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Friday, Apr 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’m not sure yet if I’m coming back to work Monday or Tuesday, but blogging will resume next week, as will the subscriber services. Sorry about the interruption, but it couldn’t be helped. Thanks much to my two interns for filling in for me all week. They did a splendid job.

* I’ve been listening to a lot of Wilco on my way back and forth to the hospital to visit my dad, so they and Billy Bragg will play us out today…

I won’t say which night

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Missing the forest for the trees

Friday, Apr 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Tribune ran a huge headline over its long, front-page story on the Giannoulias family’s Broadway Bank today, but it meandered all over the place and missed the real point. The story was about how the bank loaned more money to a couple of shady characters than originally thought. But the Kirk campaign pointed out what should’ve been the real angle in a follow-up press release…

Less than one month ago, Alexi Giannoulias took a tour of Chicago newspaper editorial boards to answer questions about his time as Vice President and Senior Loan Officer at Broadway Bank.

When asked specifically to answer questions about loans Broadway Bank made to convicted mobsters Michael “Jaws” Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos, Giannoulias flatly denied he or his family had any knowledge of their criminal backgrounds when they approved those loans.

Demetris Giannoulias in Today’s Chicago Tribune:

“Demetris Giannoulias said the bank learned of Giorango’s bookmaking and prostitution promotion convictions from a spring 2004 Tribune report detailing those cases…He said he asked Giorango about the convictions and Giorango said, ‘It’s in the past. I don’t do that anymore.’” (Chicago Tribune, April 2, 2010)

Alexi Giannoulias One Month Ago:

Audio Available: “Banks do not perform criminal background checks on their borrowers. If I knew then what I know now, would we have given these loans to these colorful characters? Absolutely not.” (Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Interview, March 3, 2010)

Audio Available: “I learned of it primarily when I was running for the office of state treasurer…I mean, I don’t remember the exact date, whether it was during the primary or during the general. I think it was during the primary…We didn’t know about this, no.” (Alexi Giannoulias, Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Interview, March 3, 2010)

“Mr. Giannoulias personally visited Florida to see property involved in a Giorango loan. Asked if he was aware then of Mr. Giorango’s criminal past, Mr. Giannoulias replied, I didn’t know the full extent of his legal problems.’ Full extent? Mr. Giannoulias declined to say more, despite several efforts to get him to elaborate on exactly what he knew and when he knew it. (Crain’s Chicago Business, March 3, 2010)

“Giannoulias denied, even though he went down to Florida to inspect the properties, that he was aware of Giorango’s mob ties.” (Chicago Sun-Times, “Giannoulias acknowledges family bank will probably fail,” March 3, 2010)

Meanwhile, the Tribune has yet to publish a single article about Mark Kirk’s apparent flip-flop on whether he would “lead the effort” to repeal the new federal health care reform law.

* On a personal note, my dad is still in the hospital, which is why I haven’t been around here this week. He’s in a rehab unit to help him recover from a stroke. The stroke didn’t appear to damage his brain (he beat me two out of three at checkers the other day), but it left his left side very weak. Thanks for all the calls and e-mails.

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Morning Shorts

Friday, Apr 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Chicago unemployment at 11.3%

The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville area employed 137,500 fewer people in February than the same month in 2009, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Chicago’s unemployment is eighth-highest in the state, according to figures released Thursday by the department.

* Decatur area unemployment rate continues unabated climb to 14.6 percent

The February rate was the highest since 1983, when it was 19 percent. In January, it was 14.4 percent.

* [Peoria] Jobless rate largely unchanged

In the Peoria metropolitan area, unemployment worsened slightly to 13.2 percent, the worst February rate since 1984 - the last time rates stayed in double digits for a sustained period of time - and an increase from 12.9 percent in January. A year earlier, the rate was 9.4 percent in the Peoria region.

