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By Dow Jones Newswires-Wall Street Journal, Posted today at 6:21 a.m. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is likely to face some new dissenting votes when the make-up of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank’s policy-making committee, changes in January. Four presidents of regional Fed banks will step into …

Back in February I posted on the short sales and foreclosures in Chicago’s University Commons development, which is right next to University Village where I live. At that time 11 out of the 21 sales in the preceding 12 month period were distressed properties – either short sales or foreclosures. …

Mainstreaming special education students started out as a good idea. But in reality, the practice is not always beneficial. by Mara Tapp October, 2005 When my oldest daughter started in the Chicago Public Schools some 14 years ago, I was thrilled that our school system celebrated diversity by including physically …

Cities are where people come together, right? Just look at Millennium Park. The eminent author and sociologist Richard Sennett has a different, perhaps darker, view. He’ll share it at the Graham Foundation on Dec. 2 in a talk titled “Edges: How People Are Separated in Cities and What Can Be …

Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn rehired a former top aide who resigned following ethics violations that became an issue in the governor’s race, his office said today. Jerry Stermer, who served as chief of staff before resigning in August, will return to Quinn’s administration on Nov. 29 in the role of …

Home inspectors say the problem is split face block, a concrete building material used all over Chicago in brand new homes built during the latest building boom. “I’m very scared,” said home inspector William Decker. Decker has been dealing with the problem for years. “For the last four or five …

Three reports issued Monday paint a grim picture of the Chicago area’s foreclosure crisis November 22, 2010|By Mary Ellen Podmolik, Tribune reporter Three reports issued Monday paint a grim picture of the Chicago area’s foreclosure crisis and signal that the local housing market’s recovery continues to bump along the bottom. …

A Chicago Police officer was a partner in crime with his informant — a drug dealer who has allegedly killed at least two people and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the city for information that led to arrests of his rivals, according to law-enforcement sources and an …

November 21, 2010 BY LISA DENEAL, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT GARY — Thanks to modern tecnology, “Freeway” Ricky Ross spoke at Indiana University Northwest after all, even though his probation officer wanted him back in Los Angeles from Chicago. Through a Skype connection, convicted drug trafficker Ross told the small crowd in …

November 21, 2010 By Kristen McQueary As he asked voters for their support outside Mount Greenwood School in Chicago on Election Day, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd), of Western Springs, noticed a burly man in his 30s wearing a “Throw The Bums Out” button. The three-term congressman hesitated before approaching …

(AP) – 1 hour ago How did an agency created to protect the public become the target of so much public scorn? After nine years of funneling travelers into ever longer lines with orders to have shoes off, sippy cups empty and laptops out for inspection, the most surprising thing …

A lawsuit filed this week in Chicago claims Batavia police officers attacked a then 17-year-old boy two years ago when he was arrested for an alleged alcohol offense. Benjamin Johnston claims that on Nov. 22, 2008, he was arrested by Batavia police during a traffic stop conducted while he was …

November 19, 2010 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Nearly 1,400 city stickers are “missing” and unaccounted for — at a potential loss to Chicago taxpayers of $134,325 — because of lax internal controls and sloppy record-keeping at a satellite city clerk’s office where residents paid $3.9 million last year …

WASHINGTON – After weeks of pressure from pilot unions over controversial new airport screening measures, the Transportation Security Administration has agreed to exempt pilots from enhanced pat-downs and full body scans, pilot organizations said Friday. Pilots flying for U.S. carriers and traveling in uniform will immediately start going through “expedited” …