Friday, Sep 11, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The final results are in and as many analysts have noted, “Exelon was the big winner in this year’s [PJM grid capacity} auction.” Here are the highlights:
$1.7 BILLION RATE INCREASE FOR EXELON – Exelon engineered the new rules to increase their profits. Their $1.7 BILLION reward will be paid for by struggling Illinois ratepayers.
Byron and Quad Cities Both Cleared the Auction and are Obligated to Run Well into the Future
Exelon’s Low Carbon Portfolio Standard would have raised $1.6 billion over 5 ½ years for Exelon. The Capacity markets, under Exelon-pushed rules, earned Exelon $1.7 billion over only three years.
Illinois doesn’t have a balanced budget, service providers are being decimated and real people across Illinois are hurting. It’s time for Exelon to take their HUGE $1.7 BILLION WINDFALL and stop asking legislators to keep padding their profits.
Enough is enough!
Just Say “NO” to the Exelon Bailout
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visit www.noexelonbailout.com.
Fed up with mass shootings and the recent violence against law enforcement officers, state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, announced Thursday he would file legislation to restore the death penalty in extremely violent cases.
“As a former state’s attorney, I understand the complexities of seeking the death penalty for individuals who have committed heinous crimes,” said Haine. “I have been shocked and appalled by the recent killings we have seen in churches and of police officers. The reality is there are some crimes in which the death penalty should be an option for a jury of our citizens to consider.”
He added, “Those who take the life of officers, or engage in mass killings, need to face the appropriate consequences.”
The legislation would restore the death penalty as a sentence option for those convicted of serial killings, heinous murders of a child, of an elderly person or of a person with a disability, murders of crime witnesses, correctional officers and law enforcement officials, the statement said.
* The Question: Do you support a limited restoration of the death penalty? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Video of State Rep. Litesa Wallace’s floor speech last week defending the state’s child care assistance program has gone truly viral, with over 2.7 million views on Facebook and more than 129,000 shares.
* GOP Congressman Bob Dold won during two off-year elections and lost during a presidential election. He recently told the Daily Herald why he will win in the upcoming presidential year…
For one, Illinoisan Barack Obama won’t be at the top of the ticket next year to draw local Democratic voters, and U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is set to be in a spirited re-election race that might draw Republicans to the polls, Dold said.
Kirk formerly held Dold’s congressional seat and is “obviously extremely popular in the 10th District,” Dold said.
Plus, he says, the state GOP is stronger now after Gov. Bruce Rauner’s victory last year.
“The Illinois Republican Party in 2012 was basically nonexistent,” Dold told the Daily Herald editorial board during a visit Thursday.
Michele Miller, executive director of Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living, warned in July that the agency’s contingency plan was to close temporarily, then cut down on staff and limp by on reserves when it returned to operation this month.
NICIL shuttered its doors at 412 Locust St. in Sterling for the first time in 30 years as the best route to conserve money, Miller said.
It recently reopened, and business has been limited so far – she’s brought back two people, but because of the budget struggle, some NICIL workers have quit to take other jobs, she said.
That’s one of the least noticed aspects of this impasse. Good people, well-trained people just can’t deal with the financial stress and leave to find other jobs or don’t wait around to be re-hired. And it’s expensive and time consuming to replace them.
We really are destroying our not-for-profit infrastructure one group at a time.
[Sara Pasley of Dixon, an early intervention developmental therapist] carries a caseload of 25 children. She works with the state, but isn’t a contractor. In fact, the government considers her more of a vendor, and she is paid according to an agreement.
But the state is asking such providers to continue working, although the paychecks have stopped going out. Pasley last was paid in June, she said, and the sudden death last year of her husband Mike, a popular social studies teacher in Amboy, left her as the family’s lone income.
And her cash savings will run out in October.
How we expect these folks - who perform jobs that most of us wouldn’t ever go near - to operate under such conditions is literally beyond me.
* Related…
* Op-Ed: Stop waging political battles on the backs of our youngest children
“First and foremost, I want to thank the voters of the 18th Congressional District for entrusting me to serve them in Washington. I’d also like to thank my opponent for a hard fought campaign and my wife, Kristen, and our three boys for standing by my side every step of the way over the last six months.
“Throughout this campaign, our volunteers and supporters worked tirelessly to spread our message of getting our economy back on track, reigning in government overspending, and fighting for term limits by knocking on more than 80,000 doors and making over 90,000 phone calls. For that, I cannot thank them enough.