* Adams County officials forsee improvement in job market as rates hold steady in February

The latest Illinois Department of Unemployment Security (IDES) report indicates Adams County remains at 9.6 percent and the city of Quincy at 10.3 percent. Both of those figures are the highest since the late 1980s…Hancock County dropped to 15.5 percent from January’s record 15.7 percent, and Brown County saw its unemployment rate reduced to 6.5 percent from 6.7 percent. Pike County’s rose to 12.2 percent from 12 percent.

* [Metro-east] unemployment at 12.7%

Unemployment in Granite City increased from 13.9 percent to 14.4 percent, O’Fallon’s rate went up from 7.8 percent to 10 percent, Collinsville’s rate jumped from 9.5 percent to 12.4 percent and Belleville’s total swelled from 10.9 percent to 14.2 percent. The number of jobless in East St. Louis witnessed the greatest increase over the past year as it inflated from 14.9 percent in February 2009 to 19.6 percent last month.

* Tribune: A Chicago job crisis

It’s not news that the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state- and city-run organization known as McPier that operates the city’s convention venues, needs an overhaul. Its dysfunction has been apparent for years. What was different and refreshing Thursday was a sense of urgency that punctuated testimony over three hours at the packed-to-capacity hearing run by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.

* Trade shows to McPier: Change, or we’ll walk

Orlando and Las Vegas both receive hotel tax revenue to help pay for operations. Illinois needs to consider doing that, too, Mr. Cullerton said, but making that change would require action by the General Assembly.

* Trade shows: Drop fees or we’ll leave Chicago

* Work rules under attack at McCormick Place legislative hearing

Organizers of five shows called on lawmakers to reduce overlapping union jurisdictions at the convention hall. They said trade show exhibitors — companies that bear the final cost for staging a show, are exasperated with Chicago. “It’s not only pricing but also the hassle factor,” said Mary Pat Heftman, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association.

* State jobs task force holds hearing at Harper

* Longtime state agency director Barry Maram resigns

Maram was also cited earlier this year for failing to properly supervise his former chief of staff Tamara Hoffman, who was the target of a critical internal investigation.

* State health care agency director resigns

Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday that Barry Maram will continue serving as director of Healthcare and Family Services until a replacement is found.

* Illinois, short by billions, still cuts 2-cent checks

Since 1993, the state has paid 1 percent interest per month on each bill that’s over 60 days old. Illinois was on the hook for $55.4 million in interest under the “prompt payment act” the last two years, according to the state comptroller.

Until now, a vendor had to request payment in writing for any amount of interest under $50.

Last year’s ethics bill made the payments automatic, no matter how small.

* Illinois bond rating lowered

Kelly Kraft with the Illinois Office of Management and Budget said there is good news in last week’s developments at Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s: Neither downgraded Illinois, which she saw as “reaffirmation” about the state’s credit.

* Angry parents heading to Springfield

* Our Opinion: ‘Race’ setback not a total loss

* Do as We Say, Not as We Do

But having spent the better part of the last week poring over the 350-page Chicago Public Schools budget, I can tell you there’s little evidence that the central office has gone on a diet. In fact, top schools brass are enjoying something like a carbo-loading feast. The district’s highest-ranking officials got healthy raises this year— and one of the biggest went to Huberman…There are 53 departments, bureaus, or offices in the central schools bureaucracy, and the top remaining officials in every one—as well as many of their assistants—received raises, according to the budget.

* Did CPS brass get big raises amid budget cuts?

* Court panel lifts cap on nursing home fines

State officials were glad that Zappa’s ruling was overturned, Arnold said. But to avoid more legal disputes about the level of fines, she said the department - at least for now - will continue to limit nursing home fines to $10,000.

* Illinois highlights earthquake preparedness

* Illinois ranks high for rates of STDs

* State’s oldest building celebrates 200 years

* Sneed: Fixer-upper? This old house

“The governor spends a lot of time here, and he’s opened it up to the public. It’s the peoples’ house, and we have a responsibility to maintain it,” Bourland said.

