George Jones, known as “the greatest voice in country music,” died today at a Nashville Hospital after being hospitalized last week with a fever and irregular blood pressure, his publicist said today. He was 81 years old. “The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time,” his friend Merle Haggard said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Amen.”
Born in Saratoga, Texas into an extremely poor household, Jones went on to 143 Top 40 country hits; fourteen went to Number One, beginning with 1959’s “White Lightning,” and they continued through the decades including “She Thinks I Still Care” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Sinatra called him “the second greatest singer in America” (second only to himself) while Keith Richards calls him “a national treasure.” “If we all could sound like we wanted to, we’d all sound like George Jones,” Waylon Jennings once sang.
“Most people’s voices are a gift from God,” Garth Brooks once said. “With George Jones, I think it started out as a gift from God and then they built a body around it because anybody who has ever wanted to sing country music wants to sound like George Jones.”
* Here’s one from last year with George, Jamey Johnson and Blackberry Smoke singing “Yesterday’s Wine”…
You give the appearence
Of one widely travelled
I’ll bet you’ve seen
Things in your time
Calvin Sutker devoted much of his adult life to politics — as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, Cook County commissioner, state representative, Skokie trustee — and for 33 years, the Niles Township Democratic committeeman.
But he spent his last decade speaking to community groups about his experience as a young soldier who witnessed firsthand the horror of the Dachau Nazi concentration camp in southern Germany.
“We were sickened at the ghastly spectacle of the depravity of the Nazi perpetrators,” Mr. Sutker said at a 2003 Kristallnacht observance marking the Nov. 9, 1938, night when Nazis destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses.
“He had never spoken publicly about it before that day,” said a daughter, Sharon McGowan.
A longtime Skokie resident, Mr. Sutker died Thursday morning, a few weeks before his 90th birthday, at Evanston Hospital.
Mr. Sutker met his late wife, Phyllis, when he delivered an order from his father’s Austin deli and grocery to her home — an event orchestrated by her mother. […]
Visitation will be at 12:45 p.m. and a funeral service at 2 p.m. Friday at Ezra-Habonim, the Niles Township Jewish Congregation, 4500 W. Dempster St., Skokie. Burial will be in Westlawn Cemetery, 7801 W. Montrose, in Norridge.
You can watch Sutker talk about his experience at Dachau by clicking here.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has cut off funding to the state’s largest charter-school operator, the politically influential United Neighborhood Organization, over insider deals it says violated terms of a $98 million state grant, according to a letter obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The deals involved millions of dollars in state funds that went to companies owned by two brothers of a high-ranking UNO executive, Miguel d’Escoto, that were hired as contractors on state-funded school construction projects in Chicago, according to the letter, which was sent to the organization Thursday from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The state agency began investigating UNO in response to reports in the Sun-Times that revealed that d’Escoto Inc. and Reflection Window Co. have been paid a total of $8.5 million out of the state grant. D’Escoto Inc. is owned by Federico “Fred” d’Escoto. Reflection Window is owned by Rodrigo d’Escoto.
The two men are brothers of Miguel d’Escoto, a city transportation commissioner in former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration who resigned Feb. 12 from his $200,000-a-year position as UNO’s No. 2 executive following the Sun-Times reports.
State officials said UNO should have notified them it was using the companies owned by the d’Escoto family members.
* Gov. Quinn emphasized today that the grant funding suspension was “temporary” until the state can “get to the bottom” of what’s going on. Unless the group “straightens things out,” Quinn said, “they won’t get any money.”
Federal prosecutors raised the prospect on Friday in court of having their experts examine former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. if his lawyers plan to raise his bipolar disorder as a mitigating factor in trying to reduce his prison sentence.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson made no decision after prosecutor Matt Graves said he wanted to “alert” her to the possible issue in advance of the sentencing July 1 of Jackson and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson. […]
Graves said the government is “entitled” to have Jackson checked “by our own experts” if Jackson’s lawyers decide to argue Jackson’s mental health should be taken into consideration by the judge when she sentences him.
Defense attorney Reid Weingarten told Judge Jackson that the former congressman’s bipolar disorder is well known and “not controversial.”
