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[Note from Rich Miller: Today is Mike Murray’s birthday. Please, wish him well in comments. Thanks.]

People looking for part-time work over the holidays can blame an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and a cautious retail sales outlook if they find the sledding a little rough.[…]

The Philadelphia-based Hay Group, a global management consulting firm, surveyed 25 top U.S. retailers earlier this fall and found that 40 percent of those responding plan to hire 5 percent to 25 percent fewer seasonal workers this year. It found that 64 percent already have lower-than-normal staffing levels.

* Chicago Ranks Low on Performance List

Chicago’s moved up from its place last year, but it’s still not doing well. Of the 200 largest metro areas, Chicago comes in at 148 of the nation’s best performing cities. An annual report released by the Milken Institute ranks metropolitan areas by how well a city can create and continue economic growth.

Chicago’s low ranking shows the decline in jobs and the stagnation of salary and wages. The areas where the city saw the sharpest declines in employment were manufacturing and the financial sector. The loss of those jobs had a negative affect on administrative and support positions. But the report says Chicago remains a major business center and will eventually benefit from a national recovery.

* Chicago Budget Hearings to Wrap Up

Chicago City Council members are scheduled to hold their final day of budget hearings today.

* Thursday Illinois political docket: Daley talks about snow removal, CTA to vote on service cuts

* Lacking business license, Flowers’ new site closed

Facing eviction for not paying $10,000 in back rent on office space in Westchester, Flowers moved into a Broadview building a little more than a week ago.[…]

In addition, sources close to the office said, employees - who should have been paid Nov. 6 - have yet to receive their paychecks.

The closure is unrelated to a Cook County state’s attorney’s office criminal investigation that resulted in a raid of the Westchester office and Flowers’ home, or a lawsuit alleging he engaged in a scheme to defraud Cook County and avoid officials after defaulting on a $190,000 loan.[…]

“They didn’t apply for a business license, which would require an inspection,” Fornaro said. “No certificate of occupancy was issued.”

* 8th-graders’ shot at elite high schools better

High-scoring kids were being rejected simply because of the order in which they listed their college prep preferences.

“I couldn’t believe it,'’ schools CEO Ron Huberman said. “It’s terrible.'’

CPS officials said Wednesday they have decided to let any eighth-grader who applied to a college prep for fall 2010 admission re-rank their preferences to better conform with a new selection system.

* CPS magnet plan must keep racial diversity

* Northbrook criticized for giving police officers their old guns

A few residents blast Northbrook’s idea to let police keep their service Berettas

* Chocolate milk lovers have a cow about bans

A year after Barrington Community Unit School District 220 banned flavored milk from its lunch menus, the students persuaded administrators to give it another chance. Now the sweetened drinks are served on Fridays as the district tries to decide whether the benefits of calcium and vitamin D are worth the added sugar.

* Narcoleptic police dispatcher reaches settlement with Hillside after firing

* Swine flu ban: No young visitors at Stroger, other county hospitals

* Shots for high-risk available

* Man charged in downstate bomb plot will undergo tests

* Use the tools to ensure victims’ safety

Thousands of Illinoisans live in fear that someone they know may try to harm them. All told, more than 27,000 active orders of protection are on the books.

Problem is, about one-fifth of these court orders have not been served to those accused of abuse. If they violate an order for which they have not been notified, the offenders cannot be arrested, leaving their victims vulnerable to further attacks or harassment.

A new initiative by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office is aimed at closing this gap in the justice system and providing enforceable legal protection to more victims of domestic violence.

* Crime 101: Chances of being a statistic

In Chicago, in 2008, there were 511 murders. What are your chances of being a statistic? Check out our graphic below:

* Death for Dugan

* Michigan man arrested after calling 911 for a ride home

posted by Mike Murray
Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:05 am

Comments

Happy Birthday, Mike! I hope you have a good one.

