Rich has decided to extend his vacation another week. Thus, I will be in charge of running the blog again this week. I am a poor man’s ‘Rich Miller’, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I was not able to plan for this, however, and as a result I scheduled a lot of hours at my other job this week.
So I will do posts where I can, but unfortunately the blog will make heavy use of the format I have used for today’s posts. (I.E. More round-ups on issues and less analysis)
* 12:21 pm - I have added some additional articles to the elections section since I first posted it this morning…
Gov. Quinn on Friday signed legislation that would allow testing of high school athletes for steroids during any point in their seasons.
The anti-doping law, pushed by Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), builds on the Illinois High School Association’s existing policy. For the first time this past year, that group performed random steroid tests on student athletes, but only during the playoffs.
Quinn Friday also signed legislation he says will benefit student veterans at Illinois public colleges and universities.[…]
The Higher Education Veterans Service Act requires Illinois schools to create a guide of services available for veterans. It also states that schools with more than 1,000 students must appoint a liaison to work with both administrators and student veterans.
State agencies are being required to develop plans for workers to meet the 12-day furlough requirement while still maintaining operations.
“In developing a furlough program, agencies should take into consideration 24/7 operations, federal funding of employee positions, revenue-generating positions and other budgetary considerations in ensuring service delivery and staff coverage,” says a memo from the Department of Central Management Services to state agency officials.
Those plans are to be returned to CMS by Friday (Aug. 14).
The letters sent Friday were addressed simply to “state employee,” and say that “non furlough-exempt” employees must take 12 unpaid days off before June 30, 2010. Five of those days must be taken before Jan. 1, the letter states
McCue is executive director of the Guildhaus in Blue Island, a halfway house for the long-term treatment of alcoholics and drug abusers. Only eight years ago, he was a client himself.[…]
McCue telephoned Friday because he had received a letter from the Illinois Department of Human Services.
“Our budget is being cut 75 percent,” he said. “That means we will go from $220,000 in state funding to $55,000. We’re in trouble. I don’t know any rich people to ask for money. Most of the people I know have come through here.
“And we have a tremendous success rate. We’ve saved people’s lives. Put them back to work. But I don’t know how we’re going to keep this place running without that state funding.”
Gov. Pat Quinn plans to lay off as many as 1,000 prison workers at the same time a lengthy state audit reveals that overtime costs within the Illinois Department of Corrections increased from $19.2 million to $37 million two years ago because of staffing shortages.
The review by Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland’s office only pertains to fiscal years 2007 and 2008, when the corrections department was managed by a former director and under the administration of a former governor. Former director Roger Walker was appointed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Walker was replaced in June by Gov. Pat Quinn’s appointee, Michael Randle.[…]
“This goes to the heart of the failure of the management of the department,” he [Holland] said, adding that because there have not been dramatic changes in the management since the two years in the audit, the foundation going forward is weak. “I think the new director has got some real soul searching to do with his management team.”
One problem cited in the audit was that the department violated the legislature’s intent by not spending extra money dedicated to hire new frontline staff. The General Assembly authorized spending $11.7 million to hire 231 new staff in fiscal year 2007, but only 154 new staff were hired. The next year, the legislature allotted $12 million to hire 500 new employees, but only six were reported as being hired. Instead, according to the audit, the department used the money to pay for existing staff, which also included more expensive overtime costs.
Winnett said she’s heard the $150 million figure, but lottery officials aren’t prepared to make predictions.[…]
Winnett also cautioned that the federal government could put a halt to selling lottery tickets online.
“No (state) lottery is selling individual tickets on demand over the Internet,” Winnett said. “It seems that the Justice Department has some concerns on that.”
Legislators are counting on increased lottery revenue to help pay for the state’s $31 billion capital plan.
Forty years after the state Legislature identified the project and seven years after studies began, the last draft of a Macomb-to-Peoria highway is ready for inspection.
Exhibits, alignment maps and an environmental impact statement will be available for view at three open houses sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation next week.
“The overall purpose of the meeting is to get public input on what they see. There’s still time to tweak, although we hope there’s nothing major,” said Eric Therkildsen, an IDOT project development engineer. “We’re not too concerned about tweaks yet.”
That’s because funding for actual construction has not been allocated. If Illinois 336 goes forward, roads and bridges making up the 60-mile stretch of highway are estimated to cost between $710 million and $730 million. That does not include land acquisition or engineering, although $7 million has been approved for the design and soils work.
Will Gov. Pat Quinn break with Blagojevich tradition and actually show up on time to cut the ribbon? For that matter, will Quinn actually show up? Blagojevich was known to skip the parade and most of the fair itself, although he did cut the ribbon.
For what it’s worth, Quinn’s office said he will march in the parade. What we’ll have to see is if the route is lined with disgruntled state workers fearful of losing their jobs and how they will greet Quinn.
The two political days should also be fun. Because the governor is a Democrat, their day is known as Governor’s Day. Under Blagojevich, Governor’s Day was known for the spontaneous appearance of busloads of people who suddenly decided on their own to travel to Springfield in support of the governor. So great was their love for Blagojevich that they sometimes booed his arch-enemy, House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is also chairman of the state Democrats. Last year, Madigan skipped the fun. Will this year be different? Will anyone really care?
Then there is Republican Day, which recently has had all of the festive atmosphere of a visitation. It should be different this year, what with roughly half the Republicans remaining in the Legislature running for some statewide office or another. If each candidate shows up with their own cheering section, the crowd could be impressive indeed. And optimism will fill the air, much as it is now filling the air for, say, Detroit Lions fans.
Illinois State Fair officials are hoping for good attendance this year despite higher admission and gas prices and staff cutbacks.[…]
State budget cuts meant the fair’s staff was reduced by 15 percent. The fair also has had to raise admission prices and cut its entertainment budget by $300,000.
With the first price increase in 19 years, adults will pay $5 instead of $3 for admission, and children who used to get in free will pay $2.
But Bliefnick pointed out that once inside, much of the fair’s entertainment is still free, including Frisbee-catching dogs, horse racing, singing and dancing.
“We’re doubling the number of recycling containers in an effort to get more fairgoers to pitch in and recycle,” Bliefnick said. “We’ll probably have a couple hundred for glass, plastic and aluminum.”
She said the fair has had recycling in beer tents for aluminum cans and bottles for the past couple of years, and that effort has been very successful.
“We’re also banning plastic foam for all of our 30 vendors,” she said. “We hope they’ll comply.”
In another effort aimed mostly at vendors, the fair plans to recycle cardboard this year.
PEORIA —Gov. Pat Quinn will headline the 12th Biennial Governor’s Conference on the Illinois River in October at the Hotel Pere Marquette.
“Our waterways are among the most vital natural resources in the Land of Lincoln, and it is imperative we do everything possible to protect them,” a Quinn spokeswoman said on behalf of the governor. “This conference will help find comprehensive and coordinated solutions that will preserve and restore the Illinois watershed for generations to come.”
Every other year, the conference attracts representatives of more than 30 local, state and federal agencies and advocacy groups. This year it will include an ecosystem tour, an interactive digital technologies open house and workshops, as well as keynote speakers.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is tentatively planning to speak, although his office said that has not yet been confirmed. Illinois Department of Natural Resources head Marc Miller will moderate a panel on ecosystem services - a process that establishes the monetary value of natural resources.
Bass surely got an earful from her counterpart, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. They were huddling when I arrived at Monday night’s event at the Union League Club.[…]
She is “jealous” of Illinois’ legislative advantages. Madigan has been a fixture in the Illinois House since 1971 and has served 25 years as speaker. California’s strict term limits have limited Bass to months, not years, on the learning curve. She must leave office next year.[…]
“My style is collaborative, it’s not combative,” she said. “I see no reason to be a bully.”
