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* “Put Illinois to Work” has already found jobs for 2,800, aiming at goal of 15,000
* McPier chief considers stepping down
Ochoa briefed his staff about his future Monday, sources said. A Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority spokeswoman said that as of 6 p.m. Monday, Ochoa had not resigned. John Gates Jr., chairman of the interim board of McPier, declined to comment.
* Sneed: RTA Chairman Reilly redux?
Sneed hears rumbles RTA Chairman Jim Reilly, who is now advising the state’s legislative committee how to resolve the McCormick Place mess, is this/close to becoming the new McCormick Place czar/trustee — a title he held years ago.
* RTA’s lending power gets $300M boost
The Regional Transportation Authority won legislative approval Monday to boost its borrowing capabilities by $300 million to cover a massive IOU from the state to Chicago-area mass-transit agencies….The RTA now has the capability to borrow $100 million to fund operating expenses, but that total will increase to $400 million if Gov. Quinn approves the legislation.
The plan narrowly passed the Senate 31-11, with three voting present and 14 members - including GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady - not voting at all. Thirty votes were needed to pass the Senate.
* DuPage Water Commission legislation sent to Quinn
The Illinois Senate overwhelmingly approved a proposed law that would strip the commission of its sales tax ability effective June 1, 2016. A quarter-percent sales tax imposed by the commission generates approximately $30 million annually.
If Gov. Pat Quinn signs the plan into law, the commission members would have to resign and new members would be appointed. The DuPage County Board chairman appoints seven, and local mayors appoint the other six.
* Illinois sees warmest April on record
* Algae Could Mean Jobs for Illinois
It doesn’t look much different than any other pickup truck, but one Chevy is running around McCormick Place this week on fuel made from algae. And that algae could mean great jobs for Illinois.
* Ameren to lay off 75 workers
* Judge sets July 30 for Tenney execution
A DuPage County judge set a July 30th execution date Monday for a long-imprisoned killer who fatally shot a young Aurora father during a robbery that netted just $6.
Edward Tenney joins 15 other condemned men awaiting death by lethal injection on Illinois’ death row despite an unofficial moratorium….Gov. Pat Quinn has declined to lift the moratorium, as had Rod Blagojevich before him. Quinn’s Republican opponent, Sen. Bill Brady, said he supports the death penalty and will lift the moratorium if elected.
* Chicago Free Press Folds
* City investigating program that helped Rep’s daughter
Under scrutiny: the four-unit building at 1834 N. Kedzie in Humboldt Park, where Gutierrez’s daughter Omaira Figueroa bought a new, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in June 2008 for $155,000, selling it a little over a year later for $239,900 — $84,900, or 55 percent, more than she’d paid.
* Brown: Gutierrez should live in district he reps
* Sun-Times: Housing program is for needy, not the greedy
* Vendors around Wrigley fight possible ban
Street vendors who hawk peanuts and souvenirs outside Wrigley Field are as much a part of the ballpark’s charm as the rooftops across the street.
Not for long, if local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has his way. Stymied last summer in his efforts to ban peddlers from a two-block area around Wrigley, Tunney has revised the ordinance and is gearing up to try again.
* Officials may use nets to try to catch Asian carp in North Shore Channel
* Chicago libraries closed Tuesday
* State may pluck Flowers’ certification
Cook County Regional Schools Supt. Charles Flowers could lose the credentials he needs to keep his job at a meeting in Springfield on Friday of the Illinois State Teacher Certification Board.
Flowers pleaded innocent to charges of theft and official misconduct in March, denying allegations he skimmed nearly $400,000 in taxpayer money over a two-year period. A Cook County grand jury indicted him on 16 felony charges.
* Superintendent reappears in Matteson schools
* Dist. 203 proposes balanced budget for 2010-11
* Frankfort allots $1 million to reduce train noise
* New Lenox approves a trimmed budget
* [Waukegan] Council carries $148M appropriations plan
* [Tinley Park] Pension board fights to re-examine retired commander’s benefits raise
* Wheeling trustee, president explode at each over fireworks
* Belvidere City Council approves budget maneuver
* Fall pay hike approved for Rock Island’s nonunion city employees
* [Macon] County may charge townships for assessments
* Decatur City Council approves energy contract
The city’s current two-year contract with Ameren Energy Marketing has come at a price of $1,078,942 a year, a difference of $338,005. The difference will total $1,014,015 during the life of the contract.
