* Quinn announces new coal mine

* Hundreds Of New Jobs Coming To Southern Illinois

* New coal mine to open and provide hundreds of jobs in So IL

* Monday is last day for Ill. Supreme Court justice

* Gas-tax crackdown nets $22 million

* Law’s construction costs leave municipalities reeling

* Ill. company wants to cash in on carp

* States have clean-energy momentum, but it’s under threat

* Stroger aides deny office swept for bugging devices

Still, David Ramos, Executive Director of Cook County’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office was accompanied by a North Side security firm whose owners — identified as former FBI agents — specialize in countersurveillance, according to a visitor’s log for the county building.

About 9:30 p.m., Cook County Sheriff’s deputies, in charge of security at the building, spotted several people “removing items” from Stroger’s 5th floor offices, said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

* Tribune files reorg plan that would give control to creditors

* Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels resigns

Michaels was replaced by a four-member office called the Executive Council, which will be charged with stabilizing the company while it struggles to exit bankruptcy court after almost two years of fractious, stop-and-start negotiations with creditors.

* Feder Discusses Tribune Co. CEO resignation

* Sweeny: Juan Williams shouldn’t have been fired by NPR

* $80M Gates gift lets Rotary buck trend of declining donations

The Chronicle of Philanthropy survey includes the nation’s 400 biggest charities, based on finances. It includes 15 from Illinois.

The decline in Illinois mirrored the 11 percent decrease nationwide.

Some organizations managed to buck the trend. Most notable was the Evanston-based Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, No. 75 on the list. Its private donations ballooned by 43.4 percent, to $223.8 million, thanks to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

* Cepeda: For charities, pain still in early stages

* Sneed: Bold budget plan for city

Sneed hears Ferguson has devised a plan he thinks will save the city approximately $275 million, which includes budget options guaranteed to sound alarms all over the city!

The report, which contains 24 options “to decrease city spending or increase city revenue,” calls for reducing the size of the Chicago Fire Department by 595 firefighters, cutting off free water and sewer service for nonprofit organizations like the profoundly respected Misericordia, and moving sworn police officers to nonadministrative jobs.

* ‘3 years of water for $164.11? No wonder the city’s in trouble’

* Civic Federation says Cook County can cut taxes and balance budget

* Aldermen Look into Merging Office of Compliance with Inspector General’s Office

* Record surge at local and national graduate schools

Health sciences saw the biggest growth — nearly 15 percent — nationally in applications from 2008 to 2009, according to a report Bell wrote for the Council of Graduate Schools. Interest in nursing primarily fueled the increase, he said.

Overall, the group’s study found that new graduate-student enrollment grew 5.5 percent between 2008 and 2009, compared with 4.5 percent the prior year. Between 1999 and 2009, the average annual first-time graduate enrollment growth was nearly 5 percent for U.S. students and 3.3 percent for international students.

* How much grad programs have grown

* What a year of grad school costs

* Blagojevich Trial Delayed Until April

Defense attorneys had requested the delay. Their team has been cut by several attorneys so the remaining handful have to catch up on what other lawyers did during the first trial. And Sheldon Sorosky told judge Zagel that as a defense attorney, he hasn’t been able to focus one hundred percent on the governor’s case because he’s got lots of clients who were put on the back burner while Blagojevich was on trial.

* Schmich: New voices in politics … and old

* Rahm Campaigns, Talks Education at Apple Store Opening

* Rahm ’supports’ Claypool — not the Democrat — for Cook County assessor

* Cabrini-Green’s last stand: Families prepare to move out

According to CHA’s FY 2010 annual report to HUD, when Cabrini’s transformation is complete, it will boast 5,141 privately developed, mixed-income units — 1,200 as public housing, 932 for working-class families, and 3,009 for sale or rental at market rates.

* Sun: Keep Naperville City Council elected at large

* News-Sun: Yes for Gurnee

* Grayslake posts 3.5% revenue surplus

Much of the credit for the surplus is attributed to the village’s privatization program, keeping full-time staff levels to 58, below that of nearby municipalities.

The report also stresses cost containment. Garbage collection rates are 12.9 percent lower than 1996 rates when adjusted for inflation. Water and sewer rates are 15.2 percent lower than 1992 rates when adjusted for inflation.

* Daily Herald: Timing is bad for library proposals

* Ruling means layoffs for Prospect Hts. police department

* Former Hanover Township welfare director charged with theft

Aurea Picasso will be transported this morning to the Criminal Courts Building in Chicago for a bond hearing on allegations she stole $193,000 from various township funds.

The Aurora woman is charged with theft from a government entity, Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokeswoman Sally Daly said. A conviction carries a prison sentence of between six and 30 years.

* Rockford budget may not be OK’d by Morrissey’s target date

The chief of the city’s police union vows to fight proposed layoffs to rank-and-file officers.

* Rockford wins $600K for regional planning

* Bloomington residents expected to save money on tax bill

* ISU fires indicted employee

* Schoenburg: Kincaid native making a run in Indiana

* Benld School gets building grant

* SIUC forum will focus on gambling

* Conference aims to keep region beautiful

* U of I Extension names directors in restructuring