* AlabamaShakes is now one of my favorite new bands, thanks to my buddy Anders Lindall. When he’s not flacking for AFSCME, Anders is a musical guru.
With a soul that’ll make you think of Big Mama Thornton, the power of a Janis Joplin, the spirit of Robert Plant and the edge of Jack White, Brittany Howard and her band of brothers will rock you to another world…
you ain’t alone,
just let me be your ticket home….
* Just a few months ago, this group was playing tiny bars and even a booze boat cruise…
on your way to god, did you think of me.
* Those little club dates are just about over. They’re hitting it big fast, and many of their upcoming gigs are already sold out.
This is a young band, so their repertoire is a bit limited. They have one EP out and another on the way. Even so, I spent more than a couple of hours watching and re-watching their YouTube clips and digging their online catalogue this week, so be careful because you’re gonna get sucked in. I guarantee it.
* I’ve saved my favorite for last. Hold your lover in a deep embrace as you’re both enveloped by the soulful bliss of “I Found You.” You won’t want it to end…
if its not the real deal then i dont know it
cuz it show does feel, and i think it sho does show
* As we’ll soon see, Gov. Pat Quinn took the “Cinnamon Challenge” today.
Yeah, I had no idea what that was, either, until I Googled it. Oh, these kids today…
The Cinnamon Challenge is a popular dare game in which a person attempts to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon without vomiting or inhaling the powder. Thousands of videos with people attempting the challenge have been uploaded on YouTube — few succeed.
According to Channel 4’s Rude Tube show, in 2006 a Scandinavian YouTuber posted a video of himself in an attempt to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon. His attempt failed, and he spat out the cinnamon into a bucket.
While the challenge became a viral phenomenon on YouTube, its origin precedes the history of the video-sharing community. Based on Google search results, the earliest known mention of “Cinnamon Challenge” can be found in a blog entry by Jason Kottke dating back to December 22, 2001
Click here for a handy YouTube search. Kinda weird.
* Anyway, Quinn was on the Jonathon Brandmeier show today and the host convinced the governor to take the challenge. Quinn may have agreed because Brandmeier loves him and gushes all over him whenever he’s on the show. As you might imagine, he doesn’t get that much.
* As we’ve already discussed, the state government pays about $2 billion a year into the suburban and Downstate teacher pension fund on behalf of school district employers. Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have all expressed varying degrees of interest in making local districts pick up more of the tab. Doing so would, of course, free up money to be spent on overdue bills or whatever.
There are some who say that local school districts already pick up the tab, but that’s because the teachers’ unions have negotiated away the employee share in contract talks. The “real” employer share is still being picked up by the state. Also, Chicago’s teacher pension fund gets some state money, but nothing like TRS.
The major argument against the idea is that local property taxes would rise and/or school budgets would have to be slashed to make those pension payments.
* The Question: Do you think that local school districts should be picking up a portion of the employer pension contribution, and if so how much? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
Two Republican state lawmakers on Thursday said it would be hypocritical for Gov. Pat Quinn to seek expansion of a health insurance program for low-income adults in Cook County at a time Illinois faces billions in unpaid bills and needs statewide Medicaid reforms.
Rep. Patti Bellock of Hinsdale and Sen. Dale Righter of Mattoon called on Quinn’s administration to drop a request that would allow for an expansion of Medicaid coverage to low-income childless adults in the nation’s second most-populous county.
The lawmakers said there are hundreds of millions of dollars in cost-saving reforms that were approved by the Legislature last year but not carried out. The reform package, which included requiring income and residency verification for Medicaid applicants, put a moratorium on expanding Medicaid eligibility.
“We want to reform the system when clearly that’s not their aim,” Righter said of the Quinn administration. “We’re drowning in the hypocrisy.”
* The proposal would add 100,000 people to the Medicaid rolls. The idea is to get federal money to reimburse Cook County for half the costs that Cook is already paying…
The Associated Press reported earlier in the week that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Julie Hamos asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for an expansion which is supposed to bring millions in federal funding to Cook County’s strained health care system.
But any expansion would require lawmakers to lift the moratorium, and Hamos said Cook County has to convince lawmakers.
Healthcare and Family Services spokesman Mike Claffey says there won’t be any costs to the state if the is application is approved by federal authorities.
“The proposal will help Cook County to recover 50 percent of the cost it will have to pay anyway to treat uninsured people,” Claffey said.
“People in my district, they pay state taxes, they also pay federal taxes,” Righter said. “And they care how much their governments are spending, not just in Springfield but in Washington, (D.C.) as well.”
