- Food for thought? The Trib says Chicago health inspectors don’t check out sanitary conditions at stadium concessions during the sports season, but there’s no indication the food and drink have made people sick.
- Political pressure. Also in the Trib, a quarterly report from Cook County’s inspector general slaps the deposed Stroger administration on the wrist for pressuring employees to contribute cash to Todd’s ultimately unsuccessful re-election campaign.
- Take this job and….justify it. Stroger’s replacement as Cook County president, Toni Preckwinkle, launches a pro-bono audit of jobs in her office to find it if employee assignments match job titles and whether the positions are necessary in the first place. The Daily Herald says the goal is to save $1 million. BGA says go for it.
- Care for O’Hare. Also in the Herald, an editorial pleading for love instead of lawsuits between City of Chicago aviation officials and two airlines giants, United and American, over a bond issue to continue runway expansion at O’Hare.
- Past due. Illinois Statehouse News says the state’s unpaid bills will soon double despite the tax hike, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
- Bankruptcy protection? The New York Times reports policy makers are quietly looking for a way to allow fiscally strained states to declare bankruptcy, which is currently barred. Changing the law would have to clear “high constitutional hurdles.”
What I’m Watching—Jan. 21, 2011