Seven of 12 Metro Areas See Increase in March Local Unemployment
4/25/2013
Chicago, Rockford, Kankakee Lead March Job Growth
CHICAGO - March local unemployment rates increased in seven of 12 metro areas, decreased in four, and were unchanged in one compared to last year, according to preliminary data released today by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). Not seasonally adjusted data compares March 2013 to March 2012.
The largest increases were in: Decatur MSA (+1.4 points to 11.8 percent), Danville MSA (+1.1 point to 10.8 percent), and Peoria MSA (+0.9 point to 8.9 percent). The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division was up +0.5 point to 9.5 percent. The largest decreases were Metro East (-0.9 point to 8.9 percent) and Quad Cities (-0.5 point to 7.2 percent).
Bost said the Legislature has put money in the budget for the center, but Gov. Pat Quinn still refuses to keep the Murray Center open.
“The Governor has never visited the center,” Bost said. “We are still trying to do everything we can procedurally to keep it open. These are our most vulnerable citizens. It’s awful what is happening.”
“The Governor is a politician and fake,” Bost continued. “I appreciate him showing up at veterans funerals. It’s easy to show care and compassion in a situation you have no control over. In this case, he has the control. It flies in the face of sincerity on other issues.
“If he is so compassionate, why doesn’t he just walk in the facility? If he had been there first, he may have understood the need. It’s heartbreaking.”
* The AP follows up on a story that first appeared here yesterday…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn wants Attorney General Lisa Madigan to drop a lawsuit over back pay for unionized state workers so he can implement a new state contract he says will save hundreds of millions of dollars.
But Madigan’s office said Thursday the attorney general won’t dissolve the legal action until her lawyers know whether lawmakers will put up $140 million to pay the back wages that are at the center of the wrangling. If there’s a hang-up in the General Assembly, the attorney general needs to keep legal options open, spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said.
Quinn and the employees’ union settled the dispute at the bargaining table, and his assistant budget director, Abdon Pallasch, said prolonging the lawsuit holds up $900 million in health care savings. The union won’t sign the contract its membership ratified until the lawsuit is pulled off the docket.
Madigan, a Chicago Democrat like Quinn, is considering opposing him in the gubernatorial primary next spring, but officials were careful Thursday to stress the lawsuit is not a question of political ill will. […]
Quinn wants to put the rancor behind him now, particularly with election season approaching, but also because there are savings to be had. While he gave up the fight over the raises, Quinn is eager to realize the health care savings from current and retired state workers in the newly ratified pact, Pallasch said.
“Failing to resolve the $64 million lawsuit now risks the $900 million in health care savings for taxpayers under the contract,” he said.
This is a real standoff. Right now, it doesn’t look like the GA is in any mood to fund the back pay. So the lawsuit won’t be dropped. But that means the contract won’t be signed. The whole thing could come tumbling down, and might even spark another contract vote.
*** UPDATE *** AFSCME just sent this e-mail to its members…
AFSCME has informed the Quinn Administration that the union is not prepared to sign the new contract without further authorization from the union membership. Your AFSCME Bargaining Committee is convening on Monday to recommend a course of action—and further information will be coming to you soon.
I know that the situation can be confusing and frustrating—especially for those employees who have not received their negotiated raises. However, it’s critical to keep in mind how far we have come by standing together and standing firm.
When the pay raise was initially withheld, AFSCME immediately took the issue to arbitration—and won. When the State appealed that decision to court, the Union battled through all the legal delays and maneuvers and secured a ruling that the contract must be honored. When the state said it had no money to pay any raises, AFSCME’s research turned up tens of millions of dollars which resulted in thousands of employees receiving the wages owed over the past two years and many more in line to receive monies from the funds held in escrow.
We’ve succeeded time and again when others said it couldn’t be done. We’re not going to give up now. We’ll keep on fighting to ensure that justice is done for all members. And if all members stand together, we can succeed once more.
Sincerely,
Henry Bayer
Executive Director
*** UPDATE 2 *** If you click here, you’ll see an amendment to a Speaker Madigan bill filed today by Rep. John Bradley which appears to fund the back pay.
Not all that long ago, DuPage County was about as reliably Republican and rock-ribbed conservative as they came.
Things are changing
For one, it’s not nearly as Republican. Back in the 1998 governor’s race, Republican George Ryan defeated Democrat Glenn Poshard by 104,000 votes in DuPage.