As Bass spoke, Jan Schakowsky was nodding. Alas, Mike Madigan had already left the room.
Illinois has a new Web site to update drivers on road-construction projects.
You can find the site at http://www.dot.il.gov/dashboard public. The site provides information on active construction sites, including estimated completion date.
Beginning last Friday, traffic on the inbound Bishop Ford (westbound I-94) from 159th Street to Dolton Avenue was reduced to two lanes, through November.
Illinois Sen. Roland Burris announced last month that he would not run to retain his Senate seat next year, but in his first television interview since making that decision, Burris told ABC News he could change his mind.[…]
“You never say never,” Burris told ABC News in a “Subway Series” interview for the ABC News program “Top Line.” The “Subway Series,” which debuts on Monday, features interviews with senators and other political leaders on board the Capitol Hill subway.
“What I’m still hearing,” Burris said, is “people from all over the country and they are saying, ‘Don’t give up that seat.’”
In the name of God- why won’t this guy just go away?!?! A less electable candidate could not exist. But he is good for a laugh though: ‘from people all over the country’ - LOL, classic!
And perhaps more importantly, why is ABC News even giving Burris the air time? Must have been a slow news month.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan lost a Republican opponent this past week when DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett said he wouldn’t run against the two-term Democratic incumbent.
“It has become clear to my advisors and me that it will be virtually impossible to compete financially with Lisa Madigan,” Birkett said in a statement. “It would be wrong for me to run and to ask people to contribute to a race that that is virtually unwinnable under the circumstances.”
Observers say the same could be true about a race against White, who in 2006 got almost twice as many votes as his opponent, state Sen. Dan Rutherford. And in 2002, White won every county in Illinois.
“They’ve got some problems, it seems to me, with recruiting against those two,” said John Jackson, a political scientist with Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The February 2010 ballot may feature several names familiar to Southland residents, including state Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago) who is considering a run for lieutenant governor.[…]
Joyce also has not ruled out a run for the 3rd Congressional District, which would stack him against U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) in February’s primary. But raising money under federal guidelines is tough and time consuming.
Lieutenant governor is appealing, Joyce said, because it offers a platform to address issues. Gov. Pat Quinn used the post to support military families and advance environmental causes.
“As lieutenant governor, you have the freedom to pick your policy issues,” Joyce said. “I also think whoever the governor is could use a good person working with the legislature.”
Raja Krishnamoorthi, 36, currently of Hoffman Estates, on Friday announced his intention to seek the state comptroller’s post in the 2010 primary.
No one else has officially announced plans to run for comptroller.
Current Comptroller Dan Hynes, also a Democrat, is running for governor next year.
Krishnamoorthi proposes publishing all state contracts online, “so citizens know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent and help deter some pay-to-play politics that arose in the past.”
* Word on the Street: Healthy discussion in Peoria? Maybe not
Raja Krishnamoorthi served as a volunteer adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Before that, he was a senior adviser in his general election campaign for Senate and even before that worked on Obama’s 2000 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now, Krishnamoorthi is working on his own campaign - for Illinois comptroller. He requested a brief meet up with Obama. He got it.
Krishnamoorthi said mostly the two chatted it up about his family, wife and kids.
“I was overwhelmed by the moment. He was just such a personable, affable individual,” Krishnamoorthi said.
* Bernard Schoenburg: Two poised to make run for state treasurer
KIP KIRKPATRICK, 37, of Winnetka formed a campaign committee in early June, and by the end of that month, had raised nearly $513,000, including a $100,000 loan to himself.[…]
The current Democratic state treasurer, ALEXI GIANNOULIAS, is running for U.S. Senate. His chief of staff, former state Rep. ROBIN KELLY, D-Matteson, has long said she’d run for treasurer when Giannoulias announced for another office. She’s formally kicking off her campaign Monday with events in Chicago, Normal and Peoria. Kelly went to college and graduate school in Peoria and lived there for 17 years.
Kirkpatrick is making his race official this weekend via a video to supporters, according to his campaign manager, Springfield native BRENDAN HOSTETLER, a former House Democratic staff member who is now a lobbyist living in Chicago.
Hostetler said Kirkpatrick, a partner at Water Street Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm, is making his “first foray into politics.”
Kent DeLay, a Democrat who got less than 40 percent of the vote trying to unseat state Rep. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, in 2008, is making another run for the 99th District Illinois House seat.
“I deal with real-life issues that affect people every day, and I just don’t see things changing,” said DeLay in an interview. “I truly believe that I can make a difference in representing people in this district.”
DeLay, 44, is formally announcing his campaign at 11 a.m. today at his home, 1330 S. Lowell Ave. in Springfield.
* Jan Schakowsky endorses Julie Hamos (YouTube Video)
* Schakowsky Endorses Hamos; Mark Kirk on Downstate Tour; Keller Grudglingly Admits Investigation Caused Him Not to Seek Re-election
* Morning Fix: Dodd Rises Again (Or Not) [10th District Poll]
Seals Far Ahead in IL-10 Survey: Dan Seals, the Democratic nominee against Rep. Mark Kirk (R) in 2006 and 2008, holds a wide lead in the 2010 Democratic primary, according to a survey done for his campaign and obtained by the Fix. Seals takes 63 percent of the vote compared to to just eight percent for state Rep. Julie Hamos and two percent for attorney Elliot Richardson in a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup. The survey, which was conducted by Anzalone-Liszt Research for Seals campaign, also showed Seals — not surprisingly — as by far the best known candidate in the Democratic race with 83 percent name identification. Hamos, who won the endorsement of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) last Friday, has a meager 18 percent name identification. And, roughly two-thirds of voters agreed with the statement that Seals had earned the right to a third run for the seat while 23 percent said it was time to give someone new a chance. With Kirk leaving the 10th to run for Senate, Democrats have a very good chance of taking over this North Shore district.
In a press release on Friday afternoon, Mr. Durbin, a Democrat, urged President Barack Obama to nominate Thomas Durkin, a civil litigator and partner at Mayer Brown here.
Mr. Durkin, who was not available for comment, certainly appears qualified. A former federal prosecutor, the DePaul University graduate recently received awards from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Justice.
What’s interesting, though, is that Mr. Durkin is the brother of state Rep. Jim Durkin, a Republican who lost to Sen. Durbin in 2002. Above and beyond that, Rep. Durkin headed the Illinois campaign of GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who of course lost last year to Chicago Democrat Barack Obama, who now will decide whether or not to select Tom Durkin for the bench.
With a street repair project in the background and a lousy economy on everyone’s mind, Mayor Daley defended this year’s $1.7 billion plan to build five libraries, fix several high-traffic bridges and resurface 550 blocks of streets across the city.
“Infrastructure is good for the economy and good for jobs,” Daley said on the Northwest Side on Friday, when he also announced a five-year, $8.4 billion plan for capital improvements citywide. “All these improvements basically strengthen economic development, jobs here in the city, and it helps businesses — especially now with so many of our residents struggling financially, it is very important.”
Daley stressed the city is cutting operating expenses but said annual sewer and road improvements are not only fiscally responsible, they’re an essential part of keeping a city in business.[…]
While the five-year plan includes an array of infrastructure upgrades, including a whopping $3.9 billion at O’Hare and Midway airports, the mayor’s office offered a sampling of this year’s project list:
“I hope every federal employee from the president all the way down takes 15 days without pay to turn that money back to taxpayers’ use, because they’re getting laid off, they’re getting cut back, there are no jobs out there,” Daley said Friday.
An animated Daley offered the advice during a press conference on the Northwest Side to announce $1.7 billion in projects around the city. The projects use money that comes from bonds and federal and city coffers, including tax increment financing districts.
Daley said road, library and sewer construction projects are necessary to keep a city running and, at these times, people employed.
