* US Sen. Dick Durbin underwent surgery to have a small tumor removed from his stomach…
Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, underwent surgery in Chicago to remove a small gastro-intestinal stromal tumor (GIST) discovered during a routine check-up.
The Illinois Democrat’s doctors found no evidence of cancer, Durbin’s office said, and the tumor was able to be removed in its entirety using laparoscopic procedures.
“Senator Durbin went through today’s surgical procedure with flying colors and is resting comfortably,” said Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker. “He expects to be released from the hospital and resume a light schedule in the next couple days and should be able to resume a full schedule as soon as next week.”
The tumor was not present in the lining cells of the stomach and was completely removed, with preliminary biopsy results indicating a favorable prognosis, they said.
Durbin spokesman Joseph Shoemaker struck an optimistic note about the surgery.
“This particular type of tumor is a rare form of stomach cancer, so it is cancer, yes,” he said in an interview.
But he added that the type of tumor that was discovered cannot be classified strictly as benign or malignant since they all have potential to become malignant. “However, small ones such as Sen. Durbin’s can often be completely removed and the patient then runs a totally normal course,” he said.
* Because of the Blagojevich hearing right now, I don’t have a lot of time, but take a look at this Rasmussen poll which has Bill Brady stomping Gov. Pat Quinn 48-35. Here’s the new result along with past Rasmussen polls in brackets….
Thirty-six percent (36%) of Illinois voters now approve of the job Quinn is doing as governor, down seven points from earlier this month. Sixty percent (60%) disapprove. […]
Sixty-four percent (64%) view Brady as conservative, while only 16% see him as being moderate.
Forty-seven percent (47%) say Quinn is politically liberal, but 31% see him as moderate.
Despite these ideological differences, Illinois voters have similar perceptions of the two candidates’ views. Forty-two percent (42%) see Brady’s views as being in the mainstream, and 41% say the same of Quinn’s. But 38% of voters see Quinn’s views as extreme, while 32% feel that way about Brady’s. However, over 20% of voters have no opinion of either man’s views.
Brady is viewed Very Favorably by 16% of the state’s voters and Very Unfavorably by 19%.
Quinn earns Very Favorable marks from 10% and Very Unfavorable reviews from 33%.
“Your Honor,” their note reads. “In response to your communication of 11 August, 2010, we’ve deliberated on all acts and counts with the exception of the wire fraud counts. We have reached unanimous agreement on two counts. We have been unable to agree on any of the remaining counts.”
Judge James Zagel said he wanted to write back and instruct them to deliberate on the wire fraud — even if their final decision is that they cannot agree.
The jury has reached a unanimous decision on two counts, deadlocked on many of the others but still hasn’t deliberated on all 13 wire fraud counts, the judge announced in court.
Sun-Times says there are 11 wire fraud counts. No time to check. Update…
The judge proposed responding with a note that says, in part:
“You should deliberate on the wire fraud counts to the extent necessary to enable you to vote on those counts. We recognize that your stated inability to reach agreement on other counts may have established to your satisfaction that you would be similarly unable to reach unanimity on some or all of the wire fraud counts. Nonetheless, a deliberative decision by you on each of those counts should be made, even if it is a decision that you cannot reach unanimity on any of those counts.”
Back in court, attorneys say they are OK with the wording of the note with the exception of the word “vote,” which they want to change to the word “decide.”
“We don’t want a situation where this is viewed as a supplemental instruction,” a defense attorney tells the judge. Zagel agrees.
“The jury is at lunch,” the judge says. “When they return, they will receive this in written form.”
* The jury result so far appears to be: 11 counts deadlocked, 11 not considered and 2 unanimous.
* And that appears to be that. Court is adjourned. Watch the CLTV live webcast for some post-game interviews.
* From OneMan, Robert Blagojevich leaves the building…
* Terry Sullivan confirms on CLTV that the jury isn’t - at this point - coming back tomorrow. They’ve asked for Friday off.
