* Usually, bills based on extreme cases can get a bit outta hand. But there are lots of problems out there with visitation rights, with parents using children as weapons in nasty divorces. So, this may not be too unreasonable…
A bill that increases the penalties for parents who violate visitation agreements passed out of an Illinois House committee on Wednesday on a unanimous vote. The proposal now goes before the full House.
House Bill 1604 allows judges to impose fines and possible jail time if visitation is continually denied.
The so-called “Steven Watkins bill” stems from the 2008 case where Watkins was fatally shot when he went to pick up daughter Sidney, now 3, for a court-ordered visit in Ashland. Shirley Skinner, the grandmother of Watkins ‘ ex-wife, Jennifer Watkins , was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing and is serving a 70-year sentence.
Steven Watkins’ parents were granted visitation rights with Sidney, but Jennifer Watkins has not produced the girl for court-ordered visits.
* The bill does a lot more than impose fines and jail time. It grants judges a lot of new powers…
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code and the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Provides that the court, upon finding that a party engaged in visitation abuse, may: suspend the offending party’s Illinois driving privileges pursuant to the Illinois Vehicle Code until the court has determined that there has been sufficient compliance for a sufficient period of time with the court’s order concerning visitation and that full driving privileges shall be reinstated; order that the offending party be issued a family responsibility driving permit to allow limited driving privileges for employment and medical purposes; order that an entity that issued a professional license to the offending party suspend or revoke the party’s professional license for a period of no more than 6 months; and fine the party not more than $500 for each finding of visitation abuse. Provides that a finding of visitation abuse constitutes a change in circumstances for purposes of a modification of a custody judgment. Provides that if a parent has been previously found in contempt by the court for visitation abuse, the court may further: incarcerate the offending parent one day for each day of denied visitation; or require the offending party to post a $5,000 bond subject to forfeiture for the purpose of assuring compliance with future visitation.
* By the way, an arrest warrant has been issued for Jennifer Watkins because she defied a judge’s order...
A Cass County judge has ordered the arrest of the widow of the late Steven Watkins for not allowing visits between the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and the murdered man’s parents.
The visits between Sidney Watkins and her paternal grandparents, Dale and Penny Watkins, stopped Nov. 26 because the child and mother Jennifer Watkins reportedly moved to Florida.
Jennifer Watkins did not appear Tuesday at a hearing on multiple petitions that Dale and Penny Watkins’ attorneys filed seeking she be held in contempt of court and a warrant issued for her arrest.
Jennifer Watkins’ attorneys, Michael Goldberg of Chicago and Dan Fultz of Springfield, told Judge Bob Hardwick Jr. they do not know where she is and could not provide any defense because they have been unable to communicate with her.
Thoughts?
…Adding… This ruling may not go down well with some…
The First Amendment protects hateful protests at military funerals, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an 8-1 decision.
“Speech is powerful,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain.”
But under the First Amendment, he went on, “we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.” Instead, the national commitment to free speech, he said, requires protection of “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”
Illinois already has a law on its books restricting the protests (which were enacted because of those idiot cultists who protest at military funerals), but there was a push this year to strengthen it…
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, is backing legislation to discourage loud and threatening protests at funerals.
“Hateful rhetoric has no place at private ceremonies like funerals where mourners should be able to pay their final respects in peace,” said Mautino. “That right cannot be infringed, so we should do all we can to keep discouraging, despicable protests from taking place at funerals, especially when fallen soldiers are laid to rest.”
In response to demonstrations by a Kansas-based group that regularly protests the families and funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, including funerals in Illinois, in 2006 Mautino and the General Assembly passed the Let Them Rest in Peace Act — a law prohibiting anyone from protesting loudly, blocking access to and from any funeral and displaying threatening words or images 30 minutes before, during and 30 minutes after a funeral or memorial service.
Under current law, protesters cannot be within 200 feet of the entrance or exit of the cemetery or memorial facility. The law defines protesting as disorderly conduct, which includes loud protests of singing, chanting, whistling or yelling, and displaying any visual images that convey fighting words or actual or veiled threats against any other person.
* Who is your favorite Illinois politician who is not from the party you generally support? In other words, if you’re a Democrat, who is your fave Repub? Etc.
Let’s keep this confined to currently serving politicos, please. Thanks.
