I also saw One eskimO on Randolph Street in Chicago. They did their first CD top to bottom and each song was well crafted. They know how to write a hook. This song was originally recorded by Patsy Cline just before she died, but One eskimO’s version is more along the lines of the Candi Staton take in the 70s.
Yep. They’re good. Here’s One eskimO doing “Kandi”…
* It’s Friday and I have errands to run, so let’s go with something light. What new musical artist or band are you most impressed with these days? Make sure to explain yourself and maybe even give us a YouTube or other link so we know what you’re talking about.
Many Illinoisans who filed their 2011 tax returns on paper rather than electronically are still waiting for their refund checks.
Although the Illinois Department of Revenue had no estimates Thursday on how many returns remain in limbo, agency spokeswoman Sue Hofer said there are two key factors at work in the delay.
First, the department had hoped more people would file electronically and have their checks deposited directly into their bank accounts, which can result in a refund being issued within a week. About 70 percent of the returns were filed online, down from a goal of 80 percent.
In addition, because of the state’s budget squeeze, the department had about 25 to 30 fewer workers sorting and processing paper refunds.
The result?
“Paper returns are moving more slowly than they did last year,” Hofer said.
I had the opposite thing happen to me. I filed a paper return and owed money to the state. It took the Department of Revenue about two weeks to cash my check.
* Roundup…
* Governor’s office defends closing Dwight: “While it’s true the General Assembly put money in the budget to keep facilities open, they put the money back at the expense of others,” Kraft said. “For example, group insurance was only funded for six months, state aid for education was cut. The governor’s office has to look at every single area of state government, not just one single area.”
* Judge allows closure of mental hospital to proceed: “We think this governor doesn’t care about people with mental illnesses,” Heyrman said. “We are very worried this case will set a precedent for other facilities and they will close them all and take away all the money.”
* Kadner: Tinley Park center to close despite funds to keep it open
* A good friend of mine has a farm on the northern border of Madison County. He’s been complaining for weeks that his land is dry as a bone. And it turns out, he’s not alone…
About 70 percent of Illinois is in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a collaborative effort between federal and state authorities. Northern Illinois, described in the weekly report as “extremely-dry,” is one category away from the entire state being classified as in a drought. […]
There’s no relief in sight long-term, either. The National Weather Service issued predictions Thursday for the remainder of summer, calling for above average temperatures and below average precipitation in the region into September — a forecast State Climatologist Jim Angel called ‘ominous.’”
“We’re used to certain seasons in Illinois, but it’s as if our weather is three to four weeks ahead of schedule,” Angel said. “It’d be like if we moved Chicago to Nashville, Tennessee — we’re experiencing unusually hot and dry conditions we’re not used to.” […]
Last June, O’Hare Airport reported an average 3.39 inches of rain, while this month it has only seen 0.44 inches. The last time the task force was called to action, seven years ago, June measured 0.76 inches of rainfall.
* Comparing CEO pay increases at not-for-profits to average worker pay increases in the private sector might be a fun exercise, but perhaps the Tribune should’ve compared not-for-profit CEO pay hikes to private sector CEO raises. Either way, though, the Tribune found this when it looked at not-for-profit groups which get most of their money from state taxpayers…
A Tribune analysis of financial filings of 18 such nonprofits found that their executives received an average of 4.3 percent in pay raises in 2009 and 2010, when the economy was sputtering. That’s double the average compensation boost for private-industry workers, according to federal wage data.
Many of these nonprofit executives already earn far more than the top state officials who dole out tens of millions of dollars to these agencies every year. At one nonprofit that aims to help the working poor, the director had her pay nearly double in eight years, to about $340,000.
* Illinois pays a lot of money to these not-for-profits because it’s cheaper than doing the job itself. But doing so has created a large lobby that works to perpetuate itself…
•James Hogan, with Cornerstone Services Inc. The nonprofit serves the physically and mentally disabled in Will and Kankakee counties. He received a 1 percent raise in 2009 and a 25 percent raise in 2010, taking his total pay to in excess of $244,000. Those raises came during a time when Cornerstone publicly lamented the difficult fiscal climate of nonprofits, particularly those receiving government grants. […]
•Mary Hollie, with Lawrence Hall Youth Services. The organization provides residential care and other services to at-risk youths in the Chicago area. Hollie received a 7 percent raise in 2009 and a 9 percent raise in 2010, ending the year with nearly $284,000 in total pay.