But as he spoke about the projects, he reflected on what’s happening in city government: layoffs and furlough days. The mayor says he’s taking 15 unpaid days this year and believes every level of government — all the way up to the president might do the same to save taxpayer dollars.
Mayor Daley denied Saturday that Michael Scott, a member of the Chicago 2016 committee, would financially benefit from a proposed West Side development near the site of a potential Olympic venue.
“He’s not involved,” Daley said after the Bud Billiken Parade, where he spent the morning riding a float blasting out the music of Beyonce. “He’s supporting the Olympics. Everybody is supporting the Olympics.”
Scott, a real estate developer and president of the Chicago Board of Education, said Friday he would not profit if the affordable housing and retail project, near a proposed Douglas Park Olympic venue site, was developed with his assistance.
The Chicago Tribune reported last week that Scott was “potentially positioning himself to cash in” on the Olympics through the proposed development.
When they started their real estate investment company three years ago, Mayor Daley’s nephew Robert Vanecko and his partners made a promise to five City of Chicago pension funds they were seeking as investors:
We’ll put $7 million of our own money into the deal to show we believe in our high-risk strategy of investing city retirees’ pension money in developing inner-city neighborhoods.
That assurance helped the start-up venture known as DV Urban Realty Partners quickly land $68 million from the city pension funds.
But now it turns out that Vanecko and his partners — Chicago developer Allison S. Davis and his son Jared Davis — will put in just $3.5 million, half of what they initially promised.
Next up for DV Urban Realty, the investment company Mayor Daley’s nephew created to manage city pension money: building a $120 million high-rise in the South Loop.
Robert Vanecko and his company have a contract to buy what’s now the South Loop headquarters of the National Association of Letter Carriers at 1411 S. Michigan, which they plan to knock down and replace with a 220-unit apartment building.
DV Urban — which Vanecko owns with partners Allison S. Davis and Davis’ son Jared Davis — has spent more than $4.7 million from city pension funds on the deal, records show.
ROCKFORD — Contracts for the county’s two largest labor unions are up in October, which gives county management more leeway to make cuts than last year.
Or, at least, county administrators won’t be locked in to contractual raises like they were last year.
Negotiations have started with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 473, which represents 725 county employees; and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 50, which represents more than 100 deputies and detectives.
AFSCME and the FOP are coming off four-year agreements. Given the economic realities, however, it’s likely the new contracts will be shorter.
ROCKFORD — Top county officials are demanding an additional 10 percent cut from all county departments as they prepare the fiscal 2010 budget.
The demand potentially means dozens of layoffs and most certainly means hour reductions and wage freezes in some departments. It’s also an indication that despite some recent news indicating a small economic rebound, the situation in Winnebago County remains troubling.
County budget crunchers estimate they’ll take in $46.1 million during the fiscal 2010, which begins Oct. 1. That’s the lowest the county’s income has been since at least 2006.
The reasons for the shortfall include projected slow property tax growth, declines in sales tax revenue, as well as less money from licenses, permits and fees.
School officials say 132 schools in the nation’s third-largest district will be year-round for the 2009-10 school year. That’s up from 41 last academic year.
The year-round calendar starts Monday. It affects about 80,000 students.
It seems like another lifetime, but just a few years ago, Chicago neighborhoods faced a tsunami of condo conversions. That wave—plus the demolition of public housing towers—left many of the city’s poorest people struggling to find a place to live. Now the foreclosure crisis has displaced tens of thousands more Chicagoans, and left empty homes in their wake. A lot of people see a new opportunity to revive neighborhoods. But there’s also fear that people most in need will be squeezed out of this chance for housing.[…]
LUDWIG: The more vacant and abandoned properties on a block, the less the people who are currently there and have been there for years and are good, responsible property owners want to be there, they see, ‘Oh, maybe I should get the heck out of here,’ this neighborhood isn’t going anywhere, so to speak.
And that’s exactly what Ludwig wants to avoid. The neighborhood stabilization program she mentioned, that’s how the city got $55 million from the federal government. And here’s where the competing goals come in: do you use that money to fix up buildings and sell them? Or do you turn them over to non-profits to run as rentals?
“Theoretically, there could be,” said Avis LaVelle, spokeswoman for Chicago Parking Meters LLC, the private company that took over Chicago’s parking meters and raised prices. LaVelle doesn’t know that anyone has done a tally about how many more spaces there could be, but if people park efficiently, “like urban parkers,” there could be room for more cars than under a single-meter system.
So there’s a silver lining in the new meter system — in case you were in search of one.
Chicago Parking Meters has put up 2,200 parking meter boxes. One box replaces 10 meters.
The city issued a request for proposals from vendors interested in operating a bike-sharing program here. But that yielded only two proposals, says Brian Steele, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. And neither was judged adequate to meet Chicago’s needs.[…]
The city has also been looking more closely at some of the potential pitfalls that a bike-sharing program might face. Could a rider hurt while using bike-sharing sue the city for damages? What style of bikes would work best in Chicago? Where would the bikes be located? And what would be the best way to minimize vandalism?
Answering those questions is taking longer than bike enthusiasts might like. But in this instance, we’re glad to see the city pedal cautiously. Haste could prove costly, as Paris learned. That city’s program, which has 20,000 bikes placed at 1,000 stations, was supposed to cost taxpayers nothing. Advertising giant JCDecaux had contracted to operate the program for free, in exchange for outdoor ad space.
But vandals routinely smash bike frames, cut chains and slash tires. JCDecaux has had to replace 16,000 bikes, according to a National Public Radio report. Eight thousand bikes have been stolen. Given the extent of the damage, the city of Paris recently agreed to subsidize $500 of each replacement bike’s cost. That’s expected to total $2 million per year.
But the park, in Lincoln Park’s pricey Hartland Park development, recently was closed to families who don’t live in the subdivision.
The park was slated to be transferred to the Chicago Park District, but the park district won’t take it because the roads and sidewalks leading into it are private, according to Ald. Scott Waguespack’s (32nd) chief of staff and members of the Heartland Park Master Homeowners Association.
The sidewalks and streets were supposed to be transferred to the city, but it won’t take them because they don’t meet city standards or, in the case of the sidewalks, requirements laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to documents sent to Belgravia Group, Hartland Park’s developers.
The homeowner’s association said they were forced to shut off public access to the park, at Hermitage and Schubert, because they were assuming liability for anyone playing in the park.
The limited data the Chicago Park District keeps about crashes on the 18-mile trail — one of the busiest multi-use recreational paths in the country, according to parks officials — show that crashes do happen. Between 2002 and 2008, Park District employees — most of them lifeguards — reported 126 wipeouts that included people colliding with each other, swerving to avoid each other or hitting rough patches and losing control, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of Park District “patron incident reports.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests these incidents are only a small part of a bigger problem. Dr. Rahul K. Khare, an emergency room physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, says it’s common for him to treat at least five path-related injuries during an eight-hour weekend shift when the weather is nice. “You do see some significant fractures, lacerations, concussions,” Khare said.
The Park District doesn’t have a comprehensive system for tracking collisions and other problems on the trail, making it difficult to assess if slow zones, speed limits, additional signs or other safety measures could make the path safer. A list of police responses to crashes is difficult to create, Chicago Police say. The Fire Department is reviewing a Sun-Times request for ambulance responses.
The trail runs along an unused railroad bed from the Dan Ryan Woods near 80th Place to Whistler Woods in Riverdale. It was one of the area’s first “rails to trails” projects. The Chicago Department of Transportation spent $5 million in state and federal money on the trail, buying the land and paving it. It officially opened June 2, 2007.
The Chicago Park District controls a large part of the trail — from 104th Street south to 127th Street — while the Cook County Forest Preserve District controls either end. The street portions are maintained by CDOT.
Peter Taylor said the trail is troubled by gang activity. He wants the Park District to provide “simple things” like lighting, water fountains, more trash cans and maybe a bathroom. He also wants better maintenance, through sweeping up of trash and cutting back vegetation, and a better police presence.
