35 Comments - Reddbyrd - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:16 am: Yawnorama Apparently Rich figures everyone will be at the rally and skip the blog. Here is a better issue. Will the Tribune company apply their anti faker policy to the rest of the company? There will be a lot of reporters and ballplayers sitting on the curb From the “news” paper Online deceit costs reporter his column LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — The Los Angeles Times said Sunday it is discontinuing the column and blog of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter because he posted items online using assumed names. The decision, reported in an editor’s note on the Times’ Web site, came a week after the paper suspended Michael Hiltzik’s Golden State blog. It said Hiltzik would be reassigned after a suspension. “Hiltzik did not commit any ethical violations in his newspaper column, and an internal inquiry found no inaccurate reporting in his postings in his blog or on the Web,” the editor’s note said. “But employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of The Times’ ethics guidelines: Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times.” The Los Angeles Times is owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Chicago Tribune. - BIG R.PH - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:24 am: How the State of Illinios continually refuses to pay it’s bills in a timely and consistent manner. It “balances” it’s budget obligations on the backs of providers of services to the residents of the State of Illinois by not paying them. Meanwhile, the State requires those same providers to pay their obligations (taxes, etc) in a much shorter time frame. - zatoichi - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:45 am: Lack of payments to providers has to be the story. Saying the state is in great financial shape when contractors/providers are paid very late, you have to borrow billions to meet other obligations, the state programs get an 8.5% “maintainence” funding increase while non-state providers get 0%, and credit ratings are being lowered while new spending is proposed is just nuts. A debt paid with a loan plus interest is still a growing debt. If I did that a collector would be hounding me for a payment plan. - Lovie's Leather - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:46 am: The most under-reported story of the year: Lawmakers willingness to vote for bills that haven’t been written yet. All Kids. When the vote for all kids took place, all that was known about it was that the State of Illinois will provide healthcare for all children in the state. That was it. The details hadn’t been written yet. How could anyone vote on this, even a “no” vote. This is a sham and it reflects the way our gov runs the state and how the general assembly lets him…. - Cal Skinner - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:54 am: Leather has picked an excellent day to talk about All Kids. So underpublicized since its passage is the fact that the primary beneficiary of the state-paid health care will be children in Illinois illegally. I stll cannot believe how Illinois’ media have generally ignored this little fact. (And, before passage, I can find only two papers that even mentioned it-Crystal Lake’s and Quincy’s.) Whether one favors or is opposed to this subsidy of illegal aliens, the chief beneficiary should certainly have been prominently mentioned in the stories about the bill BEFORE it passed. - DOWNSTATE - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 10:01 am: also Cal these kids will get treatment only if the Doctors accept them.How much farther will the un-paid bills go before the Docs say no.Then will Blago sign another mandate making them accept these kids. - Leroy - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 10:15 am: Cal - which part of *ALL*kids do you think we don’t understand? It’s not All-ILLINOIS-KIDS-that-can’t-afford-it-but-need-it, it is ALLKids. Even when this program starts taking more of its share of state resources, the power brokers will just start taking resources away from less influential parts of the state budget. It won’t be until a powerful special interest group such as AFSCME or the education lobby doesn’t get their due because of AllKids will it hit the fan and become a reported story. I’m just gonna sit back and watch the infighting. It’s been a good show so far up til now. - Anonymous - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 10:38 am: Certainly the delay in Medicaid payments is under-reported. In the last fiscal year the Department of Public Aid (now Healthcare and Family Services) wrung up about $15 - $20 million in automatic prompt payment penalty fees that, to date, they’ve neglected to pay. This year that amount will likely double. DHFS has a legal obligation to make these penalty payments but have simply decided to ignore them. The Department has deflected criticism thus far by saying that the Treasurer is holding up fund transfers, but the reality is that DHFS doesn’t have sufficient appropriations to expend any faster. The fiscal problem in that agency is very real. The fiscal hardships have already created access to care problems in many parts of the state, especially in the metro-east east and Champaign areas, as physicians refuse to accept new Medicaid. It’s hard to imagine how AllKids on top of Medicaid will work. - VanillaMan - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 10:44 am: Its that tax thing he keeps saying, “I didn’t raise taxes”. No one is showing how maxing out all the state credit cards and pawning our assets raises our taxes whether or not there is any formal legislation passed to increase them. - Skeeter - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 11:02 am: The biggest story has been the failure of the right wing in Illinois to win elections. The trend was absolutely clear in the Spring, but nobody picked up on it. Where moderates ran against the extremists, the moderates always won. This follows the 2004 rejection of Keyes and once again confirms that Illinois can be won by Republicans if they dump the extremist rhetoric of people like Keyes, Obie, and Crane. - bored now - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 11:02 am: iSo underpublicized since its passage is the fact that the primary beneficiary of the state-paid health care will be children in Illinois illegally. this assumption (so-called fact) is very interesting. very provocative (obviously, it was meant to be). first of all, most (an overwhelming majority) of children of illegal aliens are american citizens. cal side-steps this by his careful wording (good for him, it shows his bias). what we are left wondering is whether cal believes that american citizens do not all deserve equal treatment under the law. i suspect he does not believe we do. it’s not an uncommon ideological trait to think that only those who think (or look) like you deserve all the rights you think you do. but even after we consider his prejudicial rendering of the subject, we are still left with his rather massive assumption that these kids will be the “primary beneficiaries.” a quick reading of the law suggests that ALL CHILDREN are the primary beneficiaries. one could even argue that all families with children benefit. only someone with a particularly narrow perspective, who views every issue through that narrow lens, can suggest that the children of illegal aliens are the primary beneficiary — and it’s still a huge jump. the facts fail this conclusion. the logic of it falls apart. exposed to light, it’s merely the product of a narrow mind with little connection to reality. perhaps this one was “under-reported” merely because it was untrue (although fox news will probably buy it — they make up news!)… - Fees are apparently not taxes... - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 11:04 am: It is not just the increase in debt and manipulating accounts and seizing funds directed at specific issues, it is the “fees”/taxes that increased that have not been fully reported (or their effects). I have read how trucking companies moved out of state, but there are a whole host of other impacts from the big fee increases passed by the administration. Overlooked as well are the increased fees on local governments (eg waste) that then got passed on to you and me. - Anon - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 11:24 am: The media is downplaying the pro-family/anti-gay marriage initiave because the media knows that similiar referendums have passed EVERYWHERE they have been, at least statewide, the pro-family/anti gay movement has 19 out of 19 wins. Illinois is not a pro-gay marriage state - anon - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:41 pm: Great job changing the subject guys. Do you think the voters will care that the liberal media and their friends miss informed them when they read it on the ballot. No, they will just vote for it. - Skeeter - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:44 pm: - Anon - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 11:24 am: “The media is downplaying the pro-family/anti-gay marriage initiave because the media knows that similiar referendums have passed EVERYWHERE they have been, at least statewide, the pro-family/anti gay movement has 19 out of 19 wins. Illinois is not a pro-gay marriage state - anon - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:41 pm: Great job changing the subject guys. Do you think the voters will care that the liberal media and their friends miss informed them when they read it on the ballot. No, they will just vote for it.” Two anon comments in a row saying the same thing. What a shocker. Win an election you right wing fanatic. Then tell us what Illinois wants. Every time one of your runs, they lose. Illinois rejects people like you. Win an election or keep quiet. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:45 pm: Anon 11:24 - I think the media is downplaying it because they haven’t even filed the necessary signatures yet, and in fact have issued a “Please, please don’t challenge our petitions” Press release. In addition, they issued a fundraising appeal that hinted that they have had to resort to paying people to circulate petitions for them. The media hasn’t covered it yet because there is no story yet. File this one under “Dog Attempts to Bite Man.” - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:49 pm: I think the most under-reported story has to be the 8th CD race. Considering the fact that this is supposed to be one of the top targeted Congressional races in the country, we don’t read much about this race very often. - Cassandra - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 12:58 pm: The number of white and African American kids who are uninsured in Illinois is tiny, a fraction of the number of Hispanic kids who are uninsured. It’s not unreasonable to assume that within the uninsured kid population, Hispanics will be the primary beneficiaries, and that a substantial subset of the Hispanic beneficiaries will be children of illegal Hispanic economic migrants. However, it does seem very possible that another large beneficiary group will be children who are already insured but whose parents switch them to Allkids because it’s cheaper than maintaining employment-based health insurance. In fact, it might be advantageous to many employers to raise their rates for family coverage above Allkids rates to encourage this behavior. And since no regulations have been written for Allkids, there is no certainty that the Blago administration will write regulations discouraging this behavior (he desperately needs a lot of people to sign up, legal or not) or that regulations they will be enforced by the clueless state agency that handles applications. The real story about Allkids may turn out to be that if you aren’t upper middle class and above you will be forced into Allkids like it or not. Sort of a backdoor Hillary Clintonesque health reform. Nobody seems to be writing about that, although the costs could escalate very fast. - Truthful James - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 1:35 pm: The continuing run on the Teachers and school administrators Pension fund. With the pension Fund in lousy state, instead of holding the line, the Springfield spendthrifts have agreed to pick up increased pension benefits accruing from six percent salary increases each year for the final ten years of employment. That compounds into 79%. - anon - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 1:36 pm: How about the Tribune’s insistence on writing editorials on things it knows absolutely nothing about? - Rum n' Coke - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 2:07 pm: JBT, “Rochester will live w/out the rest of the world and the rest of the world will live w/out Rochester.” - Just