Chicago Police lieutenants and captains would face random alcohol testing at any time, mandatory drug and alcohol testing whenever they fire their weapons and be prohibited from drinking four hours before duty, under contracts ratified Monday by a joint City Council committee. Some aldermen expressed concern that City Hall may be over-reacting to high-profile incidents involving officers and alcohol. Jim Franczek, the city's chief labor negotiator, said there would be a sliding scale of disciplinary actions for those who test positive in random tests.

The growth of charter schools has promoted segregation both in California and nationwide, increasing the odds that black, Latino and white students will attend class with fewer children who look different from themselves, according to two new studies. Charter school advocates contend that the researchers' presumptions about racial separation are out of date. They said parents -- including low-income minority parents -- are turning to charters for a quality education that traditional schools have not provided.

Chicago Transit Authority riders for years have been warned of service-cut "doomsdays." This time, with the agency facing a $95 million budget deficit, doomsday came. Starting Sunday, the CTA cut 18 percent of bus service and 9 percent of rail service, and the agency is cutting 1,057 jobs.

More than a hundred retired New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers said in a survey that the intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics, according to two criminologists studying the department.

Detroit is moving ahead with a controversial plan to dispose of as many as 92 underutilized parks, which could include sales or adoptions by nonprofits. The plan was first pitched by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who estimated that selling the combined 124 acres of parkland could net the city $8 million. But Mayor Dave Bing's staff said they aren't going to actively market the parks for sale.

Boston police and other departments across the state are grappling with a sharp increase in the number of officers resigning or retiring as the state slashes a generous bonus program that had boosted police paychecks for years. The departures could cause a shortage of experienced supervisors and leave communities with fewer seasoned officers to replace them.

Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson unveiled new technology that will allow officials to scan an arrestee's iris and within seconds get all the pertinent information about the person. The biometric technology is being provided by a $10,000 grant from the National Sheriffs' Association. Arapahoe County is the first law enforcement agency in Colorado to receive the new iris scanner.

Since the 1990s, public housing high-rise buildings have come tumbling down by the dozens across the country as cities replace them with smaller suburban-style homes that do not carry the stigma of looming urban despair and poverty. New York City has long been the great exception, choosing to renovate rather than tear down its aging housing stock, often at great expense. But now, due to the failure of a renovation project, the Housing Authority wants to knock down an entire high-rise complex.

If Gov. Bob Riley's anti-gambling task force tries to raid the Greenetrack bingo operations in Greene County, then the county's sheriff will be forced to "deputize" men in order to stop the raid, threatened state Sen. Bobby Singleton. The threat comes after task force commander John Tyson issued a warning to all casino and slot machine owners to get their machines out of the state immediately.

Some Indiana counties could be forced to stop sealing gravel roads because of rising costs and shrinking gas-tax revenues. State gas-tax revenue plummeted last year to the lowest levels since 2003. Property tax caps also are squeezing budgets.