Chicago and Cook County News

The upcoming G8 and NATO summits in Chicago have fleetingly increased the visibility of World Business Chicago, the non-profit, non-governmental group Mayor Rahm Emanuel put in charge of fundraising for the events, which will take place in May at McCormick Place. Progress Illinois looked Friday at what influence World Business has on city economic development.

The city’s new ward map probably will not go into effect until 2015. But that still complicates the ward committeeman race, as committeeman are elected four-year terms that begin after the March 20 primary. PI looked Thursday at some of the more contentious races for committeeman made confusing thanks to the remap.

Chicago public libraries are set to reopen on Monday afternoons this coming week. Chicago Public Library branch locations will open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays during the Chicago Public Schools academic year.

AMR Corp., American Airline's parent company announced Wednesday it wants to eliminate about 13,000 jobs as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. There are 9,900 American Airline employees in the Chicago region, and it is unknown how the cuts will specifically impact these workers.

The dismissal of 12 airport bookstore employees at O'Hare Airport has renewed the push for a "Stable Jobs, Stable Airports" living wage ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Jason Ervin (28th).

The S&P/Case-Shiller housing index released findings Tuesday that the price of homes in Chicago fell for the third consecutive month in November, reaching May 2001 levels.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that half of the Chicago homes it visited last fall had lead levels in their tap water high enough to warrant federal regulatory action.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced reforms Monday to the city's controversial Tax Increment Finance, or TIF, economic development program, based on recommendations from a mayor-appointed TIF reform task force. The reforms, like a comprehensive database, arrived as three corporations announced they would decline TIF dollars.

One such company is CME Group, Inc., which has been subject to protests from groups like Stand Up! Chicago, ever since the financial exchange successfully campaigned for a state corporate tax break.  We looked at whether the return of TIF money could signal changes in how the state and city dole out tax incentives.

Also, Celeste Meiffren, field director of Illinois PIRG, wrote an op-ed for PI that said all of Emanuel’s proposed reforms are necessary – but that the mayor should place a moratorium on TIF spending until these reforms are put into place.

We reported Monday on the contentious relationship between Cook County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, especially on whether Cook County should honor requests from ICE to detain suspected undocumented immigrants charged with crimes.

We also looked Monday at Occupy Chicago moving into a new 5,500-foot loft space in Pilsen. Occupy Chicago plans to use the space for meetings, events, teach-ins and weekly General Assembly meetings.

The pro-charter schools group New Schools for Chicago held an expo at Soldier Field Saturday, in conjunction with Chicago Public Schools where elementary and high schools set up tables advertising their schools to parents.

Springfield News

The state legislature convened for the first time in 2012, amid a new report that Illinois’ deficit problem is even worse than thought, for Gov. Pat Quinn’s “State of the State” speech Wednesday.

The Chicago Civic Federation, a research group, released a report Monday warning that Illinois’ budget deficit could escalate to $34.8 billion (or more than the state’s entire annual operating budget), if major changes are not made to the state’s Medicaid and pension systems.

AFSCME Council 31, the state’s main public employees union, slammed the report in a PI op-ed Tuesday. AFSCME pointed out that while the state’s budget problems are readily apparent, the real cause is a broken tax system that, among other shortcomings, allows two-thirds of all corporations to pay no corporate income tax at all.

Also, AFSCME workers protested outside Gov. Pat Quinn's office Thursday, over public employee raises the governor withheld last year.

Quinn’s “State of the State” speech Wednesday optimistically focused on ways state government can spur job creation, and saved a dreary examination of state finances for the governor’s February 22 budget address.

But while Republicans pilloried Quinn for not focusing on cuts, shrinking government can translate into higher unemployment. In fact, every time Illinois cuts general fund spending by just one percent it results in 6,230 lost jobs, according a report released Thursday.

Meanwhile, Voices for Illinois Children launched a fiscal policy center that will focus on the needs of Illinois children.

One idea for shrinking the state budget deficit is having individual school districts, and not the state, pay teacher pensions. But Quinn says that he has not seriously explored that idea.

Illinois faith leaders went to Springfield Tuesday to call on legislators to raise the minimum wage from its current figure of $8.25. The group delivered a scroll signed by some 200 religious leaders in support of raising the minimum wage along with a petition signed by 1,000 Illinoisans.

National News

Illinois candidates for Congress released Wednesday how much money they have raised so far. Former Rep. Debbie Halvorson has raised almost as much money as incumbent Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. in the 2nd Congressional District race – and has even more cash on hand than Jackson, Jr. for the primary. Also, there’s serious money in the 8th District primary race between Democrats Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi.

New Prosperity Foundation, a so-called Super Political Action Committee, spent $25,000 on an ad against Rep. Judy Biggert's (R-13) likely general election opponent, Crain’s Chicago Business reported Wednesday.

PI examined a report Monday that restaurants actually lose money by paying their workers such low wages.  The lost money mainly comes from high employee turnover.