* Home day cares told food funds are on the way

State government’s budget delays have held up food reimbursements to home day care centers across Illinois, even though the kids didn’t stop eating.

With a state budget belatedly in place, finally allowing normal disbursement of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds, day care providers who advanced their own cash to keep the meals and snacks coming should soon be reimbursed.[…]

“It’s hard to keep buying food when we haven’t been reimbursed yet for the month before,” Squires said before getting the news that funding is in the pipeline. “We’re just like families with a lot of extra mouths to feed, and it’s really hard to do.”

* Gov. Pat Quinn set to sign ban on texting while driving

Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday is scheduled to sign into law a measure barring motorists from sending text messages while driving.

Illinois would join 14 other states and Washington in prohibiting the practice, which safety advocates say is dangerous and leads to crashes. The law would allow police to stop and ticket motorists for sending text messages, downloading ring tones or surfing the Internet on their mobile phones. It would take effect Jan. 1.

* Quinn to sign distracted driving bills today

The governor will sign House Bills 71 and 72 during a ceremony at Northeastern Illinois University, according to a Quinn spokeswoman. Also expected to attend is Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office oversees driver services.[…]

A state legislative task force created after Wilhelm’s death found that one in four accidents nationally occur because of driver inattention. Statistics compiled by the Illinois Department of Transportation show that cell phones were the primary or secondary contributor to 1,001 traffic accidents in 2008 and 1,357 crashes in 2007.[…]

House Bill 71 prohibits reading, writing or sending “an electronic message” while driving. That ban would apply to e-mail, text messages, instant messages and Internet-surfing.[…]

House Bill 72 outlaws the use of cell phones while driving in a school zone or in a highway construction zone. It, too, includes several exceptions, such as using a cell phone in an emergency.

* Free year of college is a pipe dream

Boland, the Democratic head of the House’s Higher Education Committee, is making the rounds of community colleges to gather support and tweak his Challenge Scholarship legislation.

In short, an eighth-grader would have to sign a pledge (along with parent or guardian) that he or she would maintain at least a “C” average throughout high school and not get suspended from school or busted for anything to do with drugs or alcohol or violent behavior.

Those who fulfill the pledge would either get a year’s worth of tuition for a community college or the equivalent value applied to a four-year school of their choosing. […]

Boland’s possible solutions to funding the program are perhaps less reliable than even funding from the state budget. Among the ideas: specialty license plates, an extra $100 court fee and donations from individuals and foundations. But if the court fee idea is such a great idea, shouldn’t it help balance the state budget? Couldn’t it be used to help forestall an income tax increase?

* Denied rapid-gambling thrills, Fairmount Park is fading

But in 2009, casinos have trumped the game. Why wait 19 minutes for a thrill you can get at a casino as often as you can pull a slot machine lever or pick up a fresh hand of cards. Yesterday’s strategy-driven horse players — who wanted to win on skill and not just dumb luck — are today’s strategy-driven poker or blackjack players.[…]

Illinois lawmakers orchestrated a peculiar plan to temporarily rescue Fairmount and its upstate cousins with revenue from a tax on the state’s top grossing casinos. Even if it worked, it amounted to giving the tracks fish instead of fishing equipment.

But it didn’t work. The handout scheme is tied up by a casino industry lawsuit till who knows when. So the foundering Fairmount has decided to end its 2009 live season early, giving back 18 of the 75 authorized racing dates once held so precious.[…]

In its unbridled zeal to cultivate revenue on vices, the Legislature recently expanded wagering and its dubious social consequences to the fertile new ground of bars and restaurants. If those usually non-wagering businesses can have video gambling, why can’t Fairmount be allowed to put in slot machines — something that apparently has saved horse racing in some other states.

* State will pay for Toulon elevator

Out of five bids opened Tuesday afternoon, three came in well below the $200,000 figure the county is slated to receive for the project through the state capital spending bill that was approved last month.