* DH: It’s time Democrats push to vote on party limits

* Zorn: Blago belongs in the Hall

* Jack Roeser now a rising star in Illinois GOP’s big new tent

You know Mr. Roeser. He’s the guy who, just a couple of months ago, was being widely quoted in radio ads aimed at GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mark Kirk, ads that said, “Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual. Roeser suggests that (Kirk) is part of a homosexual club.”

Well, guess who’s the new finance co-chair of the Illinois Republican Party, one of five folks leading the party’s hunt for cash to retake control of Springfield and Washington?

* GOP presses issue on Cook tax bills, election

* Sun-Times: A tax conspiracy — or just slow process?

* Daley urges Chicagoans to complete census

* Union: O’Hare emergency center staff at breaking point

* Panel Approves Lobbyist for City Colleges Board

* Special grand jury to review Kane coroner’s case

Sun-Times Media received a letter from appellate prosecutor Charles Colburn last week requesting a Courier-News correspondent make himself and his notes available from a mid-March interview with coroner Chuck West for use as evidence in at least one grand jury hearing scheduled for April.

* Oswego to raise sales tax rate July 1

* Rival says photo ties Schaumburg mayor to indicted businessman

* Rockford’s census return rate above U.S., Illinois average

About 60 percent of city households have returned the 2010 U.S. census forms that the federal government mailed to their homes two weeks ago.

Rockford’s return rate bests those of Illinois and the nation, where a respective 58 percent and 54 percent of households have returned their forms.

* Belvidere crime rate drops 2.9 percent in 2009

* [Peoria] County braces for up to $1.8 million loss

* Washington Park mayor is fatally shot

Thornton, 52, was behind the wheel of his car when he was shot twice in the chest. Washington Park police said he was headed home from his job as an overnight-shift foreman at the Metro East Sanitary District.

* ‘The people’s soldier’ is remembered: ‘They did an injury to all of Washington Park’

* Murder is latest in string of Washington Park woes

Last July, one of Thornton’s duties was to sign the village’s second petition for bankruptcy in five years. The village reported debts of at least $1.6 million, including $449,000 to the Illinois Department of Employment Security and $300,000 to Johnny “Chico” Matt, a former village public safety director who had accused the village of dismissing him for political reasons.

* News-Democrat: Budget games need to end

* [Johnston City] fire chief put on leave

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Morning Shorts

Thursday, Apr 1, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* New claims for unemployment benefits dip last week

The four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, fell by nearly 7,000 to 447,250, the lowest total since the week of Sept. 13, 2008, just before Lehman Brothers collapsed and the financial crisis intensified.

* Mayor of Washington Park shot to death in his car

The mayor is John Thornton, 52….Police arrested a man about two hours later, and police believe that man is the driver of the getaway car.

* Washington Park mayor shot to death

* UPDATED: Mayor of Washington Park, IL gunned down

* Southwestern Ill. village’s mayor shot, killed

Police were called out to a report of a car wreck at 47th Street and Caseyville Avenue before 6:00 a.m. When they arrived, they found Mayor John Thornton in his vehicle. He had been shot twice in the chest and it appears the murder took place where the car was found. Thornton was transported to Kenneth Hall Hospital in East St. Louis, but was pronounced dead on arrival shortly after six.

* Biden touts programs against domestic violence in Peoria

Biden, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Dick Durbin, was in Peoria on Wednesday for a fund-raiser for the Center for Prevention of Abuse.

* Biden says more must be done to end domestic violence

* Vice president calls for changing attitudes about violence

* Audience moved by Biden’s speech against violence

* Our View: Charming, chatty, chivalrous - visiting VP all the above

* Cook County Assessor: Politicians Planning to Delay Property Tax Bills

* Houlihan takes swipe at likely successor

In part, Houlihan is also responding to criticism Berrios and the other two Board of Review members laid at his feet last week. On Friday, the Board of Review sent a letter to Cook County Commissioner John Daley, who chair’s the county’s powerful Finance Committee, saying the second installment of tax bills would be delayed until after Dec. 1 because Houlihan has delayed assessments and made mistakes due to new rules governing assessments.

