**SPECIAL POST-WEEKEND EDITION**
- Transparency trashing trashed. State Journal-Register editorial lambasts Ill. lawmakers for caving to public employee union pressure by exempting state workers from Freedom of Information Act requests for their job performance reviews.
- Chico client cops. Sun-Times reports that longtime client of mayoral candidate Gery Chico’s law firm avoids trial by pleading guilty in case involving alleged operation of bogus minority-owned business.
- Casino cough. Trib editorial urges state lawmakers to maintain smoking ban in Ill. casinos, despite pressure to lift ban or open designated smoking areas to compete with smoke-friendly gambling venues in neighboring states.
- Rahm residency riff. Endlessly entertaining and provocative Beachwood Reporter takes humorous look at “objections” to Emanuel’s residency. Example: “Hundreds of ‘Barack Obamas’ appear to have been generated by White House automated signature signer.”
- Pension piece. Daily Southtown has local reaction to Ill. lawmakers’ tweak of pension policy re: police and firefighters; also identifies poster children for pension crisis by listing highest pensions in circulation area (south & southwest suburbs).
- ILness. Front-page New York Times story on Ill. and other states on brink of bankruptcy—how we got there and how hard it will be to regain fiscal health. BGA reported last week that Illinois could be among the first states to get a lifeline if the federal government bails out debt-ridden states.
- Steal sheriff’s Shakman solution? Trib editorial urges city, county and other patronage pits to “steal the compliance protocols” that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart implemented to clean up hiring and shed burden of court-ordered Shakman hiring and promotion oversight.
- Predator protection? Daily Herald explains how new “Erin’s Law” can help protect children from sexual predators through early education in schools.
- Contract confusion? Trib reports that City of Chicago continued to shell out millions in contracts to company that admitted defrauding city. Paper says officials finally move to end contract after reporters start asking questions.
