Former Mayor Daley’s staff saw parking-meter problems brewing, records show

Former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s staff was aware of major problems with the city’s parking-meter privatization deal in 2010 — a year and a half before the costly issues publicly surfaced, according to hundreds of pages of documents released Wednesday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration.

Teachers union vows to change political landscape after schools vote

Nine aldermen — most of whom largely support Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s agenda at City Hall — went to the Chicago Board of Education’s meeting Wednesday to criticize some or all of the mayor’s plan to close 50 schools.

Emanuel, business leaders make pitch for McCormick arena — and it’s a tough sell

Aldermen, union leaders and local residents have questioned the mayor’s priorities at a time when Emanuel is closing 53 elementary schools, phasing out the city’s 55 percent subsidy for retiree health care and using millions in overtime to mask a shortage of police officers.

Daley nephew trial expected next year, grand jury still working

The involuntary manslaughter trial of Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley accused in the death of 21-year-old David Koschman, won’t happen till next year, the judge in the case said Tuesday. Meanwhile, a grand jury investigation led by special prosecutor Dan K. Webb into the way the case was handled by the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office continues longer than expected and is now expected to be completed in July.

Outgoing GOP chief Pat Brady warns leaders: ‘It’s not 1980 anymore’

With Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady on his way out the door, the next person to lead the state Republican party will have to glue together the fractured pieces of a bloodied and bruised party that’s allowed social issues to polarize its members. Just how difficult a task that will be depends on whom you ask, though both moderate and conservative Republicans insist they support a “big tent” that includes a diversity of beliefs.

Lynn Sweet: Black Caucus chair asks for lenient sentence for Jesse Jackson Jr.

WASHINGTON — I wandered into a nuance-free zone on Tuesday, reading the first wave of letters (there were 14) that the public sent to a federal judge regarding the July 1 sentencing of Jesse Jackson Jr. and wife Sandi. People who know the couple are …

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie had secret weight-loss surgery

NEWARK, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie, who once famously called himself “the healthiest fat guy you’ve ever seen,” disclosed Tuesday he had secretly undergone weight-loss surgery, a major new step by the potential Republican presidential contender to address both his health and a political vulnerability.

Bar group honors Sun-Times’ Koschman stories

Chicago Sun-Times coverage of the manslaughter indictment of Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko was named a winner Tuesday of the Chicago Bar Association’s Herman Kogan Media Awards. The honor, for print coverage of the legal system, went to reporters Tim Novak, Chris Fusco and Carol Marin for their work on a 15-page special report published Dec. 4, 2012, of the indictment of the nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley in the 2004 death of 21-year-old David Koschman of Mount Prospect.

Quinn vetoes electric-rate hike; legislators likely to override

Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday vetoed legislation that would raise electricity rates by $70 million a year for the modernization of the electrical grid. But the veto doesn’t mean the rate hike won’t happen.

Bill seeks to snuff out smoking on college campuses

Illinois’ public colleges and universities could be forced to stamp out smoking on their campuses by next summer if a bill facing members of the House becomes law.

Madigan pension reform package passes House in tight vote

POLITICS BLOG: The Illinois House Thursday narrowly backed a bi-partisan pension-reform package pushed by House Speaker Michael Madigan and put the question of solving the state’s nearly $100 billion pension crisis in the lap of the state Senate. In a sober debate lasting a little more than an hour, the House voted 62-51, with six members voting present. Sixty votes were needed for Madigan’s measure to clear the House.

Penny Pritzker’s failed Superior Bank lost customer savings in subprime crisis

EDITOR’S NOTE: This report originally appeared on suntimes.com in 2008, written by former Sun-Times political reporter Abdon Pallasch.

White House hopeful Barack Obama talks a lot on the campaign trail about how failing banks have used subprime loans to victimize customers.

“Part of the reason …

Senate passes ‘puppy lemon’ legislation

If the state protects consumers who unknowingly buy “lemon” cars, why shouldn’t the same safeguards exist when putting down big money on Fido, Murph or Fluffy at a pet store? State lawmakers took a serious look at that question Wednesday.

Joe Walsh, ex-wife squabble over child support

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh visited a Cook County courtroom Wednesday as lawyers for the fiery Tea Party Republican and his ex-wife continue to sort out his final few months of child-support payments before their youngest child graduates high school.

Work is stopped on UNO high school after state halts funding

Construction was halted Tuesday on a new, state-funded charter high school being built on the Southwest Side for the state’s largest charter-school operator, the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization, after the project’s general contractor said UNO has fallen behind in its payments for the work. The move came five days after Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration suspended funding to UNO following Chicago Sun-Times reports on insider deals.