CHICAGO (CBS) – The overnight snowstorm brought 2.7 inches to Chicago — a modest amount for the city, but still good enough to tie the largest amount this winter, and enough to make the morning commute a mess.

There were numerous accidents on local streets and highways overnight, as an overnight snowstorm dumped 2 to 5 inches across the Chicago area.

A winter weather advisory remained in effect until 6 p.m. Friday.

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Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams said the city’s full fleet of 284 snow plows was out clearing and salting city streets overnight, focusing first on main arteries and Lake Shore Drive. The plows moved to the city’s side streets around 9 a.m.

“We’ve been busy all night,” Williams said. “There are some issues as we pass those mains. The wind is blowing snow back over onto the mains from park areas and side streets, but we continue to work that. As soon as we have the mains under control, we’ll be concentrating on the side streets.”

Williams urged motorists to drive slowly and allow for extra travel time. He also said drivers should give plows plenty of room to operate.

You can track the city’s snow plows in your neighborhood here.

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Williams said the snowfall overnight has been the heaviest the city has seen this season.

The snow also forced airlines to cancel scores of flights at the city’s airports.

As of 10:30 a.m., there had been more than 300 cancelled flights at O’Hare International Airport, and more than 30 at Midway International Airport. Both airports were experiencing delays of 15 to 30 minutes for other flights.

While conditions were slowly improving after the snow stopped falling, freezing drizzle could mix with the snow on Friday, and add a layer of ice.

The National Weather Service warned that wind gusts of up to 30 miles-per-hour could “result in wind whipped snow” and brief whiteout conditions causing reduce visibility.

It’s been a brutal morning rush for people driving on local highways, with multiple accidents adding to the delays for already slow conditions on most highways.

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Many cars spun out and ended up in ditches as a result of the slick roads.

Overnight, an SUV traveling on the Eisenhower Expressway struck a concrete median divider. The driver was injured and taken to a local hospital.

A handful of cars also spun out of control and crashed on I-57.

Illinois Department of Transportation crews were out with their plows, in an effort to keep the highways clear of snow and ice. The Illinois Toll Highway Authority is also prepared to mobilize its full fleet of 182 snowplows as necessary.

The conditions had many commuters opting for public transportation over driving, making many CTA buses and trains more crowded than normal.

Rose McAdams, who was using the Blue Line transit center in Jefferson Park, said she normally drives to work, but she didn’t want to on Friday because of the snow.

“I just decided to take the public transportation,” she said. “The CTA is good, it’s safer for me.”

Lester Armistad said it was more convenient for him to take the bus, rather than drive himself in the slippery conditions.

“Let the CTA take it,” he said. “You just sit back and relax.”

Greg Zorn took a bus to the Jefferson Park transit center to catch a Blue Line train. He said his bus driver had to take it very slowly.

“They’re good. They do their job pretty well,” he said. “It was treacherous. The road are starting to clear up now, but this morning it was really bad.”

Rachel Brockway opted to walk to work. At one point, she couldn’t find the sidewalk because of all the snow, so she walked in the street.

“As long as nobody runs me over, I don’t mind. It’s kind of messy, but it’s Chicago

Andy Samways gave it a shot on his bicycle, but it proved to be a big challenge turning the wheels with all the snow, slush and ice.

“The tires don’t really grip, so it’s kind of exciting,” he said. “It’s quite difficult. I mean, it’s hard to keep it upright, it’s difficult to stop the wheels sliding out.”

The heavy snow made for rough going for those who had to break out their shovels.

“I’m hoping always to put it away,” Simon Aloits said. “We have a snow blower, and getting it through the entranceway is more challenging than getting a shovel out. It would take 20 minutes to get it started.”

Several schools in the area were closed or starting late on Friday. For a complete list of school closings, click here.

The mayor announced Charles Williams as his pick for the post on Saturday. The Chicago City Council must confirm the appointment. Williams would replace Tom Byrne, who is leaving the department to be director of park services, safety and security for the Chicago Park District.

