Morning Shorts
Monday, Sep 27, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Recession over? Tell that to Illinoisans
Using bureau figures for personal income for all 50 states through the second quarter of 2010, USA Today calculated which states have done best and worst during the 12 months after the recession ended.
Illinois ranked 43rd, with a 0.4 percent decline in personal income since the recession ended.
During the recession — defined as beginning in December 2007 — personal income in Illinois dropped 2.6 percent.
* Bankruptcies soar despite stiffer laws, higher costs
The recession has left consumers in its wake. In the metro Chicago area, 48,510 individuals filed for bankruptcy protection last year — 39 percent more than filed in 2008, which saw a 46 percent increase from 2007. The increases were even sharper than the rise in bankruptcies nationwide (which jumped 31 percent in 2008 and 32 percent last year.)
* PJ Star: Some suggestions for the Constitution revolutionaries
* Windy City Times marks 25 years
* Warrenville wholesale credit union 1 of 3 seized by government
* Kadner: Scratch a ticket and go to college
* RTA official Crider profits off transit agencies
Beside being on the RTA board, the Rev. Tyrone Crider also publishes the Christian-oriented newspaper the Gospel Tribune, which is distributed to black churches in the Chicago area and claims a readership of 50,000 people.
Most of the money that the transit agencies under the RTA’s purview have paid to the Gospel Tribune has been for advertising. Metra also has paid the Gospel Tribune to hold conferences to help minority contractors learn “how to do business with Metra.”
Crider acknowledges that he’s making money off the agencies he helps regulate.
He says he sees nothing wrong with that. And he says he asked a now-former attorney for the RTA about the arrangement and was told it posed no problem.
* Daley warns against bidding for 2020 Olympics
“You have to look at the world. They’ve never been in India, they’ve never been in Africa and they haven’t been in the Middle East,” Daley said while speaking at the annual Chicago Gourmet food event in Millennium Park. “So those three parts of the world will come first, before any bid.”
* Evergreen Park Teachers Prepare for Strike
* Controversial senior housing project on hold without tax credits
* QC Times: Passenger rail service needed in the Q-C
* In My View: Normal’s LEED worth following
* Heyworth schools to reopen this morning
* Decatur reports fewer crimes in ‘09
* Herald & Review: Tate & Lyle should honor company’s roots
* Questions continue to swirl around FutureGen project
* CWLP gives contractor extra time to finish last details of Dallman 4
* Local home sales remain unchanged as interest rates continue to fall
* Tea Partiers preparing to meet in Marion
- Nieva - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 9:57 am:
If Da Mayor thought there was no chance to get the Olympics then why did they spend all the time and money. What has changed since the last selection process??
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 10:02 am:
Nieva, I think you can chalk that up to lessons learned.
- bdogg - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:01 am:
i believe you can chalk it up to his ego not wanting someone else to succeed where he has failed. plus, have you been reading about what is going on with the commonwealth games in india? with that type of performance it is going to be awhile before they are awarded the olympics i imagine. all that being said, i still don’t want chicago to host the games. we have much more important things to spend money on.
- Wumpus - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:07 am:
Nieva, Rich agrees with me. We saw that Chicago had a great infrastructure, most events would be local and they lost to a site with no prior Olympic history and a history of shooting down police helicopters.
- CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:38 am:
Too bad the mornintg shorts did not focus on the rather poorly attended Peoria Tea Party event.
Despite weeks of hype by the city’s most rabid radio talker, free food and music the always loyal PJS said there 200 at the rant.
Could the curtain becoming down on the tea party?
Speaking of weak reporting today’s Word on the Street column opts to focus on future Brady patronage rather than election issues a few days before voting starts.
Possible topics for Kurly and John
— why is GOP dream boy Aaron Schock using the Newt to export campaign cash out of Central Illinois. Is he being CATs little errand boy or building IOUs for his own push against Durbin in 2012?
— Is it true Tom Cross has thrown in the towel in the effort to defeat Rep. Gordon?
— Will Tazewell County toss their troubled GOP sheriff and elect Ron Davis?
- wordslinger - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:39 am:
The history of the International Olympic Comittee shouldn’t lead anyone to believe that the members make their decisions on some sort of, um, Olympian standards of virtue.
It’s always been a pretty corrupt crew, everyone with their hands out.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:39 am:
Patience, please.
- fedup dem - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 11:58 am:
Nieva, the answer to your question is that now Daley is a lame-brain lame-duck!
- wordslinger - Monday, Sep 27, 10 @ 4:28 pm:
With just hours to the 180th meeting of the Bears and the Packers, here’s to the great George Blanda, the QB/Kicker who played another 16 years after old George Halas thought he was done.
Given the Bears history of mediocre quarterbacks, it’s amazing to think that in 1949 the Bears had on the same roster two future Hall of Famers in Blanda and Sid Luckman, plus Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lujack.