But watchdog groups say that in the long Illinois tradition of passing fake reform measures, the new limits are another sham and they find themselves in the odd position of lobbying Gov. Pat Quinn - himself a veteran ethics advocate - to veto or rewrite campaign donation limits they have long sought.
“This is just fatally flawed,” said Dave Lundy, president of the Better Government Association, which is lobbying Quinn with other organizations.
Vetoing or rewriting the measure would run the risk that lawmakers won’t approve the changes or pass any other limits down the road. Some reformers are willing to take that risk.
“These limits are worse than having no limits,” added David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “The problems are so extensive the risk is that lawmakers would not get around to fixing them if this became law.”
Those who have dragged their feet about enacting campaign contribution limits - or endorsed half-baked measures like House Bill 7, which Gov. Pat Quinn’s should veto - say disclosure rules are enough.
But disclosure doesn’t prevent the undue access and influence that large donors receive and it doesn’t prevent pay-to-play politics. Still, it is useful and relatively easy.[…]
We agree with the Illinois Reform Commission that state law should require political committees to disclose these bundlers if they coordinate contributions above a certain amount - the Reform Commission recommended $16,000 as the threshold.
The Legislature also should adopt the commission’s recommendations for speeding up filing requirements, such as mandating that contributions of $1,000 or more for statewide office and $500 for other offices to be reported electronically within five business days.
A surprise opponent has arisen to fight efforts to tighten Illinois’ anti-pay-to-play law.
No, not Mike Madigan, George Ryan’s campaign committee or your local precinct captain. But rather the federal government, specifically the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration — and Congressman Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, wants to do something about it.
But today’s Daily Herald editorial gave some of the reasons why they support the bill, and we at ICPR can identify with these problems:
Our reporters battled some bureaucrats for months when we tried to learn about red-light cameras for our recent “Seeing Red” investigative series. One village clerk said we didn’t need the documents because others had reported on the cameras. Another village official called the request a waste of time.
In all, it took more than two months to obtain documents about a government program operating all over the region. It should take seven days under the existing loophole-ridden law.
As part of our review of lobbying by units of government, we at ICPR send out hundreds of FOIA requests each year. (here’s a PDF of our most recent report) Most units respond promptly, and we commend them for that. After all, that’s what the law requires. But what we cannot understand is why so many units of government fail to respond in a timely fashion; and sometimes, not at all.
The next chapter in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption case comes next week when his former top aide is due to change his own plea on corruption charges to guilty.
Alonzo Monk, the ousted governor’s former chief of staff, is due to appear before U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel on Tuesday to change his plea
Impeached former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is spreading his self-described message as a “champion for ordinary Americans” through a Web site launched Sunday.
governorrod.com invites readers to “Tell Rod what’s bugging you” during his weekly radio show on WLS or book the former governor for a speaking engagement.[…]
“He made history in August 2009 when he became the first former elected official still facing charges to be named host of his own radio show,” a part of Blagojevich’s online biography reads.
The former governor needs a “one-stop shop” where people can do everything from hire him to sing an Elvis tune or learn his take on issues, Blagojevich’s spokesman and publicist Glenn Selig said.
* Quinn asks all U. of I. trustees to resign in wake of clout report
Gov. Quinn is urging all of the University of Illinois trustees to resign in the wake of a recently released report detailing how clout helped unqualified students gain admission.
“The trustees who remain on the board, the best thing for them to do would be to read [the report], take it to heart and voluntarily submit their resignations,” Quinn told reporters at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Friday.
When asked if he would be willing to use his power as governor to force some trustees to quit, Quinn said he hoped he wouldn’t have to.
“My father taught me don’t take an aspirin until you get a headache,” he said. “I don’t intend to really deal with that issue.”
The school has enlisted the help of six outside law firms to assist in its response to a flurry of Freedom of Information Act requests, a state panel that investigated the issue and lawsuits revolving around its giving special treatment to student applicants with clout in the admissions process.
The outside legal help is costing the state tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.
U. of I. spokesman Tom Hardy defended the hiring, saying the firms’ expertise is “important work.” One firm has also enlisted Hill & Knowlton, a public-relations firm, as well as a computer forensics company to assist, Hardy said.
Exactly how much the outside legal help has cost the university cannot be determined from the 55 pages of documents turned over after a Sun-Times Freedom of Information Act request.
University President B. Joseph White and Chancellor Richard Herman are also accused of unethical behavior in the admissions process, according to a report by the Illinois Admissions Review Commission. The commission recommended that all trustees resign, but did not go as far as calling for White and Herman to step down. The commission left the president’s and chancellor’s fates in the hands of a new board of trustees.
This is not a case of these individuals failing to find or deal with a problem: They knew about the influence peddling and used their own authority to get students into the school.
Sweeping all these individuals out of their jobs will not solve the university’s problems. Other measures in the commission’s report should be considered, such as a state inspector general for higher education and an open appeals process for students whose applications were rejected.
Continuity may be lost in a housecleaning, but credibility will be gained.
University of Illinois President B. Joseph White has presided over the state’s flagship university during one of the most difficult economic periods in recent memory.
He has managed a university that, in real dollars, is receiving less funding from the state than it did six years ago. The U of I is more than just Illinois’ largest university, it is also one of our largest employers, with more than 20,000 employees. It is one of the top medical centers in the world, with hospitals and clinics throughout the state.
U of I has also developed one of the most respected pharmacy schools in the country, including the addition of a new campus in Rockford. White has helped the U of I maintain its status as one of the best universities in the world, and has done so by raising significant private dollars to help offset the funding cuts by the state.[…]
While some have called upon President White to resign due to some issues regarding actions of some board members, I believe, in these uncertain times, now is not the time to cast away the kind of leadership Dr. White has brought.
There’s an idea floating around the Illinois Capitol that aims to empower the people, legitimately reform the way we choose our representatives and create competition in a system that too often guarantees incumbents re-election.
Right now, state Rep. Mike Fortner, a West Chicago Republican, is its lone advocate.
We urge other suburban lawmakers to look at the proposal, HJRCA32, and embrace its goals. Without co-sponsors and without bipartisan support, we fear this model for fixing the way Illinois draws its state and congressional districts will not get a proper debate.
The heir apparent to powerful Ald. William J.P. Banks (36th) is throwing a $200-a-ticket retirement party for the outgoing City Council zoning boss and asking everyone who attends to make the checks out to Banks personally.
“We’re going to buy him a gift,” said John Rice, Banks’ driver and would-be successor. “Thirty-two years of service to the city and to the community — I think he deserves a retirement party. That’s why I decided to throw it.”[…]
The city’s ethics ordinance prohibits gifts of $50 or more from anyone “with an economic interest in a specific business transaction” that an official has power over, said Steve Berlin, executive director of the Chicago Ethics Board. That would not apply if Banks has resigned before the party, Berlin said.
But David Morrison, assistant director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, urged Banks not to leave “a black mark on his legacy” by letting allies encourage people to give him cash directly. Morrison said Banks instead should hold a fundraiser for his political fund, which would require revealing the donors and the amounts publicly.
* Credit cards holders shocked to see interest rates skyrocket, limits plunge
Four former employees of MBNA, now owned by Bank of America, told AFFIL that they were given financial incentives to drive customers deeper into debt; offered only the highest interest rate on cash advances, even when customers qualified for a lower rate, and were trained to “sell debt” through balance transfers that increased the cardholders’ indebtedness.
A Bank of America spokeswoman said it has no such practices.
Experts warn that canceling or taking out rage on your credit card can backfire because canceling the card will cut your debt-to-available credit ratio and your credit score.
Deloitte’s recent survey showed that 64 percent of respondents planned to spend less on back-to-school items, compared with 71 percent in 2008. And four in 10 planned to cut their spending by more than $100.
