A monthly meeting in their Bronzeville union hall had the spirit of a rally, as letter carriers decried $3 billion in cuts announced earlier this week that would close Chicago mail facilities and result in 28,000 layoffs nationwide. more ›

Mayor Emanuel made good on his promise today to cut $75 million from a city budget that faces a deficit of over a half-billion dollars. more ›

Even though Illinois schools are still $1 billion in the hole, there are fewer districts on the Illinois State Board of Education's “financial watchlist” this year than last. While that may sound like better news, it comes with a price tag of more than 2,600 Illinois teachers out of work. The Sun Times reports that a state board “Reduction in Force Survey” showed more than 2,102 teaching jobs had been cut in Illinois, which doesn't include 554 teaching positions eliminated in Chicago last year. more ›

Clout Street reports Governor Quinn’s office released documents outlining the $3 billion in budget cuts his administration made since taking the helm from impeached ex. Governor Rod Blagojevich. Illinois lawmakers have been requesting documents detailing the cuts for months. Some of the cuts Quinn made include: more ›

Even though just three days ago Daley was still looking to privatize Taste of Chicago, the city has decided to turn the reigns to the festival over to the Park District. By doing so, the city hopes to still save cash while keeping Chicago's biggest food orgy free to the masses. Chicago Park District General Superintendent Timothy Mitchell said via press release “Mayor Daley has stressed the importance of keeping the Taste of Chicago free with no admission fee, especially during these tough economic times. Our goal is to do just that while also ensuring that the Taste remains economically viable.” more ›

As Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart looks at as many line items as possible to comply with County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's mandate to balance the county budget, one of the casualties could be the Sheriff's Department's graffiti removal program. The anti-graffiti unit is responsible for removing gang tags and other graffiti throughout the suburbs, but cutting it from the budget will allow Dart's department to continue patrolling unincorporated stretches of Cook County, guarding Cook County Jail and the Circuit Courts. Given the choice, Dart may have to err on the side of overall safety. more ›

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle seems headed for a showdown with Sheriff Tom Dart over proposed cuts to his department's budget. If Dart holds the line with his current proposed cuts, it could become the first confrontation in Preckwinkle's administration. more ›

Given the mandate from County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to cut department budgets so she can bring the county budget into balance, it looks like the Cook County Department of Public Health has done that, reducing their budget by $36 million over last year through a combination of job cuts and operational restructuring. Now, Preckwinkle has to incorporate the department budget into the larger county budget. more ›

It's nice to see some civil discussion about budget cuts for a change, even though Toni Preckwinkle said it's her way or the highway. more ›

On Sunday, the Illinois House voted 95-15 to limit the Seniors Ride Free program to only low income seniors and those with disabilities. Under the revised program, only seniors who qualify for the Illinois Circuit Breaker program may ride public transit gratis. Seniors who have free ride passes currently would be able to use them until their expiration. more ›

In an effort to balance the gaping holes in the City’s budget, Mayor Daley plans to maintain a freeze on hiring non-safety employees and consolidate the departments of Community Development and Zoning. The move projects $13 million in savings for the city by eliminating 277 positions. The plan would merge six city departments into three. more ›

So about those free transit rides. While there's been some movement in getting those free rides reduced, it still didn't deter people from taking mass transit for free in droves. The RTA estimated the free rides would increase in 2010 over 2009's totals by about 1 million total rides. But through the first six months of the year, there have already been 2.5 million more free rides taken than all of last year for a total of 37.5 million rides so far in 2010. If the pace keeps up, that's roughly 75 million free rides for the year. According to the Tribune, the free rides are offered to, "senior citizens, disabled military veterans, low-income individuals covered by the state circuit-breaker program and active military personnel in uniform." Even at reduced fare, the rides taken by seniors, for instance, would have provided a healthy chunk of change for the transit agencies that are dealing with service cuts and repair issues. Thanks a lot, Blago. more ›

