* Suspended Daley aide lands new six-figure gig at police department

As a deputy director, Picardi will oversee the police department’s general support division, which includes the city auto pound, equipment and supply, and document services and graphics, according to police department spokesman Roderick Drew.

The new gig comes after Mayor Richard Daley suspended Picardi without pay for three months in January for contracts involving Central Auto Body in the Logan Square neighborhood. The shop’s owner, John Szybkowski, was convicted nearly 30 years ago of faking work orders on police department vehicles and giving kickbacks to city workers.

* Suspended city commissioner moved to Police Department

* Tribune: Thanks, aldermen

The post the aldermen want to create would be so ineffectual that it can achieve little beyond attracting ceaseless scorn. As Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, told the Tribune, “It is probably worse than doing nothing at all. It tries to give the impression that we’re doing something, and I think that just breeds public cynicism because it’s transparently a paper tiger.”

* Some Aldermen Dispute Value of Proposed Inspector General Office

* Aldermen Look to Eliminate Illicit Massage Businesses

Thirty-first Ward Alderman Ray Suarez says most massage parlors are legit, but he’s proposed an ordinance to eliminate the questionable ones by banning new massage businesses in areas that are mostly residential.

* Aldermen Propose Power Plant Exhaust Rules

* Aldermen Introduce Clean Air Ordinance

* Power Plant Owner Slams Proposed City Rules

* The Dirtiest Plant in Chicago

Crawford and its sister station, the Fisk Generating Plant in nearby Pilsen — a decidedly Mexican neighborhood — date back to the 1920s, making them the “oldest, dirtiest plants located in any urban neighborhood” in America, according to the Chicago Environmental Law and Policy Center.

* City Contractor Charged with Under-Reporting $2.5M in Taxes

* IRS charges pal of ex-Blago aide

The investigation, led by the Internal Revenue Service, charges that Robert C. Blum, 57, bought a 37-foot yacht and built his personal home in New Lenox with money from his business. Blum claimed they were business-related expenses, charges say….In 2005, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Blum — a friend and business associate of the late Chris Kelly, who was Blagojevich campaign fund-raising chief at the time — had been awarded nearly $25 million in state contracts.

* Contractor Robert Blum slapped with tax fraud charges

* Oak Lawn approves sales tax rebate with Napleton

* Harvey mayor named school superintendent

* Aurora council OKs YWCA purchase

* Hainesville votes to outsource police protection

Hainesville Mayor Linda Sota cast a tiebreaking vote Tuesday night in favor of shutting the village’s 2-year-old police department and contracting for patrol service from Grayslake or the Lake County sheriff’s office.

* [Danville] Council votes against governor’s plan

* Is a smaller Champaign County Board better? Officials still can’t decide

* [Coles] County approves changes to comply with information act

* Knox County courthouse fate may be up to voters

* East Dundee’s spending has exploded by 177% since 2007

* Candidate turns down police chief job; East St. Louis mulls bankruptcy