The top reasons for those cuts: concerns about the economy, recent job losses, efforts to save more money and pay down debt. Because different school supplies are often a necessity each year, people are cutting back primarily on clothes and shoes.
Hartmarx, the 125-year-old Chicago-based manufacturer of men’s suits that outfits President Obama, was sold today [Friday] to London-based Emerisque Brands and will be headed by Ajay Khaitan, Emerisque’s founder who has been instrumental in turning around brands such as Eveready and Lee Cooper.
As jury selection in the trial for the second man accused in the mass murders at a Palatine Brown’s Chicken gets under way, the company’s co-founder told the Sun-Times the notoriety surrounding the crime had such an adverse effect on the business, he was forced to close 60 of 100 local Brown’s Chickens within the first 2½ years following the slayings.[…]
Portillo said sales at all his restaurants dipped 35 percent just months after the seven victims’ bodies were discovered in the suburban restaurant’s cooler and walk-in refrigerator.
The auction is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Intercounty Judicial Sales, 120 W. Madison St. in the Loop. It’s estimated the home will go for about $4.3 million.
* Is advertising on Bears practice jersey just a start?
Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis on Friday hailed an 11 percent drop in homicides and a 9 percent dip in all crimes during the first seven months of 2009 as a “very encouraging” sign that his department’s strategies are working.[…]
Through the first seven months of 2009, the city recorded 258 homicides, compared with 290 for the same period in 2008.[…]
Still, the city’s top cop said his detectives often have been stymied this summer in their efforts to solve violent crimes by a “code of silence” among victims who refuse to cooperate with authorities.
“I cannot stress this enough: The code of silence that exists in far too many neighborhoods is a contributing factor to much of the senseless violence, shootings and homicides we see every day,” Weis said.
* Dart done gathering evidence, says he can back up Burr Oak charges
Dart said his investigators and special FBI forensics experts have gathered enough evidence to back up the criminal cases against four Burr Oak employees accused of digging up graves, dumping remains in piles or in shallow graves and then re-selling the plots. Three graves were exhumed last week, indicating evidence of illegal grave stacking. One man’s body was found buried in a concrete vault without a coffin.
Tom Trautmann, the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge in Chicago, said identifying all of the pieces is too unwieldy a job because of the terrible records kept by Burr Oak.
“We wish we could have fully identified all the remains recovered to give some sort of closure to the families who were affected by this unfortunate occurrence,” he said.
The Cook County State’s Attorney announced a seven-count indictment this morning against four workers at historic Burr Oak Cemetery who had been accused in an elaborate grave selling scheme.
The indictments of all four added charges of aggravated theft of $100,000 to $500,000 from a place of worship, unlawful removal of grave stones, desecration of human remains, unlawful removal of deceased human beings from a burial ground and conspiracy to remove human remains. The crimes occurred between September 2003 to July 8, 2009, prosecutors said.
The 12 full-time officers who began patrolling suburban Inverness on May 1 collectively have spent more than 350 years in uniform — or better than 29 years per man.[…]
But the new officers’ experience also is saving the town money, Tatooles contends.
Because they already have earned pensions while working decades at other departments, Inverness could bring them on board for less money than it likely would have cost to hire less-experienced cops and then contribute to their pension plan. The village also is saving money on training — which can run more than $100,000 per officer.
“When you have the older guys, they’re all trained,” said Police Chief Robert Haas, who at age 50 is the youngest officer on the force.
Like so many towns across the U.S., Waukegan — a formerly mostly Caucasian, blue-collar manufacturing town 30 miles north of the Loop — was torn apart by a fervent anti-illegal immigrant sentiment that oozed all over its perfectly “legal” Hispanic residents.
The match was a city ordinance that impounded the cars of drivers caught cruising without a license or car insurance. A critical public safety issue, to be sure, but some Latino residents, who make up over half the town’s population, considered it rampant racial profiling.
It lit a powder keg. In June 200, the Waukegan City Council voted to apply to the feds for two Waukegan police officers to be trained for 287(g) authorization — a controversial program that would have allowed police to start deportation proceedings for any illegal aliens convicted of violent offenses such as rape, murder, sexual assault or drug violations.
As Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak handed down the cousin’s sentence — 2 years’ probation — Williams, 33, stretched and let out a very ill-timed yawn.
Williams’ sentence? Six months in jail — the maximum penalty for criminal contempt without a jury trial. The Richton Park man was locked up July 23 and will serve at least 21 days.[…]
Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said the prosecutor in the courtroom that day told him that “it was not a simple yawn — it was a loud and boisterous attempt to disrupt the proceedings.”[…]
A Tribune review of a decade’s worth of contempt-of-court charges reveals that Rozak jails people — typically spectators whose cell phones go off or who scream or shout profanity during sentencing — at a far higher rate than any other judge in the county. There are now 30 judges in the 12th Judicial Circuit, but since 1999, Rozak has brought more than a third of all the contempt charges, records show.
An argument over 20 cents’ worth of cab fare has $875,000-a-year Blackhawks star winger Patrick Kane facing a felony robbery charge.
Kane — who’s scheduled to start U.S. Olympics orientation camp next week — gave the team a black eye and even caught his mother off guard Sunday when he and his cousin were charged with assaulting a cabdriver in his native Buffalo, N.Y.
* Why didn’t Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane just tip Buffalo cabdriver and let it go?
Seven men were arrested and nine severely scarred pit bulls were rescued following a dog fight in Kankakee County over the weekend, according to authorities.
Cook County Sheriff’s Police said the fight was in progress Saturday evening near the village of Hopkins Park when the arrests were made, capping a two-month investigation.
Today’s MS is very sub-par. I got most big stories, but have very few quotes or smaller stories. Sorry.
I would have produced a better work product, but to be totally honest: I way overslept and no loner have the time to do a proper job. Plus, I have a massive hangover.
It has been a very long week for me, so all I have to say on the matter is TGIF
Good News
On the plus side, Rich will be back next week to provide the high level of professional analysis you have all grown so accustomed to.
Todd’s Huge Smile: NRA vindicated.
It pains me to have to say this -not because I want the story to have been correct- but because I have to admit that NRA Lobbyist Todd Vandermyde was completely right yesterday in his objections to Carol Marin’s article on the CDC and NRA. (Marin ran the retraction found below) What can I say, the man apparently knows his stuff - must be why they pay him the big bucks…
I incorrectly reported in Wednesday’s column that the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta did not, thanks to NRA pressure on Congress, track suicides by gun, thus limiting conversations about guns deadly power.
Yipes! Sneed is told the Merchandise Mart’s Chris Kennedy, who has yet to publicly announce a decision on his political future, broke four ribs while water skiing near the famed Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass.
* Landmarks panel hears Gropius plea to save some buildings on Michael Reese site
On Thursday, the Daley-appointed Commission on Chicago Landmarks agreed with preservationists and said some buildings on the Gropius-designed campus should be saved. The commission voted against a recommendation that the entire 37-acre site go on the National Register of Historic Places, but it invited preservationists to submit a limited application for particular Reese buildings.
Christina Tobin, Founder and Chair of Free & Equal Elections, interviewed on Reality Report, discusses the origin, purpose, and structure of the organization; petition drive efforts, including challenges and lawsuits here in Illinois; actions of elected Illinois politicians; and other issues affecting Illinois and elsewhere.
I will not be able to guest blog today or tomorrow. Sorry, but I don’t have the time.
Instead, I am doing a very large -and in my opinion very thorough- Morning Shorts.
I have separated MS into different posts by sections to allow for easier commenting and discussion of issues.
PLEASE make sure that you watch your comments extra closely today, because I will not be able to monitor them. If you can not, comments will be closed tomorrow.
Enjoy.
