* Sun-Times: Sit-in at field house shows activism works

* Illinois Unemployment Rate Falls Below 10 Percent

The Illinois Department of Employment Security on Thursday said the state’s September jobless rate was 9.9 percent.

That’s down from 10.1 percent in August and marks the sixth consecutive month that the rate has fallen.

* Foreclosure wave hits upscale neighborhoods

* Student debt at all-time high

According to numbers released Thursday by the Project on Student Debt, four-year college grads in the United States, on average, graduated in 2009 with $24,000 in student loan debt, a record high.

At the same time, they moved into a work world with an 8.7 percent national unemployment rate for college graduates ages 20 to 24 — the highest annual rate on record, according to the student loan project, put together by the California-based nonprofit Institute for College Access & Success.

In Illinois, the average debt for college seniors graduating in 2009 was about $22,000, according to institute’s study, which looked at students who graduate from public and private nonprofit four-year colleges with loans.

* State lending Chicago $2 mil. to add water meters

* Mayor Daley Appoints New City Colleges Board of Trustees Chair

Martin Cabrera will fill the seat of Gery Chico who resigned to focus on his mayoral campaign.

* Walter: Time To Turn The Page On Trib Leadership

* Broadbooks re-elected to AP governing board

* County contract enforcement hit

Possible fraud, and a failure by Cook County officials to police government contracts, have excluded women- and minority-owned businesses from getting a legal piece of the pie. […]

One unidentified business owner claimed, “I have been offered $75,000 a year to have the name of my company used on contracts without performing under the contract,” according to the report. The unidentified owner declined the payoff.

* Connected city worker spared in merger, layoffs

* RTA Board approves pension reform

* Metra scandal points to need for new ‘watchdog’ office

* CHA approves development team for North Side project

The redevelopment at Diversey and Clybourn will be one-third public housing, with the remainder to be determined through developers and community input, the CHA said.

The mixture has been a point of contention, with some residents wanting the development to be 100 percent public housing.

* Sneed: Executive sweep? The Stroger file . . .

Sneed hears Cook County investigators hauled boxes of hard drives and photo electronic devices out of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s executive office at 118 N. Clark St., after business hours Thursday evening.

Sweep ‘em: Sneed is told they were concerned computer files/equipment may have been removed after a private company reportedly swept Stroger’s offices for eavesdropping devices Wednesday night. Stay tuned.

* 6 Rockford museums to share more than $1.4 million in grants

* Rockford hits 77 percent in U.S. census returns

* Quinn, Hare deliver $10M grant for passenger rail station in Moline

* East Moline police negotiating with city officials today

* Decatur City Council OKs first phase of deal with state to reroute downtown truck traffic

* Contract awarded for Springfield Amtrak station renovation

* News-Democrat: With FEMA, suit’s needed

* Monroe County coroner reported in stable condition

Monroe County Coroner Julie Gummersheimer is reported to be in stable condition after initially being in critical condition in a St. Louis County hospital, according to media reports.

The Monroe County Independent said that Gummersheimer was in St. Anthony’s Medical Center with an illness that began with pneumonia.

* Hearing in preparation for Blagojevich retrial