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(Continued from page 23)
• Federal assistance was crucial after a massive flood in Colorado in September destroyed nearly 2,000 homes, washed out hundreds of miles of roads and left many small mountain towns completely cut off. But even as cities and towns relied on the National Guard and other federal help in the storm's immediate aftermath, local leaders said the disaster illustrated problems with a one-size-fits-all approach.
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Chicago's image as 'city that works' threatened by looming pension crisis
• CHICAGO (AP) -- It's not the vision of a world-class city that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel typically likes to portray.
• More teachers losing their jobs, thousands fewer police and firefighters on duty, less frequent trash collection and miles of potholed roads going unrepaired -- all as property taxes soar.
• But that's the scenario Emanuel and others have said could befall the nation's third-largest city if the state Legislature -- which passed a landmark measure last week to address Illinois' severe public pension shortfall -- doesn't deal with Chicago's own multibillion-dollar pension problem.
• The economic capital of Illinois and the Midwest, Chicago holds the dubious distinction of having the worst-funded public pension system of any major U.S. city. It's a crisis that's putting in peril Chicago's reputation as "the city that works," and its vision of being a modern transportation hub in the midst of a high-tech boom.
• "Chicago sticks out for all the wrong reasons," said Rachel Barkley, a municipal credit analyst at Morningstar Inc., referring to a public pension system that is only 35 percent funded, compared to New York's 60 percent and San Francisco's 88 percent.
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More snow in forecast for mid-Atlantic, Appalachians; federal workers told to stay home
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal offices in the DC area will be closed Tuesday as a round of snow is expected to hit the region just in time for the morning commute.
• On its website, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management says non-emergency federal employees will be granted excused absences, but other employees must telecommute Tuesday.
• The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the Eastern (Continued on page 25)
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