newshour correspondent elizabeth brackett of wttw has been covering the story today, and joins us nowom the chicago tonight studios. elizabeth, was it apparent that something was up, that thousands of people weren't at work? >> it was a different kind of day in chicago particularly with city hall closed -- people noticed that, for sure, and also people who wanted to go to the library. one young man said, "i don't have a computer at home and i need to do my homework at the library. that's the only computer i have access to." so it was noticed, and people did notice that their garbage didn't get picked up today either. >> reporter: the gap is several hundred million dollars. do furloughs like the one put in place today put a big down payment on closing that budget gap? >> well, it's a help. initially, the budget gap out of an almost $6 billion budget was about $570 million, they now have it down to 300 million which is still a lot of millions as budgets go so it has helped, it was 15 furlough days as you said, six furlough days and six unpaid holidays -- holidays where city employees wo

question how we got to the current impasse and second what would you do about it if he wanted to brackett and have a different discussion going forward and the basic parameters of the argument are the most fundamental error, and they're some fanatic overlap between my argument and charlie's argument. the most fundamental error of the bush administration was not as we often debated the substance of some of the specific policies that have adopted but the means by which it adopted them that is it did ma seek to work with legislature and build the architecture for the policies and needed. so the first half of the book is kind of an argument, a kind of critique of the prior administration for the way it went about constructing its architecture. and the second half, the second third of the book may be is an argument for an affirmative legislative set of approaches to problems i regard as essentially a new and essentially not governed or shouldn't be governed by our kind of models to pre-existing law either the laws of the war for the traditional approaches of the criminal justice apparatus. an

newsour correspondent elizabeth brackett of wttw has en covering the story toy, and joins us now fromhicago tonight studios. elizabeth, was iapparent that something was up, that thounds of pple weren't at work? >> it was different kind of day in chicago particular with cy hall closed -- people notid that, for sure, and also people who wanted go to the liary. one young man aid, "i don't have a computer at home and i need to do my hoework at the library. that's the only computer have access to." so it wa noticed, and people did notice thatheir garbage dn't get picked upoday ther. >> reporr: the gaps several hundred million dolla. do furloughs like the one put in place todayut a big down payme on closing that budget gap? >> well,t's a help. initially, the budget gap out of an almost $6 bilon budget was bout $570 miion, they n have it down t 300 milln whicis still a l of million as budgets o it has helped, it was 15urlough days as you sad, six furlough days and six unpaid holidays-- holidays whe citymployees uld have gotten paid like the 4th of uly, they won't get paid, and then these thr