Morning Shorts
Thursday, Jun 24, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Former state Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw dies
Cowlishaw grew up in Rockford, where she was valedictorian of her graduating class at West Rockford High School. She majored in journalism at the University of Illinois and did post-graduate work at Northwestern University. She also received several honorary degrees.
She came to Naperville in 1958. For more than five years she worked as a feature writer for the Naperville Sun, winning a first-place award from the Illinois Press Association for investigative reporting for a series about substandard conditions at a local nursing home.
Naperville Sun viewpoint editor Tim West said Cowlishaw was a valued employee and public servant.
“During the years Mary Lou worked with us, she was always hardworking and industrious, but approached her stories with a lot of good humor,” he said. “During her public career she was a very important person in town and she will be missed.”
* Longtime Naperville representative dies
Mrs. Cowlishaw was described as generous, perceptive and purposeful by District 203 Board member Suzyn Price, who knew her for more than 10 years.
“She was a distinguished woman of enormous gravitas,” Price said. “Besides being a wonderful human being — a warm and committed and compassionate human being — we lose a powerful voice for community and education.”
She said Mrs. Cowlishaw’s work in male-dominated fields — first as a reporter, then school board member and a state representative — was an inspiration to women in leadership and politics.
As she neared retirement as a legislator, a 2001 story in the Tribune noted that her most visible achievements in Springfield were her roles in Chicago public school reform and in legislation that ensured education for homeless children.
An elementary school in Naperville is named after her.
* CPS test scores up
Combined results in reading, math and science showed 69.5 percent of Chicago third- through eighth-graders passed Illinois Standards Achievement Tests taken in April, up 2 percentage points from 2009, according to preliminary results released by the district.
* CPS elementary students post modest gains on ISAT
Science scores rose the most sharply year over year with a 3.6-point increase, district officials said. Reading showed the smallest increase, lifting half a percentage point from 2009 levels.
* Union blasts Chicago Public Schools’ tenure attack
Experts called the system’s new layoff rules unusual but part of a “growing drumbeat'’ to allow districts to use something other than seniority and tenure in determining who should be laid off, especially in tough economic times.
* Flowers’ office still owes teachers, state police
While former Regional Supt. Charles Flowers is awaiting trial on felony charges of theft and official misconduct, his office in Broadview is housing a backlog of 2,500 teacher certifications that are supposed to be completed by July 1.
* CPS chief wants to lay off worst teachers first
* Daley selects Robert Hoff as new fire commissioner
* Daley appoints third-generation hero firefighter to lead department
* NBC-Comcast marriage gets Daley blessing, but many object
* Tribune: Say ‘yes’ to jobs
* Sun-Times: Say yes to Pullman Wal-Mart
* Hinz: Council ought to open its eyes, hold its nose and vote for Wal-Mart
* Daley proposes to Wal-Mart: Pay best workers more after 1 year
* Carp creeps into Lake Calumet
A commercial fisherman patrolling the calm waters of Lake Calumet netted a 19-pound Asian carp Tuesday, the first physical discovery of the feared invasive species in the Chicago waterway system north of the electric barriers.
Within minutes of the official announcement on Wednesday, lawmakers from Michigan and environmental advocacy groups were once more chastising Illinois’ response to the Asian carp crisis and threatening a new round of legal action aimed at permanently closing Chicago-area shipping locks.
* Asian carp netted beyond barrier
* Asian carp caught over barrier in Lake Calumet
* Elgin researching program to inspect foreclosed homes
- Conservative Republican - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:08 am:
I appreciate the posting on the passing of Representative Cowlishaw. She was a bright, congenial, classy woman. If the GOP in IL had 10 more of her, it would’ve been governing Illinois since the George Ryan era.
- I'm Just Saying - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:19 am:
I always had a great amount of respect for Mary Lou, I didn’t always agree with her, But i knew in my gut that her heart was always in the right place on education, I wish there more like her
God rest your soul mary Lou
- Robert - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:22 am:
laying off the worst teachers first is “very belligerent” in the eyes of the teachers union - bravo to Huberman and I’m amazed that the School Board passed this unanimously.