* Cook assessor charges Madigan, Berrios with ‘chicanery,’ ‘coverup’

* Battle brewing over Cook Co property taxes

* County assessor’s employee quits amid allegations

Sources said the employee was the subject of an internal investigation into allegations he solicited money in exchange for a lower assessment. No evidence was turned up that indicated money changed hands, the sources said.

* Commissioners Deny Claims About Delaying Property Tax Bills

* GOP calls for U.S. probe of Houlihan property-tax charges

Lee Roupas, chairman of the Cook County Republican Central Committee, said Mr. Houlihan’s charges constitute “serious allegations that deserve a full review. We’re talking about millions of dollars in taxpayer money.” Mr. Roupas specifically urged U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald “to open an investigation into Joe Berrios and his misuse of money.”

* Aldermen fall short but win compromise in street-sweeper war

Under the compromise, each alderman will control a sweeper four days a week in his or her ward. That’s down from five days a week now, but a lot better than a citywide plan that Mayor Richard M. Daley had pushed that would have centralized dispatch downtown.

* Daley’s plan to cut street sweepers stands

* Despite Debate, Street Sweepers Start Cleaning Chicago Today

* Aldermen to Daley: Don’t mess with city services

Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) said the “hands off our street sweepers” message was imperative with the 2011 election less than a year away.

“We have to make sure we have the tools we need to do our jobs. When those tools are taken away from us, we are unable to do our jobs. Which means we will lose our jobs,” Hairston said.

Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) thought that message was so important to deliver, he interrupted a Florida vacation to attend Wednesday’s meeting. Schulter credited the changes Byrne has already made to appease aldermen with keeping his colleagues away.

* County makes, withdraws offer to accused administrator

Last week, Stephen Hill was offered a $127,000-a-year risk management job in Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration. This week, the Stroger administration rescinded the offer after news reports surfaced that Hill’s former employer, the Detroit Public Schools, is suing him over an alleged scheme to divert $57 million from school coffers.

* Hiring risk director proves risky for Stroger

* New federal grand jury eyes ex-police Cmdr. Jon Burge’s ‘Midnight Crew’

Special Cook County Prosecutors Robert Boyle and Edward Egan were hired to investigate in 2002, and after interviewing more than 700 people said there was evidence to support charges of police abuse in at least 70 cases, but either the statute of limitations had expired or evidence was insufficient to charge.

* Grand Jury Investigates Burge’s “Midnight Crew”

* Sun-Times: When Da Mare wasn’t Da Boss

* Sneed: Betty Maltese’s new gig…State Rep. Art Turner, who lost his bid to become lieutenant governor, may be in line for a prestigious position in the Quinn administration.

* Garrett: Tax Issue Loomed Large in Failed LG Bid

* Simon says desire to boost schools can bridge cultural divide

* New Lt. Gov. hopeful Simon says education is a priority everywhere

* Zorn: Spicing up the Hall of Governors

* Greens say Quinn taking black vote for granted

* Chicago Lags in Census Participation

By Wednesday evening, the city was at a 38 percent rate of return, compared to the country’s rate of 52 percent.

* Chicago Drags Feet on Census

* Quinn Wants Chicago Teachers to Live in City

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has also spoken out against the bill.

* CTA says it has beefed up security

* Suburban officials, Bean talk funding for transportation, jobs, business

* How school, road construction spurred pension reform

The problem is the state’s lingering economic woes are hurting its credit rating, which means it’s more expensive to borrow.

On Tuesday, Illinois’ rating on $23.4 billion of municipal bonds was cut one level to A- by Fitch Ratings, which cited a rising budget deficit in the next fiscal year for the second-lowest rated state after California.