Comment by Dead Head Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:14 am
Happy Birthday Mike. As always good job on the clips. Take tomorrow off and enjoy a good hang over.

Comment by WOW Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:16 am
No one is shedding a tear for convicted murderer Brian Dugan, but this last chapter in the Nicarico case only serves to deepen the pit of hypocrisy created in the last two decades by the DuPage County prosecutors.

First, three men went on trial for murder, with two (Latinos from neighboring Aurora) convicted and one (a white man who supposedly left a shoe print at the scene) let go. Someone had to pay, and these guys fit the bill.

After Dugan’s arrest for two other murders, and despite eyewitness testimony placing Dugan at the scene of the Nicarico murder, and (thanks to the Illinois State Police) even having Dugan’s unsigned confession in hand, DuPage County insisted on claiming that the two Latino men were responsible.

Check with Eric Zorn for the long drawn out details, but Alejandro Hernandez and Rolando Cruz were ultimately exonerated after serving years on death row. Only at that time did the DuPage prosecutors take an interest in Dugan’s confession. The prosecutors in this case make it seem that they tracked Dugan down on the run somewhere and brought him to justice, when he’s been serving two life sentences since the mid-80s.

They could have easily reached an agreement with Dugan for a guilty plea and a life sentence 20 years ago, but were too busy trying to end the lives of Hernandez and Cruz. Having failed at that, they took a new interest in their opportunity to execute someone, somehow, for this awful crime.

I moved to DuPage just as the first trial was beginning and have watched the whole show. Dugan is probably getting what he deserves, assuming that the sentence is ever carried out. But the people of DuPage deserve better from the State’s Attorney’s office.

Comment by DuPage Dave Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:23 am
Happy Birthday to Mike Murray!

Re CPS :
if the magnet schools are typically located in better neighborhoods, e.g, walt disney or whitney young, and the students living in those neighborhoods get first crack at being able to attend, how will that ensure racial diversity. the areas where the magnets are located, the neighborhoods of Chicago, aren’t exactly known as, or considered, racially diverse.

Comment by Will County Woman Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:25 am
A very happy birthday to Mr. Murray! Don’t forget to treat yourself today.

Comment by Pat collins Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:35 am
Happy Birthday Mike, if I see you out in Springfield tonight I’ll buy you a drink.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:42 am
BigMurr:
Have great day…Had I know this event was just around the corner, I would have made sure you had an extra “free lunch” last Saturday.
Speaking of Free Lunch, did Capt. Fax ever fork over the cash raised for you last summer while he had you in slavery?
Speaking of BrickheadJoe and jimRYAN one can only marvel how limited the outrage against these two now that we are end of the scandal. It is a wonder that either has a place in public life.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:49 am
Happy birthday, MM.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:50 am
Mike, Happy Birthday to You! Happy Mike Day for us! thanks for helping the wheels of intelligent thought go round and round in Illinois.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:57 am
I wish you a Happy Birthdayn and thank you for a good well done! The info you gather is always interesting and often infuriating! Keep it up.

Comment by Rich Sr Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 9:59 am
DuPage Dave,

I agree, and this is another reason why jim “dupage 7″ ryan should have stayed out of the governor’s race. had it not been for him and his poor prosecutorial work, the public and more importantly the nicarico family could have been spared the media circus surrounding the nicarico case. now, despite dugan’s being setenced to death, the dugan/nicarico saga continues because of the appeals process.

i still wonder how much the problems surrounding the nicarico case factored against jim “dupage 7″ ryan in his loss to blago?

Comment by Will County Woman Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:01 am
Happy birthday Mike. Get well soon.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:09 am
Happy Birthday Mike!!

Comment by Fan Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:10 am
Happy birthday, MM, and thanks for your continued hard work here!

Comment by erstwhilesteve Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:11 am
Have a good (and safe) birthday, Mike.

Comment by Cindy Lou Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:24 am
Happy brithday Mike, have a chocolate milk tomorrow.

