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* Boeing invents high-charged solar cell

Boeing Co. researchers have developed the world’s most efficient solar cell, turning 41.6% of sunlight into electricity.

Typically, commercial photovoltaic cells convert 14% to 22% of sunlight into electricity, according to the Solar Energy Industry Assn.

* Cheaper gas this Labor Day weekend

* Can wind power save the Midwest?

* Illinois releasing metro jobless rates for July

* Tribune bondholders want probe of buyout deal

In a filing Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the bondholders said the transaction was responsible for rendering the company insolvent or with unreasonably small capital.

* Subsidized-housing voucher program: Park Forest draws crowd seeking help with housing costs

* Chicago lakefront gaining a gem

* Let the bidding begin…

That great hulking post office building over the Eisenhower Expressway goes on the auction block Thursday.

The suggested opening bid for this sturdy fixer-upper is $300,000.

* Cuba nursing home backers trying to head off sale

* Neighborhood Fights to Keep Charter School Out

* Chicago Board of Education Passes Budget for 2009-10 School Year

* Chicago targets mental health clinics for cuts

When the administration reopened the clinics, city officials said they would look for ways to keep the clinics open for the long term, but since then the state budget crisis slashed annual funding to $4.2 million from $8.4 million, Hadac said.

As a result, only four of the 40 employees laid off at the four clinics earlier this year have been rehired, Hadac said. The city did plan to hire back “three dozen” of those workers, he said.

* Daley pushes ’sacrifices’ in city budget

A city Public Health Department spokesman said Wednesday the city is looking at shutting five of the 12 mental-health clinics, while blaming the cuts on state budget woes. But a state Human Services Department spokeswoman said the cut was almost entirely the result of city billing errors, not the state budget crisis.

The clinics provide therapy, medication and activities for people with mental illness who can’t get access to city not-for-profit centers that are at maximum capacity, activists said. Four targeted clinics are South Side facilities that closed this year but reopened temporarily with skeleton staffs after advocates staged a sit-in.

* Your three minutes with the mayor.

* Daley has easier time in second public hearing

* Civic Federation: Chicago 2016 budget gives ‘adequate protection’ to taxpayers

Chicago’s $4.8 billion operating budget for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games provides “adequate protection” for taxpayers, but the $1.1 billion Olympic Village exposes the city to “ongoing real estate risks” that must be insured and closely managed, the Civic Federation has concluded.

* Chicago has reasonably solid plan for 2016 Olympics, auditor says

The watchdog group cautioned that the review was not a thorough financial audit and that time constraints limited the depth of the analysis. But the federation nonetheless said if Chicago 2016 sticks to its plan to buy additional insurance, the extra coverage would create “an effective safety net” to protect taxpayers in the event of problems such as cancellation of the Games, natural disasters or “loss of development financing.”

The report also said it was critical for the City Council to use its oversight powers to monitor the city’s Olympic plans. But that appears to miss the political reality of City Hall, where aldermen routinely have followed Daley’s lead and rarely challenge his major plans.

* Civic Fed OKs 2016 cost forecast — except for Olympic Village

* Report backs Olympic financing plan

* 16 Ilinois guardsmen honored for service abroad

* Wikipedia Files: Steve Stone comes clean on Cubs blow-up, Playgirl

posted by Mike Murray
Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 9:30 am

Comments

That Trib story has some legs. Board members are going to have to raise their right hands and swear they did their due diligence to make the best deal possible.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 9:38 am
From the Chicago 2016 budget story — “The report also said it was critical for the City Council to use its oversight powers to monitor the city’s Olympic plans. But that appears to miss the political reality of City Hall, where aldermen routinely have followed Daley’s lead and rarely challenge his major plans.” –

The Trib’s reporters hit it on the head. Would someone please ask Mr. Msall or Alderman Flores the following question:

“You’re both intimately familiar with politics in this city. What makes you think for a minute that a critical mass of the Chicago City Council is suddenly going to do something it hasn’t done in decades — namely, provide legislative oversight for one of the Mayor’s pet projects?”

Fantasyland — pure and simple.

Comment by bluestatecowboys Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 10:03 am
Hurray for Boing and free enterprise.

Comment by Downstater Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 10:12 am
steve stone was in playgirl?

Comment by anon Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 10:41 am
A big heartfelt thank you to our 16 Illinois Guardsmen and all who have worn a uniform to serve our Country. Not a day goes by where I am not fully aware–and so deeply grateful for–the sacrifices you’ve made to ensure our freedom.

God bless you and your families. Thank you!!!!!

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Aug 27, 09 @ 9:02 pm