Righter voiced concern that the state would be stuck with paying for the 100,000 new enrollees if the federal health-care law is struck down in whole or part by the U.S. Supreme Court before the end of this year since they’re eligibility is based on the new law.
* Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said via a press release today that this shouldn’t be a political issue…
“The proposed waiver would ensure that [Cook County Health and Hospitals System], the state’s largest provider of medical care to the uninsured and underinsured, garners additional federal resources that would bolster our health system in this time of state budget distress while relieving the state of Illinois of future budgetary pressures. This should not be a political issue.
“Our waiver proposal seeks to deliver quality care to those who require it the most while simultaneously protecting the state of Illinois from future budgetary liability.
“Last year, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received approval for a similar waiver which garnered tens of millions of dollars in increased federal financial support for his state’s Medicaid program. If Governor Christie can work in conjunction with President Obama to achieve this goal, I believe all of us in Illinois are capable of doing the same.”
* Meanwhile, the AP interviewed Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Julie Hamos about possible Medicaid cuts…
“Last year, in the Medicaid reform law, the Legislature turned the All Kids program into a “most kids” program. They capped children’s eligibility at 300 percent of the federal poverty level. That could go lower, I suppose.
“And their parents are in a program called Family Care that’s currently at 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Last spring, we suggested they might want to cut adults down from 185 percent to 133 percent. This is what the Affordable Care Act (President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul) is going to provide (in 2014).
“The Legislature didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to throw people off the program. We didn’t either.
“Our enrollment growth in Medicaid is directly attributable to the bad economy. … Nobody wants any of these changes.”
Demanding raises that Gov. Pat Quinn has canceled, dozens of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees rallied Thursday in front of the governor’s office, causing a brief confrontation with Secretary of State police officers.
AFSCME members tried to present Quinn with an oversized “collection notice” for the raises, which were withheld by the governor for 30,000 unionized employees in 14 state agencies in July. Those workers, mostly AFSCME members, were supposed to receive a 2 percent raise on July 1, a 1.25 percent raise on Jan. 1 and another 2 percent on Wednesday. None of the raises have been paid.
Quinn has said the legislature did not appropriate enough money to fund the raises.
* Related and a roundup…
* Number Of The Week: 6,230: That’s the number of jobs lost each time the state reduces general fund spending by just 1 percent, according to a new report by Make Wall Street Pay Illinois and the Alliance for a Just Society.
* Director says IDNR needs help after budget halved: “Our agency has essentially been cut in half over the last decade,” he said. “There are a lot of ramifications. People need to be engaged and involved so we can find a solution.”
* State dragging feet on Medicaid reforms, legislators say: Department of Healthcare and Family Services spokesman Mike Claffey said the department is “steadily working” to get 50 percent of Medicaid recipients into coordinated care. The agency also is putting into place an electronic system to evaluate income levels and is working with the secretary of state’s office to develop a system to prove residency. “I don’t have a specific target date (for completion),” he said.
* Lawmakers set hearing on Jacksonville Developmental Center closure: But while some public testimony is expected at the hearing, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said Thursday the hearing does not comply with the state’s Facilities Closure Act. “Not only does the current hearing plan violate the law, in our opinion, but it also appears to be intended to make it as difficult as possible for some parties most directly impacted to be able to participate,” said AFSCME executive director Henry Bayer in a letter to COGFA’s co-chairmen, Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, and Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale.
* Public Employee Union: Where’s Our Pay Raise?: “Labor comes before capital,” Bayer said. “This governor gave $300 million to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Frontline workers… he can pay them what they’re owed. They certainly deserve it, and they certainly need it a lot more than the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.”
Michele Piszczor stood in her Southwest Side driveway, pointing to the rusted dent in her car’s driver-side door. To her, it’s a battle scar.
Piszczor (pronounced PIZE-er) is running for office in Illinois’ March 20 primary, hoping to unseat one of the state’s most influential politicians, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
The dent in her 2005 Honda Accord – and four slashed tires since November that cost her about $100 each – amounted to political payback for challenging Madigan for his 22nd District seat, she said.
“This is what happens,” she said. “This is Chicago politics. But at the same time, to me, Madigan is the root of all evil here in our state. He is the weed in our garden.” […]
Piszczor said Jim Edwards is managing her campaign. He’s a political consultant who mostly works for Republicans. Piszczor said while he is a family friend, she is not running as an operative of the Republican Party.
* Patrick Botterman might’ve been the only Democratic operative who would’ve ever had the guts to take that job, but Botterman died a few years ago, so I can understand why she would go with a Republican. But Jim Edwards isn’t just any political consultant. He runs Jack Roeser’s Illinois Renaissance PAC.
