Caption contest!
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’s been a little slow today. So, let’s see if this spices things up…
92 Comments  
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Question of the day
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R…
Growing up in Kentucky, one of Alan Lowe’s first memories was visiting Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. On Monday, Lowe took over as the new director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
“The thought of being able to be the director of a library and museum dedicated to his legacy and to use that as a platform to be able to reach people, teach, inspire – it’s kind of hard to beat that,” Lowe said in an interview Monday. “When I heard about the possibility, I couldn’t resist it.” […]
Some critics of the museum have complained that the exhibits haven’t been upgraded since the facility opened more than 10 years ago.
“What I want to do is go through them with a finer eye than I’ve done so far and take a really good look at each component,” Lowe said. “Do we need an update? Do we need a change? Is the technology holding up? Is there a new technology that we could put in there? That depends on a lot of variables, chiefly funding.”
Not only will he rely on his own eye for evaluating exhibits, but Lowe said he wants to carefully review what visitors are saying about the museum, what works and what doesn’t. It doesn’t mean that Lowe necessarily believes there are problems.
* The Question: Your suggestions for Director Lowe?
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What was Rauner talking about?
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You may recall this claim by Gov. Rauner the other day…
I walked into one department in my first week — second week in office actually. Two-hundred people were in a room with paper applications on their desks, and no computers. I said, this doesn’t look efficient. I found out, we could spend half a million dollars on a computer system —half a million — and save $7 million per year.
* Lots of commenters were skeptical, so I followed up and asked which department this was. I was told it was the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Rauner toured the area where professional licenses are processed. Back then, they were apparently processed in a room entirely by hand. So it stood out to him.
Since then, IDFPR has started to retool. From February…
Secretary Bryan A. Schneider of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is pleased to announce that paperless licensing and renewals have now been implemented for the professions licensed and regulated by the Divisions of Real Estate and Professional Regulation. The transition away from paper-based renewals and licenses means that regulated professionals will now be able to renew their license quickly and easily online, and be provided proof of licensure through email and IDFPR’s License Lookup application. The move to paperless technology is part of the Department’s ongoing efforts to modernize the state’s regulatory agency and will save the state nearly $3 million in postage, paper and printing costs over the next five years.
From May…
An alternative to the paper license pocket card is now available for the majority of licensed professionals regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). An estimated 1.1 million active licensees within the Division of Professional Regulation (DPR) and the Division of Real Estate (DRE) may now choose to store an electronic license pocket card on their smartphone or tablet. This is of particular importance to more than 110,000 licensed professionals across seven regulated professions who are statutorily required to carry a pocket card and the many others who choose to carry with them proof of their professional licensure. The e-license pocket card is the latest announcement from IDFPR in their ongoing efforts to modernize the state’s regulatory agency.
* The governor also claimed that “many” state departments don’t have computers. Not so sure about that, but I suppose the word “many” would have to be defined.
Either way, he saw a problem and now it’s being fixed. That’s a good thing.
54 Comments
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A brief respite
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oscar got a haircut this week…
He’s been helping me blog outside today because it’s such beautiful weather.
18 Comments
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$8 billion is still higher than $7 billion
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner spoke to reporters today and said this…
“We could be way, way worse off if the super majority’s budget bill had passed. We’d be spending at an even higher level than we are today.”
* Let’s review, shall we? The governor has claimed for weeks and weeks that the House Democrats’ budget proposal was $7 billion out of whack. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability projects the stopgap budget the governor negotiated and signed is almost $8 billion out of whack.
8>7
* Raw audio…
28 Comments
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A little good news for a change
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to hire 300 new workers at its huge factory in Belvidere as it revamps the facility to produce the Jeep Cherokee.
FCA USA, as the auto manufacturer is also called, said today it will invest $350 million in the factory to ready it for the Jeep Cherokee, one of the company’s top sellers during an auto sales boom that resulted in a record number of sales in the U.S. last year. […]
Production of the Cherokee will start in 2017. Right now, the vehicle is made at the Fiat Chrysler facility in Toledo, and that plant will continue producing it until the Belvidere plant is ready. […]
“This investment will strengthen the FCA US presence in Illinois and create good paying manufacturing jobs for Illinois residents,” Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner said in a statement. “We’re proud FCA US chose Illinois for production of the Jeep Cherokee.”