* A group of Republican legislators held an informal hearing yesterday in Peoria to take testimony about the Quinn administration’s botched early release program. The reason they say they had to hold the hearing was that the administration wasn’t providing information and they were being blocked from pressing the matter further in Springfield…
“We introduced bills to have a bipartisan commission to review this type of issue, but we couldn’t even get the bill called for a hearing,” [said Rep. Jim Durkin of Countryside]
Quinn asked retired judge David Erickson back in December to do a thorough review of what went wrong. As subscribers know, Erickson has only been heard from intermittently since then…
“This meeting, hearing - whatever you want to call it - really is out of frustration,” [Sen. Dale Risinger (R-Peoria)] said. “The governor appointed Judge Erickson to get a quick report, a thorough report out of what happened so that we could take a look at what went wrong, why did it happen, how can we make corrections to it, how can we work forward and work through it.
“It’s eight, nine months later and we don’t have a report. I can’t imagine why it takes that long to write the report, release the report, that should have been out months ago.”
You could easily pass last night’s Peoria hearing off as a Republican political stunt, and it probably was. But the local Democrats aren’t fools. They showed up, too…
“I almost didn’t come tonight,” said Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, who along with Reps. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, and Mike Smith, D-Canton, joined committee members on the Arbor Hall auditorium stage. “But I think what happened here was significant.”
Everybody knows the volatility of this issue to the locals, because a prisoner released under the botched MGT Push program was reincarcerated, released again and allegedly committed a murder there. That second release also created a huge local controversy because Gov. Pat Quinn tried to place the blame for that second release on the Prisoner Review Board, but the PRB had documentation showing that a Quinn administration employee had recommended a relatively short incarceration period.
* Every time I write about this issue, some people come to the blog and complain that the director of the Department of Corrections was just doing his job. The real issue, they say, is the state needed to save money and Director Michael Randle did that when he released those prisoners early.
Their arguments are bogus. First, Randle allegedly defied a direct order from Gov. Quinn not to use his office’s discretion to release violent prisoners early without cause, and then allegedly covered it up. Second, the move probably cost a lot more than it saved because Corrections scrambled for weeks to round up all those violent parolees before they hurt an innocent citizen and cost Quinn the primary election.
Judge Erickson needs to release that report, which was due in January. Let’s find out what “really” happened.
* Yesterday, I told subscribers about this newsletter sent out Monday by the state’s school superintendent Christopher Koch. The superintendent’s main message was about the state aid bill which was then pending in the US House. It has since passed and been signed into law. Here’s what Koch had to say…
We believe that if the spending measure becomes law, the Illinois General Assembly would have to come back to Springfield to pass a supplemental appropriation and these funds would likely be distributed through General State Aid.
That certainly looked like we were going to need a special session to appropriate that cash, so I asked the governor’s office, the Senate President and the House Speaker for comment. Nobody was quite sure what they were going to do. The SJ-R has a story today which is essentially a carbon copy of mine…
Illinois lawmakers might have to return to Springfield in a special session if the state wants to spend more than $400 million in education aid it expects to receive from Washington.
Then again, maybe they won’t.
State officials were scrambling Wednesday to figure out just what they need to do and when in order for the cash-strapped state to tap into federal aid money approved by Congress Tuesday. The additional aid is expected to bring $550 million in Medicaid money to Illinois, along with the $400 million in education funds. […]
“We know some people feel (a special session is needed), but from our perspective we are reviewing the legislation, so it’s too early to make that decision,” said Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for Quinn’s budget office, in a written statement. “It will probably be a few days before that decision is made.”
The reason legislative action could be required is because of the mechanics of the budget process. When lawmakers approve a state budget, they are authorizing the state to spend up to a certain amount in specific areas, like education or health care or public safety. The $400 million in federal education money wasn’t anticipated when lawmakers approved the budget, so at some point they have to formally authorize the spending.
Needless to say, a special session could get tricky, because there is so much unfinished business in Springfield. If they’re going to be in town anyway, why not address some of that other stuff, editorial boards, activists and Republicans might say.