* This won’t cause any controversy and over-hyped misinterpretation at all. Nope…
The names of people authorized to own guns in Illinois is public information that the state must disclose, the attorney general has ruled.
The Illinois State Police determines who gets Firearm Owners Identification cards but has always kept the information confidential.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office issued a letter Monday rejecting state police arguments that releasing the information is an invasion of privacy prohibited by the state public-records law or that disclosure would endanger the lives of gun owners.
The State Police say they “respectfully disagree” with AG Madigan’s opinion, which was prompted by a FOIA request by the Associated Press.
* There aren’t any state laws which specifically keep the information private, but you can expect legislators will be moving measures to do so. Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Kirk Dillard already introduced a bill in January…
“In January I introduced legislation that would declare Firearm Owners Identification information private. I am urging Director Keen by letter to give lawmakers the opportunity to consider my legislation before making this information public,” Dillard said.
He said he is worried the information could be used by criminals and commercial solicitors.
“I will also ask Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan to expedite consideration on this landmark issue of privacy and public safety,” he said. “In this era of Big Brotherism, I am concerned that the list will not only be used by commercial solicitors, but could be used by criminals to identify which homes might contain a firearm, so they know which homes to systematically burglarize.
“The attorney general’s opinion will compromise firearm regulation if people are worried that their names will be identified, which could lead to more straw purchases of guns or total non-compliance,” Dillard said. “This is not about guns — it’s about privacy and public safety.”
Proponents of releasing the information argue that it’s a public policy issue. “There should be public scrutiny on any licensing system, whether it’s to own or to buy or to carry,” Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence told the Tribune. “The public has a right to know how well those systems are working, especially when it involves firearms.” But opponents of releasing the information, such as Todd Vandermyde, Illinois lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, think that if people know who has a card who doesn’t, those who own and don’t own firearms alike will become targets. “You potentially make us targets,” Vandermyde told the Tribune. “Or, on the inverse, you could say, ‘These are the homes that don’t have FOID cards so it’s likely they don’t have guns, so therefore they make better targets.’”
* But the fears appear to be at least somewhat overblown. From a Madigan letter to Illinois Review…
The only information our office has advised should be released is the FOID cardholder’s name and the effective date or expiration date of the card. No other personal information is to be released.
So, there won’t be any addresses released. Not even the names of towns would be listed.
State officials are investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents are breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turn away openly gay parents.
If they are found in violation, Lutheran Child and Family Services, Catholic Charities in five regions and the Evangelical Child and Family Agency will have to license openly gay foster parents or lose millions of state dollars, potentially disrupting more than 3,000 foster children in their care.
Though Illinois legislators championing the civil union bill earlier this year insisted that religious institutions would not be forced to bless same-sex unions, it said nothing about same-sex parents.
Now, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Gov. Pat Quinn’s legal team and the Department of Children and Family Services are carefully researching the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Civil Union Act and the Illinois Constitution to determine whether they prohibit agencies from considering sexual orientation as a factor in foster care and adoption. In Illinois, all adults who adopt or become foster care providers must obtain foster care licenses.
*** UPDATE *** The Illinois Policy Institute’s John O’Hara was on Chicago Tonight yesterday and said the real issue here was whether the country will have “two classes of people: a highly politically powerful, public employee unions and everyone else who pays for their salaries.” Watch…
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* One of the refugee legislators from Indiana was at the Illinois Statehouse last night and spoke briefly at a Senate Education Committee meeting…
[Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon] said she chose to stop by the education committee because the subject is “one of the reasons we’re fighting.”
“The most important thing that we can do is provide a free and quality education to our students,” Reardon said. “The fact that this governor in Indiana does not recognize the contributions that educators make is very disappointing to me”
State Sen. James Meeks, D-Chicago, chairman of the committee, used his microphone to ask the fleeing lawmaker: “Is there any kind of reward for you?” […]
Reardon said she would remain in Urbana, Ill., for “as long as it takes.”
I was at a different meeting and missed that one. But it’s kind of ironic that she stopped by an education hearing, considering what the Illinois Federation of Teachers thinks about a proposed education reform…
(T)he Illinois Federation of Teachers is watching a proposed legislation that they say is an attempt to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers.
“It’s actually worse than that Gov. Walker is proposing in Wisconsin,” said federation spokesman Dave Comerford. He said the proposal would make it so “the district could legally walk in and say they’re going to cut pay and there’s literally no recourse” for the unions.