P.S. -check out Carol Marin’s story on the NRA’s impact on the CDC. Its in the ‘Other Interesting Stories and Op-Ed’ Section at the bottom. Also, check out the story on Tamns prison in the ‘Crime and Punishment’ section. I would do a post on both, but alas, I have to be at work at 10:30.
State government’s budget delays have held up food reimbursements to home day care centers across Illinois, even though the kids didn’t stop eating.
With a state budget belatedly in place, finally allowing normal disbursement of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds, day care providers who advanced their own cash to keep the meals and snacks coming should soon be reimbursed.[…]
“It’s hard to keep buying food when we haven’t been reimbursed yet for the month before,” Squires said before getting the news that funding is in the pipeline. “We’re just like families with a lot of extra mouths to feed, and it’s really hard to do.”
Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday is scheduled to sign into law a measure barring motorists from sending text messages while driving.
Illinois would join 14 other states and Washington in prohibiting the practice, which safety advocates say is dangerous and leads to crashes. The law would allow police to stop and ticket motorists for sending text messages, downloading ring tones or surfing the Internet on their mobile phones. It would take effect Jan. 1.
The governor will sign House Bills 71 and 72 during a ceremony at Northeastern Illinois University, according to a Quinn spokeswoman. Also expected to attend is Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office oversees driver services.[…]
A state legislative task force created after Wilhelm’s death found that one in four accidents nationally occur because of driver inattention. Statistics compiled by the Illinois Department of Transportation show that cell phones were the primary or secondary contributor to 1,001 traffic accidents in 2008 and 1,357 crashes in 2007.[…]
House Bill 71 prohibits reading, writing or sending “an electronic message” while driving. That ban would apply to e-mail, text messages, instant messages and Internet-surfing.[…]
House Bill 72 outlaws the use of cell phones while driving in a school zone or in a highway construction zone. It, too, includes several exceptions, such as using a cell phone in an emergency.
Boland, the Democratic head of the House’s Higher Education Committee, is making the rounds of community colleges to gather support and tweak his Challenge Scholarship legislation.
In short, an eighth-grader would have to sign a pledge (along with parent or guardian) that he or she would maintain at least a “C” average throughout high school and not get suspended from school or busted for anything to do with drugs or alcohol or violent behavior.
Those who fulfill the pledge would either get a year’s worth of tuition for a community college or the equivalent value applied to a four-year school of their choosing. […]
Boland’s possible solutions to funding the program are perhaps less reliable than even funding from the state budget. Among the ideas: specialty license plates, an extra $100 court fee and donations from individuals and foundations. But if the court fee idea is such a great idea, shouldn’t it help balance the state budget? Couldn’t it be used to help forestall an income tax increase?
But in 2009, casinos have trumped the game. Why wait 19 minutes for a thrill you can get at a casino as often as you can pull a slot machine lever or pick up a fresh hand of cards. Yesterday’s strategy-driven horse players — who wanted to win on skill and not just dumb luck — are today’s strategy-driven poker or blackjack players.[…]
Illinois lawmakers orchestrated a peculiar plan to temporarily rescue Fairmount and its upstate cousins with revenue from a tax on the state’s top grossing casinos. Even if it worked, it amounted to giving the tracks fish instead of fishing equipment.
But it didn’t work. The handout scheme is tied up by a casino industry lawsuit till who knows when. So the foundering Fairmount has decided to end its 2009 live season early, giving back 18 of the 75 authorized racing dates once held so precious.[…]
In its unbridled zeal to cultivate revenue on vices, the Legislature recently expanded wagering and its dubious social consequences to the fertile new ground of bars and restaurants. If those usually non-wagering businesses can have video gambling, why can’t Fairmount be allowed to put in slot machines — something that apparently has saved horse racing in some other states.
Out of five bids opened Tuesday afternoon, three came in well below the $200,000 figure the county is slated to receive for the project through the state capital spending bill that was approved last month.
The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, shows Giannoulias winning 45 percent of the primary vote against businessman (and RFK son) Chris Kennedy and Chicago Urban League president Cheryle Jackson. In the three-way race, Kennedy tallies 17 percent of the vote, with Jackson at 13 percent.
In a head-to-head matchup against Jackson, Giannoulias leads by 30 points, 51 to 21 percent.
The poll surveyed 387 likely Illinois Democratic voters between July 28-August 2, and has a five percent margin of error.
The poll reflects the growing belief that Giannoulias will emerge as the Democratic nominee, and face Republican congressman Mark Kirk in the general election for President Obama’s old Senate seat. Kennedy appears to have backed off his plans to pursue the Senate after spending much of the spring ramping up for a primary against Giannoulias.
* Alexi Giannoulias investigated by Fox News(This is a video, and I did not have time to watch it. So if it is a bunch of malarkey, blame Fox not me)
* Climate Vote Causing Heartburn for Kirk in Senate Bid (I suggest you read the whole thing)
The moderate Kirk has long been viewed as the GOP’s best hope of recapturing a Senate seat in the solidly blue state. But in the couple of weeks since announcing his Senate bid, Kirk has been repeatedly hit from the right over support for the climate bill and analysts say it is possible the issue could dog him throughout the campaign.
“Our members are very upset with that vote — we have yet to receive a good answer and in our opinion there is no good answer for that vote,” said Joe Calomino, director of the Illinois branch of Americans for Prosperity, an organization that advocates for fiscally conservative policies. “On a statewide level, that vote is an anti-free market vote.”
The furor over the climate bill started almost immediately after the late June vote, as numerous conservative commentators and bloggers harshly criticized the eight House Republicans who voted in favor of the bill and in the minds of some provided the votes needed for passage (Greenwire, June 30).
Some of that criticism has faded in recent weeks as conservatives have turned their attention to health care and other topics and as the climate debate moved to the Senate. But the issue continues to haunt Kirk, who now has to explain his vote not just to constituents but to conservative voters across the state — including to those in the coal-producing regions of southern Illinois.
State Comptroller Dan Hynes will be sending out a letter to supporters today confirming he is running for governor.
A formal announcement of his entry into the Democratic primary will come later this month, but the letter will include petition forms supporters can download and begin circulating today. […]
“We need strong, steady leadership to tackle the serious problems facing Illinois, and I believe we’re not getting that leadership right now,” Hynes told the Sun-Times. “Serious problems need serious leadership. We don’t need somebody who can tell a joke or can work a room. We need someone who can work a budget, and work with the General Assembly.”[…]
“When you get in the arena, you’ve got to make decisions,” Quinn said of Hynes last month. “You can’t stand on the side of the road and not take part in tough battles. You can’t be a no-show. You can’t just show up and say, ‘Hey, I want to be elected to something.’ “
* Bernard Schoenburg: Springfield suffers from gap in understanding
MIKE RENDINA, 29, of Chicago has been named campaign manager for Illinois Comptroller DAN HYNES’ expected run for governor.[…]
Rendina got to know Hynes while managing the campaign of state Rep. SARA FEIGENHOLTZ, D-Chicago, in the special election to replace White House Chief of Staff RAHM EMANUEL. Hynes endorsed Feigenholtz[…]
Rendina also managed the successful re-election campaign in 2008 of U.S. Rep. BILL FOSTER, D-Geneva and has been caucus director for Senate Democrats in the Maryland legislature.
State Sen. Matt Murphy has been quiet lately about his run for governor as compared to his Republican primary competition. But the Palatine Republican says that is no sign he is backing out of the race.
In fact, he told Animal Farm today he is fundraising, has a team of advisors in place and recently meet with members of the Republican Governors Association. In coming weeks he is planning a statewide tour.
Murphy’s right-hand man is Ryan McLaughlin, who ran Peter Roskam’s successful run for Congress against Tammy Duckworth in the DuPage County-centered 6th District.
