Morning shorts
Thursday, Oct 9, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* Race riot sculpture to be unveiled Saturday
A miniature monument commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Springfield Race Riot will be unveiled at 4 p.m. Saturday during the Illinois NAACP’s 72nd annual state convention at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel & Conference Center.
* Judge denies request to stall transfers from prison
* Waukegan, Des Plaines renew developer partnerships in pursuit of casinos
With a deadline looming, officials in Des Plaines and Waukegan have extended development agreements aimed at luring a casino to their communities.
Applications to the Illinois Gaming Board for the long-dormant 10th casino license are due Tuesday.
The Des Plaines City Council voted this week to renew an exclusive agreement with Chicago developer Neil Bluhm in its bid to land a casino.
* Island Lake: A village trapped in turmoil
In the last 15 months, the village has been tarnished with political scandal and news of the weird.
Three politicians, including two mayors, have been charged with crimes related to how they run the village.
The village also made headlines in the spring after a landowner threatened to turn his property into a pig farm to prevent Island Lake from building a water tower nearby. About the same time, two trustees had a Vietnam veteran arrested because he pointed his finger at them while wearing a Marine Corps T-shirt with a picture of a man pointing a rifle. They claimed it was a veiled threat at a heated board meeting.
* District Backs Union-Designed High School
Next fall Chicago could have its first high school formed by labor unions. The project is among 18 new schools the district is recommending for Board of Education approval this month.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union Local 73 have formed a nonprofit group to run the school. They’ve agreed to locate the school in West Garfield Park, a mostly African American neighborhood. Carlene Lutz works for the teachers union.
* City leaders to recommend approval of gay high school
* Gay-friendly high school may open here in 2010
A “gay-friendly'’ Chicago public high school that will weave gay and lesbian “heroes” — from James Baldwin to Gertrude Stein — into its curriculum was among 20 new school proposals unveiled Wednesday.
* Gay Pride High School Clears Hurdle
* Cop freed: ‘My mom was crying. I started crying’
* Districts welcome MVCC, with some exceptions
* Tinley Park OKs zoning change for Moraine Valley satellite campus
* Tinley approves Moraine campus after lawsuit threat, heated battle
* Teachers, administrators in Kaneland School District 302 to meet with federal mediator in effort to avoid strike
* $300 million for road work
Lawmakers in Will County think they have the solution to what ails the nation’s troubled economy: Build more roads.
County Board members on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious, $300 million transportation package to help unclog crowded roads, repair bridges and improve safety in some of the most dangerous intersections. The seven-year plan could generate as many as 8,400 new jobs in Will County and would be paid for with local, state and federal funds, including the state’s newly approved regional transportation tax, officials said.
* Adler president to McCain: Sky machine not an overhead projector
The overhead, “you can probably get for $10 or so on eBay,’’ said Knappenberger.
But to replace the Adler’s sky machine, which creates stars on a domed ceiling, would cost $3 million to $5 million.
* Presidential Politics Hit Adler
* The Stupid Vote
- Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:09 am:
Instant classic with the Stupid Vote. Like all great humor, it’s painfully rooted in the truth.
- BigDog - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:13 am:
Not sure about the Lynwood mayor’s logic that a casino right on the IL-IN border would keep IL gamblers in-state. It’s been my past experience when going into a riverboat casino that approximately 99.5% of the patrons smoke, so why would a non-smoking casino right on the border with a state that has nearby casinos that allow smoking be a good idea? I’d guess the place would be nearly empty most of the time.
- OneMan - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:17 am:
Cal City or even Dolton would likely be a better pick since they are more ‘on the way’ to Indiana for more people than Lynwood.
- cermak_rd - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:18 am:
Gertrude Stein! Oh good grief! Please don’t force the students to read her works, even if they are gay! They haven’t done anything to deserve that!
I actually look forward to seeing what the school wind up being like and if it will have a significant enrollment.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:19 am:
==“If your real intention is to create economic stimulus in a region that’s economically depressed or needs a boost, we fit that right here in this area,”==
And if they don’t come? Well then I guess Lynwood has a mayor who publically claims his town is economically depressed! Gee! When can I move in?
Never claim your town is in the dumps.
- Fan of the Game - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 9:29 am:
It’s really stretching for a story when you talk about lost revenues from land a community college owns. It’s a vacant lot! The college owns it. It wasn’t generating any revenue, regardless.
Also, I’m wondering, do you think we could get approval for Deer Hunter High School? Lots of kids in the hinterlands of Illinois enjoy this pastime. I thihnk it would go.
- Wumpus - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 10:04 am:
Hmmm, a union school.
Okay students, fill out these forms in triplicate, take a contracted break, back to class, fill out these new forms. “Ring, ring” Class is over. That is not even the first day.
- ConservativeVeteran - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 10:20 am:
I used to live in North Chicago, and I hope that Waukegan will get a casino. Waukegan and North Chicago have high unemployment and poverty rates. If that area gets a casino, it would provide jobs for many poor people who need jobs. Many Lake Co. residents go to Wisconsin casinos, helping the Wisconsin economy. If Waukegan gets a casino, those people will spend their money in Waukegan, helping the Illinois economy. Some of them will go to restaurants and bars that would be near the casino.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 10:53 am:
Is there another bug where certain key words cause a post to go into some kind of moderation bin?
- Bill - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 11:04 am:
What’s the matter, wump. Did somebody file a grievance?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 11:10 am:
Anonymous, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
- Seeing Stars - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 4:47 pm:
I don’t agree with McCains flippant referral to the planitarium sky machine, however, lots of peoplke visit that facility and pay admission. Should’nt this be funded through admission fees. I mean what are we paying for?
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Oct 9, 08 @ 6:31 pm:
Just what Waukegan needs, another economic development disaster. 25 mil toward a refurbishment of the Genesee is working out so well for them.
The refurbished Lakehurst site is just starting to look active. Don’t kill that economic development with a casino