But in 2010, during the greatest Republican landslide since 1946, Republican Bill Brady managed to beat Gov. Pat Quinn by less than half Ryan’s total: 45,000 votes. Barack Obama carried the county in both of his presidential bids.
DuPage used to be dominated by Pate Philip, the no-nonsense conservative former state Senate president. Pate wasn’t much for women’s rights, or civil rights, or gay rights or whatever. Back in those days, whenever you thought of DuPage County, you automatically thought of Pate Philip. He seemed to embody an area built on white and corporate flight out of Chicago.
I tried reaching Pate on Thursday because I wanted to ask him about some new polling I’d seen of his beloved county. No luck. That’s too bad, because I genuinely enjoy talking to him. You always know where you stand with that man, and he always tells you what he thinks.
The We Ask America poll I wanted to talk to Pate about found that a plurality of DuPage County’s likely voters support gay marriage.
According to the poll, 49 percent of DuPagers say lawmakers should pass legislation to allow gay marriage while 45 percent oppose it. The poll of 1,052 likely voters taken April 22nd had a margin of error of plus/minus 3 percent.
The poll found that 62 percent of people aged 18-24 support gay marriage. In fact, every age group backed gay marriage except for senior citizens, who opposed it 55-40.
If you had told me a year ago that a poll could turn up these sorts of results in DuPage, I would’ve thought you were dipping into your medical marijuana stash.
But here we are.
There are those in the Republican Party who say that their setbacks in Illinois are just temporary. The party, they say, needs to stick to its core principles, including its very clear party platform plank opposing gay marriage.
To compromise, they say, is to just become “Democrat Lite.” So, only one Republican state senator voted for gay marriage in February. Just three of 47 Republican state representatives say they’re in favor ahead of a House vote.
Famed political prognosticator Nate Silver projects that national support for gay marriage will continue increasing by 1.5 percentage points per year. If he’s right, it’ll just be a few more months before there’s actual majority support for the issue in DuPage.
Conservatives are, by nature, slow to change. That’s totally understandable. It’s who and what they are. But there’s slow and then there’s political suicide. Eventually, they’re going to have to come to grips with this issue. Their all too often harsh rhetoric is alienating the people they need to get their party members elected.
Pate Philip has been out of power for 10 years, now. I truly miss his straight talk, but his brand of politics was on the way out here even before he retired. These days, it seems as though he lived in another world. The trouble is, too many Republican politicians still live in that world.
But now that more people in Pate’s DuPage County favor gay marriage than oppose it, if the GOP still can’t see the writing on the wall, then they probably deserve whatever’s coming to them
* Let’s start our roundup of Aaron Schock’s decision not to run for governor with the Sun-Times report…
“He said back in the fall he was going to see whether he thought he could do more good running for re-election for Congress or running for governor,” Schock aide Steve Shearer told the Peoria Star late Thursday.
Schock, 31, ultimately decided to remain on Capitol Hill, where he serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Shearer, Schock’s chief of staff and campaign manager.
But the young third-term Peoria congressman also faced the reality of a crowded GOP field — and a tough general election race if he prevailed. […]
“Aaron realized he is only 31 and is not willing to risk everything against Rauner’s millions and probably Lisa Madigan,” said one state House Republican familiar with Schock’s thinking.
Had Congressman Schock survived a brutal Republican primary race, he still would have faced the daunting challenge of either facing an incumbent governor, Pat Quinn, or a popular attorney general with a well-known family name, Lisa Madigan. Or even throw in the longshot possibility of running against Bill Daley, former Secretary of Commerce and brother of Chicago’s former mayor, Richard M. Daley. All three would be tough opponents, making this race for governor “mission impossible,” that could have resulted in ending his promising political career.
In February, the House Ethics Committee announced it would continue an investigation into Schock over allegations he sought donations of more than $5,000 per donor to a political action committee. The super PAC backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who was running in a House primary against Rep. Don Manzullo. Kinzinger won the March 2012 primary.
At the time, Schock spokesman Steve Dutton said Schock hadn’t done anything wrong and the case was “without merit.”
Shearer said Schock’s increasing seniority in the House after the changeover of members in the previous two national congressional elections was a significant factor in the decision not to seek the governor’s office. Schock is only two seats away from the halfway point of seniority on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Schock also serves on the House Administration Committee and in an advisory role to the House Republican Conference.