“It is coming together nicely,” he said. “I feel like I have a great opportunity.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Schillerstrom is urging leaders in Illinois cities and counties to reject video gambling machines.[…]
[…] Schillerstrom’s video gambling position is not really that unique among the pool of five GOP gubernatorial candidates, though. The three state senators also in the race oppose use of the machines as does conservative radio commentator and fellow candidate Dan Proft.
* Southland reps weigh Obama’s health plan(Other U.S. Reps. nentioned in story: Bean, Lipinski, Rush and Jackson -see health news section)
On Wednesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent an e-mail throughout the 11th Congressional District, urging U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson to “side with Illinois seniors … and oppose a government healthcare takeover … that will destroy Medicare.”
Halvorson, a Democrat, ran for Congress on a health care agenda. She often shared a story on the campaign trail of her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis at age 49. Because her father ran a small business restoring furniture, Halvorson’s parents did not have access to an affordable group medical plan. They were uninsured.[…]
But in the delicate dance of ideology vs. re-election, will Pelosi give Halvorson - a freshman representing a traditionally Republican district - longer leash on Obama’s bill? Will Halvorson take it?
Halvorson spokeswoman Roxane Geraci-Militello said the bill must lower costs for families and reduce the government’s budget deficit.
Sneed hears rumbles state Sen. Jimmy DeLeo, who was this/close to embattled former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is planning to pull out of politics.
• • To wit: Sneed is told DeLeo, who has served 24 years in the state Legislature as a top Democrat and gregarious bon vivant — may not run for re-election in the primary next February.
• • The stats: Calls to DeLeo’s office were not returned. Word is he wants to take his life in a new direction.
Tuesday evening, Lombard Republican Peter Breen declared his candidacy for State Representative in District 41 to succeed 17-year incumbent Bob Biggins (R-Elmhurst). The event, at Villa Nova Banquets in Villa Park, was attended by over 60 people.
ELMHURST, IL – Rafael Rivadeneira, Republican candidate for House District 41, signed the Illinois Policy Institute’s Transparency Pledge to ensure state government is doing everything within its power to provide transparent government following his election to the House. Rafael formally announced his candidacy for the open seat in July.
“HB 723 would make it nearly impossible for third parties to slate candidates in Illinois,” said Free & Equal Chair Christina Tobin. “The bill would make it so that when no candidate of an established party runs in a primary for a particular office, that party can only fill the vacancy in nomination if the candidate they “slate” collects a large number of signatures.”
Not Chicago’s most powerful alderman. Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th) is freshening up his third-floor suite at City Hall.
New carpeting is being installed to eliminate the need to cover holes with duct tape. Walls are being re-painted. A “small number” of chairs and cubicles are being replaced.
Acting General Services Commissioner Mark Maloney offered no cost estimate on the Finance Committee project. […]
No matter what the cost, the touch-up comes at the worst possible time from a public relations standpoint. Most of Chicago’s unionized employees have been forced to take unpaid days off and make other cost-cutting concessions.
Mayor Daley is strapped for cash to run city government, but he has a rich money pot to subsidize private development downtown.
His pledge of $25 million in city help for the relocation of United Airlines jobs to Willis Tower shows the power of a relatively new tax-increment financing district. Formally, it’s called the LaSalle Central Redevelopment Project Area, and the last official accounting said it had $26.8 million in free cash. The money cannot be used for City Hall’s regular business.
The city has used furloughs, concessions and layoffs to eliminate a threatened $300 million year-end shortfall, and Daley’s preliminary 2010 budget has a $520 million gap.
Fioretti says the subsidy is justified because the average United worker will spend thousands of dollars at downtown businesses.
* Will we call it the ‘old United building’ in 10 years?
When United Airlines leaves for downtown Chicago, the company has the potential to leave behind a 60-acre eyesore.
The airline reportedly will announce today that it is moving the 2,800 employees at its operational headquarters in Elk Grove Township to Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower.
Since the campus sits in an unincorporated area, only Cook County officials will patrol the site to make sure it doesn’t fall into disrepair.
Air travelers who attempt to bring bottled water and coffee to the gate, only to dump the filled containers at security checkpoints, are costing O’Hare and Midway Airports a ton of money.
Liquid-filled containers are heavy. The more the garbage weighs, the more the city pays to haul it away.
On Wednesday, Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino used a so-called “Airports Going Green” conference to float an idea pioneered in Portland that could reduce waste-hauling costs and improve the environment.
“What Portland was doing was allowing them to dump the water out, take the empty bottle with them through security. They can re-fill it on the other side or dispose of it in a recycling bin. This way, reduce the amount they pay for garbage disposal,” she said.
I’ll bet there wouldn’t have been many to pick Rosemont, the town that aggressively pursued a riverboat casino license for most of the past decade, only to lose out because of its enduring reputation for mob influence.
But on Wednesday, the Rosemont village board enacted a ban on the electronic gambling devices within its borders, passing up the potential revenue due local governments under the law while citing potential social costs.
“It’s not worth it for a couple, three hundred thousand dollars,” said Rosemont Mayor Bradley Stephens, who succeeded his father, Rosemont founder Donald Stephens, after his death in 2007.
However, he doesn’t believe communities that do pass on the devices should be denied any infrastructure dollars video gambling helps generate.
“I don’t think that’s fair at all,” he said. “The revenue (the state) expects to get from video poker is at best speculative because local governments can opt out, and there is tremendous need for those public works dollars all over the state.”[…]
Schillerstrom currently serves as DuPage County Board chairman and supports county board member Brien Sheahan’s initiative to ban the devices at establishments in unincorporated parts of the county.
The tab for building an Olympic Village typically is reported to be about $1 billion, but a tally of various associated costs puts the total at $1.18 billion.
* Dublin bookie has Chicago odds-on favorite for bid, but bettors can be wrong. Just ask Paris.
In this year’s sweeps, the Dublin-based agency has Chicago running at 4-6 odds, with Tokyo lagging at 10-3, Rio de Janeiro limping at 7-2 and Madrid gasping at 8-1. British online bookie bet365.com also has Chicago clearly ahead at 4-6, with Rio and Tokyo in a tossup for silver and bronze.
Federal law forbids Americans from sponsoring bets or betting on such games.
Drivers and thousands of other CTA employees caught using personal electronic devices on duty will be fired under a new “zero tolerance” policy that reflects a growing national concern over motorists’ cell phone use and texting.
Effective immediately, train operators, rail maintenance workers and rail station customer assistants are prohibited from using or possessing cell phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants such as BlackBerry devices, MP3 music players, wireless headsets or any other device, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said.
Previously, employees had been allowed up to four safety violations before a dismissal was considered.[…]
Bus drivers are only allowed to use a cell phone in an emergency. Train operators are given CTA radios and cell phones and are prohibited from using any personal device while on duty.
Earlier this week, Federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said all drivers who text behind the wheel should face criminal charges.
Cook County government’s medical system will ban smoking entirely at all its hospitals and clinics in November, stubbing out outdoor smoking on its properties, officials said Wednesday.[…]
County Board President Todd Stroger, who announced the new policy in front of Stroger Hospital with system officials, lauded the decision to make the grounds smoke-free.
“I think it’s important as a health institution that we lead by example,” Stroger said. “You can’t promote a healthy lifestyle without having a healthy environment.”
The ban will go into effect along with the American Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout on Nov. 19.
* County hospitals, clinics push smokers farther away
T.Cook County health system chief William Foley said making the county’s three hospitals and 19 other health care facilities entirely smoke-free will send a message to the public that “quality health care in a healthy environment begins when you come to our property.”
To headline a back-to-school campaign, Chicago Public Schools officials say they opted for a talented, hardworking CPS grad who values education — and just happens to be famous for a salacious breakout single called “Birthday Sex.”
