* Rep. Davis eyes run for County Board chief

U.S. Rep. Danny Davis is forming an exploratory committee to consider running for Cook County Board president, said his spokeswoman Tumia Romero.

Davis commissioned a poll which showed “very favorable” numbers for his run, Romero said, including placing him 7 points ahead of County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, the presumptive front-runner who pulled out of the race last week.

* Brown in race?

IAM PREDICTING that Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown will announce on Friday that she will be running for the Cook County Board president seat now occupied by Todd Stroger. Others who might run include Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan and Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th).

* Plinko, Preckwinkle and my soup tax

The entire Democratic Party is waiting for Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s decision on whether she will run for U.S. Senate, governor or re-election to her current office. Her Plinko chip is positioned at the top of the board, moving at a glacial pace toward its final slot.

The effect of her decision trickles down to the Cook County Board president’s race - quite possibly the most important election for Cook County residents on the 2010 ticket. It’s not just about the sales tax, although I took notice, again, of the tax Wednesday on my lunch receipt. Sixty-one cents for soup and salad.

The sales tax is only a small part of Cook County’s problem. Streamlining government. Finding competent managers. Eliminating the fat, yes, but also steering the Titanic on the complex issues of health care delivery and public safety. That’s where our tax money goes. We need someone at the wheel impervious to political pressure, thoughtful in decision-making and stern. Absent of softness. Lacking in sentimentality. A real jerk.

Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, of Hyde Park, might be that person.

* Indicted builder aided Burkes

A developer now at the center of a City Hall bribery scandal hosted a political fundraiser for Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke in his home, just months before receiving crucial support for his real estate project from her husband, Ald. Edward Burke, a Tribune investigation has found.

Both Burkes got campaign donations from developer Calvin Boender while Boender was pushing to build a $35 million condo and restaurant project on a blighted stretch of Cicero Avenue near Midway Airport.

Several months after the March 2007 fundraiser for his wife and weeks after receiving his $1,500 campaign donation, Edward Burke (14th) gave his all-important backing for Boender’s project in his Southwest Side ward.

For years, Boender has quietly forged ties with politicians as he pursued real estate deals around Chicago, but he was indicted in May on charges he bribed a West Side alderman to win backing for another project.

* Lease with Daley nephew sparks aldermanic crackdown

But, City Hall’s decision to make it a month-to-month lease — and continue that temporary arrangement since November, 2007 — denied Suarez’ committee and the full City Council the right to approve the deal.

Last week, Suarez demanded to know why the city has paid nearly $500,000 to lease the space co-owned by mayoral nephew Robert Vanecko and his partners, developer Allison Davis and Davis’ son Jared, under an arrangement that was supposed to be temporary.

Today, he went a step further.

Suarez said he plans to introduce an ordinance at next week’s City Council meeting that would rein in month-to-month leases.

* Aldermen lower the boom on Olympic planners after pledge backlash

That kind of hide-the-ball strategy has “poisoned the well” with the City Council, according to Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), whose ward includes the proposed Olympic Village.

With a City Council vote at least a month away, Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s floor leader, refused to rate the chances that aldermen would derail Chicago’s Olympic bid.

He would only say that aldermen are feeling the heat.

“There’s a lot of anger out there looking for a focal point and the Olympics allow a focal point. The parking meters are one more thing they’re angry about. But, the parking meter deal is done. The Olympics is something they can impact,” he said.

* Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan meets with aldermen in private on Olympics funding issues

But the decision to hold private briefings with aldermen Wednesday and Thursday came “as we’re going through this in real time and hearing things and responding to them,” said Chicago 2016 spokeswoman Mica Matsoff.

The bid team is meeting with no more than 13 aldermen at a time — the maximum number who can gather in private without violating open meetings laws.

Daley spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard defended the meetings, saying it’s a common City Hall practice to hold briefings in small groups, excluding the public.

“Nothing is out of the ordinary here,” Heard said. “Aldermen are routinely briefed by mayoral staff and others, and those briefings are never public. … The mayor did say he would bring it before council. The briefings don’t cancel that out.”

* Olympic planners meet with aldermen to discuss taxpayer contributions

* Funding crunch puts paratransit service in jeopardy

The latest funding crisis facing the CTA, Metra and Pace is also jeopardizing paratransit service for up to 40,000 people with disabilities, officials are warning.

