* Aldermen bemoan cutback in library hours

Chicago aldermen today bemoaned a 20 percent cutback in branch library hours at a time when circulation is surging and neighborhood libraries are needed as safe-havens for young people.

During City Council budget hearings, Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) questioned Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey’s decision to target 76 branch libraries while leaving the showcase Harold Washington Library and two regional libraries untouched.

* CTA fare hikes, service cuts and layoffs gain a defender

Civic Federation calls transit agency budget responsible

* $3.7 mil. to study O’Hare terminal airlines don’t want

A perennial consultant at O’Hare Airport has been awarded a $3.7 million contract to plan for a project major airlines are refusing to fund and consider “ill-conceived”: a new western terminal.

Landrum & Brown has dominated the O’Hare planning landscape for decades, raking in nearly $80 million worth of no-bid business during Mayor Daley’s 20-year administration. Now the Ohio company will plan for a range of possibilities for the new western terminal that nobody but the city seems to want.

Funding for the study was secured in February, when the Federal Aviation Administration approved the city’s application to use $182 million in future passenger ticket tax revenue to design Phase 2 of the O’Hare Modernization Project. “The Western Terminal Planning Study is an important and necessary tool for us to coordinate with the state to provide regional and local roadways for western access to O’Hare, including the future Elgin-O’Hare Expressway and O’Hare bypass,” said Aviation Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.

* 911 center workstations to be replaced just 9 months after updates

The Daley administration has awarded a $2.1 million contract to replace and maintain console work stations at Chicago’s 911 emergency center — nine months after spending $480,000 to modify the old consoles to accommodate 17-inch monitors.

Blackwell Consulting Services will replace 109 consoles that have been in place since the 911 center opened in 1995 and install 30 additional work-stations on a redesigned operations floor.

* Hispanics urged to make census count

Cities plan outreach to allay fears of government probing that could limit federal dollars

* Don’t back down

They’re taking heat from unions for the planned layoffs of hundreds of workers and the slashing of open positions. County Board President Todd Stroger has condemned the planned layoffs as an “underhanded scheme to slash services.”

We get the feeling that a desperately needed reform — creating an efficient public health care system — is at risk of being smothered.

That can’t be allowed to happen.

* Chicago zoning official admits to taking payoffs

* City inspector caught on tape: ‘I’m completely fabricating’

The owners of a North Side apartment building wanted to add two illegal units to their property in 2007, but they had to find a way to get it past City Hall.

According to a plea deal in federal court, they got the permit papers they needed — by paying off a city inspector.

A zoning investigator for the city admitted Tuesday that for years he pocketed bribes in exchange for pushing through inspections, some of which were falsified.

* Suspended 10 days for not talking

Two employees of Chicago’s scandal-scarred Department of Buildings have been slapped with 10-day suspensions for refusing to explain why their names appeared on a list of city employees who allegedly accepted gift cards from a permit expediter-turned-government witness.

The unidentified employees have been questioned by federal and city investigators.

They refused to answer questions from Buildings Commissioner Richard Monocchio to avoid contradicting their previous statements in the criminal case, officials said.

* Chicago Police Department getting their own reality show?

* First time since ‘55: single Christmas tree

* If city is getting just one tree, let it be shiny

* Chicago: Get ready for 11-digit dialing

Chicago gets its new area code — 872 — on Saturday, and that means you’ll have to dial 1 plus the area code to make even a local call in the city.

Eleven-digit dialing will be required for all local calls within the 312, 773 and 872 area codes — even if you’re just calling next door.

* Driver in fatal crash had 15 convictions for license violations

* Illinois data on stimulus-related jobs saved, created don’t add up

Districts say job numbers attributed to them inaccurate; totals ignore Chicago

* Illinois tax scofflaws get outed on Web