Quinn-tessential. Reporting on what to expect from Gov. Pat Quinn’s noon budget address is all over the place, with speculation that he wants to spend more than this year or less than this year, that he’s cutting or not cutting, etc., etc. Rich Miller offers a good pre-speech overview in Capitol Fax. SouthtownStar columnist Phil Kadner uses the budget occasion to reflect on the public’s deep distrust of government.

  • Snow drift. Also in the Trib, city residents complain about finding $75 tickets on the windshields of cars that were parked in by snow drifts. The charge? Abandonment. Is that fair?
  • Tarnished shield? The Sun-Times reveals the FBI is now investigating Cook County’s problem-plagued post-911 security program, Project Shield, which has overspent and underperformed for years.
  • Obummer part 2. The New York Times reports that President Obama admits his new budget has shortcomings, including a failure to confront the major deficit drivers like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and defense. The president says it’ll take a new spirit of bipartisanship to go down that road, which doesn’t exist at this point.