* Schock has had a storied career so far, and he’s only 31…
The 31-year-old won an unexpected write-in victory for the Peoria District 150 School Board in 2001 by a 20 percent margin over the incumbent board president while still a student at Bradley University. Three years later he won an equally difficult victory in a majority-Democratic state House district where he served for two terms before running for Congress in 2008.
In the House especially he has proven to be a prolific fundraiser, bringing a host of high-profile speakers to central Illinois including former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, House Speaker John Boehner, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then-President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House colleague Allen West.
During the first three months of 2013, Schock brought in just shy of three-quarters of a million dollars to his federal campaign fund, and was sitting on a war chest of about $2.7 million, according to disclosure documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.
He could very well be the future of the GOP in this state.
His decision not to run leaves only one Republican candidate at the moment with access to major campaign cash, Chicago investment mogul Bruce Rauner, though Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford has raised some hundreds of thousands of dollars.
* 8:03 pm - Republican Congressman Aaron Schock is calling around this evening to inform people that he’s announcing Friday that he will not run for governor.
* 9:03 pm- The story is spreading so I took off the password protection.
* FRIDAY, 8:00 am - From a press release…
Aaron Schock has chosen to run for re-election to Congress in 2014
(PEORIA, IL) Last fall Congressman Aaron Schock said he was considering whether he could do the most good by running for re-election to Congress or by running for Governor of Illinois. After carefully considering both options, today he is announcing that he has chosen to run for Congress again in 2014.
The ISRA has learned that an anti-gun senator from Chicago has written a horrible “may issue” concealed carry bill that would “carve” Cook County out from the rest of the state. In effect, this bill would allow the Cook County Sheriff and the Chicago Superintendant to deny permit applications filed by Cook County residents. Furthermore, carry permits issued in other counties would be VOID in Cook County. In other words, it would be illegal for you to carry a defensive firearm in the place you need it most – Cook County.
It is important that every firearm owner in the state call their State Senator and express opposition to this bill – it affects every one of us, not just Cook County residents. No matter where you live in the state, as a gun owner you cannot sit idly by and watch millions of good citizens in Cook County have their civil rights trampled. If this bill passes, it won’t be long until the obstacles to concealed carry erected by Cook County will spread to many other counties in the state. You must act now!
As of the writing of this Action Alert, no bill number has been assigned to this bad carry bill. The Senate leadership is playing a shell game with us. There is no telling where it will pop up. Nonetheless, it is very important that you follow the instructions in this alert!
Remember. . .
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart does not have the right to decide if you are worth defending or not.
Chicago Police Superintendent Gerry McCarthy does not have the right to decide whether you will live or die.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel does not have the right to condemn your family members to rape, robbery and murder.
A Republican congressman from Virginia who chairs a key appropriations panel lashed out Wednesday over the federal government’s purchase of a vacant Illinois prison, telling Attorney General Eric Holder that he “really created a mess with your bailing out the state of Illinois with the Thomson prison purchase.”
Rep. Frank Wolf, of Vienna, Va., in suburban Washington, chairs a House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department.
Wolf will be instrumental in approval of money necessary to upgrade and open the prison, where the Obama administration once hoped to send detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now the administration wants federal prisoners held there.
* This warning has appeared above the comment box for years…
Inappropriate or excessively rabid comments, gratuitous insults and “rumors” will be deleted or held for moderation. Profanity is absolutely not acceptable in any form. “Sock puppetry” is forbidden. All violators risk permanent banishment without warning and may be blocked from accessing this site. Also, please try to be a little bit original.
Today, I added a new line…
In other words, do your best to be civilized and smart.
* The Question: How do you think you can be more “civilized and smart” in comments?
The panelists at times struggled to find common ground, and the deep divide between stakeholders on how to fix the pension funding crisis was painfully evident.
But a pension reform forum sponsored Wednesday by the Daily Herald and the nonpartisan reform website Reboot Illinois did produce civil discourse in the organizations’ attempt to further understanding of the $100 billion mess and, hopefully, prompt meaningful steps toward a solution.
There are no magic solutions to this mess. Legislators are intensely divided. Outsiders and “good government” types think it should be easy, and maybe it should be, but that isn’t legislative or political reality.
