Originally published Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at the Cook County Sheriff's website: The Cook County Sheriff's Office invites park districts throughout the county to sign up their baseball fields for Sheriff Dart's Play Ball program before the winter season. It is important for students to have a productive, educational and fun environment to be a part of after school hours to prevent them from being the targets of gangs, drugs and violence, Sheriff Dart said.

Originally published Monday, October 22, 2012 at the Cook County Clerk's website: More than 13,500 suburban Cook County voters cast ballots Monday, setting a new record for the first day of Early Voting, Cook County Clerk David Orr announced. Turnout is already impressive and I hope it keeps up until early voting ends Nov. 3, Orr said. We are sending extra help to the early voting sites to help handle the crowds. As of 5 p.m., 13,585 voters cast ballots at the 44 suburban Cook County sites. Voters in line at 5 p.m.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) CEO Dr. Ram Raju joined with local physicians and healthcare advocates at the Cook County Trauma and Burn Unit at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital to highlight the public health benefits of a proposed $1 increase in the cigarette tax. Preckwinkle pointed to a recent analysis by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids which shows that increasing the cigarette tax in Cook County would have a significant impact on the health of the County’s residents and CCHHS.

I am here today to present my FY2013 Budget to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Two years ago, we began to chart a new course for the County. And it is a result of our work that we have solved for nearly $1 billion in deficits since taking office. But our work is far from over; I come before you today with another challenge. This year, we started with a $268 million deficit, due to declining health revenues, effects of the sales tax rollback, debt service and rising labor costs.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced today important changes to the Cook County Highway Department, renaming it the Department of Transportation and Highways, broadening the scope of the Department’s mission to take focus on regional strategic planning and make the department eligible for more federal grant funding. Currently, the department’s primary focus is asset preservation – maintaining the County’s 1,469 lane miles of roadway, 134 bridges and 351 traffic signals.

Cook County Board Toni Preckwinkle announced today the completion of the first significant phase of recommendations laid out in the comprehensive Bond Court study, furthering the County’s efforts to make sustainable and systemic changes to the criminal justice system by working to reduce the jail population and the related costs of public safety in Cook County. The County has hired two new public defenders who will be working to identify low-risk detainees entering the criminal justice system.

Originally published Thursday, October 11, at the Cook County Sheriff website: On Thursday, October 11, the Cook County Sheriff's Office kicked off the new Jail Guitar Doors program at Division 11. The program will offer an eight‐week guitar lesson program for inmates. Jail Guitar Doors was founded by Billy Bragg in 2007 to honor the life of The Clash band's founder Joe Strummer. It is named after The Clash's song Jail Guitar Doors which came out in 1978 to tell the story of the imprisonment of fellow musician Wayne Kramer of MC5.

Originally published Thursday October 11, at the Forest Preserve District of Cook County website: Did you know all of the Forest Preserve District’s fishing lakes are man-made? Many of our lakes began as borrow pits (enormous holes left behind after land is excavated) for road and highway construction—not the ideal location for fish, wildlife or plant life. Creating our lakes has been about much more than simply filling the pits with water and stocking fish there. We’ve to make them sustainable environments.

Students in the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice degree program are hosting a special program to encourage discussion and understanding of the adjustment problems facing women after incarceration. The program begins at 6 p.m., on October 17, with the screening of Throwaways, a documentary film made by GSU students.