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* Social Tension Rises at Chicago Housing Authority Mixed-Income Development

There is a building called Westhaven Park Tower just a few blocks from the United Center on Chicago’s near West Side. The building is part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s billion-dollar mixed-income experiment. It was created to invent new neighborhoods with racial and class diversity. But an us-vs-them mentality is bubbling at Westhaven among condo owners and public housing residents.

* Boeing May deliveries rise, orders sink

* Seafood seller Plitt takes on water with bank’s lawsuit

On May 27, American Chartered Bank sued Plitt, saying the firm overstated the value of collateral used to back its loan from the bank. American Chartered says Plitt is worth only half the $12.6 million it owes.

* More McDermott layoffs

McDermott Will & Emery issued its second layoff memo this year on Thursday. The grim news: the loss of 25 lawyers and 47 administrative staff.

The elimination of 72 people is on top off a reduction of 149 jobs in February, which included 60 attorneys. The combined hit represents about 8 percent of the 1,100 attorneys the firm had in February.

Firms are now reevaluating their recruiting practices. The first signs of change: Big firms, including McDermott, have dramatically cut the number of second-year law students they hire for their summer-internship programs. And many have deferred the start dates of students who have just graduated from law school until next year.

* Jobs, programs under ax at county

Not filling about 45 job vacancies and eliminating the sheriff’s crime prevention unit are among steps Sangamon County officials have proposed to plug a projected $2.7 million hole in this year’s budget.

County Board member Andy Goleman, chairman of the board’s finance committee, said Thursday the crunch comes from a surprisingly deep decline in revenue, which he attributed to the recession.

* City Workers to Receive Layoff Notices

Chicago’s city hall is warning union workers that layoff notices could be in the mail soon. The city’s Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold says monthly revenues continue to come in below projections. And he says personnel costs are more than 80-percent of the city’s budget.

* Rate shock in reverse

That’s right. The cost for the actual electricity we use just decreased by an average of about 9 percent, saving custom ers about $96 a year.

The rate cut is the culmination of a lot of hard work from fed-up Illinois consumers, consumer groups like the Citizens Utility Board, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Pat Quinn. In 2007, they led the fight to slay ComEd’s “reverse-auction” power-pricing system, which increased bills by an average of 26 percent.

In the end, Illinois consumers got $1 billion in refunds, and the state created the Illinois Power Agency, the cornerstone of an electricity-pricing system that’s unique in the nation.

* State’s Attorney Will Continue Seeking Death Penalty

Prosecutors in Cook County say they will continue seeking the death penalty. That’s in response to a request from the public defender’s office to take the option of capital punishment off the table. The public defender says his office has run out of money used specifically to defend clients facing the death penalty. Sally Daly is with the state’s attorney’s office. She says a lack of money is no reason to change the judicial process.

* Chicago Bar Association holds death penalty forum

* NRA seeks to strike down Chicago-area gun-control laws

The NRA wants the court to rule that last year’s gun-rights decision invalidating a handgun ban in the District of Columbia applies as well to local and state laws.

* Jail beating settlement: Cook County panel recommends $750,000 settlement over alleged mass beating of inmates

* Judge McGinnis, Daley’s cousin, could get lightest DUI penalty

* Nepotism isn’t ‘in the best interest’

Kildeer, population 4,200, just OK’d hiring newly elected Mayor Nandia Black’s brother-in-law as the new village administrator at $100,000 a year. Never mind that he has almost none of the qualifications the village listed as musts during a candidate search that cost taxpayers $20,000. That search yielded 13 candidates who do hold the listed requirements for the post, village administrator experience and a public administration degree.

* Dorothy Brown says she won’t take cash from county employees

“There is a level at which gifts are not appropriate,” Canary said. “I think it’s very troublesome if people feel pressured to give.”

A former employee who has complained in the past about politics in the clerk’s office said employees feared their careers were in jeopardy if they didn’t donate toward yearly birthday gifts for Brown.