Comment by Oneman Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:29 am
I’ll wish Mike Murray a yay, happy birthday on Tuesday, when he recovers.

Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:39 am
Happy Birthday, Mike!

Comment by Ken in Aurora Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 11:12 am
Happy birthday? Why are you working today?

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 11:26 am
First of all, Happy Birthday Mike!

Re: the CTA - Why hasn’t the US Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security gone after the CTA Board and top managment for the domestic terrorists that they try to be, extorting demands year after year from the people. Don’t these folks in Washington realize that these scoundrels previously had one of their nefarious routes going right past President Obama’s home?

Re: Charles Flowers - why hasn’t the legislature impeached this clown and eliminated this useless office once and for all? Does Mike Madigan have some scheme up his sleeve?

Comment by fedup dem Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 12:09 pm
Happy day, week, month + year Mike!

Comment by 312 Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 12:29 pm
Happy B-Day Mike get a new suit that fits.

Comment by Fester Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 12:30 pm
MM, to borrow from another thread, “another day older and deeper in debt.”

Beats the alternative. Cheers, mate.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 1:43 pm
Thank you DuPage Dave for this lucid analysis. I don’t understand why there is any public trust in these prosecutors–they are shameless. It is mysterious to me why the victims families are not more outraged, as their suffering has been extended for decades.

And, I really like Mike Murphy’s contributions to this blog. Long live Mike Murphy!

Comment by Alan K. Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 1:44 pm
lol who is Mike Murphy? But really, happy birthday Mike, you’ve done a great job. You will be missed when Rich puts you out to pasture.

Comment by Kevin Fanning Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 2:44 pm
Happy Birthday, Mike. Don’t do anything that would make Lisa Madigan tease you on video again!

Comment by Obamarama Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 4:12 pm
The most interesting thing about the Flowers article has absolutely nothing to do with the scandals at the Regional Office of Education.

What I find interesting is that Bridgeview would (or even could!) try to exercise jurisdiction over the operation of another branch of government by saying it cannot operate without a business licence! It’s a government office, not a business!

Comment by QRBNST Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 4:30 pm
Happy Birthday, Mike. Please do LOTS of things that would make Lisa Madigan tease you on video again! It’s your birthday, after all!

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:53 pm
To either the relief (or disappointment) of Rich’s readers, I must report that I drove by the building Mike is living in and it is still standing. There are no police cars outside.

So I hope Mike is having a happy birthday…and I’m questioning if the big party will happen this weekend?

Just how old are you now, Mike?

Comment by Lynn S Friday, Nov 13, 09 @ 12:16 am
Hey all,

Just wanted to thank everyone for the very kind words and birthday wishes. For the record, I am 23 years old. God where does the time go…

Anyway, I had a great birthday with plenty of “chocolate milk” and I can’t quite recall the ending of Thursday night -or Friday night for that matter, lol- but I am sure I did at least one thing that AG Madigan would be able to make fun of me for on camera. Although, to be fair, I am a pretty easy guy to make fun of in general.

CircularFiringSquad, one free lunch at those things is as much as my insides can bare anyway, but thx. And yes, Rich finally forked over your generous donation, but compelling him to do so was like pulling teeth. Ha. I’m just kidding Rich… kinda.

Fester, your ugly mug wins 1st place for funniest comment. For your prize I will give you a coupon for one month of free tanning so you can get a more human complexion. HA HA HA! But you are totally right, I do need a new wardrobe, especially a few new suits. I think I’ll wait till after the holidays, however, in case I gain back some of those LBs I lost. Plus you never know, I could lose more. (Fat chance - pun intended)

Fanning, you should know that there is no such thing as out to pasture when working for Rich. You pull a plow sun-up to sun-down tilling the fields until your body gives out from over use and old age. Then he ships you to the glue factory. LOLOL

Thanks again to everyone for your well wishes. You helped make my birthday great.

Cheers,
Murray

Comment by Mike Murray Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:02 am