* SurveyUSA’s latest monthly tracker has Gov. Blagojevich’s job approval rating at 38, with his disapproval at 59. Those are the worst job approval numbers of all Democratic governors in America and the fifth worst for all governors in the USA. Yet, he’s still leading in the polls. Go figure.

* The Tribune has cranked up their bloggy type thingy “Trail Mix” again. And the Daily Herald’s bloggy type thingy “Animal Farm” has gotten a wee bit bloggier lately with the addition of permalinks, but still no comments and no blogroll. I should point out, though, that they did link to me this week. Thanks, boys.

* Sun-Times: Outsider vs. insider in 6th Dist. - But tall odds don’t faze Duckworth

* Hey, Wumpus and Animous. You’re famous. Kinda. If you consider being buried at the bottom of a Tribune bullet-point piece without an actual hyperlink to your comments or this blog even though the story is on the Internet famous. Also, I didn’t even know the item existed until I ran into a subscriber at the local Chinese restaurant last night. So, OK, not really famous. But props to you both anyway.

* Neil Steinberg says the Cook County Forest Preserves are going to hell: “To be blunt, the preserves are returning to nature — the paths overgrown, choked with buckthorn, that invasive species of trash tree that pushes out native vegetation and looks like hell. There’s uncollected garbage and a general sense of neglect and decay. And that’s in a hoity-toity suburb — I’m sure it’s worse elsewhere.”

* Sun-Times: Black aldermen repeat fury over 9% of contracts - Portion of city construction deals even lower