“If you didn’t contribute, you were treated differently than other people who did,” said Barbara Nicosia, a former union leader who retired in 2002 after more than 30 years in the office and repeatedly sparred with Brown. “Eventually, you paid for it.”

Brown disputes the notion that employees are under pressure to give.

* An Illinois congressman is again putting pressure on oil giant BP because of the company’s pollution discharges in Indiana.

KIRK: First they try to violate the water quality of Lake Michigan, notw we find they are violating the clean air act.

Kirk has joined 18 other members of Congress in asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to closely examine BP’s emissions.

This week, the EPA cited BP’s Whiting Refinery for violating the Clean Air Act from 2003 to 2008.

The emissions contained cancer-causing benzene.

* Another parking-meter problem: vandalism

The meters — in the 5100 block of North Clark Street — were spray-painted with silver paint, and some kind of putty was shoved into the coin slots, Officer Robert Perez of the Chicago Police Department’s news affairs office said.

Police were called before 11 this morning about what turned out to be 15 to 20 vandalized parking meters on both sides of Clark Street.

Shortly after, they found about 40 more damaged parking meters in the same neighborhood, on North Sheridan Road, West Argyle Street, North Kenmore Avenue and North Winthrop Avenue.

* Chicago parking meters marred by vandals

* Chicago parking tickets are on the rise

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Chicago officials revealed that parking meter violations have grown by 13 percent to more than 161,000 so far this year, representing more than $8 million in potential fines.

* Vast mural will depict Chicago’s Indian roots

posted by Mike Murray
Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 9:26 am

Comments

Is Dorothy Brown still going to run for Cook County Board President and reform Cook County?

Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 9:31 am
Kirk would be wise to keep a high profile on Lake Michigan and other environmental issues.

That’s actually the kind of posture a statewide GOP candidate needs to make inroads among Independents, Dems, and, our own 10 percenters, the Greenies.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 9:44 am
==County Board member Andy Goleman, chairman of the board’s finance committee, said Thursday the crunch comes from a surprisingly deep decline in revenue==

If he thinks the revenue decline is sharp now, wait until state employees start getting axed in Springfield to balance the budget. Ouch.

Comment by Obamarama Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 10:31 am
For all the ill will directed at the Speaker, myself included, he’s kept his foot on the throat of the utility companies and you can thank him for the rate reduction.

Comment by Scooby Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 10:57 am
I’m officially fed up with meter stuff. Why is it that the areas with the most $$ and most expensive stores are the areas complaining the most about $1 per hour parking fees? Is that really too much when you’re going shopping in Andersonville?

Comment by babs Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 11:47 am
Thank goodness the Twitter link is back.

In another circulation building bid, the Tribune is working an important Twitter comes to the legislature. It is mentioned here in case bloggers want to set down their weapons long enough to buy a newspaper. If not wait for the podcast.

Informed sources reveal the saga is certain to detail how HDems refuse to divert time from winning elections and thumping the CircularFiringSquad in every corner of the state to Twitter.
Another devastating failure.

Comment by 2ConfusedCrew Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 12:35 pm
i’m with babs! from my observations, the anger is coming from the yuppies who can no longer park cheaply in front of the offices where they work. there is no other explantion for the spaces around River North buildings. it is SO much easier to go shopping and to the doctor now, i’m in parking space location heaven. yes the switch to the private company had big problems, but the vandalism and the whining is coming from a select few, most of whom are unwilling to go on the record. and, it does not help that the City does not seem to be doing a very good job of explaining why drivers like me love the change cause i can actually find a space. you’d think with all the PR talent in the Daley orbit that they could explain reality.

Comment by Amy Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 1:30 pm
Ahem. There is a problem w/ the parking meters in Andersonville. There are parking meters for every other parking spot. Meaning there is a legal parking spot between meters where there is no meter. Unfortunately, since they’ve gotten so gung ho on issuing tickets (did you know that the CTA and private security guard firms can issue tickets besides Revenue Control and the CPD?), you can now get a ticket when parked in one of those spots between meters. I don’t feel sorry for the vandalized meters. Sorry.

Comment by Emily Booth Friday, Jun 5, 09 @ 7:24 pm