But only New York has set caps, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo this spring ordered state agencies to limit pay at nonprofit vendors to $199,000, although nonprofits can raise private money to boost the pay or seek special permission from the state.
This discussion definitely ought to be part of the “budgeting for results” law that Illinois passed.
Illinois House members who engineered cuts in next year’s budget for the Department of Children and Family Services said they were upset DCFS spent money on raises rather than hire more caseworkers to comply with a federal decree.
Consequently, the budget awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature cuts money for DCFS salaries, which the agency said will lead to eliminating 375 positions.
The cuts will fall most heavily on child-abuse prevention programs and efforts that focus on children still in their family homes, said DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe.
“The General Assembly’s budget gives us no choice but to cut entire functions from this agency,” he said.
Members of the House Human Services Appropriations Committee - which put together the budget approved by lawmakers - said DCFS doesn’t need to cut programs for children.
Agencies often threaten to kill off popular programs when faced with budget cuts, but this cut was pretty large.
Quinn aides released an internal report suggesting that almost all school districts are capable of assuming their own retirement costs.
Specifically, the report says that 95 percent of districts have reserves exceeding minimum recommended standards and that phasing out state payments over several years would affect their budgets only about 0.4 percent a year.
In my world, 0.4 percent is a budgetary rounding figure.
* Earlier this week, the governor’s office released a report showing that lots of school districts were sitting onbig cash reserves…
Of local school districts, Limestone-Walters Community Consolidated School District 316 could fund the most days with its FY2011 cash reserves - $2.1 million for 484 days. The rural Peoria school district is one of eight feeder districts into Limestone High School and has an enrollment slightly over 200 students.
Dunlap Community Unit School District 323, which is considerably larger, has $34.6 million cash on hand, according to the state data. That’s enough to keep the district going for 441 days.
The data showed that Peoria District 150 had $48.1 million on hand at the end of fiscal year 2011, or almost 70 days worth of funding.
Dave Kinney, comptroller at the city’s public school district, said his figures show the district with about $41 million in total reserves, though he believes that number is misleading. He said of that amount, about $38 million comes from borrowed funds used to infuse money into depleted cash accounts from previous years’ expenditures.
The figures don’t take into account further school funding cuts passed this year by the General Assembly, the fact that many districts are using their reserves to deal with previous state budget reductions, delayed payments and rising costs — points echoed by the school districts themselves.
The data showed that the Springfield School District had $16.9 million on hand at the end of fiscal year 2011, about 82 days’ worth of funding.
District spokesman Pete Sherman said officials estimate the Springfield school system will have only $1.9 million in its main education fund by the end of fiscal year 2013. The state board is even less optimistic, guessing that the district will have $667,308 on hand by the end of FY13.
* During overtime session, the media almost always uses dollars per day calculations to shame legislators into wrapping things up. So, I think that Gov. Pat Quinn’s number may have a fairly big impact, at least with the press…
New figures demonstrate how Illinois is getting deeper and deeper into the unfunded pension liability hole.
Gov. Pat Quinn says what’s now an $83 billion dollar debt is increasing by $12.6 million a day.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the state could be another $1 billion or so in the hole before the Illinois General Assembly does anything. […]
According to Quinn’s accounting, at $12.6 million a day, the delay would cost $441 million; by the veto session just after Election Day — the soonest most believe a bill could be introduced — it would be $1.7 billion. If they took a full year, the state would be another $4.6 billion in the hole.
“It’s time to go and put the taxpayers first, not politics first,” Quinn said.
Negotiations between Gov. Pat Quinn and legislative leaders about public employee pension reform hit another roadblock Thursday, with talks morphing from a discussion about retirement benefits to education funding equality in Illinois.
The issues became entwined as Democrats continue to push a proposal that would shift some pension costs from the state now pays on to suburban and Downstate school districts. Republicans oppose the plan, saying it would force property taxes to rise as schools try to recoup the extra costs.