Williams managed personnel throughout Chicago and oversaw patrol operations as deputy superintendent for the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Patrol. Williams says he’ll continue efforts like the grid system for garbage pick-up and expanded recycling.

Williams was previously national security director for Merchandise Mart Properties and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) – The city debuts a beefed-up rat patrol on Thursday, as the rodent population rises at an alarming rate.

As CBS 2’s Pamela Jones and Susanna Song report, the Department of Streets and Sanitation is rolling out two extra rodent poisoning crews to help control the city’s rat problem.

Streets and Sanitation already has 15 rat crews on the street.

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But complaints about rat problems have gone up this year, and officials said so will their response. The city says calls to 31 1 are up 28 percent this year.

Officials at the Department of Streets and Sanitation said they’re working with Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) to inspect and bait every alley possible in his ward. The alderman wants to stop any infestation before it starts.

Officials emphasize that if you leave food out in the open, the rats will come. Thus, it is important to keep your trash cans and dumpsters closed, and the food inside.

Residents say rats are running rampant through Chicago streets.

Logan Square homeowner Guillermo Alvarado said. “I have caught seven rats in my house just last week. … In the house; big ones, small ones. I’ve caught two this year in the garage.”

“I even got them named. There’s so many,” another Chicago resident said.

“There’s one main one that owns that right there,” he said of a set of garbage cans in his alley, explaining one rat in the alley will chase off other rats that try to get in the trash cans.

As they await the extra Streets and Sanitation crews, ome neighbors have been putting out a little bait of their own.

“It’s gotten to the point where they don’t take the bait, and the traps, I guess they avoid them.” Alvarado said.

He and others said they’ve noticed trash cans overflowing nearby, attracting rats hungry for a meal.

Although posted placards said the city baited the area just days ago.

“But it still is not doing any good,” Alvarado said.

Workers at Ald. Rey Colon’s (35th) office have taken some of the complaints and reported them.

A worker in Colon’s office explained, when a resident calls in about a rodent problem on his or her block, the office plugs that location into a zoning map on their computers, then bait every alley around that location.

We asked Colon’s office what the biggest problem seems to be in causing rat problems in the ward.

“We live in the city, so not everybody has the same standards on how they’re going to dispose of their garbage,” said Colon’s chief of staff, Martha Ramos. “It could be multiple reasons. It could be a big rain coming down that overflows the sewers, so the rats are going to come up. It could be any excavation, or new construction going around in the area.”

Animal experts said the unseasonably warm winter meant rats that would have died off in the cold survived the winter instead, so there are simply more of them in the city this summer.

Streets and Sanitation Department officials said they’ve put out more poison to fight the increase in an effort to be proactive.

As CBS 2’s Kris Habermehl reports, about 72,000 residents of the Northwest Side now have new garbage days following the transition to the grid-based system from the Ward-based system.

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The affected wards include the 38th (parts of Portage Park, Jefferson Park, Old Irving Park and Dunning); the 39th (North Park, Hollywood Park, parts of Albany Pak and Mayfair); the 41st (Edgebrook, Wildwood, Edison Park, Norwood Park, O’Hare International Airport); and 45th (parts of Edgebrook, Forest Glen, Mayfair, Jefferson Park and Portage Park), as well as most of the 33rd (parts of Albany Park. Irving Park and Avondale.)

The grid-based system began last month with about 55,000 houses on the North Side, from Lakeview and Northcenter north to Rogers Park and West Rogers Park.

Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne says residents may have their garbage picked up on a different day but service will still be weekly. Last week crews posted “Change in Garbage Service Day” notifications in affected areas.

The city says the grid system is widely used both by other municipal governments and private waste haulers. Under the new system for Chicago, garbage pickup will be based on routes bordered by main streets and natural boundaries, rather than the non-linear boundaries of aldermanic wards.

In announcing his budget last fall, Emanuel said the ward-based system was woefully outdated.

“No person designing a garbage collection system from scratch would base it on a political map. We’ve always done it that way because we could afford to. Fed Ex and UPS don’t do it that way,” he said. “But we can no longer afford to.”

