Court asked to intervene:

Social service providers want the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene in their legal battle to force immediate payment on state contracts. The Pay Now Illinois coalition filed a request Thursday with the state’s highest court. Nearly 100 groups sued in May over fallout from the budget stalemate, which is in its second year. The providers said they were owed roughly $160 million because the state didn’t honor contracts. The coalition said a partial spending plan that expires in January is insufficient. A Cook County judge dismissed the lawsuit in August, saying the issue belonged in a higher court..

Police witness shooting:

Chicago police said officers who witnessed a shooting that wounded a man exchanged gunfire with the suspects on the city’s far South Side. Police said officers responding to an unrelated call early Thursday in the West Pullman neighborhood heard gunshots and saw someone firing from inside a vehicle. No injuries were reported in the confrontation with police. The shooters fled in the vehicle and later crashed. Police took two people into custody, and a third was being sought.

Cigarette smuggler guilty:

A citizen of Ukraine who lived in Chicago admitted that he transported thousands of cartons of cigarettes from northwest Missouri to Chicago to avoid paying excise taxes. Federal prosecutors the scheme allowed Yevhen Sychikov, 32, to avoid paying nearly $160,000 in taxes. Missouri’s tax on cigarettes is 17 cents per pack. Illinois’ excise tax on cigarettes is $1.98 per pack. Cook County imposes an additional $3 a pack, and the city of Chicago charges $1.18 more — making the total excise tax on cigarettes in Chicago $6.16 per pack. Sychikov faces up to five years in federal prison without parole.