We touched base with Rabbi Jonathan Greenberg today, the Northbrook Republican who is campaigning to unseat 57th District State Rep. Elaine Nekritz in the general election.

Nekritz, a five-term incumbent Democrat, has the fundraising advantage of being a member of House leadership.

Still, Greenberg isn't worried.

"This is a targeted race and we're raising money and now we're being taken seriously by serious people," he said.

Nekritz raised $30,775 last quarter, according to campaign finance reports, and now has $189, 125 in her warchest. Greenberg raised $16,733 with a total of $27,559.

"I believe we'll raise significantly more this quarter," Greenberg said. "We'll have what we need to compete."

That's the video teacher and state employee unions are planning to go on the air with in the battle over pensions in Springfield. What do you think?

A Republican staff member has been suspended for doing political work on state time for state Rep. Kent Gaffney, a Lake Barrington Republican, during his primary race this spring.

David Ormsby at the Illinois Observer picked this up this morning. Here's inspector general report.

Nicholas McNeely works for House Republican Leader Tom Cross and was assigned to Gaffney's primary race that was eventually won by David McSweeney of Barrington Hills. Cross punished McNeely with a five-day unpaid suspension and other actions.

Just when it looked like forces were aligning to clear a path for a Miami Heat championship, forward Chris Bosh was injured in Sunday’s game against Indiana.

After an MRI, Bosh’s injury was diagnosed as an abdominal strain. His absence is listed as indefinite, but most observers are suggesting Bosh is out for this series and maybe the next one.

So does this news provide an opportunity for the Pacers to spring an upset? Actually, Indiana seemed to match up fairly well even with Bosh on the floor. The Pacers have two decent low-post options in 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert and former all-star David West. Both of those players hit 6-of-12 shots, scored 17 points and had double-figure rebounds in Miami’s 95-86 win in Game 1.

We hear House Speaker John Boehner is in town today, using his fundraising muscle in an attempt to make sure Republicans maintain a House majority in 2012.

Boehner is headlining a private fundraiser at Chicago's Performance Trust this afternoon for freshman Congressman Randy Hultgren of the 14th District. Hultgren, of Winfield, faces
Democrat Dennis Anderson of Gurnee in the November NOV. 6 general election.

GOP Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Wheaton is in tow, as, we expect, are a number of other Illinois delegation members and their staffers.

Joakim Noah is hoping to play in Thursday’s Game 6 in Philadelphia, he said in an interview with bulls.com late Tuesday night. The Bulls trail the first-round series 3-2.

Noah suffered a badly sprained left ankle in the third quarter of Game 3 and sat out the next two contests.

“I’m feeling better,” Noah said. “Just trying to get out there for the next game. I feel like we played really hard tonight (in Game 5). It was a great win. Guys are giving everything they’ve got. Let’s bring it back to Chicago for Game 7.”

The Bulls stayed alive Tuesday by pulling out a 77-69 win over the Sixers at the United Center. Omer Asik has started the past two games in Noah’s place.

It’s the morning/afternoon after the night before, when Kerry Wood tossed away a tie game and then tossed away his cap and glove as the Cubs lost 3-1 to the Braves. Cubs manager Dale Sveum says he doesn’t condone the actions but understands the frustration.

We’ll get to bullpen stuff and minor-league action. Iowa’s Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of 3-run homers for Iowa last night in a 13-2 win at Fresno. Rizzo is at .357/.413/.643 with 9 homers, 31 RBI and a 1.056 OPS.

The Cubs and Paul Maholm take on the Braves and Tim Hudson in the series finale. After an off-day Thursday, the Cubs open a weekend series at Milwaukee. I’ll talk to you on the blog Friday night and also on Twitter @BruceMiles2112 and on Facebook.

Nine years ago Cal Seely led Hoffman Estates to a memorable regional baseball championship - only the school's second - with an upset of top-seeded Schaumburg. Now Seely will be on the other side of trying to keep the Saxons as one of the state's premier programs after being named the program's new head coach.

Seely replaces Paul Groot, who is retiring at the end of this season, his 28th at Schaumburg. Groot just won his 600th career game Friday and has led the Saxons to a state title in 1997, a state runnerup finish in 1989 and an Elite Eight berth in 2005. Seely is currently the Saxons' sophomore coach and he also coached at his alma mater under Todd Meador.

For more on this story, check back to dailyherald.com and in Thursday's print editions of the Daily Herald.

Been a busy day and evening already at Wrigley. We’ll have plenty for the paper tomorrow as Theo Epstein stopped by for a friendly chat with us. The Cubs are 12-17 entering tonight’s game with the Braves, and that comes after a 3-11 start.

“There have been some really good things happening,” Theo said. "It’s baseball. You don’t get too high when things are going well or too low when they’re not. I think the effort’s been there all year. We’ve played hard and trying to play the game the right way. It’s hard to see sometimes when you’re losing close games and when breaks are going against you like they were. I think everyone can appreciate it when results come as they have lately.”

Wheeling stayed inside the district for its new boys basketball coach by selecting Tony Como, who has been the sophomore coach at Rolling Meadows since 2002. Como also played and coached at Notre Dame in Niles. He will also teach English at Wheeling.
Como replaces John Clancy, who resigned after two seasons when his full-time teaching position was not renewed in staff cuts. Wheeling was 2-25 last year but returns a nucleus that includes sophomore starting guards Jeremy Stephani and Chris Pierro.