New research shows blue collar workers in the state are among the worst paid in the Midwest.

“We got new employees that we hope will be here over 30-years and, the fact is, that we, as a family organization, we don’t want to lose those folks or have them not be able to make it either.”

Mark Salvaggio has seen the ups-and-downs of running a business, but has never faced the impact of potentially losing workers and projects.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office said Wednesday that it has reached agreement on new contracts with 11 more labor unions, most of them trade unions, representing about 500 state workers.

The Republican’s administration used the announcement to once again criticize the largest state employee union — Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — for failing to come to an agreement on a new contract after months of negotiations.

“These developments stand in stark contrast to the ongoing negotiations with AFSCME Council 31,” the administration said in a prepared statement. “Despite being offered substantially the same material terms as the Teamsters and the Trades, AFSCME has to date rejected the governor’s chief proposals.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel‘s speed camera program improperly issued more than $2.4 million in fines to Chicago drivers, ticketing them when cameras were supposed to be off and when the required warning signs were confusing, obscured or missing, a Tribune investigation has found.

At the same time, City Hall has systematically ticketed drivers near schools without the legally required evidence of a schoolchild in sight. A Tribune random-sample analysis puts the number of those questionable tickets at about 110,000.

And while it was pitched by the mayor as a way to protect youngsters walking near parks and schools, the most prolific cameras in the 2-year-old “Children’s Safety Zone” initiative can be found along major roadways, where crash data show child pedestrians are least likely to be struck by speeders.

Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually.

In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989.

Then by 2014, that number had ballooned to roughly $4.5 billion for the year, making this 35% of the entire number of assets collected from 1989 to 2010 in a single year.

City Hall‘s top lawyer on Tuesday faced skeptical questioning from Illinois Supreme Court justices weighing the constitutionality of a state law that aimed to cut benefits for retired city workers but also stepped up taxpayer contributions to their pension funds.

Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton was interrupted at least 11 times by three justices asking questions during his 25 minutes or so of arguments. By contrast, attorneys opposing the law on behalf of city workers and retired employees were halted for questions just twice.

At issue was the law Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through the General Assembly in 2014 that required city workers and laborers to increase their retirement contributions by 2.5 percent — to 11 percent — over five years. It also lowered annual cost-of-living increases for retired workers. In exchange, the city was to increase its payments into the pension funds by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The city of Chicago’s last chance for finding a semi-soft landing to its pension crisis appeared to fade away Tuesday as the Illinois Supreme Court looked askance at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to save two of its troubled pension funds.

Just as they were when state officials argued they had found the magic legislative end run to the Illinois Constitution’s strict pension protection clause for public employees, the justices were tough in their questioning of City Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton,  signaling that they’re no more impressed by the city’s effort to thread the needle.

The Chicago Skyway was sold to Canadian pension funds last week for $1 billion more than the city got for its 99-year lease a decade ago. But, there’s a silver lining for taxpayers: a potential, $21 million tax windfall.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration disclosed Wednesday that it has informed the Spanish-Australian consortium that unloaded the Skyway that it is required to pay the city’s “real property transfer tax.”

Cook County commissioners on Wednesday voted down spending an additional $37,000 on a photographer for Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, the latest sign that the embattled veteran politician is not on the best of terms with her colleagues.

Brown has had a contract with Good Photo of Chicago since the board approved it in October 2012, costing $74,000 so far. Brown’s chief of staff asked to extend it for an additional year.

Commissioner John Fritchey, D-Chicago, led the charge against the contract extension.

Governors, mayors and legislators come and go.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan remains.

He’s ruled the House for all but two of the last 32 years, and the political corpses of those who’ve crossed him are many.