Unless a $30.5 million budget shortfall can be remedied, paratransit funding will run out this fall and service will be suspended, according to Pace, which provides transportation for the handicapped in the six-county region as well as suburban bus and vanpool service.

* CTA president says specifics on cuts unknown

The RTA board is expected to vote Thursday to reduce transit budgets by $61 million, including $35 million at the CTA, $19 million at Metra and $7 million at Pace.

* School cuts will cause ‘chaos,’ teachers say

Teachers Wednesday predicted classroom “chaos” in September if officials go through with about 100 teacher cuts at 12 Chicago public schools where lower enrollment is projected.

Karen Lewis, co-chair of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators, contended CPS was exaggerating some projections of enrollment declines. The resulting job cuts will lead to bulging classes, she said.

“They are absolutely lowballing their estimates,'’ Lewis said before Wednesday’s monthly School Board meeting. As a result, “Unfortunately, for many schools, the first day of school is a day of chaos.'’

The teachers blasted a CPS practice of waiting until mid-October’s final enrollment count to determine how many teachers are needed.

* Teachers Accuse District of Understaffing Schools

* Peoria County plans to ask unions to help trim costs

* Lofty ‘green’ renovation for Sears Tower

Sears Tower is “going green” while keeping its attire of basic black. The tower’s owners are planning a rooftop-to-plaza renovation to conserve energy and power up its financial performance.

The makeover detailed Wednesday calls for giving the tower a new neighbor, a 50-story hotel that the Sears owners said would feature “net zero” use of energy. They said changes to the tower itself will cut its appetite for electricity by 80 percent.

The work on the 110 -story tower should cost about $350 million, said John Huston, principal with American Landmark Properties Ltd. The Skokie-based firm is part of the tower’s ownership group.

Huston estimated the hotel, for which outside investors will be sought, could cost $225 million. He said the dual projects could be completed within five years.

* Cab stand relocation puts drivers, passengers up the creek on Canal

Chicago cabdrivers are fuming about a street reconfiguration that’s costing them sorely needed business: the relocation of a Canal Street cab stand serving Union Station.

The cab stand used to be located right outside the door of Union Station. Now, it’s on the other side of the street, but there’s no pedestrian cross walk in the middle of the block.

A dedicated CTA bus lane that ran against the flow of traffic was eliminated, with all traffic now moving northbound. The east side of the street where the cab stand used to be is now reserved for buses, pick-ups and drop-offs and has a space for disabled drop-offs, he said.

“We made that move to try to safely balance all of the traffic that uses that block,” Steele said.

* Cop charged in murder plot wants city to pay legal bills

Jerome Finnigan and other members of the now-disbanded Special Operations Section have been accused of falsely arresting and robbing people. He and other SOS officers face lawsuits alleging they abused citizens’ civil rights.

Finnigan originally was represented in the lawsuits by the city’s Law Department. But he eventually retained a private law firm, Ungaretti & Harris, because he thought there was a conflict with the city also participating in the criminal investigation into his alleged misdeeds.

Finnigan alleges the city owes him about $620,000 in fees and expenses incurred by his private lawyers in defending him in 12 lawsuits.

Finnigan is charged in federal court with plotting to kill a fellow officer, Keith Herrera, whom he believed was cooperating with the corruption investigation. He and four other officers face separate corruption charges in state court.

* Stiffer penalty could teach brutes a lesson

What we will second-guess is Fleming’s bizarre view that a stiffer penalty for Abbate would have done nothing to discourage future brutes from beating up women — in a bar, on the street or right at home.

* Police from Democratic National Convention protests to hold reunion

Chicago Copwatch, an activist organization that tries to document police misconduct, swiftly organized a counter-rally at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street at 6 p.m. Friday, the same night as the reunion. They plan to a march to the Fraternal Order of Police lodge, where the reunion is being held.

* State police looking out for construction workers’ safety

* Vans with cameras back in work zones to catch speeders

* University of Illinois hikes tuition by 2.6%

Incoming freshmen to pay $9,484 in base tuition

* Chicago school to march in Pride Parade

* Remembering Callaway, a supreme storyteller

* John Callaway enriched us

* Callaway’s genuine interest in people set him apart

* Bruno coverup at O’Hare exposed

* Superdawg vs. Superdog

Superdawg, the venerable Northwest Side hot dog purveyor, this week sued Superdog, an upstart frankfurter stand in New York City, claiming trademark infringement and unfair and deceptive business practices.