* Springfield School Board endorses sales tax referendum
* [Charleston] Council to vote on ambulance rate hikes, purchase of new unit
* Former Belleville mayor Otis Miller dies
* Fairview Heights mayor signs budget after veto threat
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 9:27 am
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The put Illinois to work program basically reimburses an employer the wages paid to hire someone. So now we have another fully funded welfarish program when the state can not pay its existing obligations. Just what we need
Comment by Sueann Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 9:55 am
Brown: Gutierrez should live in district he reps
What do US Representatives represent? Do they represent communities, races, genders, lifestyles, classes, political parties, geographically designated areas - what?
Senators represent their state governments in Congress. Representatives are supposed to represent voters. But since the popular election of the US Senate a century ago, Senatorial duties represent voters within a geographical designation, their states. When discussing the US Senate, you ususally don’t here anyone referring back to the duties senators have constitutionally given to them. This year we heard of the Louisiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickbacks, which were designed to offset the unfunded mandates dumped onto state governments, and how Landreu and Nelson demonstrated what US Senators actually do.
But what do US Representatives represent? In this day and age of computerized gerrymandering, Congresspeople are selecting voters to entrench themselves in power. Do these gerrymandered districts represent communities? Only if you consider the term “community” to describe voter commonalities other than geographic. Congressman Guitierrez’ district is not geographically based - it is ethnically based. We also see US Congressional districts break out of the traditional definition of geographically-based communities, and instead represent communities based on a voter’s race. In easily half the US Congressional districts today, US Congresspeople represent communities based on political party affiliation.
Take IL District 13, for example. Congressman Hare’s district is politically based, not geographically based. The fact that the east side of Springfield is predominately African American really wasn’t the deciding factor when this district was gerrymandered to include it.
Mr. Guitierrez doesn’t have to live within his district, because his US Congressional district wasn’t gerrymandered based on location or community - it is based on ethnic heritage and language. He could have been titled as a US Congressman at Large representing Hispanics in Illinois, when we take into consideration the justifications for his District’s boundaries.
If we no longer expect the US Senate to represent state governments within the federal system, then we could be seeing US Congressman representing politically based communities, instead of neighborhoods and locations. So they don’t have to live in their districts anymore, right?
Yeah - the intention behind the creation of US Representatives was to represent voters within a geographic location, but when we really see what is required in defining a congressional district in today’s computerized gerrymandered world, we are really seeing today’s congressman representing political constituencies instead.
That is one of many reasons why we do not see competative US Congressional races. If we return to demanding geographically based gerrymandering, then we will.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:02 am
Actually Sueann, Put Illinois To Work is funded largely by money from the federal stimulus. And aren’t you overlooking the most important part? Last I checked, thousands of Illinois jobs being created is really awesome.
Comment by jonbtuba Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:03 am
johntuba. Oh, I had forgotten when something is funded Federally that doesn’t equate to State funding and the finding of new ways to borrow and spend while neglecting current obligations is awesome. It must be my bad memory, perhaps they have a program for me too
Comment by Sueann Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:11 am
=Last I checked, thousands of Illinois jobs being created is really awesome.=
Hmm.
=The funding expires on September 30, 2010. Therefore all subsidized employment placements must end by that date.=
Hmm.
Comment by Brennan Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:20 am
No short for the FBI following the trail of Luis Gutierrez?
Comment by Brennan Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:22 am
Reilly is the perfect guy for the Mac Place job.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 10:49 am
Tie Claypool to his 10/25 property tax increase and he sinks to the bottom of Lac du Michigan before the time his signatures are due in June.
Comment by Old 8 Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 12:03 pm
Ochoa is considering resigning? How about he’s about to get fired by the new Bill working through the legislature. Can you be dumber than a box of rocks? He’s it.
Comment by Lalo Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 12:50 pm
Gutierrez is toast- He’ll get indicted soon enough
Comment by Lalo Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 12:51 pm
Sueann, sarcasm doesn’t help your point. I never said there is no state funding. Federal funding from the stimulus helps make this program sustainable. Using your logic, the state should not spend money…ever. Cutting all social services (which is the path your logic leads down) is absurd and would do nothing to fix the state’s revenue problem. You seem like the kind of person who was profiled in that poll Rich put up recently: don’t want to raise taxes, want to cut spending, but don’t want to cut specific existing programs. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The income tax increase would solve all of your concerns because it would provide funding for our current obligations for pensions as well as our education system.
Brennan, while subsidized employment will end, the program pays for on-the-job training, meaning even after the employment ends they can have viable skills that they can translate to another job. Additionally, it means people will get salaries they can use to contribute to the state’s economy. Time does not dismantle the awesomeness of people being hired.
Comment by jonbtuba Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 1:05 pm
=Additionally, it means people will get salaries they can use to contribute to the state’s economy.=
Heh. What rational person will take temporary income and just spend it? They are going to reduce their debt or save it. They know when their job will end.
Comment by Brennan Tuesday, May 4, 10 @ 2:22 pm