The city estimates up to 20 percent fewer crews will be used in the first phase, while providing the same services. By working in a grid, the city expects to reduce fuel and vehicle maintenance expenses.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The mayor said the city has reached a groundbreaking agreement with Laborers Union Local 1001, allowing current Streets and San workers to keep their current salaries and work rules, while providing lower pay rates for new employees, while also training them on several different jobs.

As WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, those workers will be able to move between several different job types, based on the city’s needs. They’d be given raises based on the number of hours they’ve worked, rather than pre-negotiated pay hikes.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports

“We have projected savings of $30 million over six years, by a series of reforms and changes in the work rules,” Emanuel said.

Local 1001 business manager Lou Phillips called the deal a win-win situation for the city, taxpayers, and new city workers.

“They’ll go through a training program, and they’ll now be cross-trained to work in different areas, and they’ll be brought in at a lower salary,”

Current employees have a starting salary of $33 per hour; new employees will start at $20 per hour. The city estimates 50 new employees will be hired each year.

The agreement should help city officials avoid decisions like one made last year to make severe cuts to forestry and rodent control services while working to keep up with street cleaning and garbage pickup.

New employees would be trained to work on all different job types at the Streets and Sanitation Department, to allow more flexibility in staffing.

Sentencing for Dwight Washington, who worked for Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Department, will be next week.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of felony aggravated DUI, CBS 2′s Derrick Blakley reports.

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The accident injured seven people, and it could have been worse, but for the actions of a Chicago nanny.

Jennifer Anton, a nanny, was crossing the street with a baby in a stroller at the time of the crash in March 2010. She pushed the baby out of danger, but absorbed a brutal blow that changed her life.

She has suffered through 12 surgeries to repair a broken hip and crushed pelvis and soft-tissue injuries.  Friday’s court action provided some measure of relief.

“I’m just happy that he did plead guilty, and it doesn’t have to go to trial and that basically he admitted wrongdoing,” she said.

Washington declined to speak in court. His defense attorney said he was sorry.

His guilty plea won’t help a civil suit against the city filed by Anton and four other victims. The city’s already admitted responsibility.

“There’s no contest on who caused this. We know he did. It’s just a matter of dollars,” Dan Kotin, Anton’s civil attorney, said.

Police said they found half a bottle of brandy in the truck Washington was driving. They also said that Washington’s blood alcohol level was 0.183, more than twice the legal limit. But, they added, Washington had no publishable priors.

Washington’s attorney says he wasn’t supposed to work the day of the accident but he unexpectedly got called in. That’s why he’d been drinking.

He was almost laid off 12 years ago, and feared if he didn’t report for overtime work, he’d be fired.

The illegal bins were removed Wednesday after the company learned of the mayor’s complaints.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine first reported on the illegal trash bins on Tuesday and has tracked down the owners of “Free Green Can,” which owns the bins.

They responded to Emanuel’s complaints by pulling all the cans until and unless they get the proper city permits. It took them a full day to respond to questions about the trash bins; coincidentally, right after the mayor’s angry comments.

When they did, the company president blamed the city’s confusing permit process and praised Moreno for choosing recycling over red tape.

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Moreno’s name and face are on virtually every combination trash can-recycling bin on public sidewalks in his Northwest Side ward, none of which have required city permits.

“If an ordinance exists, if there’s rules to the road, follow them. If not, there are consequences to those decisions,” Emanuel said Wednesday.

Asked why his company put up the bins when at least one alderman informed him he needed a city permit first, Free Green Can president Steve Holland said “The permit process in city of Chicago is delegated into different buckets, and we don’t fit perfectly into any one of those buckets.”

So Holland said the company decided to put them up without permits, “after talking with Alderman Moreno and seeing the champion he had become.”

Moreno was the only alderman, of many they talked to, who agreed to the free recycling for advertising deal, then had his own picture put on them.

A spokesman for Moreno first said the alderman “paid for the ad”, then changed it to, he “will pay for it,” before admitting they were considered “campaign contributions”.

“I haven’t given Aldermen Moreno one dollar,” Holland said. “The invoice that we haven’t even issued yet for him, because his cans haven’t even been out for 30 days, I think is $2,000.”