* Meanwhile, the Tribune conducted a survey of several school districts and reports that about half the teachers laid off earlier this year will be called back, a number confirmed by the Illinois Education Association. The fight now will be over how this new federal money is used. The teachers unions want to make sure that it’s used to preserve jobs. The state may try to just catch up on overdue school payments. The schools may want to use the money for other stuff. It’s gonna be a battle, for sure. The Trib also looked at recent layoffs and hire backs…
Spring layoffs and summer recalls are part of the normal budgeting cycle because of the mismatch between when districts have to finalize staffing plans and when the legislature firms up a state budget.
In a normal year, the majority of teachers let go in March get asked back in the summer. For example, about 4,700 teachers were laid off during the 2007-08 school year, but nearly 60 percent were recalled. The following year, as the recession deepened, more teachers were laid off — 6,139 — and only about 50 percent were recalled, according to state figures.
This year, many districts plan to hold off hiring until they know exactly how many children enroll for class and how much money they have to pay teachers’ salaries — including the new jobs funding.
* Related…
* Funding from federal jobs bill could restore public school program cuts: Chicago’s financially-strapped public schools are in line for a $105 million windfall from the new federal jobs bill — enough to restore high school class sizes, bi-lingual education and other program cuts — but probably not in time for the start of school Sept. 7.
* A holiday from fiscal reality: It’s an annual ritual known as the sales tax holiday, which lets consumers make certain government-approved purchases without remitting the usual levy to the Department of Revenue.
* State closes 13 tourist centers to save money: The state government has shut down 13 of its 15 tourist information centers to try to save money. Alka Nayyar is a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. She says the closures could be short-term if the agency can get Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office to sign off on a spending plan for the agency that includes contracts to run the centers.
* Eric Zorn has a pretty good analysis of the reports that the Blagojevich trial jurors asked Judge Zagle what they should do if they can’t agree “on any given count”…
This is a fascinatingly puzzling phrase, if accurately transcribed. If you read “any” as meaning a set that includes all (as in “Glenn Beck and I don’t agree on any issue”), it would suggest that jurors are deadlocked on all counts and that the word “given” is a gratuitous rhetorical flourish; what they meant to ask was what they should do if they “cannot agree on any count,” and “given” was a way of saying “the counts that were given to us by the judge at the conclusion of closing arguments.”
But if you read “any” as meaning “an unspecified item or items from a larger set of items” (as in “just pick any dessert on the menu, they’re all fantastic.”), it would suggest that jurors are deadlocked on just a few of the charges, perhaps even just one. In this translation, the words “any given” work together to underscore the lack of specificity (as in the famous cliche about pro football that “on any given Sunday” an underdog can upset a favorite.
I believe that when the jurors send out a clarifying note later this morning, we’ll find the latter translation is what they had in mind. If they truly were deadlocked on all counts, I doubt they would have indicated this to the judge using a note with gratuitous rhetorical flourishes in it. That note would have read simply, “What do we do if we can’t agree on any of the counts?”
I also believe this is bad news for Rod Blagojevich. A staunch handful of jurors is probably not holding out for convictions on the last few remaining charges after the panel has already voted to acquit on all the other charges. Not after 11 days. Not with that kind of momentum behind “not guilty.” Not without a specific victim crying out (from, say, beyond the grave) for justice. The “well, he’s suffered plenty already, let’s be done with this and go home” sentiment would have prevailed long ago.
Far more likely, it seems to me, is that most or all of the counts that have already been decided against the ex-governor are guilty verdicts, but a minority bloc of jurors is balking either at making it a clean sweep or of convicting Blagojevich’s brother Robert.
Since I tend to believe that Rod Blagojevich is guilty as all get-out, I choose to believe Eric. You?
…Adding… From a friend…
From what we know of that seemingly indecipherable note, the foreman may have a future as a Capitol flak. Not since [George Ryan spokesman] Dennis Culloton has their been such a cryptic message that sent reporters scurrying and yet provided no answers.