The group responsible for the proposal, which was heard by a special committee convened by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), is supported by a coalition of child advocacy and business groups. While Comerford said they are by no means taking these measures for granted, “I think our lawmakers are watching what’s going on [in Madison] and saying they hope it won’t happen here.”
The leader of boycotting House Democrats plans to return to Indianapolis.
Spokesman John Schorg says House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer will return from Illinois to Indianapolis for a meeting on Wednesday, but it is not clear if the meeting will be with Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.
House Republican spokeswoman Tory Flynn says Bosma does not have any meeting scheduled with Bauer.
[Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville] said he was one of the Dems who met [Monday] with Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, near Kenosha. He said the meeting was cordial and Dems gave Fitzgerald a list of changes to the budget repair bill that they wanted.
Fitzgerald took the suggestions to the speaker and guv, and they exchanged counter offers later in the day, but couldn’t reach a compromise, Cullen said.
He said he spoke with Fitzgerald this morning, but it wasn’t a negotiating session.
“The door may be closed to the kinds of changes that we need,” Cullen said. “But I think the possibility of talking again will be there.”
* A first-hand look at Wisconsin lawmakers’ life on the lam - Democratic state senator Bob Jauch from Poplar and the rest of the 14 senators who escaped from Wisconsin spent parts of several days last week in the charming northern Illinois town of 22,000 where the movie “Groundhog Day” was filmed.
* Even Without Muni Bond Sale, Wisconsin Not in Fiscal Peril
* Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You: As anybody who has ever worked in any institution — private or public — knows, one of the primary ways employee effectiveness is judged is the performance review. And nothing could be less fair than that.
* Cook County law aimed at tax lawyers questioned: A Cook County ordinance aimed at Assessor Joe Berrios and the piles of money that tax attorneys threw at him during last year’s assessor’s race may be unconstitutional. That’s the opinion of the state’s attorney’s office, which in a Feb. 8 memo says campaign donation limits are a matter of state law, and the county ordinance “violates the separation of powers doctrine established in … the Illinois Constitution.“
* Lawyers warned their Berrios contributions could be illegal
* Foreman: Deadlocked Blago jurors held ‘reunion’: He says a lone holdout juror who prevented conviction on several serious charges helped organize the union but, at the last minute, wasn’t able to attend.
* Immigration crackdown nets 678 arrests, including 14 in Chicago area
* State’s universities urged to partner for more research funding - U. of I. board chief Kennedy calls for more cooperation with businesses and politicians
* Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis quits; Terry Hillard returns
* Agency says it has no file on 2000 complaint about doctor - Physician now seeks to have court records of another incident sealed
This article concludes that legislation enacted to unilaterally reduce the pension benefits of current employees would violate the Pension Clause based on the Clause’s text and origins, constitutional convention debates revealing the framers’ intent, contemporaneous news articles demonstrating voters’ understanding of the Clause, and a host of court decisions construing the Clause.
This circumstance, coupled with the fact that the legislature already had a poor track record of making its actuarially-required pension contributions, caused public employee groups to lobby Convention delegates to include the Pension Clause. These groups reasoned that constitutional protection was necessary because the General Assembly would renege on its pension obligations to public servants during a financial crisis. Convention delegates agreed and included the Clause to foreclose that result.
* Can benefits be unilaterally changed by the General Assembly for current employees? Madiar says no…
The article finds that the Pension Clause not only makes a public employee’s participation in a pension system an enforceable contractual relationship, but also constitutionally protects the pension benefit rights contained in the Illinois Pension Code when an employee joins a pension system, including employee contribution rates. The Clause also safeguards pension benefit enhancements that are later added during employment. Further, the Clause ensures that pensions will be paid even if a pension system defaults or is on the verge of default.
* However, there is a way to change those benefits. And it involves that new national bugaboo word “collective bargaining”…
(W)hile the Clause bars the General Assembly from adversely changing the benefit rights of current employees via unilateral action, these rights are “contractual” in nature and may be modified through contractual principles. In sum, while welching on public pension promises is not an option for Illinois as some legal and civic commentators have suggested, legitimate contract principles provide a solution to mitigate this crisis.
That looks to be the Senate Democrats’ stance for the spring session: It’s up to the governor to negotiate any pension changes with the public worker unions.
