Back in October, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled
a 2012 city budget that sliced city library branch hours from 48 to
40 each week, and threatened pink slips to hundreds of library
employees.
Today the mayor announced an almost complete reversal
of that proposal: The city’s branch libraries will return to year-round
48-hour weeks, including eight-hour Mondays. Additionally, the layoffs of 105
part-time employees has been reversed, according to Chicago Public
Library spokeswoman Ruth Lednicer. Read more »
In an effort to keep their jobs in Freeport from being outsourced, employees of 
Education and health professionals joined environmental
advocates this week to call on state officials to deny a request from
downstate power provider Ameren to delay compliance with more stringent
pollution-control regulation of its coal-fired power plants.
The longer school day 
The clock is ticking on a new contract agreement between the Chicago
Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools after both the CTU House of
Delegates and Board of Education swiftly and unanimously rejected a
third party fact finder's report this afternoon.