Wondering - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 2:40 pm: The most under-reported story: Who’s running Cook County’s $3 billion government? I mean, who’s running it who is actually elected? Shouldn’t some news organization at least ASK that question? - grand old partisan - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 2:50 pm: Skeeter, in regards to your 11:02am comment…how exactly is this news? With the exception of Fitz in ‘98, isn’t moderate Republicans winning elections and right wingers losing them pretty much the status quo in Illinois? Why do you think that the press should spend more time on such a ‘dog bites man’ story? When another true right-wing conservative wins a race, that will be a “big story.” - grand old partisan - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 2:52 pm: I agree with YDD. The 8th is every bit as vulnerable for the Dems as the 6th is for the GOP. I think the former is getting short-changed in the media and/or the later is getting over-hyped. - THE HANKSTER - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 2:56 pm: CASSANDRA: You tried this same argument last week and we told you its factually wrong. Now you seem to have come back and added crazy, unproven, conspiracy theories to your lies. I know you dont care if children have healthcare or not but at least use facts and not made up rhetoric to advance your immoral causes. - Crackhead Obama - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 3:16 pm: I think the completely unreported aspects of Blagojevich’s adulterous adventures with staffers and hookers. His love child should be front page news. - Reddbyrd - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 3:52 pm: Speaking of under reported stories, how about the news the Democratic Pary of Illinois reelected Mike Madigan to his third term as state party chairman. That should signal more D wins on the horizon! - Anonymous - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 5:12 pm: Anyone seen any coverage of the rapid growth of regional investigative centers to monitor “suspected” terrorists by involving state and local police? Check out the cover story of US News & World Report. - NW burbs - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 5:36 pm: If that issue (an advisory referendum on a Hate Amendment for Illinois) has been “underreported” then there’s a complete and total media black hole on the progressive’s efforts to launch a similar effort — an advisory referendum on universal healthcare in Illinois. http://www.illinoishealthcarenow.com/ Rich (and other reporters), simply because a relatively small group of people (left or right) wants to put their issue in the forefront of the public eye it doesn’t mean you guys need to report on it. Giving a tiny fringe group column inches or air time starts to set up a bias of false equivalence … just as bad as completely ignoring legitimate stories like Stephen Colbert’s complete roasting of both Pres. Bush and the DC press corps”e”. - Swami - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 5:40 pm: The delay of unpaid Medicaid payments. Also, what is unreported is the state’s fiscal condition. Now that the end of the fiscal year is approaching, how far in debt is the State of Illinois? - Jon Bauman - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 6:16 pm: Hey Truthful James-live up to your handle there, friend, or at least get your facts straight. First of all, the Teachers’ pension fund is not “in lousy state” (sic) We’re doing fine. We’ve earned $3 billion in the past nine months, bringing the fund balance to $37 billion. There has been NO action to increase any benefits for downstate teachers this session. You are referring, incorrectly, to SB 49 as amended, which makes a number of changes to the TRS and SURS articles of the Pension Code. This bill, among other things, postulates that a teacher’s school district will not have to pay for salary increases exceeding six percent for salary increases granted 10 or more years before retirement eligibility. This is not what you wrote, Truthful. This actual situation doesn’t happen very often in the real world, but enough that the potential inequity needed to be fixed. Pension addicts, feel free to visit our website, trs.illinois.gov, for more details. - zatoichi - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 8:27 pm: Cassandra, go to http://www.allkidscovered.com and read about AllKids. Not saying it is good or bad, but the Govs name is blasted 3 times on the first page of the app. It appears on the bottom of every front page in the biggest font. The forms claim you can earn over $15,000 a month with a family of 5 and be on the program for $300 per child per month. Thought I had read kids had to be off insurance for 1 year to qualify, but did not see that statement anywhere. - Billy Sunday - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:12 pm: On the national front, I’d say it’s the fact that $4 billion dollars is unaccounted for and has apparently vanished in Iraq. Don’t hear much about that, though it was buried in the bottom of a WaPo column a while back. - Cal Skinner - Monday, May 1, 06 @ 9:36 pm: Looks like I should have been watching the commentary today, instead of doing other things. Illinois, of course, has Kids Care for U.S. citizens and has had it since the late 1990’s. It also covers children who are here legally and the Feds match our tax dollars 50-50. It is my understanding that the Feds will not match Kids Care, but I would be please to have some evidence to the contrary. Let my put my question about All Kids another way: Why is it needed, considering we have Kids Care? The early pitch was that it was for middle class people above the income cut off. Then, out comes the study from the Blagojevich folks that the main beneficiaries would be Latino children (in families earning less than $40,000, wasn’t it?). Would someone like to contend that most of these were those born in the USA and, therefore, already eligible for Kids Care? Or is there something else afoot here? And, skeeter, a conservative trounced Rita Mullins for state senator in Palatine. But, maybe that’s the exception that makes your rule. - steve schnorf - Tuesday, May 2, 06 @ 10:47 am: Cal, actually the feds reimburse the KidCare program, started by Governor Edgar and expanded by Governor Ryan, at 66-33, making it an even better deal. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.