* 2:15 pm - If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…
It took two years, but Jonathon Monken finally got approval from the Illinois Senate to be director of a state agency. But he’ll be in charge of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, not the Illinois State Police.
The West Point graduate’s nomination, sponsored by state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, sailed through the committee Tuesday on a unanimous vote, with no questions from the committee members. It later passed 52-1 in the full Senate, making the appointment official.
“You’re going to do good in your new position,” Sen. Antonio Munoz, D-Chicago, the committee’s chariman, told Monken.
Sen. Munoz was one of those who held up Monken’s nomination for State Police Director. Nobody thought the war hero Monken was a bad guy. They just didn’t believe a non-cop should be running the ISP.
Discuss, but try to avoid petty, personal attacks. I really don’t like it when state employees do that, and I don’t have time to, um, police you this afternoon.
* Meanwhile, Illinois did well in a recent Site Selection magazine ranking. From a press release…
The state of Illinois and Chicago today were named among the top 10 locations for new and expanded corporate facilities. Illinois ranked eighth among states and Chicago first in the metropolitan areas category in the annual analysis by Site Selection magazine, one of the nation’s premiere corporate real estate and economic development publications. […]
In 2010, Illinois had 205 corporate facilities locate or expand in the state. Illinois joins Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Georgia on the list of the top ten states with the most locations and expansions. With 184 projects, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metro area topped the list of cities in the tier one, top ten metropolitan areas list. Illinois companies that have relocated or seen significant expansions this year include Navistar, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Ford and Groupon, among others.
Legislation that two Elgin police officers helped draft will come before state lawmakers later this week.
Lt. Jeff Adam and Officer Chris Jensen are the force behind House Bill 1258, which, on top of other penalties associated with such crimes, would fine those convicted or placed on supervision for delivering or manufacturing cannabis, controlled substances or methamphetamine for costs associated with their arrest.
Jensen said such drug arrests can cost cities such as Elgin thousands of dollars in labor-related expenses, including overtime. .
Illinois has a similar law allowing locals to recoup DUI arrests after convictions.
* The Question: Should the Illinois General Assembly approve this bill which allows the police to recover costs for drug arrests? Take the poll and then explain your answer in coments. Thanks…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is the new finance chair of the Democratic Governors Association, I’m told, responsible for raising millions of dollars from across the country to help bankroll upcoming governor contests.
Quinn was tapped for what is his first big national political role by DGA chairman Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Taking on the finance chair chores means Quinn will travel more around the country to raise Democratic cash.
At one-time seen as reluctant to be involved in major fund-raising, Quinn stepped up to the plate when it came to his battle to win election on his own in 2010, after becoming governor after Rod Blagojevich was impeached in 2009. Quinn raised $23 million in what was a brutal Democratic primary and general election campaign against Illinois State Sen. Bill Brady.
There are four governor contests in 2011: Republicans are governor in Mississippi and Louisiana and Democrats hold the seats in Kentucky and West Virginia.
He really needs to finish fixing some of the bigger problems at home before taking on these added, partisan responsibilities. But, he’s tight with public employee unions, which contributed heavily to his campaign last year. And he’s spoken vigorously on their behalf during the Wisconsin/Indiana turmoils. For instance…
“It’s a war on workers: You know, the people who teach our kids, who plow the snow off our interstates,” Quinn Monday said on MSNBC. “Those are working men and women and they deserve a decent pay and decent retirement. They’ve already given up concessions in that area.
“The right to have a union and collectively bargain – about your conditions, working conditions – that’s a fundamental American right,” he said. “So what Governor Scott Walker’s doing in Wisconsin is just plain wrong. and I think he’s going to realize it. The people of America are not on his side.
“He didn’t show up at our governors’ conference here in Washington,” Quinn continued. “I think that he knows even Republican governors – many of them know – that he’s on the wrong track and he’s not going to help working people and middle class people retain a good job in America.” […]
“We’re not going to give in and roll over here,” Quinn said. “The governor of Wisconsin is just plain wrong. I noticed today – this past couple days – many other Republican governors are not buying into this trying to bash unions, and bust unions, and hurt working people. That’s not what America is all about. We believe in hard work and rewarding that with decent pay and a decent retirement.”
Those unions have big bucks and the DGA will likely use Quinn to get their cash for Democratic candidates.
