Union says it will file lawsuit asking federal judge to block Indiana’s new right-to-work law

Gov. Pat Quinn took his case for a budgetary crash diet directly to state lawmakers Wednesday, pushing a grim assortment of prison closures and spending cuts in a spending plan that he said wasn’t built around “budget fantasies” but rather “hard realities.” Pension reform must be done “in a way that’s meaningful, constitutional and fair to the employees,” he said.

The Supreme Court sent back to a lower court a case on whether Medicaid recipients and medical providers can sue California for cutting reimbursement rates in the healthcare program for low-income Americans.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that California police officers cannot be sued because they used a warrant that may have been defective to search a woman’s house….

One of the most rundown, dilapidated areas in all of Carpentersville qualifies for designation as a special taxing district that, if approved, would generate funds for necessary improvements and help spur development, according to village officials.

Oak Park’s village manager resigned Tuesday. Tom Barwin publicly announced his resignation at the village board meeting. The resignation is effective Feb. 29. Village President David Pope said Wednesday morning that Barwin had informed the board of his intention to resign last week. Pope said the village board would be looking to identify an individual to serve as interim village manager. He declined to discuss any details related to Barwin’s reasons for leaving the job, saying those questions should be asked of Barwin. Barwin was not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning. …

In a 5-4 vote, the Lake Forest city council on Tuesday voted down a ban on handheld cellphones, with the majority preferring to wait and see whether the state legislature will enact its own ban.

Against the wishes of the Redondo Beach City Council, day laborers will continue to gather on public sidewalks in search of work.

In a victory for opponents of the drilling process known as hydrofracking, a New York State judge ruled that the upstate town of Dryden in Tompkins County can ban natural gas drilling within its boundaries. The ruling is the first in New York to affirm local powers in the controversy over drilling in the Marcellus Shale, a gas deposit under a large area of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan, an admitted alcoholic, was ousted from office Tuesday in a historic recall election prompted by incidents of his public drinking and behavior that brought national attention to the city of 50,000.