* Bad budget news is buried during Obama’s acceptance speech…
Thirteen state historic sites and 11 parks will close, and human services will be affected as the Blagojevich administration said Thursday it will lay off 325 workers.
The tourist attractions include the reconstructed log cabin of Abraham Lincoln’s father and stepmother near Charleston, set to close Oct. 1, just five months before the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth.
Four state agencies will cut their work forces this fall because of the $1.4 billion Gov. Rod Blagojevich took out of a state budget he said wasn’t balanced. The cuts include 179 positions at the Department of Children and Family Services and 73 at the Department of Human Services. Another 127 DCFS workers will keep their jobs but be moved to positions or areas where there are vacancies.
* Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park
* Illini State Park near Marseilles
* Wolf Creek State Park
* Castle Rock State Park, Oregon
* Lowden State Park, Oregon
* Hidden Springs State Forest, Strasburg
* Channahon Parkway State Park, Channahon
* Gebhard Woods State Park, Morris
* Kickapoo State Park, Oakwood
* Moraine View State Park, Leroy
* Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton
STATE HISTORIC SITES
* Lincoln’s New Salem, Petersburg: Will open seven days per week starting in spring 2009 using funds from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The site is currently open five days per week, and received 432,176 visitors in 2007.
* Lincoln Tomb, Springfield: Will open seven days per week starting in spring 2009 using funds from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The site is currently open seven days per week but will reduce operations to five days per week starting September 1 due to the layoff of seasonal workers. The Tomb had 339,073 visitors in 2007.
* Old State Capitol, Springfield: Will open seven days per week starting in spring 2009 using funds from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The site is currently open five days per week, and had 109,254 visitors in 2007.
* Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices, Springfield: Will open seven days per week in spring 2009 using funds from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. The site is currently open on Saturdays only and had 37,774 visitors in 2007.
* Dana-Thomas House, Springfield: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 41,045 visitors in 2007.
* Vachel Lindsay Home, Springfield: Will be open on a limited schedule, with hours to be determined by staff at the Old State Capitol who also manage this site. The site is currently open on Saturdays only, and had 2,472 visitors in 2007.
* Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville: The site will remain open five days per week. It had 329,428 visitors in 2007.
* Lewis and Clark, Hartford: The site will remain open five days per week, and had 96,188 visitors in 2007.
* Ulysses S. Grant Home, Washburne House and Old Market House, Galena: The Grant Home will remain open five days per week using funds from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. The Washburne House and the Old Market House will remain open on their current schedules using volunteers: Washburne House, open Fridays only; Old Market House, open five days per week. These Galena sites had 113,328 visitors in 2007.
* Douglas Tomb, Chicago: The site will remain open five days per week. The sole employee lives on-site and is needed to provide security. The site had 13,456 visitors in 2007.
* Pullman, Chicago: The site will not be impacted. It will remain open by appointment only. The sole employee maintains the collections, works with volunteers and provides security.
* Black Hawk, Rock Island: The Hauberg Indian Museum will close October 1, but the natural areas and lodge will remain open five days per week. The site had 138,668 visitors in 2007.
* Lincoln Log Cabin, near Charleston: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 82,735 visitors in 2007.
* David Davis Mansion, Bloomington: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 49,468 visitors in 2007.
* Fort de Chartres, Prairie du Rocher: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 38,100 visitors in 2007.
* Vandalia Statehouse, Vandalia: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 31,690 visitors in 2007.
* Bishop Hill Museum, Colony Church and Bjorklund Hotel: These three buildings will close October 1 but will be open on a limited basis for special events. They are currently open five days per week, and had 19,551 visitors in 2007.
* Carl Sandburg, Galesburg: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 8,598 visitors in 2007.
* Cahokia Courthouse, Cahokia: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. It is currently open five days per week, and had 8,414 visitors in 2007.
* Bryant Cottage, Bement: The site will close October 1 but will open on a limited basis for special events. The site is currently open four days per week, and had 5,176 visitors in 2007.
* Jubilee College, near Brimfield: The site will close October 1. It is currently open five days per week, and had 72,780 visitors in 2007.
* Apple River Fort, Elizabeth: The site will close October 1. It is currently open five days per week, and had 24,693 visitors in 2007.
* Fort Kaskaskia and Pierre Menard Home, Ellis Grove: These two sites, including the campground at Fort Kaskaskia, will close October 1. These sites are currently open five days per week, and had 23,086 visitors in 2007.
