While you were away following the governor’s legal problems, a few other things have been going on.
* The city doesn’t have enough money for its usual snow and ice removal, but this morning it’s asking the City Council’s Committee on Finance to approve “A communication recommending a proposed substitute ordinance concerning the authority to acquire property located at 2929 South Ellis Avenue”–that is, an $86 million deal to buy the site of now-shuttered Michael Reese Hospital with plans to turn it into the Olympic Village.
* The finance committee is also set to authorize a $2.5 million payout [PDF] in another police-related lawsuit.
* Through mid-December, homicides in Chicago are up from 421 last year to 487 in 2008, the Sun-Times reports, and violence continues between cops and civilians–at least two more civilians were shot by police between November 30 and December 11 (14 others were shot in the three-month period from July through September, according to the Independent Police Review Authority), and a civilian shot a cop at the end of last week. Meanwhile, the police department is moving ahead with plans to arm officers with assault rifles, and the City Council’s Committee on Police and Fire will meet this week with one item on its agenda [PDF]: an ordinance approving the donation of a used ambulance to Ghana.
* The Illinois Gaming Board, made of Rod Blagojevich appointees, appears to be getting ready to hand out the state’s tenth casino license. The matter is on the agenda [PDF] for the board’s meeting Tuesday.
* Former governor and current inmate George Ryan decided now was the time to issue a public apology to the people of Illinois, and in particular the Willis family.
* Illinois is one of several states running out of money for unemployment insurance.