Secret stash. Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown laments a State Board of Elections ruling that allows For a Better Chicago, a pro-business, pro-Emanuel group that funneled nearly a million dollars into Chicago aldermanic races, to keep its donor list secret. BGA calls it a defeat for transparency.

  • Franklin folly? Trib reports that, according to some taxpayer watchdogs, suburban Franklin Park, near O’Hare Airport, wouldn’t need a $10 million bond issue to build a new police station, and $2 million more to buy the land for it, if the village had maintained the current station properly.
  • Hospital hit. Phil Kadner and the SouthtownStar cover the revelation that Cook County has no contingency plan to keep Oak Forest Hospital open following a surprise order from state health officials not to shutter the south suburban facility.
  • Development deal. Also in the Southtown, an economic development plan proposed by Cook County president Toni Preckwinkle would create a low-interest loan program to encourage cash-strapped municipalities to get vacant land developed and back on the tax rolls.