City Hall continued to praise the new parking company Wednesday. Revenue Department spokesman Ed Walshsaid city officials were “pleased they responded quickly once the problem was identified.”

* City: No tickets for broken meters in Loop

“This just continues to raise more questions about the technology they’re using and the system they have in place,” said Ald. Manny Flores (1st), who voted for the parking meter deal, only to become one of the contractor’s harshest critics.

* Residents fighting Children’s Museum construction vow to press on

* AGs say they oppose Chrysler bankruptcy

* State Attorneys General File Objections to Sale of Chrysler Assets

* Mokena TIF district approved to lure businesses

* Wal-Mart Not Giving Up on South Side

Chicago got its first Wal-Mart store, on the city’s West Side, just three years ago. Unions and grassroots activists fought the controversial big box coming within city limits. That fight culminated in the mayor vetoing a “living wage” ordinance passed by aldermen. Now many South Side aldermen are openly lobbying for a Wal-Mart and are treating it less like a political liability. And, in turn, activists say they are ready for another fight.

* Car dealers get Libertyville lift

“I think there is no question the local municipalities see the impact the auto dealers have in their community,” Sander said. “On average, Illinois dealers contribute about 20 percent of all retail sales tax collected for the state of Illinois.”

* Village offers incentive to buy from its car dealers

Under the Shop Libertyville Gift Certificate Program, anyone who buys a new car from a Libertyville auto dealer between June 15 and Sept. 7 will receive a voucher for a $100 gift certificate to spend at one of several participating businesses in Libertyville.

Each of the village’s 13 dealerships will receive 50 vouchers, a potential cost to the Village of $65,000 in gift certificates.

Glenn Bockwinkel, general manager and co-owner of Acura of Libertyville, spoke on behalf of the car dealers, saying, “The dealership I represent has contributed $300,000 in tax revenue to the village over the last three, four years.”

* Foster upbeat on Cat’s future
* Aurora, union clash over concessions

* Illinois foodbanks to receive donated chickens

Tyson Foods will donate about 1.7 million pounds of chicken worth $2.3 million to food banks throughout Illinois as part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit in Madison County.

* School counselors face big workload in Illinois

Of the 10 states with the largest school populations, Illinois’s ratio was second only to California, which had 966 students per counselor in 2006-07. The ratios are calculated by dividing a state’s prekindergarten-to-Grade 12 enrollment by the number of guidance counselors reported to the federal government.

* Swine fallout: ER ‘just been slammed’ at Children’s Memorial

* Illinois swine flu deaths: Suburban woman is state’s 2nd death

* Wheeling board refuses to weigh in on OTB in Buffalo Grove

* Ex-Chicago Bear, now mayor, Jim Schwantz looks to call the right plays for Palatine

* Michael Jordan TV ads to back Chicago’s Olympics bid

* Michael Jordan to appear in 2016 Olympics PSAs

* Police Supt. Jody Weis helps bag suspect in convenience-store robbery