* Mt. Pulaski Courthouse, Mt. Pulaski, and Postville Courthouse, Lincoln, will remain open four days per week, and Metamora Courthouse, Metamora will remain open five afternoons per week. These sites are operated with volunteers.
As his sentencing nears, pressure is mounting on Tony Rezko to cooperate with federal investigations into some of the highest-profile politicians in the state — including Gov. Blagojevich. […]
Now, sources tell the Chicago Sun-Times that Rezko has been seen at the federal courthouse as many as a dozen times since his June conviction. He’s been held since then at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
A state panel Wednesday urged Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration to cancel a multimillion-dollar deal to rent office space from a politically connected developer whose family has been a major donor to the governor.
Under the lease, the state is paying downtown Chicago rental rates—more than $19 per square foot—for a building in economically depressed Harvey that was conceived as a model center for child welfare agencies but never reached its potential.
The lease is at the center of what has been a quiet but intense fight between the Blagojevich administration, which sought to sweeten and extend the contract, and a little-known oversight panel.
“It is a bad situation, and every month we delay, the taxpayers of Illinois are paying money for no reason,” said Edward Bedore, a member of the Procurement Policy Board who calls the deal “outrageous.”
Here’s the rest of the story on Gov. Blagojevich’s announcement this week that he wants to “rock the system” with new ethics reforms:
The West Side building where the governor held his news conference was once co-owned by Ali D. Ata. That would be the same Ali Ata who has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges involving Rezko, a former Blagojevich adviser and campaign fund-raiser.
Blagojevich hired Ata to head the Illinois Finance Authority in January 2004 even though Ata and three partners didn’t pay the mortgage on the 3500 W. Grand building they’d been leasing to the state and had been foreclosed upon in September 2003. In the 10 years before the foreclosure, Ata and his partners had taken in $3.2 million in rent from taxpayers.
At Rezko’s trial, Ata — a onetime Rezko business partner — testified he made hefty campaign contributions to Blagojevich, at Rezko’s urging, to land his state post. Blagojevich has denied that the contributions were behind Ata’s hiring.
State Sen. Rev. James Meeks said on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co., that he would continue to push his boycott of the first day of school in Chicago.
However, in Chicago, dozens of parents said the idea was not for them, and would walk their children to class, NBC5’s Dick Johnson reported.
“On the first day of school, we are going to work to make sure that 100 percent of Chicago Public School children are in school on that first day,” said Phillip Jackson of the Black Star Project. […]
“I talked to the governor last night, I talked to the speaker yesterday,” Meeks said. “They said that sometime this (Wednesday) morning, we’ll schedule a time to meet.”
Layoffs, furloughs and a hiring freeze are being implemented by Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes to cope with cuts made to his office budget by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The comptroller - just the latest among statewide elected officials to implement such measures - is also offering incentives for workers to retire early in hopes of avoiding even further involuntary cuts.
* Related…
* “If you do things the right way, pay your dues, you get to be Dan Rostenkowski — you don’t get to be president,” said Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “Chicago politics is not geared to producing presidents — it produces aldermen and mayors.”
* A New York financial services firm that employs Mayor Daley’s nephew stands to make millions if the mayor gets his way and the Chicago Children’s Museum moves from Navy Pier to Grant Park.
* Maybe the good people of Denver should leave Chicago pizza to Chicagoans
* The 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield has ruled that a hospital in Urbana has to pay property taxes. The court agreed with the state Department of Revenue and local tax authorities, who contend that Provena Covenant Medical Center doesn’t provide enough charity care to be tax exempt.
* I think I made a mistake by not going to the convention…
An emotional U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. called on warring Democrats to unite Wednesday at their national convention and said he wouldn’t be satisfied unless Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan hugged.
On a makeshift stage at the hotel where the Illinois delegation is staying, Madigan got up and walked toward Blagojevich and the two hugged.
The moment came after Jackson teared up when he hugged Mayor Richard Daley, saying he had tried to get to know the mayor for 14 years. Just two years ago Jackson was incessantly criticizing Daley as he explored and then backed away from a potential challenge in the 2007 mayor’s race.
Jackson also hugged Debbie Halvorson, with whom he’s been sparring publicly, and Bobby Rush.