And if anybody thinks attending a forum on this topic will “prompt meaningful steps toward a solution” then I want some of whatever they’re smoking. I mean, is Rep. Tom Morrison going to back away from his 401(k) plan because he attended a forum? Nope…
One of the first questions asked to those in the audience was how many in attendance were state employees. When a strong majority in the room raised their hands, Morrison framed his argument that pensions should be moved to employee-managed 401(k)-style accounts with another question to those employees: “Who trusts Springfield politicians?”
“My ideal solution is to get the state out of the defined benefit pension plan,” he said. “One thing we can all agree on is that we can’t trust politicians who have been representing us down in Springfield.”
A proposal that would ban people from smoking outdoors on all state-supported university and community college campuses fell five votes shy of the 30 need to pass the Illinois Senate Wednesday.
Sponsoring Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, used a parliamentary maneuver to keep the bill alive for a possible second vote in the future.
“I want to be perfectly clear here that if you go to tailgate at a football game you will not be able to smoke at you car, standing next to your cookout grill, is that correct?” Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, asked Link. […]
Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, ridiculed the bill on the floor.
“So a university employee who is riding on a tractor, out in the middle of the university farm at the University of Illinois or Illinois State University, and who is literally so far away from anyone else that someone would have to use a telescope to see that they’re smoking a cigarette, that person under your bill would be banned from smoking a cigarette?” Righter asked. Link admitted the person would be banned from smoking.
“Surely all of us can get on board with the notion that the duly appointed members of the boards of trustees should be able to make some decisions,” he said. “And that the person who is literally a football field away from anyone else, working on a construction site and wants to have a cigarette, poses exactly no health risk to anyone else. There is a point, even for those who believe in the most active of governments, to which you say, ‘You know what, even Springfield’s arm isn’t that long.’”
* Roundup…
* State prison officials want more money: In a Senate hearing Wednesday, Corrections budget chief Brian Gleck-ler said the department is requesting about $41.8 million to finish out the fiscal year, which ends June 30. The money is needed because Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration was or-dered to pay wage hikes to employees it had withheld during tight budget times two years ago.
* Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune editorial board thundered its outrage over not being able to obtain an official copy of the new AFSCME contract with the state…
We’ve been asking for a copy since Feb. 28, the day the two sides announced the agreement. Quinn’s office said we had to wait until union members ratified the contract. That happened on March 19.
Since then, we’ve been told the lawyers needed time to tidy up the paperwork.
A full month of tidying? Sorry, but we’re out of patience. Taxpayers are picking up the tab for this contract. They deserve to know how much Quinn and the employee union ordered up in pay and benefits. In fact, taxpayers should have the opportunity to weigh in before the contract gets finalized with Quinn’s signature.
* So, I contacted a few folks to see if I could find out what was going on. Why couldn’t we get an official copy? We’ve already seen the copy that went out to union members, but what about the final copy? Anders Lindall with AFSCME e-mailed me back late yesterday afternoon…
As you know, once finalized, our state contract is publicly available; the previous contract is posted in its entirety on the CMS website. With respect to the new agreement, you and others have reported on all key provisions, even publishing our internal summary that covers economic issues as well changes in workplace practices, policies and procedures. But at this point, with the contract not yet signed and the parties still finalizing finely-tuned language changes, there is simply nothing more to release.
Wait. The contract isn’t signed? It was ratified weeks ago.
Why isn’t the contract signed?
Lindall replied…
Like I say, parties still finalizing language.
*** UPDATE 1 *** This may help clear things up, thanks to a commenter. From a message to union members from Henry Bayer…
The Administration has moved forward to fulfill these commitments:
1. The FY 14 budget that the governor submitted to the General Assembly includes funding to bring all employees to their proper wage level pursuant to the previous and the current contract.
2. The Administration is now moving forward on the dispersal of the escrowed funds. These are monies that the union had demonstrated to the court were appropriated in the FY12 budget and could therefore be used toward payment of the back wages owed for FY12. There is approximately $42 million in this fund. Many of the dollars are restricted in how they can be allocated (e.g., federal grants for specific purposes or appropriations for specific agencies), so the distribution to employees will not be uniform and the restrictions may prevent all of the $42 million from being distributed. Allocation of these funds is in the process of final review and affected employees will be notified in the coming weeks.
3. The remainder of the back pay owed (approximately $154 million) requires a supplemental appropriation by the General Assembly. The Administration has drafted the supplemental and expects it to be introduced next week.
