* Daley goes to bat for South Side Wal-Mart

The mayor acknowledged that he is “raising a political hot potato” by reopening the bitter battle that gave birth to the big-box minimum-wage ordinance he vetoed.

But Daley said the economic climate has changed dramatically in the three years since organized labor spent millions to elect aldermen dead-set against Wal-Mart expansion. Layoffs are mounting. Construction is at a virtual standstill. And there will be no Chicago Olympics to create jobs.

* Mayor Daley reopens debate on Wal-Mart

Mayor Daley today reopened the bitter battle that gave birth to the city’s “big-box,” minimum-wage ordinance that he buried with his first, and only, veto.

* Daley calls ending impasse on Wal-Mart a ‘priority’

* Daley Turns Up The Heat On Wal-Mart Debate

* Burke needs to deliver Wal-Mart to Chatham

It’s now up to Ald. Edward M. Burke to make it happen.

An ordinance to allow for a long-awaited Chatham Wal-Mart Supercenter, which sells groceries, has languished for months in the City Council Finance Committee, which Burke chairs. This is just the latest delay in a five-year battle by Ald. Howard Brookins to get a Wal-Mart at a former industrial site at 83rd and Stewart.

Burke, an unabashed union supporter, has said Wal-Mart is welcome in Chicago, so long as it hammers out a “living wage” compromise with union leaders.

* Walmart Plan Still Stuck in City Council

Burke has said in the past he wants Walmart to come to an agreement with the city’s labor unions who oppose the big box store. Aldermen Howard Brookins and Anthony Beale say the unions and the company are getting closer to reaching an agreement.

* Chicago Community Groups Clamor for TIF Dollars

Weber says scrutiny is emboldening neighborhood organizations.

WEBER: I think they figure if the city can give millions of dollars to large real estate developers, why can’t they give us some as well? So we have seen sort seen this burgeoning of grassroots attempts.

Last year 155 TIF districts collected $570 million of incremental property tax revenue. This year the city council passed a TIF sunshine ordinance for better accountability. Last month Ald. Brendan Reilly rejected a TIF district in his downtown 42nd ward citing that the commercial area didn’t need it.

* Gum maker closes South Side plant, puts up for sale

Gum maker closed facility shortly after promising Daley that it would stay open. Now it’s for sale

* Daley Hopes CTA’s Circle Line Picks Up More Federal Money

* Alderman Takes Aim at Power-Plant Emissions

* Chicago magnet school plan trimmed back

Fewer seats for neighborhood kids, siblings get guarantee

* Chicago aldermen want cops to focus on missing kids

* Helper of the homeless needs a hand

Inner Voice, he says, is $300,000 in the hole and soon may be forced to close 300 to 800 beds. As the single largest provider of beds in the city, that would be a drastic cut. He’s scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at 10 a.m. at 8040 S. Western to explain their plight.

And to argue that the City of Chicago’s reimbursement of agencies like Inner Voice has not taken into account how much private donations have dried up, how the credit crunch has affected cash flow, how costs have skyrocketed.

* Cash-strapped towns look for ways to save

Schaumburg officials have been nibbling at village expenses for years to balance the budget — a box of tissues here, a free mulch program there.

With a projected $17.6 million deficit, it’s no longer enough to cut such small things as paper cups for buildings or bigger ones like the second year of management training for supervisors, said village manager Ken Fritz. It’s time for even bigger bites.

“We’ve seen less and less sales tax growth, if any,” Fritz said. “Then you take the recession. Consumption taxes … just completely slid off the face of the earth.”

Schaumburg is proposing the first property tax in the town’s history, and officials in communities from Lake to Kane counties and across the region are digging deep for ways to balance the books.

* Oak Lawn avoids tax hike, OKs budget

* Evanston taxpayers urged to appeal

* Boeing snags $704M Army contract

* Building boom near SI Airport holds promise

CARBONDALE - With $80 million in construction in the next 12 months, Southern Illinois Airport Manager Gary Shafer sees good things for the area.[…]

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, also has earmarked $4 million for a port public safety building.

Shafer said there will be between 275 and 300 guardsmen at the armory on the weekends and 250 people at the TEC building. With that kind of traffic and facilities in both buildings that can host public events, he said the area around the airport could see some real growth.

“It’ll be quite a time out here,” Shafer said. “This is by far the single largest project the airport has ever witnessed.”

* SIU gets nearly $1.2M in cancer research grants

* Downstate air base to benefit from spending bill

* New chief of staff tapped at troubled Ill. VA hospital

The Marion VA has been under intense scrutiny since August 2007, when a surgeon resigned three days after a patient bled to death following gallbladder surgery.

Investigators later found at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 resulted from substandard care and another 10 patients died after receiving questionable care that complicated their health.

* Lawmakers back hiking ethanol-gas blends

Schock, Hare join others in call to increase biofuel wall to 15 percent now

* Immigration reform: New bill offers path to legalization for 12 million undocumented immigrants

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez champions bill, which is drawing fire from both left and right

* Judge OKs Dugan death verdict

* Illinois hunters complete muzzleloader deer season

* Bobby Green 1973-2009

The accomplished son of political professor Paul Green died recently after a lengthy battle with brain cancer.

Robert Green, 36, touched countless lives as the respected choral director at Fremd High School in the northwest suburbs.