“Six months ago I decided to run for Congress because of my three boys. I want to ensure that they have the same opportunities that I had. I’m going to go to Washington to fight for a better future for the kids and grandchildren of Central and West Central Illinois. Its time for reform in Washington. We must resolve our $18 trillion debt, create openness and transparency in government, fight for term limits, and repeal and replace ObamaCare.
“As I prepare to head to Washington, I am humbled and honored for the opportunity to serve the families of Central and West Central Illinois. I am excited to get to work and make sure that conservative common sense has a place in Washington.”
The state senator led Democrat Rob Mellon by a tally of 34,907 to 15,840, according to final results compiled by The Associated Press. That’s a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent.
* National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden…
“I’d like to congratulate Darin LaHood for his well-earned victory this evening. Darin will undoubtedly be an effective voice for 18th District families from his first day in Congress, and will continue to fight to bring good paying jobs back to central Illinois, balance the budget, and strengthen our national defense. I look forward to having Darin join our historic majority as we continue driving to strengthen America.”
* IL GOP Chairman Tim Schneider…
“I would like to congratulate Congressman-elect Darin LaHood on his victory in the special election for the 18th Congressional District. Darin will stand up for taxpayers in Central & West Central Illinois by fighting to create jobs, balance the budget, and ensure transparency in government. Darin has a proven record of reform in Springfield, and he will use that experience to push for conservative reforms in Washington, D.C.”
(T)he outcome was better than hoped. Subsequent tests showed no trace of cancer. They had gotten it all. Mautino had been braced for a final, post-operative bout of chemotherapy to zap any lingering malignant cells; now, doctors decided there was no need.
Frank Mautino received a get-well voicemail from Gov. Bruce Rauner the same day a Rauner-sponsored “hit piece” came in the mail demonizing him and his fellow Democrats.
Mautino pondered the governor’s encouraging message and then marveled at the not-so-nice mailer that arrived almost simultaneously. Such is life in Illinois politics: The sick don’t get a break from partisan sniping.
“I called the governor and I said, ‘Hey Bruce. I want to thank you for your voice mail. I also got your robo-calls and your flier,’” Mautino said, smiling. “He laughed. That’s the line of work I’m in.”
“It’s a difficult situation for me to describe in detail, which leader, and which issue, which members of the General Assembly are for reform, which aren’t. It would be, it would hurt the process for me to publicly discuss the personal positions.”
None of the state’s top leaders in Springfield are using marijuana, as far as we know. But they do seem to inhabit alternate realities.
Top Democrats claim there hasn’t been any serious bargaining over a new state budget since May. The old one expired in June. [..]
“What we need right now is leadership from the governor. What we need now is a focus on math in order to resolve our issues,” [Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson Rikeesha Phelon said].
She said there’s been no serious negotiation since Rauner vetoed the Democrats’ unbalanced budget, and the state Government has operated without one for 10 weeks.
So, not only has there been no significant progress, there’s been no progress at all.
But that’s by far the best lede I’ve seen all summer, so we have that going for us.
Friday, Sep 11, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As part of their commitment to community service, the credit union movement as a whole supports countless local charitable activities as evidenced by their fundamental philosophy of “People Helping People.” For credit unions in Illinois, this mantra is not just part of their culture - it’s a lifestyle.
As an example, the $12 million Danville Bell Credit Union for the past two years has lived out a local campaign of paying it forward. This initiative has included performing numerous random acts of kindness, such as paying for groceries, shoes for school kids whose families could not otherwise afford, meals, and renewing a gym membership for an area firefighter.
This generosity has spread tremendous goodwill throughout the community, helped people through temporary financial difficulties, and also inspired other credit unions and members to return the favor for others. In one touching interaction, the credit union filled the gas tank for a college student who, as it turned out, happened to be down to her last $20.
Illinois credit unions are not just employees - they’re your neighbors, they raise their families here, they’re your trusted financial partner. To them, kindness is not only a guiding principle, its woven into their DNA.
Thomas reported that other Black Caucus members he talked with yesterday said they were angry at Dunkin for staying in New York rather than coming back to the Statehouse and doing his job. Nonetheless, Thomas led his story with this line: “Illinois Democrats are worried that state Rep. Ken Dunkin’s independence could be contagious, especially among African-American lawmakers.”
Thomas also quoted Chicago consultant and Dunkin ally Maze Jackson as saying “When one guy breaks off the plantation, it’s gotta make a lot of people in Springfield nervous, real nervous.”
