* Excessive?…
A Champaign man faces up to 30 years in prison after being convicted of spitting on a jail guard.
A jury on Tuesday convicted 25-year-old Emmanuel Chapple of aggravated battery for spitting on officer Craig Wakefield on Jan. 14 as Wakefield walked past Chapple’s cell.
Chapple’s previous drug-related convictions mean he can be sentenced as what’s called a Class X Felon. That requires a mandatory six to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 25.
* This FOIA request may be asking for too much…
The University of Illinois asked for a stay Tuesday on a federal court ruling that it contends would threaten the privacy of student records.
The UI also said a March 9 order by Judge Joan B. Gottschall could result in the loss of millions of dollars in federal funds the UI receives every year. […]
But Gottschall ruled that FERPA does not require that applicants’ names, grade point averages and admissions test scores be withheld.
“The only question presented by this lawsuit is whether FERPA ’specifically prohibits’ the requested disclosure. The court must follow the command of the Illinois Supreme Court to construe the exemptions to FOIA narrowly. FERPA does not specifically prohibit Illinois from doing anything, so the university may not use federal law as authority to withhold the records,” Gottschall wrote. […]
“This basically negates FERPA completely,” said UI lawyer Samuel Skinner, a former Secretary of Transportation. “We’re concerned it erodes all kinds of privacy rights, and leads on a slippery slope” to such consequences as identity theft.
But Don Craven, general counsel to the Illinois Press Association, agreed with the Tribune’s argument that is seeking the records of applicants, not students.
I don’t think I feel all that comfortable with the media having access to student GPAs and admission test scores.
* But keeping all this information secret seems excessive in the other direction…
Tribune lawyers filed court papers asking that the “wholesale filing of pleadings under seal,” stop [in the ongoing Rod Blagojevich trial process].
Attorneys say that since Feb. 22, 16 court filings were made in secret. The attorneys say there was no attempt to keep even portions of those filings in the public. In the filings they cited, Blagojevich’s lawyers filed original pleadings in secret and the government subsequently resigned
“A long line of Supreme Court decisions recognize a presumptive right of public access to the criminal justice system - including specifically pretrial pleadings and hearings, which often are as important as the trial itself,” attorneys for the Chicago Tribune wrote.
* Is this bill really necessary?…
To the chagrin of state regulators, extensive cemetery reforms enacted in the wake of the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal could be erased under a measure pending before the Illinois Senate.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), would eliminate many of the regulations imposed on cemeteries that were ushered in as part of the Cemetery Oversight Act just last year. If approved, only large, for-profit cemeteries would face the stiffer regulations enacted in the wake of scandal.
Those reforms required a numeric database tracking system for every grave in Illinois. It also required funeral homes to witness burials and required the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to license cemetery operators.
After Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced allegations of widespread grave-reselling and mismanagement at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a Cemetery Oversight Task Force to propose reforms to the burial industry. At the time, Chicago’s south suburbs had the dubious honor of the most complaints of any region in the state. […]
Now that Burr Oak is on track to become a not-for-profit cemetery — should stakeholders vote to confirm its bankruptcy reorganization plan — the historic black cemetery no longer would be subject to regulation, Dart said.
* A House committee apparently believed this idea was unnecessary yesterday…
A plan to remove all the Metra board members from their posts and strip away future members’ salaries, pensions and benefits was rejected by a House committee Monday.
The plan, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks, was filed in response to the misspending of former Metra CEO Phil Pagano, who committed suicide, as well as expenses made by board members that he called questionable.
“Metra has become a culture of entitlement that lacks accountability,” the Marengo Democrat said.
His fellow lawmakers disagreed with Franks’ methods, rejecting his proposal by a 6-16 vote.
* Related…
* ICC judge recommends 3% ComEd rate hike
* Public records law could see restrictions
* House approves nonbinding referendums for schools
* Blagojevich to make statement today at 5 p.m. in front of his home
* ADDED: Audit finds more financial troubles at Chicago St. U.
