Report: Prison Deal Could Create 3,000 Jobs
According to a White House analysis, a deal to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to the Thomson Correctional Center could bring nearly 3,000 jobs to the area. Up to 1,400 hundred of those could be filled with local residents.

Stroger To Veto Sales Tax Cut
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger said he will veto a rollback of his controversial county sales tax hike today. Commissioners have voted four times to cut the 1.75 percent tax back to 1.25 percent, but each time they have failed to override Stroger.

Blago Hires Holding On
Despite Gov. Pat Quinn's early promise to fumigate state government in the wake of Rod Blagojevich's impeachment, dozens of high-ranking, top-paid hires from the Blago era have managed to hold onto their state jobs, the Sun-Times reports.

Quinn Creates Human Services Commission
Meanwhile, Gov. Quinn has created a commission tasked with making recommendations about human services in Illinois. Led by his deputy chief of staff and the president of programs at the Chicago Community Trust, the task force will make recommendations next June about publicly funded programs and services in a wide variety of areas, including child care, mental health, and housing.

Few Statewide Illinois Candidates Sign Fair Campaign Code
So far this election season, only one of the 16 statewide candidates has signed the Code of Fair Campaign Practices, a voluntary form campaigns can file with the state board of elections that says candidates won't slander their opponents.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user timbrauhn.