Dunkin, for his part, told Thomas that he was looking for ways to find common ground with Gov. Rauner. “If this governor wants to work with me, I’m working with him,” Dunkin said. And the governor told Thomas that he and Dunkin “share a passion around economic empowerment, especially in the black community.”
“Today is the time that we have to take charge of our own destiny here,” Dunkin told Thomas about black legislators.
* By the way, Rep. Dunkin did not take listener questions when he appeared on WVON Radio earlier this week, but after he left the air some folks called in to vent their displeasure with the Democrat for working with Rauner.
Yes, Speaker Madigan is unpopular in that district (as he is pretty much everywhere), but Rauner scored less than 20 percent of the vote in Dunkin’s district during last year’s general election, and he is not a popular guy in Chicago and likely not with black, Democratic primary voters, either - hence the attempt to make this about Dunkin’s rejection of “plantation politics.”
* Maybe the governor has been sincere about negotiating in good faith. Extending the tolling agreement indefinitely and [re-committing] to submitting any disagreements over whether an impasse has been reached to the ILRB, even though Rauner now controls the ILRB, seems reasonable to me.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. today announced that new medical conditions and diseases will not be added to the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act at this time. The pilot program will continue with the 39 conditions and diseases listed in the Act.
Veto Message for SB 33
To the Honorable Members of
The Illinois Senate,
99th General Assembly:
Today I veto Senate Bill 33 from the 99th General Assembly, which would prematurely expand the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program by adding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the list of “debilitating medical conditions” for which a patient may be treated with medical cannabis.
The pilot program is moving forward, but remains in its early stage. Cultivation centers are just beginning to grow their crops, and the first dispensary was licensed at the end of August. No patients have yet been served, and, consequently, the State has not had the opportunity to evaluate the benefits and costs of the pilot program or determine areas for improvement or even whether to extend the program beyond its pilot period.
It is therefore premature to expand the pilot program – before any patient has been served and before we have had the chance to evaluate it.
Therefore, pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 33, entitled “AN ACT concerning health”, with the foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.
…Adding More… Listening to the audio, the governor was actually talking about how he was stunned to learn that Illinois is one of the few states that allow late payment of bills.
In case you’re keeping count, that’s three House Republicans and two Senate Republicans who’ve announced they won’t be running next year.
By the way, there are two House Republicans in Duffy’s district. Rep. Ed Sullivan isn’t running again and Rep. Dave McSweeney just told me he is staying put in the House.
*** UPDATE *** Well, this solves a problem in that Sullivan district. Press release…
Hawthorn Woods resident and nonprofit executive Dan McConchie announced Thursday that he is seeking the Republican nomination in Illinois Senate District 26. The incumbent, conservative Republican Senator Dan Duffy, announced today that he is not running for re-election.
“Our conservative district deserves strong conservative leadership,” said Dan McConchie. “Like Senator Duffy, I will be a principled advocate for lower taxes, smarter government and will uphold the conservative values we hold dear.”
Before Duffy’s unexpected announcement, Dan McConchie was running for state representative in the 51st House District.
“My goal of running for office has always been to help bring my experience and success in legislative work around the country to the pressing needs we have in Springfield. There is an even greater need of strong conservative advocates in our Senate. Senator Duffy has been a role model in the principled stands he has taken. I look forward to representing the 26th Senate District as well as he has.”
Back on August 27, Duffy had endorsed Dan McConchie for state representative in House District 51.
Dan is a lifelong conservative with a proven track record of accomplishment in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Having been responsible both to manage an organizational budget and to meet a payroll, he understands exactly what Illinois families and small business owners face in every day under our dysfunctional state government. As a national expert on state legislation, he has committed to bringing his experience in legislative strategy, marketing, coalition building and grassroots advocacy to furthering Governor Rauner’s pro-growth agenda in Springfield.
* From an invitation to the Illinois Policy Institute’s September 24th program “Between the lines”…
The Illinois General Assembly is engaged in a historic budget showdown with no end in sight. With more than $111 billion of mounting debt and a crumbling economy, it has never been so clear that Illinois needs reform.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board’s Kristen McQueary is the state’s leading voice in journalism for commonsense, free-market reforms. She’s not afraid to push back against the status quo and call out politicians on their failing policies.
Join Kristen and Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman on Thursday, Sept. 24 for an evening of insight into Illinois’ budget showdown. They’ll discuss barriers to reform and the role the media are playing in challenging these anti-reform forces.