* ADDED: House panel OKs curbs on using FOIA for commercial gain
* ADDED: Illinois House passes trans fats ban
LIVE session coverage...
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 12:43 pm:
FOIA has gotten way out of hand. I am all for some information being made public, but I am not in favor of the argument that just because a public body is involved you are entitled to see whatever information you want. I think the request to the U of I is a bit ludicrous. I don’t think I would mind releasing GPA’s and test scores, but there is absolultely no need for names. I would be outraged at my university if they would have ever released information that could be tied to me.
As for the Blagojevich trial, I know reporters are just trying to do their job but as far as I’m concerned there is no right to information in the middle of a legal proceeding. View the proceedings in court and report on them but you don’t have a right to view the case files right now.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 1:10 pm:
What’s with all the sealed evidence in the Blago case? Is he worried his reputation might be harmed or something?
- Fed up - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 1:23 pm:
No the prisoner will not get 30 years in prison. He will get the minimum and it will most likely be served concurrently with whatever he is prison for now. Which could mean no actual increase in the amount of prison time. Obviously this prisoner is just not ready to rejoin society.
- jerry 101 - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 1:34 pm:
if the Jones bill were to pass, it won’t take long for every cemetary in the state to be transferred into the loving hands of a “not-for-profit” in order to avoid the rules and disclosures.
- Palatine - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 1:52 pm:
It’s way to excessive. Every year we pass approximently 2500 new (or slightly changed)laws in Illinois. Every year it gets more excessive for a variety of infractions. For example a young woman gets 2 dui’s in her early twentys and then 20 years later gets another in her late 40’s. Under current law she can’t get her drivers license ever. That’s way to excessive.
- CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 2:08 pm:
Could the Trib start sharing all their email with the DOJ and the USA concerning the fraud charges associated with their ESOP and their attempt to trade ed board silence for about $100 million Wrigley tax break?
Most are disgusted by Trib conduct and seems only fitting that they finally release the info they have been hiding for years.
Gotta wonder why other newsies don’t ask these questions.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 2:09 pm:
Regarding Chicago State University, has it occurred to anyone else that if it was a Chicago Public High School it would be closed and reconstituted by now?
The shoddy financial management is just the latest for a school that desperately needs major improvement. According to IBHE, CSU’s graduation rate hovers well below 20%. That’s pathetic.
So they can’t get their students to graduate, but aren’t sending them tuition bills either. What, exactly, are they doing right? And why do we keep giving them tax money?
Can ISU take over CSU? They can call it ISU-C, like UIC without a hospital.
- Downstate Illinois - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 3:50 pm:
As to the cemetery bill, one of the upcoming scandals involves a city owned cemetery reselling plots in what used to be the pauper cemetery. The city, once known for its mine massacre, is now trying to cover up the sales which are still ongoing, despite the fact that burials in this area have dug up remains of past burials.
So, while last year’s bill tends to go a bit too far in some of its provisions, limiting them to just for-profit cemeteries only covers up other buried problems.
- ArchPundit - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 4:16 pm:
===I don’t think I feel all that comfortable with the media having access to student GPAs and admission test scores.
It’s not just the media, it’s any citizen. It’s a truly awful idea. The broad nature of the ruling would pretty much include the entire academic record.
The news sources could probably come up with GPAs and Test scores without individual identification which would like meet FERPA regulations and be the right thing to do.
These are largely records of minors being asked for given they are applicants to the university. Even if the Illinois law does currently require disclosure, the law should be changed. We shouldn’t be in the business of providing records of minors to the general public.
- How Ironic - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 4:35 pm:
@Palatine
Seriously…3 DUI’s and you consider the permanant loss of driving privileges ‘excessive’? I’m thinking that’s a 2 strike penalty. 3 ought to be some serious jail time ON TOP of losing your license forever.
- Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Apr 13, 11 @ 4:41 pm:
Individual student records should be considered private and subject to disclosure by subpoena. University performance metrics should be available for public use, including the ability to look at individual scores without a student name attached.