Mayor Rahm Emanuel has maintained he's a steward of taxpayers' dollars, and on Tuesday sent a letter to all city department heads and agencies requesting an immediate review of all employee parking expenses paid for by the city. Meanwhile, reports show taxpayers are spending about $1 million each year for government employees to park in downtown garages in Chicago’s Loop.
Spurred by an explosion in Taser use by police, a state legislator from Chicago is pushing a bill that would force local police departments to inform the state of every shock an officer delivers to a civilian.
City officials said Tuesday that they intend to move faster to bring older high-rises into compliance with tougher fire safety standards adopted in 2004, amid concerns that hundreds of residential towers still have not even submitted plans to meet the standards.
Earlier this week the Chicago Tribune announced an undisclosed number of newsroom employees would be offered voluntary buyouts. The buyouts come after a series of bonus payments to Tribune executives that have totalled $115 million over three years.
That's the topic of this week's Friday cartoon.
Metra began the year publicly downplaying air pollution from its aging diesel engines, but by fall it had upgraded all of its passenger coaches to make them safer for commuters.
