* First tests of soil come up clean in Crestwood

* Cicero president accused in sex harassment suit

* Third quarter may bring hiring boost: survey

Hiring plans among Chicago-area employers will modestly pick up during the third quarter, according to a survey released Tuesday by employment services provider Manpower Inc

* Peoria-area hiring will be light for summer

* Construction to begin soon on new B-N transit system facility

* More days, money spent by Illinois visitors in 2008

State officials say visitors to Illinois spent more and stayed longer in 2008. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said Monday that tourists spent $30.8 billion last year. That’s up more than $883 million from 2007.

Over the past five years, tourists spent more than $7.8 billion, helping to create 303,500 jobs in the travel industry.

Illinois remains the sixth most popular state among overseas tourists. About 1.4 million overseas tourists visited Illinois during a time when the dollar was below the Euro. That’s a 21 percent increase from 2007.

Chicago tourists declined to 44.21 million, 2.1 percent less than 2007’s record-breaking numbers. However, those tourists increased the number of days spent in the city by 6 percent.

* Farmers are behind planting soybeans

* Union says city layoffs possible

Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents city civilian public-safety employees, were recently informed by the Chicago Department of Human Resources that 293 workers will receive layoff notices this week that will be effective July 1st, according to a news release from the union.

The layoffs would include 186 crossing guards, 67 detention aides and 40 traffic control aides, the release said. The jobs will be performed in the future by Chicago police officers, the union said it was told.

* Former USOC leader calls Chicago a ‘leader’ for 2016 Games

* Peter Ueberroth says Chicago leads in game quest

* Supreme Court won’t hear casinos-vs.-tracks dispute

The justices, without comment, turned away an appeal by four Chicago-area riverboat casinos, including two owned by units of Penn National Gaming Inc. and others owned in part by MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.

The casinos argued that the law was an unconstitutional taking of private property without compensation. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld the measure, saying the U.S. Constitution’s takings clause doesn’t apply to government-imposed fees.

The law places a 3 percent surcharge on the four casinos’ gross receipts, adjusted to exclude money paid to winning bettors. Under the law, some of the collected money is used to increase horse-racing purses and the rest to subsidize tracks.

The companies said in court papers that they paid more than $75 million during the original two years of the surcharge and may pay $100 million more under a three-year extension enacted last year.

* Windfall expected for Illinois horse tracks

A windfall of more than $7 million may save struggling Fairmount Park — which has faced cuts and possible closure — as a lawsuit blocking the funding crossed the legal finish line Monday.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided to step away from a fight between Illinois casinos and horse tracks, clearing the way for a state plan meant to prop up the struggling horse racing industry.

Officials said the much-needed infusion of cash means Collinsville’s track will be able to continue live thoroughbred racing for the next two or three years — and maybe longer. Without the funding, the track’s future looked bleak, officials said.

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* Could cab-sharing work here?

Would you share a taxicab with total strangers headed in the same direction — at any time, day or night — in exchange for a 50 percent fare cut?

Instead of waiting for a rush-hour bus on a congested route, would you pay $3 or $4 to share a “group-ride cab” with three other passengers?

“If it’s workable and could benefit the driver and consumer, absolutely” Chicago will try it, said Reyes, commissioner of the city’s Consumer Protection and Business Affairs Department.

* Chicago police freed of spying limits

A federal judge has dissolved decades-old legal restrictions placed on Chicago police because of their infamous Red Squad.

U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gotschall voided the consent decrees today in response to a joint motion from Mayor Richard Daley’s administration and the American Civil Liberties Union.

* Dart continues to fight prostitution, trim the fat in tough times

* Chicago Ald. Isaac Carothers could change corruption plea as soon as next month, his lawyer says

* Chicago Ald. Ike Carothers pleads ‘not guilty’

* Daleys in turmoil over nephew’s deals: sources

* ‘The jury has stole my life’

He was arrested by a cop who became an alderman and was later convicted of corruption.

He was questioned by a detective later accused of mistreating other murder suspects.

And Mark Clements was sent to prison for life for killing four people in an arson.

Now, after Clements has spent 26 years behind bars, his attorneys say they have evidence that a motorcycle gang was responsible for the deaths.

* Homicide inside the walls of Stateville

The slaying highlights a perilous flaw in how non-violent offenders sent to maximum-security prisons for disciplinary infractions have been locked up in the same cells with predatory inmates who are serving long sentences and have nothing to lose.

* 2009 Murder Rate Down 11 Percent January Through May

There were 156 murders in Chicago between January and the end of May this year. That’s 20 less than the same time period last year and it’s good news for the police department which saw a 5-year high in the murder rate in 2008 when there were a total of five-hundred and 10 killings.

* Don’t blame judge for cop’s tragic murder

* “Big Hurt” to work Cubs-White Sox games for CSN