Also, it’s a bit of an irony that the DGA is tapping Quinn to raise money now, after having to run TV ads for him last summer because his campaign apparatus was stuck in low gear.
*** UPDATE *** I meant to post this below the census data and forgot. Charlie Cook’s team gamed out a possible new IL congressional district map. Click the pic for a larger version…
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Sun-Times ran a storythis week about how the horse racing industry is dying. The paper’s charts paint a dismal picture…
* Scott Stantis’ recent cartoon contained a chart with graphs…
Tuesday, Mar 1, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
AARP strongly supports House Bill 96 and Senate Bill 144. These bills would repeal a discriminatory unemployment law in Illinois that unfairly penalizes laid-off workers who receive Social Security benefits. It is called the Social Security unemployment “offset” and Illinois is now one of only two states in the nation (along with Louisiana) that has never taken action to repeal the law.
People who receive Social Security work because their Social Security payment is decidedly not enough to live on. To further penalize these workers by unfairly reducing their unemployment benefits is simply wrong. These are individuals who have worked and fueled the Illinois economy, but then become victims of both age and economic discrimination when they lose their jobs.
These bipartisan bills would repeal the unemployment law in Illinois that classifies one-half of an older adult’s Social Security payment as disqualifying income for purposes of receiving unemployment benefits.
AARP, on behalf of its 1.7 million Illinois members, is urging lawmakers to support these bills.
* Rod Blagojevich’s PR guy responds to questions about the convicted felon’s invitation to speak to a national group of high school kids…
The governor has many supporters who admire his courage to take on the system and challenge the allegations with all he’s got. He’s spent a career fighting duplicitous politicians and for government transparency. He has passionately pursued issues that impact ordinary, hard-working people.
His tenacity both as a politician and as a man earned him a spot to address the JSA regional conference and he’s looking forward to speaking to the youngsters.
Blagojevich is one of the most well-known politicians of our time. We have to learn from the actions of the corrupt. We can’t shelter ourselves from reality. If we want to end corruption, we have to learn from the corrupt.
The man is an accomplished snake charmer. There’s not much to “learn” from him except not to do what he did. And you don’t need to invite him to appear at a conference to know that. A half an hour on the Internet would suffice.
* It’s obvious from the PR flak’s statements that Blagojevich intends to offer up a full-throated self defense on the eve of his second trial. Take a look at Blagojevich’s website to see how he promotes himself…
Since his controversial ousting from office, Rod Blagojevich has refused to be silent.
The twice elected former governor of Illinois has insisted he is innocent of all charges since his arrest in December, 2008.
Now he continues his mission to prove to the world he did not betray his family, friends and the Illinois voters.
His crusade for justice and his uncanny ability to deal with adversity has made him an in-demand public speaker where he consistently draws huge crowds.
Look for Quinn to sign off [this] week on legislation to abolish the death penalty.
Quinn telegraphed his support for the proposal during a chat with reporters Wednesday.
Supporters of the abolition effort began hearing inklings of a news event surrounding the signing last week. The likely location: Northwestern University, home of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
* Meanwhile, former Gov. George Ryan talked about his decision to empty death row during a just released deposition. Some excerpts…
* “The families of the victims were just brutal. They threw stuff at me when I stood on the podium and swore at me and, you know, called me all kinds of names when I hadn’t really made up my mind about what I was going to do and told them that,” Ryan said of family members related to victims of crimes.
* At one point Ryan admitted spending as little as 10 minutes on petitions but at another point he said he burned the midnight oil pondering decisions.
* ”How can governors say we’re going to kill these people and then ask a state employee to go down and pull the switch. Who are those people to make that determination?” Ryan says.
* Ryan said he made pardon decisions based on evidence and discussions with staff. “When there was evidence there, I weighed the evidence and came up with what I thought was the best response to that evidence. I never dealt in hypothetical cases, and I don’t want to do it here.” […]
# Ryan said what propelled him to clear out Death Row and offer a slew of pardons before he left office stemmed from the case of Andrew Porter, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 15 years. “I turned to my wife, and I said, how the hell does that happen?” Ryan said of watching the events on the TV news. “How does an innocent man sit on death row for 15 years and gets no relief except for the students of journalism, not law students, students of journalism at Northwestern University? Tell me how that happens. And that piqued my interest, Anthony Porter. And I followed that case right through to commutation of 167 guys. I thought it was 177. Whatever it was. And that’s what triggered me. I still can’t believe it.”