* Tribune…
Illinois just had its best second-quarter haul of venture capital in years thanks to a single deal, according to one national scorecard.
SMS Assist, the Chicago-based technology company that helps property owners manage maintenance across locations, accounted for more than half the funds raised. The privately held company’s $150 million Series D funding round in June pushed its valuation over the billion-dollar mark, making it the city’s latest unicorn.
Seventeen Illinois companies raised nearly $281 million in the second quarter of 2016, says a new MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.
Most of the quarter’s investments were in the $5 to $10 million range, in early- and expansion-stage companies, which raised more than $88 million combined. But two later-stage, business-to-business companies — SMS Assist and SpringCM, which offers cloud-based document management for businesses — took in the most dollars. SpringCM announced a raise of $17.5 million in June.
25 Comments
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Second. Worst. Decision. Ever.
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Check out the highlighted part of this quote about the projected $8 billion deficit in the stopgap budget that Speaker Madigan negotiated with the other leaders…
“You can either repeal programs and cut spending, or find new revenue,” Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said. “You can’t do it all through cuts. This reaffirms what the speaker has been saying for several years and reaffirms that the decision to let the income tax go down probably was not the wisest decision.”
Ya think?
It was, in retrospect, the [second] worst possible decision the Democrats could’ve made.
* The Democrats thought they were handing Rauner a booby trap when they allowed that tax hike to partially expire, but it was actually a gift. They completely underestimated his resolve to use the leverage of additional revenue to pry loose support for his economic and political reforms.
And here we stand, eye-deep in debt and wreckage all around.
Ugh.
…Adding… A commenter retorts…
[The tax hike] never should have included a sunset to begin with. That was the worst decision ever, but the Dems miscalculated on that too.
Agreed and I’ve changed the headline to reflect this wise commenter’s opinion.
…Adding More… Another commenter weighs in…
Also boneheaded: letting it expire in the middle of a fiscal year. And in an election year. How were they supposed to craft a budget in 2014 when no one had the backbone to try to make the tax hike permanent while running for re-election?
Yep.
I asked Senate President Cullerton about that once and he said it just never occurred to anyone what they were doing.
The perils of hurried passage are very real.
101 Comments
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It’s not my fault!
Friday, Jul 15, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The official reaction to yesterday’s COGFA projection that the stopgap budget Gov. Rauner negotiated and signed into law has a nearly $8 billion built-in deficit…
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said the governor knows the stopgap plan is not a complete budget but used existing revenues from set-aside funds to cover necessary costs. However, she added, “The deficit is the result of years of out-of-control spending, mismanagement and court-ordered and statutory spending which have locked in higher spending levels.”
There is no doubt that this state has had years of spending problems and mismanagement. Can’t argue with that. And there has been plenty of court-ordered spending and automatic spending on things like bond payments.
* However, before the income tax hike partially expired, the state was whittling down its pile of bills and its payment cycle was under 30 days. But the Democrats allowed the tax hike to expire after Rauner was elected and then nobody could agree on a real budget, so now we’re in this freaking awful mess.
As a commenter noted yesterday, during the past year our state’s social service system has been whacked hard and our universities have been hobbled and all we got out of it is an $8 billion deficit and a projected $10 billion bill backlog and a six-month late payment cycle and no substantial economic reforms.
And this happened under which administration?
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* Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson let loose his snark flag yesterday after the Rauner administration sent out a talking points memo to Republican legislators about all of the administration’s accomplishments this year. The administration memo was officially sent by a couple of people, but budget director Tim Nuding was listed at the top, so he received this Patterson e-mail yesterday…
Tim,
Interesting memo you sent around today. I would imagine that’s useful and helpful messaging for some members.
Since this temporary budget agreement was a team effort, I’m wondering if you could help us put together a similar messaging memo for Senate Democrats.
For instance, it would be useful/helpful if you could assist in identifying/listing draconian cuts the Rauner administration proposed that we were able to avoid by working together to make Illinois more compassionate and competitive as we build our bridge to a better future. If you’ve got any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.
Thanks in advance. Always enjoy working with you,
John
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