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Veterans Day video

Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Come home soon…

Many nights from now, I know
I’ll be back among your graces
Until then I’ll just pretend
That I’m not cold

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Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Morning shorts

Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning

[Note from Rich: We’re taking Veterans’ Day off. Comments are closed.]

* Jarrett Out As Possible Obama Senate Replacement

Two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

“While he (Obama) thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her in the White House,” one top Obama advisor told CNN Monday.

* Politicians, citizens remember veterans in Illinois

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin plans to participate in a ceremony this afternoon at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield. Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs director Tammy Duckworth will be in Chicago, where she is the guest speaker at a ceremony at a local veterans’ medical center.

* Still trying to open beds for Illinois veterans

* Cellini to be arraigned Friday

* State lawmakers returning with no budget fix on tap

But, there is no consensus yet on a plan to address the state’s budget woes.

According to the General Assembly’s fiscal forecasting agency, overall state revenues are down $406 million through the first third of the fiscal year.

The administration also released a new set of numbers showing that the state may face an overall $800 million shortfall before the fiscal year ends June 30.

That spells trouble for anyone hoping to stop Blagojevich from closing parks and historic sites later this month. He proposed closing two dozen facilities because of a budget shortfall that’s only gotten worse in recent months

* Illinois’ Projected Deficit Threatens Restored Programs

* Sick economy worsens budget woes in Illinois

The state’s top revenue sources — taxes on personal income, corporate income and retail sales — are coming in at lower levels than anticipated. The Revenue Department says tax revenue from riverboat casinos could fall $100 million below projections, too.

The shaky fiscal picture is the reason Blagojevich has not acted on legislation to restore $230 million in budget cuts he was forced to make last summer.

Lawmakers, responding to public pressure, voted in September to come up with the money to spare cuts of more than 300 jobs, cuts in substance-abuse treatment and the closing of two dozen state parks and historic sites. But Blagojevich has said he won’t sign it unless he sees an improved revenue outlook.

* State’s revenue plunge continues

Revenues continue to plummet, the Blagojevich administration warned Monday, threatening to blow another $1 billion hole in a state budget already strapped for cash.

New projections from the Illinois Department of Revenue warn the state could get $800 million less than it was counting on from three major tax areas by next summer, unless the national and state financial picture turns around.

The lagging numbers could provide cover for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to change or reject a measure that would prevent a round of state budget cuts set for the end of the month.

Individual income taxes are projected to be down 4 percent from budgeted amounts, corporate income taxes could decline 14 percent, and sales taxes could be down 3 percent. Those all were expected to grow by about $300 million from the last budget year.

* Web site boosts Tom Cross for governor

Over the weekend, Parrillo launched a Web site geared toward drafting Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross into running for governor in 2010. The site, called It’s Time for Tom, lists several reasons why the long-serving representative from Oswego would be a good candidate — not the least of which, Parrillo says, is his ability to draw the Republican Party together.

“He appeals to traditional and non-traditional Republicans,” Parrillo said. “It’s clear from the drubbing we took on Tuesday (Nov. 4) that we need to embrace and extend an invitation into the Republican Party.”

* AFSCME will go court with its latest effort to stop prison closure

* Sears dips on analyst’s price target cut

* Tough choices for Illinois coal

Illinois is a coal state. The president-elect is from Illinois.

Reaction to the election of Democrat Barack Obama as next president of the United States - and what it might mean to the future of Illinois coal and the global-warming debate - ranges from cautious at best to outright optimism that the industry is about to turn a corner after decades of decline.

But there was agreement that the first signal one way or the other in an Obama administration would be the fate of two central Illinois coal-gasification plants - the $2.1 billion Taylorville Energy Center in Christian County and FutureGen, a $1.8 billion project promoted by supporters as a near-zero-emissions way to burn high-sulfur coal for energy.

* Chicago budget crunch to cost 29 airport greeters’ jobs

* Regional Airports Face Headwinds

* Court blocks CN bid to put rail deal on fast track

* Cabbies vow strike as fares set to drop

* Trib’s $122M loss deepens financial woes

* Obama’s Run Wasn’t Enough to Help Chicago Papers

* Federal dollars to help Elgin neighborhoods hit by foreclosures

* Wheeling exploring flood solutions

* ‘Yes’ not enough to become motor voter

Dozens of voters in Rockford and Winnebago County who thought they had registered to vote at the local secretary of state’s driver’s bureaus found out last Tuesday that they hadn’t

“If you come in for a change of address, they’ll ask you if you want to register under motor voter,” said Dave Druker, spokesman for the Illinois secretary of state’s office. “You have to answer affirmatively, and you also have to fill out the form they give you and turn it in. In some cases, I think, people were thinking that just saying ‘yes’ was enough.”