- Anonymous ZZZ - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:29 am:
I worked as an appropriations analyst in the early 90s and had many dealings with Rep. Cowlishaw. She was an incredibly smart, funny, and effective legislator. I’m saddened to hear of her passing. R.I.P, Mary Lou.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:33 am:
Asian Carp Caught In Blagojevich Hair
A 19.6-pound, 34.6-inch Asian Carp fish was caught by a commercial hairdresser with a Paul Mitchell hair brush in the hair of former governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday. This is the second Asian Carp found in the governor’s hair since Illinois impeached him last year.
“I felt an itch and thought it was another FBI wire tap”, Blagojevich said. “So I had Cindy grab my trusty Paul Mitchell’s 413 Sculpting Brush and we were able to land us a whopper!”
Michigan and other Midwest states sued Illinois in the Supreme Court last year to force an immediate cutting of Blagojevich’s wavy locks after DNA evidence of the carp was found behind his left ear. The court denied the emergency order after Blagojevich, Sam Adams Jr. and other interests argued that cutting off his locks would seriously damage the local economy without effectively stopping the carp.
- Upstate - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:37 am:
Does anyone else think its bizarre that a private company has to negotiate with a City Council to open a business? Is this what America has come to? Are we really ready to fly the flag of Bolshevism?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 9:41 am:
Upstate, have you ever heard of zoning laws? That happens all the time.
- cassandra - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 10:09 am:
Bless Huberman for trying but I wouldn’t be too optimistic. He might be able to lay off the worst teachers in the system first (interesting, that CPS seems to have identified a group of teachers who don’t measure up….but they’re apparently still teaching), but it won’t end there. Lawsuits, grievances, it’ll cost us. In NYC, Mayor Bloomberg hired a squad of lawyers to try and fire bad teachers. Years later, they have had minimal success.
Parents are equally guilty of course. You see parents picketing to keep underachieving schools open, but rarely, if ever picketing to get rid of bad teachers. In fact, many of the bad teachers work in those same schools. Amazing that with your kid’s future at stake, a parent would
fight for the right of a teacher to keep doing a bad job in perpetuity.
- Plutocrat03 - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 11:44 am:
Upstate has a point.
There is a difference between zoning laws, which are by and large legitimate and the bizzaro process that is going on in Chicago with the Walmart corporation. It is not typical in the suburbs to negotiate wages and benefits for the incoming businesses, nor should it be.
I believe that it is an unwarranted intrusion into a legal business when the government makes it it’s business what wages are paid. The only labor related issues that the government has a right to inspect and enforce are the minimum wage laws and laws established for the health and safety of the workers and customers.
In this case the aldermen and their union supporters are making the decision that the no jobs situation is better for the residents than non-union jobs. Sounds like some sort of …ism to me. Or at least a good old Chicago shakedown.
I realize that these are not “Wall Street” level jobs, but folks have to start somewhere.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 3:43 pm:
We saw back in the ’70’s what happens when the gov’t tries to control wages and prices. Nixon, a republican, put in wage and price controls in 1971. Within a few years inflation had increased dramatically. When first announced many were in favor of it. I don’t think wage controls should be a part of any such business approval process - no matter how much people may be in favor of it. I believe that zoning laws are important but not wage laws.
- Wal-Mart Discussions - Thursday, Jun 24, 10 @ 11:32 pm:
Frankly, I don’t see a big difference between the Wal-Mart negotiations and prevailing wage regulations which force local government to pay wages which are actually far above the prevalent wages in the local community. They should both be criminalized.
- techboy - Friday, Jun 25, 10 @ 12:21 am:
Ain’t no such thing as only * one * carp, one roach, or one bunny rabbit. This fish situation is serious, could devastate the Lakes, and now serious money needs to be spent, fast, to improve the barrier situation or find another solution. If I were dictator, I would have the COE install a gamma radiation source in the lock system that would irradiate any fish passing thru it. Wouldn’t harm the barges or barge crews, but fishermen and kayakers would have to portage around it. Or you could modify a lock so it pumps out much shallower than it does now; and you kill everything inside the remaining lock water with high voltage before you cycle the traffic thru. That could probably be dome very quickly. Something more needs to be done or we’ll lose a multimillion dollar fishery as well as cause irreversible harm to the Great Lakes ecosystem.