Politics

Chicago could be one of the first cities in the nation to give double duty to its fleet of street sweepers now that the mayor has proposed an ordinance that would approve the use of cameras to identify parking scofflaws.

The city is considering a three-year contract worth $7.2 million that would allow Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), one of the nation's largest parking enforcement services, to conduct image verification of potential violators. The city would issue $50 tickets to violators.

State Representatives Kevin Joyce (D-35th) and Jim Brosnahan (D-36th), along with state Sen. Ed Maloney (D-18th), have co-sponsored legislation in the Illinois House that would provide incentives to Illinois nursing educators.

The bill would allocate $2 million for scholarships to nurses through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The legislation highlights a “critical shortage of nursing faculty” in nursing education, said Kay Thurn, interim dean at Saint Xavier University's School of Nursing.

By Maude Standish
Medill Reports-Chicago

Chicago residents overwhelmingly felt frustrated by Rev. Jesse Jackson's statements that presidential candidate Barack Obama was "talking down to black people." Jackson's remarks came after Obama gave a speech calling for more parental responsibility in the black community. Jackson, unaware that the camera was rolling in a television studio, also whispered "I want to cut his nuts out."

She's known for her steadfast support for sterilizing pit bulls, but now Ald. Virginia Rugai is taking her campaign against dangerous pets even further.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Rugai and Ald. Ed Burke (14th) have teamed up to introduce an ordinance that would require all dog and cat owners living in Chicago to spay or neuter their pets within six months of taking responsibility for the animal.

By Kahrin Deines
Medill Reports - Chicago

Look out Chicago's front window and you'll behold one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. More than a thousand cubic miles of water at our doorstep. With the other four Great Lakes, more than 20 percent of the world's surface water.

Not much of an incentive to limit our showers or stint on washing the car.

But in these days of resource competition, even communities near the southernmost Great Lake are starting to feel the pinch of water scarcity.

By Shawna Ohm
Medill Reports - Chicago

Mayor Daley and the Cook County Board of Review announced Wednesday a special property re-assessment period that could result in lower taxes for homeowners - good news for residents of Mount Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park whose assessments likely skyrocketed in the last year after the housing boom.

By Rob Runyan
Medill Reports - Chicago

Anne Burke is empowered and bounded by her last name.

Of course, that was her choice. Anne McGlone, a South Side native, married Edward Burke in 1968, when they were both 24, and has been a Burke, for better or worse, ever since.

By Christina Zdanowicz
Medill Reports - Chicago

Transit riders and CTA employees breathed a joint sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon as the Chicago City Council approved a way to fund pensions and a retiree health care plan for CTA workers.

A reluctant City Council voted to increase the city's real estate transfer tax from $7.50 per $1,000 to $10.50, as authorized by the mass-transit bailout bill passed on Jan. 17.

If collection begins in April, the CTA is expected to generate $63 million from its share of the tax through the end of 2008.