* IDOT to hold the salt this winter

Milton Sees, secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation, announced Monday during a news conference on winter preparations that salt conservation practices will be instituted.

“This conservation effort will allow us to better utilize the resources available to IDOT and still provide a safe means of travel,” he said in a statement.

* State probing high cost of road salt

* Illinois has 28,000 tons of road salt, more coming

* Chicago Saves on Road Salt

* Lake County judge in DUI case gets license back

* Halvorson will be back as much as possible

* Obama-used items being inventoried in Springfield

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Afternoon content dump

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Check out the body language. Caption contest, or too federal?

* The Department of Revenue once again gives the SJ-R a scooplet an hour before it reaches anyone else’s in-box…

New projections from the state Department of Revenue, provided first to The State Journal-Register, show the state could get $800 million less in money it was counting on from three major tax areas by next summer unless the national and state financial picture turns around.

Just in time for veto session.

* Another loss for the guv’s legal team…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich must continue to use Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office to defend him in a lawsuit over his planned move of the state’s traffic safety division from Springfield to southern Illinois.

Sangamon County Judge Roger Holmes this morning rejected the governor’s bid to get Madigan’s office removed. Holmes said Blagojevich could raise the question later as the case proceeds but right there is no direct conflict in having Madigan defend him.

These people are in court more than an asbestos attorney.

* From a press release…

Continuing Illinois’ efforts to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today announced that he would co-host the international Governors’ Global Climate Summit to be held later this month in California.

The governors’ summit was announced in September. It will be held next week in Beverly Hills. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

One can’t help but wonder whether another gubernatorial fundraiser at some posh Beverly Hills hotel might be in the offing. They’ll have to do it without Rezko’s help, however. He’s otherwise indisposed.

The good news is that the California summit will be held November 18th and 19th. The General Assembly is scheduled to be in session on the 19th, so the guv will be far, far away.

* The DC press corps is sometimes just too batty for words…

So we obsess about [Michelle Obama’s] clothes, searching for clues to how individualistic she will be, how modern, how typically Washington?

Obsess? Really? Does anyone truly obsess over the first lady elect’s clothes?

Was Barack and Michelle sending a message to the whole world with black and red? Do those colors point back to their core beliefs? Do they point to their religious value system?

Let’s write the color choice off for now to basic social naivete and suggest that the Obamas had no idea that their black and red attire choice would suggest to some a deeper, hidden meaning.

OK, I stand corrected. Some people apparently do obsess about clothes.

* I tried cutting off comments a few years ago, but readers rebelled. Zorn may have better luck for numerous reasons. Since he’s big media, he attracted a broader audience so no real “community” could develop in comments like it has here.

* This post at 538 refers to presidential strategy, but it could just as easily apply to Illinois…

The Bush-Rove team of 2000 and 2004 understood the importance of appealing to suburban voters … that is a viable strategy. Pitching your appeal to rural voters, on the other hand, probably will not work. They’re outnumbered by the city dwellers in the first place, and if your attacks are strident enough that the suburbanites start to side with the urbanites, you’ve given yourself a big problem.

* YDD, posting at the newly revamped Illinoize, wonders about the placement of the constitutional convention question.

* Partnering with Mother Tribune on the Cub sale could be a disaster? So saith the Sun-Times…

Tribune Chairman Sam Zell has been trying to hold firm on his billion-dollar asking price, offering seller financing.

But sources said buyers are reacting coolly to that plan because they think a partnership with Tribune could be a disaster.

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Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The setup…

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Illinois secretary of state’s office does not have to issue specialty license plates bearing the slogan ‘’Choose Life'’ favored by anti-abortion forces.

Officials are within their rights in trying to keep either viewpoint on the emotional issue of abortion off of Illinois license plates, the court said, reversing a 2007 order.

‘’It is undisputed that Illinois has excluded the entire subject of abortion from its specialty plate program,'’ the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

‘’It has authorized neither a pro-life plate nor a pro-choice plate,'’ the court said. ‘’It has done so on the reasonable rationale that messages on specialty license plates give the appearance of having the government’s endorsement, and Illinois does not wish to be perceived as endorsing any position on abortion.'’

The entire opinion can be read at this link.

* The Question: Do you agree or disagree with the ruling? Explain fully, please.