* News-Sun: Pension reform

* Health care bill’s impact on state will be delayed

Illinois may try to lessen the financial impact by shifting some Medicaid members to a new state health insurance exchange to be created in 2014….Illinois would move Medicaid members with household incomes equaling at least 133 percent of the federal poverty level to the exchange. There, the federal government would pick up the tab for their coverage; low-income individuals are set to get hefty subsidies.

The plan could generate savings of about $53 million by transferring financial responsibility for about 93,000 children and adults to the federal government, according to figures supplied by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.

* Quinn Focuses On Immigrant, Labor Efforts

Quinn started the day at a school on Chicago’s South Side attending the annual Cesar Chavez Serve and Learn Program, where he signed an executive order formalizing the Governor’s Office of New Americans. Quinn appointed one of his policy advisers, Denise Martinez, as director of the office…According to the governor’s office, immigrants make up 12 percent of Illinois’ population and the new office will assist the state in helping them become successful.

* On Brady’s home turf, Quinn eyes middle class

Gov. Pat Quinn made a stop in Bill Brady’s hometown Wednesday, signing a union-friendly executive order for public-works projects and attacking his Republican rival’s stand on the middle class.

Continuing efforts to paint Brady as anti-union, Quinn said the Bloomington state senator does not support the minimum wage and has a poor track record with labor at Brady Homes, his family’s home-building company.

* In B-N, schools chief says ‘Race’ grants still possible

* Lawsuit may bring needed changes

Two Illinois citizens have filed suit against Gov. Pat Quinn and the State Board of Education claiming that funding public school districts through property taxes is unfair to taxpayers and unconstitutional.

The lawsuit’s chances are probably less than even, but the point is a valid one.

One of the plaintiffs, Paul Carr, is a high school counselor. He owns property in the Homewood-Flossmoor Consolidated High School District and pays a 4.1 percent property tax rate. Homewood-Flossmoor allocated $7,292 per student in the 2008. The lawsuit claims that in the New Trier Township High School District, one of the wealthiest in the state, the property tax rate for schools is 1.66 percent. The district spent $10,641 per student.

* State officials insist school reform will happen

* Our Opinion: Give schools 4-day option

* Freed from prison, some juveniles have no place to go

As of Tuesday, 104 of the 1,107 inmates in the state’s juvenile prisons, or 9.4 percent, were still behind bars even though their expected parole dates had passed. The percentage has remained relatively steady since the department began tracking the figures in September 2005, though at times it has crept higher than 10 percent.

* Industry group angles to stop rejection of video poker

* State grant helps Ingersoll expand into turbine part production

* Illinois Layoffs Hit Police, Libraries, Even Zoos

* Union: State trooper cuts could trigger lawsuit

* State police museum plans on hold until state grant released

* State police raise almost $4K for Special Olympics

* National Guard honors state police

* 2 Illinois universities receive federal grants

* Mitchell: Infighting, injustice at Chicago State

“You don’t want to leave a position after 26 years without honor. I’m being forced to leave. It is not right,” [Haki Madhubuti] told me. Citing legal concerns, Watson declined to discuss details of Madhubuti’s departure. But Watson denied that Madhubuti was being forced out.

* Q-C breaks ground for WIU Riverfront Campus

* Work to begin on Quad Cities WIU campus

* Pantagraph: Sign petitions to change state’s remap process

* Bernard Schoenburg: Jackson Jr. ‘red-faced’ about running of red lights

* Clock’s ticking on Elgin police chief’s deadline to take buyout

She was placed on paid leave after a closed-door council meeting on March 10.

* Bill to let Rockford annex faces delay in Legislature

* AG’s office asks for records, recording of LeRoy meeting

* Three development concepts for Lake Decatur on the drawing board

* Laid-off CWLP workers return, union sues

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