4. The Governor’s Office notified Attorney General Lisa Madigan that the appeal of the circuit court ruling should be withdrawn. To date, the Attorney General has failed to do so, indicating that she is conducting a thorough review of the case before reaching a decision as to how to proceed.
Council 31 staff have been working intensively for weeks now to finalize the new contract, which requires ensuring the accuracy of the specific wording of the contract language and verifying all elements of the health plan and other economic components.
However, the new contract has not been signed, pending the state’s action on the lawsuit. [Emphasis added.]
So, it’s not all about the “language.” Attorney General Madigan is holding up the union’s signature. I’ll ask her why right now. Check back.
But, yes, the health plan language is still a sticking point. There’s some debate over what type of health plan should now be used. More on that another time.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The attorney general’s office responds…
It’s our understanding that the full payment of backpay is dependent on a special appropriation. We know the Legislature, the Governor and AFSCME are working on that. In the meantime, until a special appropriation bill moves forward, it’s most appropriate to put the lawsuits on hold, as the Governor, the legislature and AFSCME continue their work.
* I never would’ve thought this could be a problem, but it is for at least one person, so the Senate just approved a bill to help him out…
A measure that would allow an Edgar County man to stop paying child support for a teenager who isn’t his was approved 52-0 by the Illinois Senate.
The measure, SB 1867, was sponsored by Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, and was introduced to aid Brad Entrican, a Paris man who earlier told a Senate committee that he has been paying child support for years but didn’t learn until after DNA testing in 2011 that he was not the father of the boy, who is now 13. Attempts to resolve the case through administrative procedures and in the courts failed because Entrican had not filed his petition within the two-year statute of limitations.
The legislation allows a man to continue to challenge a finding of paternity after the statute of limitations has been filed when there is DNA evidence supporting him. […]
Entrican had said earlier this year that he didn’t challenge the paternity until the summer of 2011, after meeting the boy for the first time. He had failed to appear for a scheduled genetic testing in 2001 because at the time, he had no reason to doubt he was the boy’s father.
A fascinating personal story. I can’t help but feel sorry for the kid, though. Now what does he do?
Thursday, Apr 25, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
In April 2012, Peoples Gas established the Utility Workers Training Program (UWTP) for military veterans—a $3.5 million multi-partner and union-backed training-to-placement program for those who have honorably served our country. To date, 60 veterans have completed the program and 42 have started a career as a gas utility worker at Peoples Gas.
Through this program, veterans develop the skills they need to enter Illinois’ natural gas industry. The curriculum of core classes has enabled each student to earn 52 college credits toward an AA degree. The new employees have also earned their Gas Utility Worker Advanced Certification at Dawson Technical Institute, a satellite site of Kennedy-King College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.
The UWTP was created to support Peoples Gas’ Accelerated Main Replacement Program (AMRP) to replace 2,000 miles of cast and ductile iron mains in its distribution system. This project has already created over 1,000 jobs, including UWTP graduates.
The Natural Gas Modernization, Public Safety and Jobs Bill (SB 1665/HB 2414), is needed to allow natural gas utilities to confidently invest and continue hiring in Illinois. If it is not passed, Peoples Gas will be forced to slow or halt its pipeline modernization project, which would threaten the jobs that are putting Illinois veterans to work.
Members of the General Assembly: vote YES on SB 1665/HB 2414.
* Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) was not at all happy with a bill that passed his chamber yesterday. Duffy was so angry that he posted a diatribe about the bill on his Facebook page, blasting his own Republican leader and two fellow GOP members, both likely gubernatorial candidates…
Yikes.
* Sen. Duffy has been an ardent opponent of red light cams ever since he received two red light tickets in three days at the very same red light. Video of the first infraction…
Under the proposal, local municipalities or counties would have to sign off before a school district could use the cameras because penalties for going around a stopped bus would need to be reviewed by law enforcement rather than school officials. Sponsoring Sen. Tony Munoz, D-Chicago, said school districts would receive the bulk of the money from fines and the rest would be used to underwrite costs of the program. A first offense would cost $150 and a second offense $500, Munoz said.
