High Sick Leave Rates Plague Cook County

by ADRIENNE LU | Jan 27, 2012

Cook County employees take nearly twice as much paid sick leave as other state and local government workers across the country, according to statistics compiled by the county. In the fiscal year that ended Nov. 30, 2011, the county said that on average, each employee took 6.64 hours of paid sick leave a month, compared [...]

City Hall

City Libraries to Reopen Mondays

by DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 20, 2012

After shutting down library branches on Mondays earlier this month, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Saturday that he planned to re-open them on Monday afternoons for most of the year and all day on Mondays when schools are not in session....

A Lifetime of Close Ties and Growing Clout

by DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 16, 2012

In Rahm Emanuel’s first public appearance after resigning as White House chief of staff in October 2010, he showed up in the Pilsen neighborhood accompanied by Juan Rangel, the community activist. Emanuel and Rangel had spoken for the first time...

 

Multimedia

A Young Mother, Trying to Stay Off of the Streets

by CHRIS CASCARANO | Jan 4, 2012

There are an estimated 25,000 homeless youth in Illinois, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and nearly 40 percent of them have children. Amanda Novoa, 18, was once among them. Novoa gave birth to her second baby just...

 

Metro

Anger Over Closures at School Board Meeting

by REBECCA VEVEA | Jan 25, 2012

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday faced angry community members opposed to two of the new administration’s cornerstone reforms—overhauling failing schools and increasing the length of the school day. Neither issue was on the agenda, which included the approval...

Madigan Spreads Blame for State’s Money Woes

by KRISTEN McQUEARY | Jan 25, 2012

In a rare public speech, House Speaker Michael Madigan on Tuesday blamed both Democrats and Republicans for spending Illinois into its current fiscal crisis, but said the budget passed last year with bipartisan support in the House was a good...

City Creating New Plan to End Homelessness

by MERIBAH KNIGHT | Jan 24, 2012

It has been nearly a decade since Chicago launched its plan to end homelessness within 10 years. Nine years later some say that more people are homeless now than before, while others say progress has been made. Set in motion...