Governor Pat Quinn announced a partial budget today which includes $1.4 billion in cuts. Speaking at a press conference, Quinn said “Today I’m making tough budget choices to move our state forward.” Among those tough choices include a $312.6 million cut from the Department of Human Services, the bulk of which includes $262.8 million cut from mental health and developmental disability programs not already tied to Medicaid. The cuts will have drastic effects on social service and mental health agencies in Illinois. In an interview with Fox Chicago yesterday, CEO Tony Zipple of Thresholds, one of the state’s largest service providers, said several dozen of the agencies residents could end up back on the streets. Tony Paulauski, Executive Director of the ARC of Illinois, a Disability Advocacy group called the budget a “dismantling of the human services safety network” and said that the “human toll is going to be just awful.” more ›

Legislators have scrambled for solutions over the state’s looming budget cuts. Gov. Quinn’s $55 billion budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would reduce the Illinois State Police force by nearly a quarter and close five of the 21 district offices. A bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly to increase revenue for the state police is sitting on Quinn’s desk. New fees paid by guilty defendants or those granted supervision for felony, traffic, misdemeanor or local ordinance violations is a partial revenue solution and could help prevent the cuts to many of the officers slated to be laid off. The proceeds will go directly to a new fund specifically for the Illinois State Police. “It will generate approximately $22 million a year,” Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica told Illinois Statehouse News. more ›

State Senator Bill Brady, the Republican nominee for governor of Illinois, visited Mayor Daley yesterday to talk about budget issues facing the city and state. But Daley made it clear that he's not endorsing Brady for governor. "It was a courtesy visit," mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard told the Sun-Times. "Sen. Brady some time ago asked to see the mayor and [Tuesday] was the day," she said. "Mayor Daley is never so partisan that he's unwilling to listen." more ›

Today, a few hundred Chicago Public School students got up and walked out of their classrooms to protest proposed budget cuts. more ›

A proposed increase in classroom size at Chicago Public Schools could violate fire codes. more ›

With four day school weeks a possibility, even as Mayor Daley expresses his displeasure with the idea, there are even more cuts coming to Chicago Public Schools. As many as 8,000 to 10,000 preschoolers could be affected by new cuts to the city's free preschool programs thanks to cuts made in the state's budget. Under Gov. Quinn's proposed budget, "preschools with a 93 percent or greater poverty rate would stay open, and students with special needs." The remaining CPS preschool programs, however, would be shut down. more ›

Next fiscal year could be tough on Illinois state police if Governor Pat Quinn’s proposed budget cuts pass. Quinn’s budget plan proposes cutbacks that could include laying off more than 400 state police and closing five district headquarters. The areas affected would be Carmi, Litchfield, Pecatonica, Macomb and Chicago. Local police departments in the area would be responsible for shoring up the resulting gaps in policing. more ›

• Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman warned of more layoffs and larger class sizes in another round of budget cuts is implemented.
• A judge ruled Oprah will have to face a defamation lawsuit stemming from comments she made about alleged sexual abuse at her girls' school in South Africa.
• Police are still searching for the driver involved in a hit-and-run on Interstate 80 this morning that killed a construction worker.

In an effort to save money, Chicago Public Schools are cutting sophomore sports at the city's high schools, according to a memo sent to school athletic directors yesterday that the Tribune obtained. Many officials claim the memo was confusing and sent at the last minute to sophomore coaches. It stated, "Though spring sports teams can officially begin practice today, the varsity and freshman levels are the only levels of girls and boys coaches approved to begin practice at this time. The CPS system continues to carefully examine all programs before specific budgetary decisions are finalized." The CPS year began with a $500 million deficit and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman stated earlier that many programs will be cut but Tuesday was the first mention of cuts towards the sports program. more ›

If you've been going to the library more often since these hard economic times hit (free books, movies, and cds), better double-check the hours: we're getting closer to the Jan. 2, 2010 date on which Chicago Public Library will cut hours at 76 neighborhood branches. Instead of being open 64 hours per week, most library hours will be cut down to 48. For areas with two libraries, hours will be staggered: one will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the other, noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday hours will stay the same, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The three larger libraries in the system, Harold Washington Library Center downtown, Sulzer Regional Library in Lincoln Square, and Woodson Regional Library in Brainerd, won't experience any cuts to their 68 hours per week. To see your local branch's hours, try the Chicago Public Library website. more ›