Thursday, Sep 10, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Earlier today, Exelon announced that all of its nuclear plants in the PJM market cleared the most recent capacity auction and that it will defer any decisions about the future operations of its Quad Cities and Byron nuclear plants for one year. As a result, the Quad Cities nuclear power plant will run through at least May 2018, while the Byron plant will run through at least May 2019.
This is encouraging news for Illinois. According to a report by the State of Illinois, the Quad Cities and Byron plants support 5,075 jobs and contribute $1.39 billion to the state’s economy. Overall, Illinois’ nuclear energy facilities produce 90 percent of the state’s carbon-free energy, support 28,000 jobs, and inject nearly $9 billion into the Illinois economy every year.
While the recent results of the PJM capacity auction which reflect new market reforms that better recognize the unique value of always-on nuclear energy is encouraging, Quad Cities and Byron, as well as Clinton, remain economically challenged. These plants are long-lived assets with decades of useful life left and today’s announcement is only a short-term reprieve. Policy reforms are still needed to level the playing field for all forms of clean energy and best position the State of Illinois to meet EPA’s new carbon reduction rules.
Thursday, Sep 10, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As part of their commitment to community service, the credit union movement as a whole supports countless local charitable activities as evidenced by their fundamental philosophy of “People Helping People.” For credit unions in Illinois, this mantra is not just part of their culture - it’s a lifestyle.
As an example, the $12 million Danville Bell Credit Union for the past two years has lived out a local campaign of paying it forward. This initiative has included performing numerous random acts of kindness, such as paying for groceries, shoes for school kids whose families could not otherwise afford, meals, and renewing a gym membership for an area firefighter.
This generosity has spread tremendous goodwill throughout the community, helped people through temporary financial difficulties, and also inspired other credit unions and members to return the favor for others. In one touching interaction, the credit union filled the gas tank for a college student who, as it turned out, happened to be down to her last $20.
Illinois credit unions are not just employees - they’re your neighbors, they raise their families here, they’re your trusted financial partner. To them, kindness is not only a guiding principle, its woven into their DNA.
Illinois’ lack of budget is threatening rape crisis services, program that helps women get screened for cervical cancer and the public health network. Senators meeting at the capitol Wednesday heard details of these and other woes. […]
[McLean County’s health department administrator Walter Howe] says agencies like his are key in helping prevent the spread of such diseases, but the state’s budget impasse is “eroding” public health’s abilities — especially in rural areas. He says the uncertainty’s exceptionally difficult to deal with because it comes on top of years of cuts and turmoil.
“The prime example is the Vermillion County health department, which had 34 nurses when it responded to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009,” Howe testified at a Senate hearing. “Today, employees only five nurses – of which two of those are part time.”
Howe says as of this week, nearly a quarter of Illinois’ health centers have laid off staff or cut back hours.
Annual budget cuts have weakened large numbers of programs. Toss in this months-long budgetary stalemate and there is a real danger of an infrastructure collapse.
* Related…
* Brown: Munger takes steps to avoid being fall guy
* Kadner: Budget crisis forces Orland to cancel training class
Months after revealing the Chicago Police Department set up sobriety checkpoints almost exclusively in African-American and Latino communities, the Tribune has found that the pattern continues.
Between March and August, Chicago police scheduled 14 roadside checks, pulling over drivers randomly to check for drunken driving and other violations. Nine of the checks were in majority black police districts. Four checkpoints occurred in a predominantly Latino districts. There was one in a majority white area. That’s despite the fact that the Tribune has in the past shown some predominantly white districts in Chicago had more alcohol-related crashes than many minority districts. […]
On March 20, police scheduled a checkpoint in the majority black Grand Crossing District even though the area has had the fewest alcohol-related crashes in the city.
Meanwhile, no checkpoints were scheduled in the majority white Jefferson Park District despite ranking third citywide for the number of alcohol-related crashes and fatalities. Police officials have maintained the lack of checkpoints there has nothing to do with the fact that roughly one-fifth of the city’s police officers and their families live there.
* I’m not at all saying that the folks pushing for tort reform don’t have a case. They do. But something they often fail to mention are the large numbers of business owners who sue other business owners. This ain’t just about greedy trial lawyers clogging up the courts.