Emanuel said “each alderman has to make their own decision. I would highly recommend, if a company’s not following the rules, as set up by the City Council, I wouldn’t be cooperating with them by advertising.”

CBS 2 has learned the city inspector general’s office is now looking into how these containers got on city streets and who got paid what.

Holland – who grew up in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood, and whose family members include Chicago cops and firefighters – said he just wants to make it right.

“Just because of this story, and we don’t want to cause any ill will with anyone, we’ve automatically decided to pull the 25 cans,” Holland said. It’s my decision, I made the call. It’s unfortunate that there’s not going to be recycling in Wicker Park, and we’re gonna lay some people off. That’s unfortunate. But we look to get resolution for this as soon as possible.”

As to who’s collecting the trash and recyclables from the bins in the 1st Ward, or where they’re being dumped, the company identified as Free Green Can’s waste hauling contractor refused to answer questions.

Holland said everything was being taken to the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation facilities. However, when CBS 2 asked Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne about it, he said no one had asked or received his permission to haul the waste and recycling to city sites. The Chicago Department of Transportation, responding to Emanuel’s comments, has just ordered all the containers removed immediately.

CHICAGO (CBS) — If you’re wondering when the city is going to clear away the snow that’s piling up on your street, stare out the window no more.

For the first time Thursday, the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation is using the new Plow Tracker system, which allows users to follow their snow plows in real time.

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The Department of Streets and Sanitation pressed the Plow Tracker into service for the first time as its full fleet of 278 snow plows was out on the city’s streets Thursday.

The system is the brainchild of Mayor Emanuel’s director of social media, Kevin Hauswirth.

“The city taxpayers own those trucks and it is important that we’re accountable to people and they can see where that tax money is going and that those streets are being cleared,” he tells CBS 2’s Mike Parker.

Before long, the city will be targeting the side streets that are now crusted with a slippery white blanket.

“If there’s a plow driving down the street, it’s on the map,” Hauswirth says.

The Plow Tracker is one of several new features on the Web site ChicagoShovels.org, which offers a variety of interactive help in dealing with Chicago’s winter weather.

The Web site also features an Adopt-a-Sidewalk Program and a Volunteer Snow Corps.

New smart phone apps are also available to find out if your car was towed and where it is or if the winter parking ban is in effect.

The mayor credited cooperation between labor unions and city government with improving efficiency in the blue cart recycling program.

In addition to the $1 million savings that Emanuel said “did not exist before,” the competitive bidding program has cut the number of city crews dedicated to recycling from 22 to 16.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports

“Those crews are doing other things like forestry, tree trimming, rat abatement – other types of services,” Emanuel said, “so we’re delivering more services at better cost because of the competitive bidding in recycling.”

The managed competition program for recycling began three months ago, when the city entered into contracts with two different private firms to handle recycling. Under the program, the city was divided into six service areas – four of which are now being served by those two firms, the other two of which are still being served directly by the Department of Streets and Sanitation.

The private firms are Waste Management and Midwest Metal Management.

Before the change, the Blue Cart recycling program was serving only a small fraction of the city’s population – 244,000 homes, at a cost of $13.8 million for the city.

Before competitive bidding began, Emanuel says “the city of Chicago was a tale of two cities when it came to recycling.

“We were known as the most green city, but we did not provide the most fundamental of green services – recycling,” Emanuel said.

Beginning April 1, 20,000 homes will be added to the blue cart service. By next year, Emanuel hopes the full service will be added for the entire city.

Meanwhile, Emanuel plans to expand managed competition by partially privatizing other service delivery functions.

“My main goal here – as I said in my budget – we are looking at seven other functions we will begin in the second quarter to bring competitive pricing and bidding to delivery of services, to make sure that city taxpayers get the best value for their dollar, and the city residents get better services,” Emanuel said.

Back in 1989, demand mounted for a recycling program as the volume of garbage discarded by consumers grew and landfill space neared capacity. Then-Ald. Bernard Hansen (44th) called for a 100 percent recycling program within three years.