But the bill drew a skeptical eye from Sen. Dan Duffy, who challenged the need for the bill and feared that the cameras could lead to more controversies. As of mid-April, Redflex said it had been awarded 25 school bus contracts and 18 trial programs in eight states: Rhode Island, Connecticut, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Maine, Alabama and Washington.
Redflex is expanding into automated school bus cameras amid the federal probe of its Chicago red-light program that has led to questions from officials across the country. Federal authorities issued a subpoena for financial records of a former city official at the center of the escalating international scandal after the Tribune raised questions in October about the city’s contract with Redflex.
Duffy contended that the lobbyists for camera companies and lawmakers who support the measure are supporting one more way to squeeze “cold hard cash” from the taxpayers of Illinois. “This is the next generation of red-light cameras,” said Duffy, R-Lake Barrington.
* Duffy’s remarks went beyond even that. Sun-Times…
Duffy also alluded to a Chicago Tribune report on a federal bribery investigation into Chicago’s red-light camera program and a rival purveyor of red-light cameras, Redflex Traffic Systems - a probe Duffy bombastically characterized Wednesday as the “largest scandal in Illinois history.”
“It’s the same camera company and the same camera lobbyists associated with Gov. Blagojevich and other scandals who’s promoting this bill,” said state Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington), who has been a frequent critic of red-light cameras.
Neither RedSpeed nor Redflex testified in favor of Munoz’ bill in Senate committee, legislative records show.
“Here he stands now, saying there’s corruption about cameras, the worse there has ever been and bringing up Blagojevich. We took that matter up, and we know where he is,” Munoz said, referring at first to Duffy and then the imprisoned governor.
“You like to go around cameras,” Munoz snapped, his voice rising in a direct verbal hit on Duffy. “You drive right through them, you in your fancy car, your fancy suit. You want to bring it up? I can do it too.”
Sen. Munoz referenced an IDOT study which found that about 120 drivers reported seeing over 3,000 instances of drivers going around school buses with stop signs extended outward.
* Thanks to our very good friends at BlueRoomStream.com, you can watch the interchange, which begins at just after the 1-hour, 3-minute mark. The “good stuff” starts about ten minutes later…
* Sen. Dan Kotowski has a “puppy lemon law” proposal…
Consumers who buy a new dog or cat only to find out it has a serious disease or ailment would have a new form of recourse under an Illinois Senate proposal.
The Senate Executive Committee voted 8-5 Wednesday in favor of a bill described as a “puppy lemon law.”
The legislation would allow people who buy a dog or cat at a pet store to get a replacement or a refund if the animal needs veterinary care for certain illnesses or conditions within 20 days of purchase. The buyer also could seek damages for the cost of veterinary care.
Provides that, if there is an outbreak of distemper, parvovirus, or any other contagious and potentially life-threatening disease affecting more than 2 dogs at a seller’s pet shop or kennel within a 60-day period, then the seller shall provide each customer that purchases a dog a written notice stating the nature of the outbreak, and shall notify the State Veterinarian of the outbreak within 2 business days after becoming aware that a third animal has contracted the disease.
Provides that a customer who purchased a dog from a seller is entitled to a remedy if certain conditions relating to a disease, illness, condition, or death of the dog are met. Sets forth conditions that a customer shall meet to obtain a remedy from a seller and a timeframe in which the seller shall provide a reimbursement to the customer. Provides that a customer may not be entitled to a remedy if the customer fails to meet certain requirements. Provides that a seller may contest a remedy sought by a customer. Provides that if a customer and seller do not reach an agreement within 10 business days, then the parties may agree to binding arbitration or the customer may bring suit in a court of competent jurisdiction. Changes certain references from “pet shop operator” to “seller”.
* Republicans said that Kotowski should’ve also included pet shelters in the bill, even though everyone in the room knew there was no way the Republicans would ever vote for such a thing. They were simply using one of the arguments put forth by the pet store opponents…
Opponents of the proposal took issue with animal shelters being exempted, which leave those who adopt cats or dogs from shelters with no similar recourse.
Kotowski said there is a huge difference between spending $1,000 for a dog at a pet store versus the smaller amount one pays a shelter for immunizations.
He likened it to the difference between purchasing an item from Nordstrom versus going to a thrift shop.
State Sen. Dale Righter, a Charleston Republican, took exception with Kotowski’s characterization, saying he was essentially saying those who cannot afford to buy from a pet store don’t deserve consumer protection.