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Illinois bennies from an Obama victory may be few

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The SouthtownStar dumps some much-needed cold water on all the “We’re gonna get us some pork!” cheerleading since Barack Obama’s Tuesday victory…

If we expect a pipeline of cash to flow to the Chicago area from the White House, we’re in for a surprise. […]

Since Election Day went to Barack Obama, locals have been busy dusting off their wish lists for the new president, writing down items such as a new Chicago Transit Authority circle line connecting the North and South Sides, an airport for the south suburbs and some extra dough to rebuild clogged expressways.

In Little Rock, Ark., home to President Bill Clinton, the presidential pork never came.

“That doesn’t happen,” said Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. […]

Rutherford could not point to one particular project delivered to his area while Clinton was president.

Arkansas politics is dirtier and more self-centered than ours in many ways, so if they didn’t get anything in Little Rock, we may not either.

* The Post-Dispatch’s story doesn’t throw cold water on the idea of an Illinois Obama boom, but does include some reservations…

“There will be some concrete benefits” for Illinois, predicted Leo Ribuffo, a presidential historian at George Washington University in Washington. Among predictions by some is a change to the federal formula for dispersing highway money, which doesn’t currently favor high-population states like Illinois.

“If anybody in Illinois expects a New Deal ‘works’ program like LaGuardia Airport (FDR’s gift to his home state of New York), they’re going to be disappointed,” said Ribuffo. “But undoubtedly, the connections will help somewhat. … It’s going to improve Chicago’s image.”

* The tourism angle is already getting some play, however…

In Chicago and Springfield, tourism officials already are scrambling to capitalize, putting together new advertising strategies built around Obama’s life story and Illinois’ role in it. The Illinois Bureau of Tourism is adding him to its online “Presidential Trail” feature, which already outlines the Illinois legacies of Lincoln and Grant, as well as Ronald Reagan’s birthplace.

It will outline “Obama’s life and journey throughout Illinois,” especially Springfield’s Old State Capitol, where he launched his presidential bid, said bureau spokeswoman Ashley Cross. “We think there will be national and international interest.”

* Related…

* Congressman Jackson for Obama’s seat

* Congressman Gutiérrez Wants Obama’s Senate Seat

* eBay gives some love to Obama, public gives little to Blagojevich

* A Presidential ‘Help Wanted’ Sign

* Introducing The New Chicago Seven

* Obama lets pals do the talking

* Local reps praise chief-of-staff pick

* ILLINOIZE: Yes Kids Can. And Boy, Did They.

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Gifters, grifters and the ignored potential for grafters

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The question isn’t what’s on the list, but what isn’t…

When you’re governor, people give you all sorts of things. An Al Franken book. An Abe Lincoln Christmas ornament. A sterling silver spoon.

And that’s just from givers who’ve been convicted of federal crimes or are under federal indictment.

Blagojevich has been given hundreds of gifts since taking office in 2003 — from politicians, lobbyists, self-published authors, unknown musicians, foreign dignitaries and since-convicted felons.

His office’s gift log stretches 56 pages, detailing $16,475 worth of goodies — most of which accumulate in his downtown Chicago office at the Thompson Center.

* There are some on the list who probably wish they weren’t because it could impact any future statewide bids…

* Comptroller Dan Hynes — book, Illinois 24/7, $24.95 (2004)

* State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) — “Serbian sausage and vegetable spread,” $9.50 (2005)

* State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias — Eli’s Cheesecake, $28 (2007)

Sure, they’re all noted Blagojevich critics. But a couple thousand advertising points can twist a $24.95 book into something totally different. Judy Baar Topinka was one of the most ethical politicians I’ve ever known and kept her distance from President Bush. But by the time Blagojevich’s ad campaign was finished with her in 2006, she was a George H. Ryan hack and a George W. Bush fangirl.

By the way, I’m probably on the guv’s gift list as well. I sent the governor an Elvis DVD this year. I bought the Vegas Comeback show (which has previously unseen footage) for my dad, so I figured I’d just get two of them.

The difference between myself and those three gifters above is I won’t have to explain that DVD during a campaign.

* The Sun-Times editorializes today on behalf of a capital plan, but doesn’t really say how we should fund it and dismisses real concerns over how the money will be distributed by the governor as mere intra-party bickering…

Illinois’ legislators convene in Springfield on Wednesday, likely their last session this year.

It’s easy to anticipate what will be on the agenda: bickering, recriminations and politicking.

It’s also easy to anticipate what won’t be: a desperately needed construction bill that would create jobs and rebuild roads, bridges, schools and mass transit across Illinois.

Sure, we need a capital plan. But does the Sun-Times trust the governor to hand out the projects? That’s the question.

