* This guy takes taxpayers to school

Flowers, superintendent of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, not only hired his two sisters and a nephew to work for him but has dipped into the office cash when the paycheck wasn’t enough for his relatives.

Less than a year after his election, he approved a $6,000 cash advance to sister Barbara Flowers.

“Repayments were to occur each pay period starting on April 4, 2008. The payroll register does not show any repayments between this date and June 30, 2008,” according to a report by the state’s auditor general, who this week called on the Illinois attorney general and Cook County state’s attorney to investigate Flowers’ operation of the office.

* When will the Flowers madness come to an end?

* Dropouts marked absent at Chicago school

* City’s lease with Vanecko’s company has Hired Truck link

* Busboy-turned-county worker collected salary while he was jailed

County president Todd Stroger’s cousin, former chief financial officer Donna Dunnings, gave her former secretary paid time off that he did not earn for workdays he was locked in county jail. Dunnings also signed time cards that claimed Cole worked weekends that he did not show up at the office, county records show.

* Fitch Expects Home Prices to Fall through 2nd Half of 2010

To date, national home prices have declined by 27%. Fitch Rating’s revised peak-to-trough expectation is for prices to decline by 36% from the peak price achieved in mid-2006. The additional 9% decline represents a 12.5% decline from today’s levels.

* Jobs outlook brighter, but hiring still cloudy

About a quarter of manufacturing companies and more than 40 percent of service-sector employers plan to hire workers in June, the highest totals in six months, the Society for Human Resource Management reports. It’s a bit of good news, even if the figures are substantially lower than they were a year ago.

The Labor Department’s most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover report showed some pockets of growth for the first time in months: 458,000 openings for lawyers, accountants and other professional business services, up 30,000.

* Food pantries brace for increase in hungry schoolchildren

During the school year that ended Friday, about 84 percent of Chicago public school students received free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches, meaning that with summer’s arrival, nearly 342,000 children are no longer receiving the meals each day in their school cafeterias.

Given those numbers and the weak economy, local food pantries fear a need will appear this summer in Chicago like never before.

“It’s definitely an issue that food pantries have talked about for a long time. But this year, it could be a more pronounced issue,” said Bob Dolgan, spokesman for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which reported a 36 percent increase in overall demand this year.

* Six Flags rolled over by downhill economy

How can you sell little bottles of water for three bucks and still go broke? Yes, financial situations are complex. And yes, Six Flags — the New York-based amusement park company that runs, among its 20 locations, Six Flags Great America in Gurnee — had a good year last year. But still it’s $2.4 billion in debt and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

* Downstate Illinois carbon capture coal plant back on track

* Wind turbine along I-55 spinning out electricity

* Exelon upping nuclear plant output

* PJStar: Utility rate hike requests add too much, too fast, at vulnerable time

* Fuel prices at highest level of the year

The Auto Club’s most recent Fuel Gauge Report estimates that in Illinois, regular unleaded gasoline has increased 45 cents during the past month, forecasting an average cost of $2.85 per gallon for the month of June, which is still $1.27 lower per gallon than last year.

* ‘Crunch time’ for Chicago’s Olympic bid

Mayor Daley and a small entourage from the Chicago 2016 organizing committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee are traveling to Olympic headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to make a final sales pitch before as many as 90 of the 100 members of the International Olympic Committee — the governing body that plans to announce Oct. 2 which city gets the Games.

* Olympics Committee Takes Next Step

* Chicago to Cut 1,504 Union Jobs

* Unfiltered: Chicago’s CFO Announces Layoffs

The city of Chicago Friday announced it would cut 1,504 unionized workers unless a last-minute deal is reached with labor unions. Gene Saffold is the city’s chief financial officer. He says layoff letters were being delivered to employees Friday through next Tuesday.

* Chicago’s Big Layoff, Service Threat

* Bad $$$ news keeps coming from City Hall

But the real news is that those 1,500 layoffs will fill only about 10% of a hole in the city budget that’s now approaching a stunning $300 million.

* Red Scare: An analysis of Chicago’s red-light cameras

At the 10 intersections that have had cameras the longest, the number or red-light violations — and accompanying mailed-out tickets — has dropped 74 percent, on average, in the last four years.

* Tired of being harassed on the CTA, women fight back

* Wheeling considers opening village streets to low-speed electric vehicles

* Keep your eyes open: It’s bike-to-work week

* IDNR changing deer regulations