Then in the fall of 1989, the Department of Streets and Sanitation began a pilot program for recycling in four city wards involving separate trucks to pick up glass, plastic and metal.

But the city decided the volume collected did not justify a citywide program of duplicate garbage service. Instead, it worked toward implementing the much-maligned Blue Bag program, which did not require separate vehicles, but instead only separate recyclable bags that would go in with regular garbage.

The Blue Bag program was implemented with much fanfare in 1995, and the city said it expected to recover more than 1 million tons of recyclable material each year with the program. But eight years later, thousands of tons of garbage were still pouring into landfills every day. And recyclables were sometimes ending up there too.

But there were also flaws in the system in which recyclables were collected, recycling advocates argued.

The same truck that picked up regular garbage also picked up the Blue Bags, compacting all of the refuse together. Those in turn were removed from their bags, placed on a conveyor belt and sorted – dirty diapers together with bottles and cans – yielding a much smaller percentage than hoped.

On its official Web site in 2002, the City of Chicago reported that over 256,000 households per week were putting out at least one Blue Bag for pickup.

Still, the city ultimately decided to phase out the Blue Bag program. Retired Mayor Richard M. Daley announced plans to do so in 2006, and two years later, the city announced the transition to the Blue Cart program.

But the problems didn’t end there. Amid budget concerns last year, Mayor Daley had talked about privatizing or eliminating the city’s recycling program altogether.

Meanwhile, Laborers Union Local 1001 lobbied for a $10 monthly fee for recycling pickups to subsidize the switch to current recycling, but no final action was taken on the issue before Mayor Daley left office this past May.

As CBS 2′s Dorothy Tucker reports, the Streets and Sanitation employee was shocked while talking on the phone during Monday morning’s storm and fortunately wasn’t seriously hurt.

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Co-workers said Catherine Moro was on the second floor of the Streets and San building on the 2300 block of South Ashland Avenue, sitting at her desk.

She was talking on the phone when lightning struck the transformer right outside her window. That’s when the building lost power and she fell to the ground.

Witnesses said she was unconscious for a few seconds, but quickly recovered.

“During a lightning, storm lightning will obviously hit electrical equipment and electrical lines. She was on a landline, so there’s electrical wire involved,” explained Fidel Marquez, Senior V.P. of Customer Operations for Streets and Sanitation.

ComEd crews at the scene explained that the surge of electricity probably traveled through the floor, up the wire of the phone and shocked Moro.

Marquez said it’s a reminder of the safety steps businesses and homeowners should practice during a storm.

“From a safety standpoint you should stay away from using appliances. And that’s why you should turn off your TV, because lightning can be dangerous,” he said.

One more safety reminder from ComEd and your mother: stay away from windows during a storm.

As for Moro, she was taken to UIC Medical Center, where she was checked out and released.

She could not be reached for comment.

According to a Chicago Sun-Times report Wednesday morning, the city Department of Streets and Sanitation has lost workers because of a hiring freeze and chronic absenteeism.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780′s Regine Schlesinger reports

Thus, Rodent Control and the Forestry Bureau are being moved to garbage control.

While spokesman Matt Smith tells the Sun-Times the changes are temporary, representatives of Laborers Union Local 1001 say the plan will backfire. In the story, he says real life could resemble the Kia commercial where rodents are seen rapping and dancing with boomboxes to “The Choice Is Yours” by Black Sheep.

But the city does offer some advice for keeping rats away.

As the city points out on its official Web site, rats have an average lifespan of 6 to 12 months. Females females can produce four to seven litters per year, and came become pregnant again within 48 hours of giving birth.

While rats prefer fresh food, they will eat pet food, dog feces, garbage and plants too, the city pointed out.

The rats in Chicago are Norway rats, which prefer to live in burrows in the ground, and can climb and swim easily. They can also chew through wood and plaster, crawl through holes the size of a quarter, tread water for three days, and land safely after a five-story fall.

But the most worrisome aspect of wild rats in Chicago is the risk of disease. They carry a variety of infected fleas and ticks that can be passed on to people, and if cornered, they can bite, the city points out.