GOP leaders say the cost-shift idea shouldn’t be connected to pension reform because it’s a school funding issue, and on Thursday asked for more time to study how money is distributed to schools across the state. […]
By asking for more time to study education funding, Republicans are attempting to force Democrats to back away from the cost-shift idea. Either Democrats peel that portion off and move forward with broader pension reforms this summer, or Republicans can put the blame on Democrats for inaction during the fall election.
“When you don’t want to talk about the free lunches for local school districts, you talk about school funding,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
But Madigan said he was confident an agreement could eventually be reached, saying it can be difficult to move plans forward in Springfield “but if you stay with it, there will be accomplishments.”
With negotiations now pushed almost to August, it’s looking more and more like this is an issue that is destined for dormancy until the post-election veto session in November. How convenient. Now lawmakers from both parties can campaign on the fact that they really, really want pension reform and they are certain it won’t cost anyone anything.
We can only hope that the bond ratings agencies have more faith in and patience with our elected officials than we do.
Off and on for the past few years, I’ve tried to defend Illinois’ honor against the crazier attacks by outsiders while still candidly acknowledging that this state has some real problems which absolutely must be solved.
That ain’t easy, to say the least.
Ever since Barack Obama was elected president, his enemies have been trying to highlight Illinois’ truly awful problems to somehow taint his administration. A big target was put on our backs, and far too many of our neighboring Republican governors have been way too eager to play along with this stupid game.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, in particular, have delighted in overstating our problems to make themselves look better back home. Walker constantly painted Illinois as the bogeyman during his recall attempt. Daniels compared us to “The Simpsons” TV show. Both have repeatedly vowed to poach businesses and jobs from us, which didn’t really work, but the two got a whole lot of media attention, and that was the point.
I now know what it must have been like for family members to constantly feel the need to defend the beer-swilling, trouble-making Billy Carter or the beer-swilling, trouble-making Roger Clinton after their far more responsible brothers were elected president. He’s blood, so you gotta step up. But, man, you just wish he’d check himself into rehab, buy some presentable clothes and get a real job for once.
Believe it or not, there really are signs that the people running this state finally understand that we can’t keep operating the way we have been. But it took so long for that message to sink in that we’re way behind almost every other state. And I’m still not convinced that we won’t somehow relapse.
Almost all the money from last year’s huge income tax increase has been sucked up by pension payments, which got so high because the state has never put enough cash into the systems.
Doing the responsible thing and making the full pension payments meant that the state hasn’t been able to pay down billions of dollars of overdue bills and this year was forced to slash money for health care and education and close prisons even though the corrections system is already overcrowded.
While a good chunk of those past-due bills will be paid off this year, and while a severe Medicaid-funding crisis appears to have been resolved by making painful cuts and raising the cigarette tax, pension payments are projected to grow so much that our precarious, horrible credit rating is under serious threat.
Gov. Pat Quinn met with the four legislative leaders Thursday to try once again to hammer out a deal on public employee pension reform.
Quinn claimed that each day of delay meant $12.6 million was added to the pension funds’ unfunded liability.
No agreement was reached.
Instead, the two Republican legislative leaders insisted that the always intractable school-funding issue be put on the table with the seemingly intractable pension issue. No further meetings are scheduled until August.
Also on Thursday, Illinois’ auditor general reported that the state government has a deficit of almost $44 billion — worst in the nation.
After I read the auditor general’s report, I started researching quiet, peaceful, inexpensive getaways. Enough, already.
As much as I hate to admit it, I have to get out of this state. I don’t know yet when I can go, and my plans certainly won’t include Wisconsin or Indiana, but I really need to leave Illinois and all its troubles behind for a little while.
The state’s overall deficit climbed to nearly $44 billion last year, easily the worst in the nation, the Illinois auditor general reported Thursday.
The red ink grew by 16.8 percent in a single year, Auditor General William Holland said.
The new report includes all of Illinois’ assets and liabilities and gives a broader picture of the state’s financial condition than simply reviewing the annual budget.
With no cash available, more state payments were late and for larger amounts, the audit found. Illinois ended the fiscal year with $4.7 billion in unpaid bills. The state fell further behind in paying tax refunds. Bookkeeping was slow and disorganized.
Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka on Thursday released the following statement regarding her office’s State of Illinois Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The report details the financial condition of the State at the end of the last fiscal year on June 30, 2011:
“Our latest financial report shows that Illinois’ deficit has doubled in the last five years to more than $43 billion. It provides yet another cautionary note that we need to rein in spending and address the growing costs that are devouring the state budget. Positive steps were taken this year toward getting our financial house in order, but we clearly still have a long way to go to fully clean up this colossal mess.”
* Justin Bieber’s show last night was said to be a total bust…
Justin Bieber has been sold to us in forceful amounts, but maybe it’s not working after all. His TV special last night on NBC, “All Around the World,” was a bust. For an 8pm show aimed at pre-teens, it finished fourth out of five shows at that hour. Bieber got a very lackluster 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and scored just 3.3 million viewers– about half the number of top rated “So You Think You Can Dance” on Fox. It was also beaten by “Dogs in the City.”
* But Bieber’s 3.3 million viewership was still way more than any of the cable TV news networks attracted Tuesday night at 8pm Eastern…
* Emotions are definitely running high in southern Illinois over Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to close some state facilities down there. As I told you yesterday, the Southern Illinoisan reported that Sen. Gary Forby (D-Benton) said he’d like to release the prisoners from the Tamms “supermax” prison onto Chicago streets in retaliation for closing the prison. But nobody covered something else that Forby said…
* If you can’t watch videos at work, here’s what Forby said…
“You know, I’m not real sure, I’ve been hearing it for a long time, ‘Why don’t we do away with Chicago?’ You know, I’m just about there. I’m about ready to just cut ‘em off and push ‘em right out into the water. I mean, Put Pat Quinn on the nose of the boat. Put him right on the nose of the boat, all right, and push him right out into the water.”
* Meanwhile, I don’t see a basis for this statement…
[Randy Clark, a lieutenant who has worked at Tamms for 13 years] said he believes southern Illinois is being targeted politically. He said the workers at Tamms are devastated by news of the closure, which could happen Aug. 31.
Phelps noted the two southern Illinois counties Quinn won in the 2010 election were Alexander and Jackson, each of which have a correctional facility slated for closure — the Tamms “super-max” prison in Alexander County and the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro. Quinn said he intends to close the Southern Illinois Adult Transition Center in Carbondale, as well.
If Quinn is using politics to target those facilities for closure, then it’s some of the most backwards politics I’ve ever seen. If politics is the reason, then why is he closing facilities in the only Downstate counties he won? Clark’s argument just doesn’t stand up.
* The controversy continues over the decision by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez not to defend the state’s ban on gay marriage because they believe it’s unconstitutional. As you already know, lawsuits were recently filed by the ACLU and others against Cook County Clerk David Orr, who issues marriage licenses. The crux of Alvarez’s decision…
Alvarez’s office said it “will admit the salient allegations within the complaint and concede that the equal protection clause of the Illinois Constitution prohibits discrimination in the issuance of marriage licenses based upon sex or sexual orientation.”
“We are in agreement with the plaintiffs that Illinois laws that prohibit same sex marriage are unconstitutional. We believe the plaintiffs are correct in their assertion that the Illinois Constitution upholds marriage equality for same sex couples just as it does for opposite sex couples,” the statement said.
* Since Madigan and Alvarez won’t defend the law over constitutional grounds, there’s some debate on whether anyone else can step forward, and there’s much consternation about the decision itself…
Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society, a private bar association that represents the Catholic Church, said the group “will be seeking relief from the court,” though he didn’t say exactly what that would be. Some experts have suggested the society could seek the right to defend the ban, though that’s considered a long shot.
“You can’t just say you feel it’s unconstitutional,” said Breen. “This … puts people of the state of Illinois in a difficult place because their elected representatives are not defending their interests. If there is no argument or disagreement, then you’d really have a hollow judgment.”
David Erickson, a former prosecutor and state appellate judge who now teaches at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, said it also potentially puts a private bar association in the position of being demonized for stepping forward to defend a state law. Erickson believes the law is unconstitutional but said Breen is right.
“Show me where it says any elected official, especially a prosecutor, can say, `I won’t defend law passed by a legislative body that is my coequal,’” Erickson said. “Only one body can say it’s unconstitutional and that’s the (Illinois) Supreme Court.”
