Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave his initial budget forecast for next year, and the mayor touts that the city faces a $369 million budget gap, or about half of last year's projected $741 million budget deficit. Emanuel attributes the reduced deficit forecast to a number of factors, including more than 500 public employee layoffs and a variety of new policies to collect fines.

The forecast starts the process of writing a 2013 budget that city council will consider in November. The mayor has not yet outlined his spending priorities or possible additional sources of city revenue.