And the governor, being a business person himself, is involved in a fairly large number of lawsuits this year, some of them quite aggressive. So, this presser is kinda ironic…
The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) will release a survey ranking the 50 state lawsuit climates done by Harris Poll, a global polling firm. This is the 10th such survey that ILR has released since 2002. The event will feature remarks by Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois about the condition of Illinois’ legal environment.
Illinois has no state budget, but it does have more homeless people - and the two are connected according to a scathing report set for release on Thursday.
As Springfield fiddles with a state budget two months after the last one expired, the number of homeless across the state has spiked, according to data the I-Team obtained Wednesday night. The report, authored by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, chides Gov. Bruce Rauner and state leaders for using children and families as bargaining chips in a political fight.
This summer, the I-Team reported on a visible homeless surge in Chicago. An estimated population of 140,000 homeless live in shelters and tents, in parks and under expressways. More than 22,000 of the homeless are Chicago Public Schools students.
Against this backdrop, state leaders in Springfield have been unable to agree on a budget, and because of that, a report from more than 100 social service agencies across Illinois will cite a surge in the number of homeless on the streets this summer, and they blame state officials. […]
The I-Team asked Gov. Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan whether their standoff is causing homelessness. Only Gov. Rauner responded, saying in a statement: “Illinois is facing a $4 billion deficit because the state’s finances were mishandled for years. Governor Rauner is trying to reverse the status quo to stop the death spiral. His Turnaround Agenda will create jobs to grow the economy and free up resources to help the most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the majority party continues to block the governor’s reforms to protect the political class at the expense of the most vulnerable.”
The state budget impasse has resulted in homeless service providers not receiving any state funding since July 1, 2015 for several key programs, including Emergency and Transitional Housing, Homelessness Prevention, Homeless Youth and Supportive Housing Services.
“One of our adolescent substance abuse treatment programs has closed, impacting 90 youth. If the budget impasse is not resolved in September, we will have to eliminate our host home and shelter services for runaway and homeless youth who are seeking a safe and better future away from violence in their homes and on the streets,” said Rick Velasquez, Executive Director of Youth Outreach Services in Chicago.
The majority of providers (59%) are also experiencing an increased demand for services because of the unavailability of other services once provided by other agencies. In addition, the vast majority of providers (85%) are concerned about how the absence of state funds could impact their ability to provide matching funding for federal dollars.
“We provide services to over 800 people a year, including a 24-hour domestic violence shelter, emergency shelter and transitional housing. On average, we have 60 women and children in shelter at any time. Payroll alone is over $40,000 every two weeks. We had cash reserves but they are gone. We have the cash on hand to make one more payroll in September. And then we don’t know what we’ll do. If we lay off staff, then we put our federal funding at risk,” said Isak Griffiths, Executive Director for Courage Connection, which serves Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area.
The survey was conducted between August 14, 2015 and September 2, 2015. The advocacy organizations that developed the survey were the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, CSH, Housing Action Illinois and Supportive Housing Providers Association. One hundred and one homeless service providers responded—agencies large and small, from urban, suburban and rural communities.
The state budget impasse caused by the inability of Governor Rauner and the General Assembly to agree on a budget with adequate revenue to support critical human service programs, is already having this impact on homeless service providers:
• Putting people in a crisis that contributes to their homelessness: 41% of agencies have limited the intake of new clients and 39% have eliminated services for current clients.
• Reducing the capacity of homeless service providers to assist people prevent, or end their homelessness: 33% of agencies have eliminated programs and 32% have closed sites.
St. Clair County is looking to sue the state of Illinois in order to obtain funding owed to the county.
On Monday, the County Board authorized legal action against the state, including getting funding meant for the county’s Emergency Telephone Systems Board, as well at the county itself.
St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said a lawsuit potentially will be filed within the month.
Chairman Mark Kern said the state owes the county $5.8 million.
* And this week, Williamson County Commissioner Brent Gentry asked his state’s attorney to also look into suing the state…
“We need to do what is right and we need to sue the state of Illinois,” he said.
Gentry said he feels Illinois has backed the county into a corner, without a budget.
“I am so tired of the games that they’re playing up in Springfield. When I say “they,” I’m meaning Governor Rauner, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton,” he said.
A month ago, Commission Chairman Jim Marlo sent a letter to Governor Bruce Rauner pointing out the effects the budget impasse has on revenue. Some payments have stopped, including the motor fuel tax, gaming tax and salary reimbursements for three departments.
“It may come down to where certain people may have to be laid off, roads may not be able to be fixed,” said Marlo.
Chairman Marlo said the state currently owes the county over $700,000.