But fellow Kent College professor Douglas Godfrey said Alvarez and Madigan have a professional responsibility to ensure claims have merit, whether they’re filing a lawsuit or defending one, and “in essence … said we don’t think Illinois’ law will stand muster.”
Each prospective holder of a State office or other State position created by this Constitution, before taking office, shall take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation:
“I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of …. to the best of my ability.”
In 1996, then-state Sen. Peter Fitzgerald successfully ushered through the General Assembly a Defense of Marriage Act. His effort was to draw a line in the sand, to clarify where Illinois stood on same-sex marriages.
Sixteen years later, that law is endangered — something that few could have imagined when it was adopted.
Why is it so ridiculous to contemplate whether other Illinois marriage prohibitions should be tossed to the wind as well? With only sexual orientation bias as the argument against banning same-sex marriage, why should polygamous relationships be banned by the state? If morality is irrelevant, why should there be any marriage bans?
“The current statutory definition banning gay marriage in Illinois does not violate Illinoisans constitutional rights. In fact, it is just the opposite,” Reis said. “Allowing gay marriage in Illinois would violate our citizens’ religious freedoms by forcing religions to recognize marriages not in accordance with their beliefs.”
* We still don’t know how much this proposal would save, but it’s now a law…
Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a law that ends free health care for state retirees and requires them all to contribute to the cost of health care, based on their ability to pay. […]
Currently, retired lawmakers get free health insurance after four years of service and retired judges after six years. Additionally, retired state and university employees get free health insurance after 20 years of service.
Beginning July 1, all state retirees would pay a premium based on their years working for the state and ability to pay. The law doesn’t include teachers.
State Sen. Dan Kotowski claimed via press release last month that the proposal would save “about $200 million every year.” But that’s pretty much the only cost savings estimate out there, mainly because, as Kotowski noted in his May 10th press release, “it’s unclear how much retirees will specifically have to pay towards their insurance premiums.”
* According to the time stamp on the e-mail I received, Quinn’s office made the announcement of the bill signing at 5:08 this morning. Quinn portrayed the action as a way to “preserve health care benefits for state retirees.” From his press release…
Governor Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law to help ensure that state of Illinois retirees will continue to receive access to quality health care, while also lowering the cost to taxpayers. Illinois currently offers free health insurance to retirees after 20 years or more of service, at a time when no other state offers a healthcare benefit of this size. […]
The purpose of the new law is to increase fiscal responsibility by requiring all state retirees to help with the cost of health care based on their ability to pay. Currently, retired legislators receive free health insurance after four years, retired judges after six years, and retired state and university employees after 20 years of service. The result is that approximately 90 percent of retirees are not contributing anything for the cost of their health insurance. The annual cost to taxpayers is nearly $800 million. This law ensures the state will be able to continue offering quality healthcare coverage for retired employees, while making healthcare benefits more affordable for taxpayers.
Many Midwestern states, including Iowa and Minnesota, do not provide any subsidy for retired employees. Instead, they provide access to their plans and leave the entire cost to be paid by the retiree. Other states offer a very limited subsidy. For example, Florida offers retirees a monthly subsidy of $150, while the retiree covers the remaining cost. While some states utilize a formula similar to Illinois’, where the amount of the subsidy is based upon years of service, no comparable state offers free health insurance after 20 years. This law allows Illinois to continue offering affordable health insurance that is based on a retiree’s ability to pay and length of state service.
While the bill goes into effect July 1, final decisions on rates will be made following labor negotiations and approval by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
By the way, the health insurance that retirees get is not “free.” They still have to make their co-pays and satisfy their deductibles. What Quinn is referring to here is the monthly premium.
*** UPDATE *** From AFSCME…
Statement of Virginia Yates, president of AFSCME Retirees Chapter 31:
“This bill jeopardizes affordable health care for state and university retirees. The governor saying his action ‘preserves health benefits’ is political doubletalk, and his claim that our health coverage is ‘free’ is false. In fact, seniors like me and 114,000 other retirees and dependents already pay $3,000 a year or more in co-pays, deductibles and premiums. By cutting retiree health care at the same time he’s handing out hundreds of millions in tax giveaways to big corporations, Governor Quinn shows his priorities are out of touch.”
About Virginia Yates
Virginia Yates worked for 27 years at the Murray Developmental Center. A Korean War veteran, she lives in Centralia.
