Madison melange. Check out Capitol Fax‘s post on the Wisconsin showdown between Gov. Scott Walker and the state’s public employee unions. Monica Davey of The New York Times has also been closely following the story.
- Miles from Madison. The Trib reports on a collective bargaining battle in Chicago, where a charter school, the Chicago Math and Science Academy, is claiming a private-school exemption from the union organizing efforts of its teachers, even though the school receives millions in tax dollars.
- Land of Lincoln listening? A Trib editorial commends the apparent willingness of Illinois’ Democratic legislative leaders to consider health and pension benefit cuts to current and retired state workers to deal with the state’s crisis. But Mark Brown writes in his Sun-Times column that Illinois is ripe for Madison-like turmoil in Springfield if our state officials go too far.
- Pen pals. A Sun-Times editorial says it’s time for Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the bill abolishing the death penalty, adding, “If you need a pen, governor, we’ll lend you one.”
- Incomplete grades. Chicago News Co-op looks at missing pieces in the plans of Chicago’s mayoral candidates to address the city’s budget crisis.
- Copping out? The Sun-Times reports on a demand by a coalition of African-American ministers in Chicago for Mayor Daley and Police Supt. Weis to make good on an overdue promise to reassign cops from low to high crime districts.
- Stop on red. The Daily Herald reports that DuPage’s county board is revisiting a tabled plan to install red light cameras at several of the county’s most accident-prone intersections.