Remember all those cuts we talked about a few weeks back? Several of them involved some of the FREE music festivals and events we love about the city. Now, the Friends of Chicago Music are fighting back with a petition to help save those programs from being cut as the City Council tries to hash out Mayor Daley's 2010 budget plan. Swing by and sign it today. [via Pitchfork] more ›

We're a short time away from hearing all about Mayor Daley's budget for 2010 - hint: it won't be pretty! - and Daley continues to slash at the budget like Jason Voorhees so that he can avoid raising taxes to help fill a budget gap in the neighborhood of $500 million. Items have been trickling out in the days ahead of his presentation to the City Council and now we've got a clearer idea of what's going to be cut. We already know that the city's non-union workers will be asked to take nearly five work weeks worth of furlough days (24 to be exact), that there will be no cost of living increases in wages, and at least three more reduced services days. Daley has also suggested that while money from the Skyway lease will remain untouched, he could borrow heavily from the parking meter lease to help cover the budget gap. more ›

Stacked books, fired pages, it sounds like budget cut season has descended for Chicago-area libraries. Stocking books is a job that is usually left to library pages, but in mid-July, Mayor Richard Daley fired almost half of the 279 pages after the library employee union couldn’t agree on budget cuts. With fewer pages to help circulate books, upper-level library staff were forced to pick up the slack. The library cuts are only part of the ongoing battle between Daley and the city’s unions over projected pay cuts in order to help balance the budget. The librarians’ union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the Teamsters union were the only two that didn’t take pay cuts, and thus 431 city employees were let go from both unions. more ›

An internal memo revealed non-union Chicago Public Schools staff will “have to take six unpaid furlough days this year,” adding to CPS’ woes on a local level. Earlier this week, Mayor Richard M. Daley encouraged the city’s agencies to make “such cuts,” according to a Chi-Town Daily news report. CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman was behind the July 28 memo, confirmed CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond, the report said. The memo states: more ›

While Washington was busy trying to figure out how to leverage the federal government's largess to kick the economy back into a normal business cycle, our new governor Pat Quinn was busy restricting state spending. Facing a $9 billion deficit, Quinn has ordered state agencies to cut spending by one percent, exempting education, has ordered that job vacancies not be filled, and is curtailing spending on travel and equipment. "Nobody likes to cut back, but sometimes that's what's necessary," Quinn said. "We have to make sure that state government is lean and cuts cost wherever it can." more ›

The same City Hall that's shelling out almost $60 million for new SUVs is now telling us they don't have enough money to plow and salt side streets in a timely fashion. Streets and Sanitation Cmdr. Mike Picardi said that less salt is being used and side streets may have to wait longer to be plowed in an effort to save money, citing yesterday's snow as an example: according to Picardi, it cost the city $500,000 to salt and plow the city's streets.

The Streets and San boss says that, to save money on overtime costs, he’ll delay sending salt trucks and plows onto side streets after a weekend snowfall, unless conditions on the side streets become dangerous. more ›

Photo by BrianHagy
• The Blago probe has another victim: William Cellini, who was indicted by a Federal grand jury today for planning to extort Hollywood producer Thomas Rosenberg for money for the Blago campaign.
• Two people were severely injured in a fire after an explosion at Gigi's Restaurant in Naperville last night.
• Cook County Board President Todd Stroger promises his new spending plan, introduced next month, won't include any new taxes.

The latest victims of Mayor Daley's 2009 budget? The Chicago Jazz and Blues Fests, each of which will be shortened from four to three days in an effort to save money; the number of stages at both fests will also be reduced. Those aren't the only fests being reduced: the Holiday Sports Festival is being reduced to two days and Great Chicago Places and Spaces, the Viva Latin Music Festival, Celtic Fest and the Mayor's Cup Soccer Festival will all probably be cut to one day. Megan McDonald, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, said, “To be frank, we simply cannot continue moving forward with programs, events and festivals that cost the city of Chicago more to operate than we bring in in revenue...This relates specifically to stages, tents, service areas and contractual services rendered at each event." more ›