I don’t necessarily doubt her tire slashing stories (thuggery is part and parcel of city politics), but it is a tried and true way to get publicity, especially when you have no money to run any sort of campaign. It’s possibly just a twist on the ol’ brick through your own HQ window thing.
* Piszczor was on Dan Proft’s WLS radio show this week. She’s obviously a single-issue candidate. For instance, she was asked, “What, specifically, would you change (if elected)?… What would be your legislative agenda?” Her response…
“I mean, in my situation, in my way of seeing things, everywhere I go, whether it be Republican events, Democratic events, I mean just events in general, basketball games, we always hear ‘Madigan’s a problem, Madigan’s a problem, Madigan’s a problem.’ Well, here’s a solution to be able to get Madigan out of office and for him to be jobless and for him to get a taste of his own medicine and kind of see what people are facing here in Illinois without a job, and basically have someone new with fresh ideas.”
* “And what are your ideas?”…
“I mean, like I said, just to reform the state. I mean, we’re in a huge mess. But in and of itself that we get Madigan out of office. Madigan has the power to pass bills and stop bills.”
* “So, for example, would you support repealing the tax increase that was passed by Madigan and Quinn last year?”…
“Like I said, you know, the issue here, my main concern is just to get Madigan out of here. I mean, we look at any issue our state faces and what’s the common factor: Madigan. So, I mean when the time comes and we actually address the issues, inform ourselves, vote on them, fine. But, I mean, the problem is that this man’s power has been used just to satisfy his own needs and have his own agenda, and he’s failed to represent the people?”
* “Why are you a Democrat?”…
“Why am I a Democrat? [Pause, question is asked again]. I mean, I’ve been a Democrat, but ultimately in the end of the day, if you also look at the breakdown in our district and stuff, the majority of Hispanics, although we have very Republican morals and ideals, um, for the most part, I mean, the breakdown is Democrat. And so, I mean, let’s just face it, with Madigan’s hold on the state, I mean, it’s very hard to run as a Republican and actually, you know, win here. And the point is to get a seat at the table so we can make a difference here in the state.”
* The surprise announcement by Chrysler yesterday that it was hiring more workers than expected at the Chrysler plant was some of the most positive news the Rockford area has had in many a year. The region has had an unemployment rate above 10 percent for 37 straight months.
During the height of the “Great Recession,” Chrysler just about went under. And even if it managed to survive, there was serious doubt whether the Belvidere plant would stay open. Gov. Pat Quinn stepped in with an incentives offer of about $5 million a year for ten years and the company pledged to invest $603.8 million and retain its 1,950 jobs at the Belvidere Assembly Plant.
Chrysler’s January sales were up 44 percent from January 2011. The automaker is coming back to life. And instead of the expected 1,600 new jobs, the company said yesterday it would hire 1,800 people by summertime…
ChryslerGroup LLC said Thursday it plans to add 1,800 jobs at its Belvidere Assembly Plan to build the Dodge Dart this year.
“You are the new Chrysler,” CEO Sergio Marchionne told workers gathered at the plant.
Last week, Chrysler, controlled by Italy’s Fiat SpA, said it would add 400 to 500 workers to two existing shifts, but Thursday was the first time the company released the total employment number.
Chrysler said all 1,800 jobs will be new hires and will be permanent positions. Five hundred of the jobs are specifically for the Dodge Dart.
The Belvidere plant will manufacture the Dart car alongside the Jeep Compass and Patriot, at least for a while. The Jeep vehicles are being phased out at the plant, with future production of one or both most likely shipped to Chrysler’s Toledo, Ohio, facility, according to Krebs.
Executives did not disclose the timing of Jeep’s exit but said several new products are slated to join the Dart at the Belvidere plant, which has been retooled through a $700 million investment by Chrysler.
The Dart is the first Chrysler to be built on a Fiat-derived platform. The car, which is projected to get 40 miles per gallon and sell for about $16,000, is in pilot production — a testing phase, according to executives. Volume production is expected to ramp up this summer.
“From our perspective, we were just fighting hard (in 2009) to maintain the facility and the current workforce coming out of the worst recession the auto industry had seen in decades. Never in our wildest expectations did we think we’d be here some 18 months later hearing an announcement such as this.”
— Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
* I literally woke up singing this song today. Yeah, I know, two “non serious” posts in a row. Having trouble getting motivated, so hang in there and sing with me...
If it’s love that you’re running from
There is no hiding place
Just your problems, no one else’s problems
You just have to face
So, if you just put your hand in mine
We’re gonna leave all our troubles behind
Gonna walk and don’t look back
Now, if your first lover let you down
There’s something that can be done
Don’t kill your faith in love
Remembering what’s become
