* Excessive?…

A Champaign man faces up to 30 years in prison after being convicted of spitting on a jail guard.

A jury on Tuesday convicted 25-year-old Emmanuel Chapple of aggravated battery for spitting on officer Craig Wakefield on Jan. 14 as Wakefield walked past Chapple’s cell.

Chapple’s previous drug-related convictions mean he can be sentenced as what’s called a Class X Felon. That requires a mandatory six to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 25.

* This FOIA request may be asking for too much…

The University of Illinois asked for a stay Tuesday on a federal court ruling that it contends would threaten the privacy of student records.

The UI also said a March 9 order by Judge Joan B. Gottschall could result in the loss of millions of dollars in federal funds the UI receives every year. […]

But Gottschall ruled that FERPA does not require that applicants’ names, grade point averages and admissions test scores be withheld.

“The only question presented by this lawsuit is whether FERPA ’specifically prohibits’ the requested disclosure. The court must follow the command of the Illinois Supreme Court to construe the exemptions to FOIA narrowly. FERPA does not specifically prohibit Illinois from doing anything, so the university may not use federal law as authority to withhold the records,” Gottschall wrote. […]

“This basically negates FERPA completely,” said UI lawyer Samuel Skinner, a former Secretary of Transportation. “We’re concerned it erodes all kinds of privacy rights, and leads on a slippery slope” to such consequences as identity theft.

But Don Craven, general counsel to the Illinois Press Association, agreed with the Tribune’s argument that is seeking the records of applicants, not students.

I don’t think I feel all that comfortable with the media having access to student GPAs and admission test scores.

* But keeping all this information secret seems excessive in the other direction…

Tribune lawyers filed court papers asking that the “wholesale filing of pleadings under seal,” stop [in the ongoing Rod Blagojevich trial process].

Attorneys say that since Feb. 22, 16 court filings were made in secret. The attorneys say there was no attempt to keep even portions of those filings in the public. In the filings they cited, Blagojevich’s lawyers filed original pleadings in secret and the government subsequently resigned

“A long line of Supreme Court decisions recognize a presumptive right of public access to the criminal justice system - including specifically pretrial pleadings and hearings, which often are as important as the trial itself,” attorneys for the Chicago Tribune wrote.

* Is this bill really necessary?…

To the chagrin of state regulators, extensive cemetery reforms enacted in the wake of the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal could be erased under a measure pending before the Illinois Senate.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago), would eliminate many of the regulations imposed on cemeteries that were ushered in as part of the Cemetery Oversight Act just last year. If approved, only large, for-profit cemeteries would face the stiffer regulations enacted in the wake of scandal.

Those reforms required a numeric database tracking system for every grave in Illinois. It also required funeral homes to witness burials and required the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to license cemetery operators.

After Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced allegations of widespread grave-reselling and mismanagement at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Gov. Pat Quinn appointed a Cemetery Oversight Task Force to propose reforms to the burial industry. At the time, Chicago’s south suburbs had the dubious honor of the most complaints of any region in the state. […]

Now that Burr Oak is on track to become a not-for-profit cemetery — should stakeholders vote to confirm its bankruptcy reorganization plan — the historic black cemetery no longer would be subject to regulation, Dart said.

* A House committee apparently believed this idea was unnecessary yesterday…

A plan to remove all the Metra board members from their posts and strip away future members’ salaries, pensions and benefits was rejected by a House committee Monday.

The plan, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks, was filed in response to the misspending of former Metra CEO Phil Pagano, who committed suicide, as well as expenses made by board members that he called questionable.

“Metra has become a culture of entitlement that lacks accountability,” the Marengo Democrat said.

His fellow lawmakers disagreed with Franks’ methods, rejecting his proposal by a 6-16 vote.

* Related…

* ICC judge recommends 3% ComEd rate hike

* Public records law could see restrictions

* House approves nonbinding referendums for schools

* Blagojevich to make statement today at 5 p.m. in front of his home

* ADDED: Audit finds more financial troubles at Chicago St. U.

* ADDED: House panel OKs curbs on using FOIA for commercial gain

* ADDED: Illinois House passes trans fats ban