* Stocks tumble as strong dollar hits commodities

* Gas prices on the rise as oil prices fall

* Ill. American seeking another bump to water bills

The private utility company, which serves Homer Glen and Orland Hills, quietly filed a request in April to implement a “qualified infrastructure plant” surcharge rider, which would tack a surcharge of up to 5 percent on customers’ bills. That money would be used to pay for repairs to existing infrastructure, said Kevin Hillen, operations manager of field services for Illinois American’s Chicago Metro District.

* Some bemoan hike in wages; state minimum goes up to $8 an hour July 1

He and other Illinois employers are about to be subjected July 1 to the second of three annual minimum wage hikes. On July 1, 2010, another scheduled 25-cent increase will push up the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour.

Although he did not increase his prices after last year’s wage increase, Wortham said he will have to do it this time around.

“It affected my bottom line,” he said. “This time, I will have to take a small increase. I may have to go up 10 percent across the board in product, but that may be lower than what other national pizza restaurants will have to do.”

* Aldi to build on disputed Wal-Mart site

* Furniture seller Plunkett going out of business

* Tracking Construction Stimulus Bucks

The Illinois Department of Transportation says it’s awarded nearly two-thirds of the stimulus dollars it’s received, but minority contractors here in Chicago say they haven’t seen the money. Which got us wondering who the stimulus money is working for, and how it’s working. WBEZ’s Adriene Hill explains more about tracking the allocation of stimulus funds.

* IDOT Awards Going to Contractors Outside Chicago

The Illinois Department of Transportation says it’s awarded nearly two-thirds of its stimulus money. But Chicago contractors don’t seem to be winning the work.

HANNIG: As far as who won the bids, that usually goes to the lowest bidder and we really can’t control anything beyond that.

HANNIG: There is no doubt that the construction companies are hungry and perhaps those outside of Chicago rely more on government jobs and so maybe they put in more bids around the state and lower bids.

He speculates maybe Chicago contractors have other opportunities. But many minority contractor groups around the city say they haven’t seen stimulus dollars and would love the work.

* Quinn marks anniversary of Chicago strike

Politicians turned out to mark the sixth anniversary of a labor strike at a downtown Chicago hotel.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was the keynote speaker at a rally in front of the Congress Plaza Hotel on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.

The event also attracted Chicago aldermen, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (jeh-NOO’-lee-ehs), who is considering a U.S. Senate run.

* Congress Plaza permit showdown Thursday

Judge Sophia Hall ruled the Chicago Plan Commission illegally denied a zoning change for the hotel. Obeying Hall’s order of last week, the commission is scheduled to reconsider the proposal Thursday.

The hearing reopens an issue that originally pitted the hotel and Mayor Daley, who supported its zoning bid, against key aldermen and the political power of Unite Here Local 1, the hotel workers union.

The union Monday observed the six-year anniversary of its active strike against the Congress Plaza. Unite Here staged a noisy rally outside the hotel and brought in politicians and labor leaders.

Aldermen in attendance said they would stand firm and refuse any zoning change for the hotel. The City Council must act on any matter that clears the Plan Commission.

* Daley, labor union eye deal to avoid layoffs

“We’re working to the ends that there will be no layoffs. … We may take a tough hit here — and we probably are at the end of the day. … [But], we’re under the impression that, if we do this package, they’ll rescind the 1,500 layoffs … and do none,” Gannon said.

“This is a time for organized labor to be principled, but [to] also have the ability to be flexible. … We need to do this as quickly as possible. The clock is ticking. Every day, the city is more and more in debt. … We want to do what we can do to save jobs, save families and save communities.”

Sources said union leaders have been asked to consider a painful menu that includes: reduced work-weeks or schedules; furlough days; unpaid holidays; pay cuts; delayed prevailing wage increases; comp time for overtime; increased health care contributions and reduced sick-time accrual.

* Deal to save city jobs likely, union chief says

But he revealed that labor is no longer holding out for a two-year, no-layoff guarantee that Daley has insisted he cannot give. Instead, a guarantee could restrict the duration of give-backs and affect such issues as pensions, health care and future privatization of city services, Gannon said.

“There’s got to be assurances that, 10 years from now, these jobs that our members have are still gonna be there for them,” he said.

Even if those guarantees can be hammered out, Gannon acknowledged that the concessions would be a tough sell.

“This is a tough ask. You’re asking for folks to [swallow] an 8 to 10 percent reduction in their salaries,” he said.

* Mayor Richard Daley, union leaders meet

* Stroger patronage figure released on bond

* Cole scandal raises doubts about Stroger

* Ex-county employee released from jail

* Former County Staffer Cole Was Paid While In Jail

* Daley’s tale hard to take

Mayor Daley wants Chicagoans to believe he knew nothing about his nephew’s risky real estate venture with $68 million worth of city employee pension funds until the Chicago Sun-Times blew the whistle nearly two years ago.

He wants us to believe that, the minute he did find out, he ordered his nephew Robert Vanecko to drop out of the deal with developer Allison Davis, only to be ignored.

* Chicago Cops on Patrol?

The photos are from a frustrated club worker who says some officers have been slow to respond to his calls and he believes these pictures show why.

“Girls leaning into cars….”

Alderman Waguespack told us, “I would think the police department will be all over it, and looking at it as a management issue and something they have to take seriously.”

Like one picture in which a woman is sitting on an officer’s lap inside a squad car, her hands within easy reach of the officer’s gun.

* Quigley says he feels public defender’s cash pain

* Ex-DNR chief Granberg wants to push on with golf trail

* The devil and Charlie Weeghman

Chicago’s two remaining baseball clubs open a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night and you are thinking, remaining?

Cubs. Sox. And the ghost.

That would be the Chicago Whales, the team for whom the park was built and who, it pains me to say, show every sign of haunting the place, 94 years after they vanished. How else to explain the cruel things that have happened in the stadium ever since? A spat about a goat? Please. Darker forces are at play here, and one need look no further than the tale of the man who owned both clubs to appreciate how fate — and greed — can turn promise to despair.

His name was Charles Weeghman, and in his better days was known as “Lucky Charlie.” It would be unfair to suggest that Charlie Weeghman sold his soul to buy the Cubs. It just looks that way, given all that would befall him and the team he so badly wanted.

* Chicago planning to honor Olympic Day

* Mosquitoes aren’t too bad — at least not yet