Morning Shorts
Thursday, Jun 7, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Editorial: A pay raise? Illinois needs to change system
* Opinion: Work harder at saving tax dollars
* Tribune Editorial: First, do no more harm
* Group decries casinos
Dobmeyer said he doesn’t know what chance the legislation has in the overtime session, but he wants lawmakers to think about the dangers of casino gaming before using it to prop up the budget. A new casino — especially a government-owned one in Chicago, as Mayor Richard Daley has proposed — would provide an “increased basis” for corruption, he said.
* Opinion: Emerald casino minority investors treated like pawns
* Sun-Times Editorial: Consumer protections are cable bill victory
* Opinion: For once public good doesn’t fall in a hole in cable market
* Ali Ata pleads not guilty in fraud
* Civil Service action blocked
* Editorial: Don’t gamble on health with smoking ban exceptions for casinos
* High gas prices will cost state too
* Part-time lawmaking fizzles elsewhere
Just four states, including Michigan, have a full-time legislature. The others are Pennsylvania, California and New York. Seven states — Alaska, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Wisconsin — have legislatures that operate most of the year, but those lawmakers are paid significantly less than the $79,650 that the 148 Michigan legislators make.
* Theme park land swap deal on hold
But, after hearing about the project on Friday, environmental groups like the Sierra Club said they needed more time to review it. Among their concerns is the fate of the endangered Henslow’s Sparrow, which nests in the grasslands that make up much of the reclaimed strip mine area. Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said the groups are not solely concerned with the project’s impact on the flora and fauna of the area.
* Opinion: Care workers for disabled need pay raise from state
* State backs U.S. ID foes
* Three Illinois colleges taking part in controversial project; more here
On Wednesday, Google announced it will scan and digitize as many as 10 million books from 12 universities, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois’ Chicago and Urbana campuses.
* CTA Tattler: CTA meeting no waltz in the park
* Chicago police officers demand 24% raise over 4 years
* Brightest teachers burning out at Chicago Public Schools
* Aldermen decline to act on taxi surcharge
* County official’s secretary accused of bilking woman
* Bail is set for volunteer in campaign bomb threat
* Stephens keeping an eye on Rosemont? ; more here
- Cowgirl - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 8:43 am:
Tribune editorial - Blagojevich has been silent lately, and as long as he stays silent, the governor isn’t making new enemies.
Running away from and dodging the press and when cornered he looks like he’s soiled his boxers, that’s very governor-like. He’s been exposed for what he really is, a fraud and the gig is up. And a stupid fraud at that.
- fedup dem - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 9:09 am:
Do you know if the books Google plans to scan from the Northwestern University Library include the favorites of Toddler Stroger… you know, the comic book collection that is housed there?
- so-called "Austin Mayor" - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 9:52 am:
“Bail is set for volunteer in campaign bomb threat”
The story says that, if convicted, the volunteer faces up to 3 years in prison.
Five years into the War on Terror(TM) and bomb threats merit no more than 36 months in the pen?
WTF?
– SCAM
- Nobody Sent - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 12:04 pm:
Talk about burying the lead, the Don E. Stephens Memorial Apperation Tree barely gets a mention… You should have posted the picture, this is the biggest apperation since Underpass Mary.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 12:41 pm:
I was just wondering last night how the Henslow Sparrow was doing. Thanks.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 7, 07 @ 6:55 pm:
Just out on the SJ-R sometime today…
Veterans group in flap with Quinn military program name
Last Updated 6/7/2007 5:18:04 PM
By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO — A national support group for military families is trying to force Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to change an identically named state organization he oversees, saying confused military families are contacting the wrong group for help.
Operation Homefront, the national organization with the Web address www.operationhomefront.net, said Illinois’ Operation Home Front, with a Web site of www.operationhomefront.org, is violating federal trademark laws.
“We have letters from people outside the state of Illinois who are confusing the two organizations calling us screaming, freaking out,” Meredith Leyva, founder of Operation Homefront, said Thursday.
She said veterans in Illinois, where her group operates, also are confused and claimed the state organization does not return calls to tell them they’ve reached the wrong group, prolonging the time they wait for assistance.
But Quinn’s office dismisses the contention that military families are confused when they reach the state Web site, saying that a headline near the top of the site reads: “Helping our Military Families in Illinois.”
“It’s very clear looking at our Web site that it is set up to serve military people in Illinois,” said Quinn spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin.
Further, she said that when military families from outside the state do contact the organization, it either tries to help them or refers them to other groups for help.
Leyva said the Illinois organization has no right to the name because her Santa Ana, Calif.-based group, launched shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was awarded the trademark for the name last year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
She also said the demand for the name change and threat of a lawsuit is being made only after Quinn refused a request that the site clearly tell visitors about Leyva’s group.
Leyva also wondered whether the Illinois organization is a political group, saying Quinn set it up as an individual and not lieutenant governor and that the e-mail address he gave was votequinn.org, his political campaign.
Austin explained that when Quinn created the domain name operationhomefront.org in 2001 in support of his organization called the Illinois Military Family Relief Fund he had not yet been elected lieutenant governor.
He was elected the next year and at that point, she said, Operation Home Front became what she calls a state outreach program.
“Our office has used (the name Operation Home Front) to promote programs that benefit veterans and their families and also a way for families to contact our office to ask for help,” she said.
She also said her office has no intention of changing the group’s name. Dan Persky, counsel for the lieutenant governor, said he believes trademark law does not require such a name change because it is obvious these are two distinct organizations.
“There is not mass confusion and the primary factor in trademark rights is whether it will cause confusion,” he said.