As if the Deep Freeze isn’t enough of a slap in the face, how about this worry for winter-weary Chicagoans? A strike with the potential to paralyze city snow removal, garbage pick-ups and pothole repairs.

Teamsters Local 700 has scheduled a “contract meeting and possible strike vote” for 10 a.m. Sunday to protest the union’s displeasure with contracts talks with the city to replace a 10-year agreement that expired six months ago.

If you want to know what’s behind the Chicago jobs boom I wrote about —driven by downtown, total city employment now is at the highest level in decades—new demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau provides some awfully good hints.

The data, as crunched by Chicago demographer Ed Zotti, underlines the sharp rise in educational levels in the central area and some surrounding neighborhoods, levels that almost certainly are a magnet for talent-hungry companies moving in or expanding their operations here. It certainly should appeal to Amazon in its search for a second headquarters town that could provide 50,000 well-qualified job seekers.

Chicago Public Schools employees “stole or misappropriated” thousands of dollars worth of school-purchased gift cards that were intended to be used as incentives for students and families, according to an annual report from the district’s inspector general.

In one case, a principal of a school for vulnerable students stole presents of at least “$500 in gift cards that were donated to the students and were intended to help address their specialized needs,” Inspector General Nicholas Schuler’s office found. The same principal gave to an acquaintance 30 new backpacks filled with school supplies that had been donated, according to Schuler.

A federal judge has ordered the city of Chicago to pay nearly $5.6 million in legal fees on top of $22 million in damages awarded to a former El Rukn gang member who alleged two Chicago police detectives framed him for an infamous 1984 double murder that sent him to death row.

The city could owe tens of thousands of dollars more in legal expenses for the attorneys for Nathson Fields, but U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly has yet to finalize those figures.

Hopes of a major consolidation victory in DuPage County were dashed in 2017 when state lawmakers failed to approve a measure to combine the county clerk’s office with the DuPage Election Commission.

So it comes as no surprise that the proposed merger is the top issue on county board Chairman Dan Cronin’s to-do list for 2018.

The Springfield City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday to set a minimum amount for the city’s fund balance in hopes that a credit-rating agency would look kindly on the act.

Last year, Moody’s Investors Service knocked down the city’s general fund credit rating two notches, though it is still four notches higher than “junk bond” status. Mayor Jim Langfelder informed aldermen the city had its annual surveillance call from Moody’s Tuesday and would most likely get a report next week.