* Poverty rises slightly in Chicago area

Every county in the Chicago area except Kendall experienced slightly increased poverty rates during the four-year period, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Cook County’s rate was 15.9 percent in 2009, up from 14.8 percent in 2008 and 15.3 in 2006.

In Illinois, the poverty rate rose to 13.3 percent in 2009, up from 12.3 percent in 2006. The national poverty rate last year was 14.3 percent.

* Poverty rate rising in Downers Grove Township

* Naperville median income dips below $100,000

* Median household income in Peoria County drops 7.8 percent

* Foreclosures make up one-quarter of Q2 Illinois home sales

A report released Thursday by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac shows there were 8,909 second-quarter foreclosure sales, accounting for 24.32 percent of all homes sold in the state. That was an increase of almost 5 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

* Schakowsky stops Devon Ave. foreclosures

For his part, Mr. Singh, who gave more than $30,000 to local Democratic politicians in the most recent presidential cycle and $2,000 to Ms. Schakowsky’s campaign in 2006, says he owns property on North Clark Street with a $5.6 million loan from Mutual Bank. He says United Central had rebuffed his attempts to ease the terms of his loan as he rounded up potential new tenants at his property, prompting him to spur the action from the tight-knit Indian-American business community in Chicago.

* Council committee OKs hefty fines for crime-ridden buildings

* Ald. Stone rips problem building crackdown as too extreme

Only 2 percent of eligible households — about 7,000 — have signed up for free meters since the program began in March 2009. And the city has installed only 2,500 of the devices.

Many Chicagoans don’t believe the meters will lower their water bills, thinking it’s cheaper not to have one. But few realize just how unfair the city’s water-billing system is.

* Water bills soak many in Chicago

* City’s chief information officer becomes first Daley cabinet member to resign

Hardik Bhatt, Chicago’s chief information officer, has resigned his $141,840-a-year job to join Cisco Systems, a California-company that bills itself as the “worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.”

Bhatt is the first member of Mayor Daley’s cabinet to pull the plug since the mayor chose political retirement over the quest for a seventh term.

But he’s not expected to be the last.

All 956 city policymakers exempt from the federal Shakman decree banning political hiring and firing must decide whether to stick around — and hope they can defy the odds and be retained by Daley’s successor — or dust off their resumes now.

* UIC faculty may fight Ayers decision

* Niles trustees vote to keep imprisoned ex-mayor’s name on sign

* Dist. 211 adopts budget, avoids cuts

* [Aurora] employee unions quiet on payroll cut plan

* Hazel Crest board votes to cut own salaries

* Lead lawyers ask off Blagojevich case

* Attorneys plan to leave Blago team