He appeared to blow up when the city attorney linked the timing of Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty to when the governor was first questioned by authorities concerning the federal probe. […]
But Ryan couldn’t keep quiet. “You’re here to talk to me about the Walden pardon,” he said. “What the hell does my indictment got to do with it?”
A short time later, when the attorney asked again about the criminal investigation, Ryan threatened to leave.
“I’m about ready to walk out of here, and you can do what the hell ever you want to do,” he said. “Send me to jail if you want. I’m not going to put up with that. If that’s — if that’s what you’re here for, and I’m starting to believe that it is.”
Indeed, Illinois residents would gladly trade positions with the people of Wisconsin.
Yeah. OK. And pay higher income taxes, live in a cultural desert and endure massive social unrest and a Republican governor who makes Bill Brady look like Dawn Clark Netsch? Gotcha. Right. Check. That’ll go over extremely well. [/Snark]
* The reason the News-Gazette claims we’d all like to trade positions with the Cheeseheads is that our state has a bigger budget deficit than they do.
But what I’d really like to know from the paper is what major state spending they’d like to see reduced in their own area. What U of I schools should be shuttered? What community college campuses should be closed? How much should class sizes grow in area K-12 schools? Which local families should lose their Medicaid, and which doctors, hospitals and nursing homes should be paid less? Which Champaign-Urbana domestic violence shelters, substance abuse centers and childcare programs should be closed? What newspaper industry tax breaks - on everything from ink, to newsprint to machinery - will the News-Gazette give up?
* This is the sort of empty rhetoric we see all the time from newspaper editorial boards. But none ever offers to sacrifice themselves. In fact, there’s a huge push on right now to block a bill in the General Assembly that would kill off a sacred government subsidy. From the Illinois Press Association…
Industry must rally against Public Notice bill
The introduction of HB 1869 in the Illinois House of Representatives has created a rumble through the Illinois newspaper industry that could be equated to kicking a hornet’s nest. The subsequent response from Illinois publishers to the IPA’s “call to action” has been tremendous and it appears certain that response will not calm down until this bill is defeated.
In short, HB 1869 would remove full-text publication of public notices from newspapers and allow government entities to post them on their own websites. The coalition behind this bill —eight groups comprised of elected officials from townships, school boards, county officials, etc. — are claiming this is a cost-cutting move necessitated by their tight operating budgets. They also claim circulation has decreased so significantly to the point of newspapers being obsolete and, also, that the Internet is now the better and preferred place for public notices.
Several newspapers have published editorials blasting the proposal since the IPA cranked up the opposition. But state and local governments spend a ton of cash on these notices, and few papers put the notices online. Since fewer and fewer people are reading dead tree editions, they won’t see the public notices.
It’s the same old story. “Cuts for thee, but not for me.”
* Illinois corn yield decreases 10 percent: U.S. reserves of corn have hit their lowest level in more than 15 years, reflecting tighter supplies that will lead to higher food prices in 2011. Increasing demand for corn from the ethanol industry is a major reason for the decline.
* Illinois requests federal aid for winter storm costs
* Strike avoided as Caterpillar, UAW reach tentative deal
* New Metra CEO outlines reforms - Pagano’s successor vows ‘zero tolerance’ for ethics violations
* Trains will travel through stations during boarding: A policy preventing trains from rolling past a station while another train is boarding passengers will end Tuesday at some stations on Metra’s Union Pacific West Line.
* Details, details: Sneed hears rumbles Loop lawyer Matthew Hynes, a brother of former state Comptroller Dan Hynes and member of a politically powerful Southwest Side family, heads the list to become Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s chief of staff.
* Poor Showings Leave Black Candidates Blaming Media in Chicago Mayoral Race
* Rhymefest’s raps become campaign fodder in aldermanic race: In his songs, Grammy-winner Che “Rhymefest” Smith spits and stutters curse words, homophobic slurs and the N-word. He sometimes busts rhymes about shooting guns and selling drugs. In his song, “Chicago” — a tale of his hometown where he’s running for 20th Ward alderman — Rhymefest raps, “Ain’t sorry that I did it/ I’m sorry I got caught.”
* Defense calls prosecution ‘incredibly reckless’: McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi is free on his own recognizance after being indicted for a second time along with two of his investigators.