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Cross, others queing up for 2010 bids

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Via the completely revamped and very cool looking Illinoize…

Interested in everyone’s thoughts on the new Draft Tom Cross website

Rumors have circulated for months that House GOP Leader Tom Cross is interested in a 2010 statewide bid. The message was first announced on a former staffer’s blog, which is not working at the moment. There is an admission on the new Cross blog that the website in question was, indeed, set up by Jake Parillo.

From the new Cross blog…

It’s Time for Tom is an effort to get Tom Cross, the Illinois House Minority Leader, to grab the mantle of the Illinois Republican Party and run for Governor in 2010. This movement has come out of a desire to drive change in the great state of Illinois. We’ve become fed up with the way things are: Governor Rod Blagojevich is rotten, Cook County Board Chair Todd Stroger is inept, and the Illinois Democratic Party is trying to install their sons and daughters into more leadership roles across the State.

Parillo even compares this effort to the draft Ike movement. A bit much, but whatever.

FYI, Cross’ House Republicans lost four seats last week and picked up one Democratic seat in a race that wasn’t contested by the HDem organization.

* Meanwhile…

A Democratic state senator from the Quad-Cities said he plans to spend the next three months traveling the state to determine whether he will run for governor in 2010.

Key to state Sen. Mike Jacobs’ decision will be whether he can raise enough money to compete against better-known foes.

“I think I will need to start with at least $1 million,” said Jacobs, an East Moline resident who has served in the Senate since 2005.

* More…

“If I can move into a higher office I think I can direct more money and resources back to my district,” Jacobs said.

* We’ve already talked about this one…

Bloomington Republican Senator Bill Brady on Thursday told his supporters in an e-mailed newsletter of his intentions to make another run for governor.

* Others…

State Sen. Christine Radagno is one of the other Republican names being talked about for Governor and State Sen. Dan Rutherford may run again for Secretary of State. DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett may run for Governor or Attorney General.

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Morning shorts

Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning

* War Veterans Honored

* Cook County job-ectomy

Those of us hoping for dramatic and immediate change are getting bad news and good news. The new health panel is asking for a $930 million budget for fiscal 2009—an increase of $77 million from 2008—and permission to hire more than 400 new workers, mostly doctors and nurses. But there are also plans to cut 900 positions—more about this in a moment—creating a net downsizing of 500. On Friday, the Cook County Board approved the plan, which will be included in the overall ‘09 county budget that County Board President Todd Stroger will propose.

* ILLINOIZE: Illinois TRS funded status drops

* Cities feel pinch of higher road salt prices

* Economic crisis takes toll on minds, bodies of Central Illinoisans

Stressed Central Illinoisans are experiencing pain, losing sleep, abusing drugs and alcohol, and arguing with their spouse and kids more than several months ago, according to professionals who deal with the aftermath of those problems

* Gas plunges below $2 a gallon in southern Illinois

* While others act on transit, city and state officials talk and the CTA waits

* Transit Budget Hearings Start Monday

* Jockeying for Metra seats more difficult with crowded field

* FAA may rule by year-end on Midway deal

* Developer brings Amtrak to his door

It was that second line that intrigued Gierczyk. He’s been working on getting a station for it for five years. The second line will have four New Buffalo stops a day, seven days a week — one in each direction in the morning and one in each direction in the afternoon.

The trip from Chicago to New Buffalo on the Amtrak line will be nonstop. One of the two trips back to Chicago will be nonstop, while the other would have flag stops in Michigan City and Hammond, Ind. The commute takes a little over an hour.

* Chicago Architectural Club announces winners of high-speed rail station design competition

* Consolidating Election Offices Could Cut Costs

The city of Chicago could save money by transferring its election board’s responsibilties to Cook County. Mayor Richard Daley says he’s open to the idea. But others are skeptical it can be done.

* State officials deny funding cut suspicion

State officials deny that suspicion of any wrongdoing led to the decision to cut all funding to the Galesburg Entrepreneurship Center.

* State makes grants for Alzheimer’s disease

The state of Illinois will make $190,000 in grants to help research, treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

The money comes from donations Illinois taxpayers made on their tax returns to the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Fund. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proclaimed November Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in Illinois.

* Car-deer collisions can kill

* It’s deer season – on the road

* SJ-R Opinion: Board members shouldn’t be in service ads

You might think Sangamon County Republicans, who have bragged lately about how well they run county government, would have the sense to avoid an outrageous practice that got statewide officials in trouble.

You would be wrong.

* Whooping cough outbreak in Rockford area

* Abuse survivors group slams George

On the eve of the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) on Sunday called for Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to resign as the organization’s president.