Morning shorts
Tuesday, Sep 23, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Feds OK $1B Prairie Parkway project
* Illinois Republicans Worry About Future of Bailout Bill
BIGGERT: We’ll have to put liquidity back into the system so it’s going to affect us all. Not just our homes and jobs, but our retirement, savings, any type of investment that we have, even student loans and our pensions.
* Suburban lawmakers get early say on bailout
* Shimkus a rising star after six terms?
That’s according to today’s Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. which says that while the Collinsville Republican is “not exactly a fresh face,” he has still “emerged this session as one of the GOP’s go-to-guys on the party’s all-consuming issue of energy and gasoline prices.”
Here’s the rest from Roll Call: “Shimkus can give a partisan whack with the best of them, but he has also earned the respect of some Democrats, who see him as someone whom they can work with next year
* Manzullo Critiques Bailout Plan
I mean, if you’re going to have a bailout, let’s take the time to debate this thing. You know, let’s not push it down our throats after one or two days.
* Execs’ pay targeted by local politicians
* CTA unveils digital advertising on No. 124 bus
* Tune in to new ads on buses
The agency announced Monday it has begun test-driving a digital advertising display board, mounted on the curb side of the No. 124 bus, along the Navy Pier route. The board is part of a 10-year deal the CTA inked with Titan Outdoor this year to sell digital advertising on its bus and rail systems.
* MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants Announced
An urban farmer, a fiction writer and an astrophysicist are among this year’s MacArthur Foundation genius grant recipients.
Each fellow will receive $500, 000 over the next five year from the foundation.
* Design changes unveiled for Lincoln penny
* Bicentennial penny to feature Lincoln in Springfield
The third represents his professional life in Illinois and shows him standing in front of the state capitol in Springfield.
* Two towns commit to their EJ&E views
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 9:00 am:
I wonder how many people in Kane, Kendall and Grundy want the Prairie Parkway. Do they really want more growth out there? It’s sad to see the sprawl.
- Snidely Whiplash - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 9:10 am:
New pennies? They should be looking to get people interested in dollar coins, to make vending easier and to cut down on dollar bill production. A coined dollar lasts at least 20 years, while a dollar bill probably 12-18 months. The penny? It’s not worth anything anymore. They really ought to make our change system based on multiples of .5, or even .10. With metal costing what it does, I can’t imagine the cost of a penny being much less than its actual value. What’s the point?
- jeff - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 10:03 am:
The real geniuses are the officers of the MacArthur Foundation. They make >$500,000 annually not some $500,000 for 5 years.
- Shimmy - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 10:14 am:
Remember when Shimkus was knee-deep and failed to act in the Foley page scandal? When he could have prevented more pages from getting harassed but instead covered up disgraced US Rep Foley?
Just sayin’, if those are the folks GOPs consider rising stars, good for them, and good for Democrats.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 12:56 pm:
Word-
Did a lot of people of DuPage County want I-355 in the 1960’s when it was being planned? Funny how the people who caused the sprawl by moving to an area sometimes want to shut the door behind them to anyone who would want to follow their lead.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 1:03 pm:
Six, I don’t know. I live four blocks west of Austin in Oak Park. I’m still sad about the sprawl.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Sep 23, 08 @ 4:18 pm:
Word,
I understand your sentiments. My childhood suburb was a sleepy area when I grew up, and half my school bus ride was to pick up the farm kids. Now there are high rises, strip malls and “stuff” everywhere, with a proposed airport looming on the horizon to the south. I now live downstate.
If you get so far out beyond the city, is it sprawl anymore? Or is it people abandoning the city for small-town living? Some of my neighbors used to commute 2+ hours each way to their jobs in Chicago or its near suburbs, far beyond what is commonly thought of as the sprawl limit. Are we still a historic small rural town at that point, or a newly-minted sprawling suburb?