What a morning at the IL delegation breakfast at the Denver Marriott! Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. talked about reconciliation and bringing the IL democratic party together. He pointed out Congressman Bobby Rush and jumped off the podium to reconcile. They hugged on the floor which was a very powerful moment. He then called out Michael Sneed of the Sun-Times and reconciled with the media. In the video below, he starts by asking if there is anyone else he should reconcile with since he’s on a roll. Mayor Daley surprisingly steps forward and hugs Congressman Jackson Jr. That’s just the beginning of one of the biggest stories of the IL delegation here at the DNC.
Illinois delegates have been wondering how the tension between Gov. Rod Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan will play out when both of the state party leaders showed up in the same room at the Democratic National Convention.
But they were all smiles and yucking it up Tuesday afternoon during a long private chat after the governor arrived fashionably late at an Illinois reception hosted by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. […]
The speaker’s 22-year-old son, Andrew, may have played the role of intermediary or at least a neutral topic of discussion as the governor asked about his new career in real estate with Mesirow Financial Corp.
Andrew is a born conciliator. The governor has told me before that the thing he respects most about Mike Madigan is the way he’s raised his son, Andrew, and the relationship the two have with each other.
Mr. Madigan and Mr. Blagojevich were, typically, in separate corners of the room when Mr. Madigan’s former chief of staff, Gary LaPaille, went and talked to each man and then, eventually, pulled them together.
Messrs LaPaille and Madigan themselves have feuded for years. But according to sources who asked not to be named, Mr. LaPaille told his ex-boss that if the two of them could talk together, so could Mr. Madigan and Mr. Blagojevich. In that conversation, sources said, the speaker agreed to take a second look at the governor’s proposed capital program, which has been stalled in Mr. Madigan’s House.
A Madigan-LaPaille rapproachment is even more unlikely than a Madigan-Blagojevich truce, so this was truly something out of the ordinary.
Blagojevich also acknowledged that [he and Speaker Madigan] discussed the possibility of meeting, as early as Wednesday, on a proposal put forth by Sen. James Meeks to provide about $40 million to a pilot program of giving extra help to some schools in high poverty areas in Chicago and around the state.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Rep. David Miller and Senate President Emil Jones have been on the outs for years. But the on-stage hugging was apparently contagious. From a Rep. Miller press release…
This morning Illinois Senate President Emil Jones and I put aside our political differences and embraced. I witnessed the coming together (and embracing), of Congressman Jackson and Mayor Daley. And, most notably, Governor Blagojevich, and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, who have been at odds, embraced one another after hearing Jackson’s compelling call for Party unity. It was a symbol that goes beyond description.
Does it mean Illinois Democrats will move forward on a road and infrastructure construction bill and other other issues gridlocked in Springfield since Blagojevich and Madigan stopped communicating?
Maybe not.
Madigan huddled with Blagojevich for 20 minutes at a Daley party Tuesday — the first talk between the two in a while — then Madigan huddled with Meeks at this morning’s breakfast. But after the celebrated hug, Madigan left the breakfast refusing to take any questions.
Madigan’s spokesman threw cold water on the idea of reading anything substantive into the “symbolic gesture” of a hug.
Meeks said he had no word on whether a lengthier meeting would happen. He said his first-day-of-school boycott will go ahead Tuesday unless state leaders agree to free up $120 million for schools in poorer districts.
Blagojevich doubted an agreement could be reached by Tuesday and urged Meeks to call off his boycott anyway.
“Notwithstanding the love fest you just saw, and all the hugging and kissing, I can’t commit Speaker Madigan or Senate President Jones to something,” Blagojevich said. “I don’t know that it’s physically possible to round everybody up.”
But Blagojevich said he was optimistic the hug might turn out to be more than just a symbolic gesture. The governor at first refused to discuss what he and Madigan said to each other at Daley’s party.
“I did ask him, ‘I hear that you’re prepared to meet with us and Rev. Meeks,’ and he said he would,” Blagojevich said.
It remained to be seen whether Wednesday’s reconciliation would survive the delegation’s return to Illinois.
“I just wonder if it’s the altitude,” Blagojevich said later, referring to Denver’s thin mountain air. “We’ll find out when we get back home.”
*** UPDATE 6 *** If you’re watching tonight’s convention coverage, you’ll see that as of 6:10 pm, Speaker Madigan and Gov. Blagojevich are sitting next to each other at the convention. Dan Hynes is next to Blagojevich on the other side.
