Make this summer count!  

Earn $14.24 an hour, feel a sense of pride working in an important position, make new friends amongst co-workers, meet Chicagoans and visitors to our great city, and enjoy one of the best office views in Chicago. 

To be employed as a Chicago Park District lifeguard in 2017, applicants must meet the following requirements:

   - Be a resident of the City of Chicago.  Proof of residency MUST be presented at the lifeguard swim test.
   - Be 16 years of age, or older, by July 1, 2017.
   - Have a Chicago Park District Lifeguarding Card, valid through 2017.
   - Have an American Red Cross Lifeguarding certificate, or equivalent.

Prior to applying, all new applicants are required to complete the American Red Cross Waterfront Lifeguard Training Class.

For more information or to apply, click here.

Treasurer Frerich's office is now accepting submissions for the 5th annual Cream of the Crop Photo Contest. The Treasurer invites youth from across the state, ages 8-18, to start submitting their most innovative, scenic snapshot that depicts their vision of agriculture in our state. Winners will be featured on new marketing materials for the Ag Invest program and will be prominently displayed at the 2017 Illinois State Fair, DuQuoin State Fair, and the State Capitol. The entry deadline is June 27, 2017. For more information, click here.

Over the course of a week, more than a dozen Rauner administration cabinet directors were called to testify in Senate committees and asked to come up with budget cuts to reduce the $5 billion hole in the governor's budget. Every state agency across the board would need to cut spending by 20 percent to achieve the balanced budget the governor wants.

Public Health Committee Chairwoman Patricia Van Pelt questioned Public Health Director Nirav Shah and asked him to provide a list of potential cuts from his department. Here is what Sen. Van Pelt had to say during a press conference with Senate committee chairs.

WTAX News Radio - March 10, 2017 | original article

Who says there’s trouble with the Grand Bargain?

“To see this much being done this quickly,” says State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) “really says something about the urgency of this and the commitment of the Senate president and the Senate Republican leader to get this done.”

It’s almost as if voting on the multi-bill package hasn’t stalled out, with Democrats accusing Gov. Bruce Rauner of intimidating Republicans into withdrawing their support — after Rauner publicly praised the effort and even recorded a campaign-style video taking credit for it.

“I don’t know if the governor is going to just run this down to the end of the year, and then pack his bags and leave Illinois, but the citizens of Illinois, the taxpayers will pay that bill. We will pay that bill of $11 million a day.” said State Sen. Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago). “It’s outrageous! So the Grand Bargain is still alive in our hearts, and we are just waiting for the Republicans to come on board.”

State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) wants the theme of the week to be: the Rauner cabinet can’t identify any cuts, even after the governor has advocated spending cuts.

“Time and again,” Manar said of this week’s committee hearings, “agency directors told us in very certain terms, that they cannot cut their budgets any deeper than they already have been.”

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