* 150 rally against racism; Davlin says noose investigation following protocol
Amid demands for the firing of two employees believed to be responsible for tying and hanging a noose in a workstation at City Water, Light and Power, Mayor Tim Davlin said Wednesday that “everything is going exactly the way it’s supposed to.”[…]
Before the city council meeting, a crowd of about 150 people of all ages and races rallied outside city hall, denouncing racism and making it clear how they felt: A noose isn’t a prank or a joke — it’s a hate crime.
The special commission investigating the admissions process at the University of Illinois is scheduled to issue their report to Governor Pat Quinn, Thursday.[…]
Panel Chair Abner Mikva says members will make a recommendation regarding the Board of Trustees.
MIKVA: All of the trustees ought to submit their resignations to the Governor and the Governor should decide which of any he wants to appoint.
Gov. Pat Quinn is promising action “very quickly” after he gets the final report from a commission that examined the admissions scandal at the University of Illinois.
Heidi Hurd — who testified before the Illinois Admission Review Commission nearly a month ago — sent a 15-page letter late last week in which she describes herself as a “victim” of the school’s clout lists, not a “perpetrator,” and details her efforts to push back against them.
She also supports her earlier assertions that Chancellor Richard Herman and public officials abused their power when they forced her to admit subpar students.
Commissioners will weigh the letter against a voice mail message Hurd left on Herman’s home phone shortly after she testified. University attorneys turned over the message to the commission, officials said.
According to a transcript, Hurd refers to Herman as a “knight in shining armor” and says she remains his “most ardent admirer.”
The Illinois secretary of state’s inspector general visited two Metro East drivers facilities on Wednesday and showcased reform efforts to root out corruption.
“We want the public to know that there is zero tolerance for corruption or unethical behavior,” said Jim Burns, the inspector general who formerly served as U.S. attorney for northern Illinois.
The office was beset by corruption allegations in the 1990s. Former Gov. George Ryan was convicted in 2006 of a series of federal charges stemming from his tenure as secretary of state in that era, including racketeering and fraud.
Although it’s been barely 200 days since the legislature was sworn in, this week marked the start of candidate petition season. When candidates turn in their petitions around Halloween, election authorities will ask them to submit a bunch of other papers as well, including, Statements of Economic Interest, political fundraising disclosures, and the Code of Fair Campaign Practices.
* Ex-warden: Ill. supermax `very, very hard time’(Tamns prison piece: A very long but very good read)
But critics of the prison say Fields is a victim of a deeply flawed policy that punishes mentally ill inmates for behavior they cannot control by placing them in solitary confinement for long periods, in many cases 10 years or more.
Such punishment, some critics say, amounts to torture worse than that experienced by suspected terrorists at the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After his transfer 11 years ago to Tamms, Fields coped in ways bizarre and self-destructive common to many inmates held in continuous solitary confinement. He sliced his arms and throat with bits of glass, metal and paint chips. A prison doctor who stitched him up once testified he didn’t always inject anesthetic because the skin of many Tamms inmates became numb from massive scarring from repeated self-mutilation.
Fields smeared excrement in his cell so often that maintenance men painted it with an easier to clean coating. He swallowed glass. Prison officials charged him $5.30 for tearing up a state-owned sheet to make a noose to kill himself.
Watch for a Cook County grand jury to issue an indictment today against the four Burr Oak Cemetery employees charged with desecrating graves. Are new charges forthcoming?
The Lake County state’s attorney’s office is investigating a methadone-related death after learning that the county’s coroner, Dr. Richard Keller, prescribed the drug to the victim at a Waukegan clinic, where Keller is medical director.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is participating in the county investigation, which includes a review of whether Keller and clinic staff followed proper procedures in administering methadone, commonly used to treat heroin addiction, DEA Special Agent Will Taylor said.And a state agency has faulted the clinic for not reporting the death, as required.
La Salle County could face federal and state fines of $20,000 or more for code violations at a nursing home where a male patient is accused of molesting 10 women.
Finnigan, formerly of the police Special Operations Section, shot Eric Kaminski three times in the head on Feb. 4, 2004 after Daniel Nevarez told him Kaminski stole $40,000 of cash and two kilograms of marijuana from his home, Stuart Goldberg claimed during his opening statement’s at Nevarez’s murder trial this afternoon.[…]
Nevarez, 27, had been paying off Finnigan $3,500 a month to keep him from getting arrested, Goldberg said.
And when the money disappeared, Nevarez allegedly told Finnigan he couldn’t pay him. So Finnigan met with Kaminski, 25, in a building Nevarez’s father owns, in the 2200 block of West Coulter, and shot him, Goldberg said.
Finnigan has been charged along with other members of the now-disbanded Special Operations Section of falsely arresting and robbing people. Finnigan is also charged in federal court with plotting to kill a fellow officer, Keith Herrera, whom he believed was cooperating with the corruption investigation.
Johnson, who suffers from Type 2 diabetes, said his blood sugar was so low he was losing consciousness when he bumped a guard rail with his car while trying to pull over on the road.
The lawsuit claims Glenwood police officer Dan Fisher pulled up behind Johnson’s vehicle, went to the driver’s side window and, believing Johnson was intoxicated, smashed the window with his baton in an attempt to rouse him. The suit said Fisher then pulled him out of his vehicle and choked, punched and kicked Johnson multiple times. […]
An emergency medical services report filed by Bud’s Ambulance termed Johnson as being “difficult to arouse” and “not responding to verbal” commands at the scene. His blood sugar count was recorded as 26 on the report.
Normal blood counts are between 80 and 120, said Maria Natividad, a certified diabetes educator with Ingalls Outpatient Diabetes Center in Tinley Park. “A 26 would be considered a severe hypoglycemic blood sugar count. Their symptoms could mirror someone who is intoxicated or they may just pass out,” she said.
* Second Brown’s Chicken Massacre Trial Set to Open
* One dead, seven wounded in two shootings on Southwest, Far South sides
A convicted triple murderer in Illinois was charged Wednesday with the killings of five Southern California women in cases dating back to the mid-1980s.
Today on a visit to an Indiana factory, President Obama said he believes the nation’s economy is on its way to recovery. The latest figures show Illinois’ unemployment rate is following national trends, tipping the scales at 10.3%
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State Senator Dan Rutherford says during good times and bad, people need to keep lawmakers in the loop.
The Labor Department said that initial claims for jobless benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 550,000 for the week ending Aug. 1, down from an upwardly revised figure of 588,000 in the previous week.[…]
The tally of people continuing to claim benefits rose, however, by 69,000 to 6.3 million, the department said, after dropping for three straight weeks. The continuing claims data lags initial claims by a week.[…]
When emergency extensions of unemployment are included, the total rolls climbed to a record 9.35 million for the week ending July 18, the most recent data available. Congress has added up to 53 extra weeks of benefits on top of the 26 typically provided by the states.[…]
The recession, which began in December 2007 and is the longest since World War II, has eliminated a net total of 6.5 million jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 9.6 percent when the July figure is reported Friday. The jobless rate of 9.5 percent in June marked a 26-year high.
Nowadays, chastened by the cascade of bum loans that came back to haunt them, most lenders are casting a wary eye to just about everything in an appraisal, according to McCarthy and others in the field.[…]
“Lenders are requiring much more market information from the appraisal than I can remember in my 30-year career,” he said.[…]
The new policy agreement, from regulators and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is called the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, and it’s intended to keep appraisers and lenders at arm’s length to ensure unbiased valuations.
But critics complain that one result of the rules is that non-local appraisers — who may be unfamiliar with neighborhood real estate norms — are being called in, and their less-informed opinions are skewing appraisals and causing deals to founder.
One of the Kane County’s largest employers will stay innovative and viable thanks to a $60.2 million funding boost from the federal stimulus package.
Fermilab Director Piermaria Oddone publicly thanked Congressman Bill Foster, a former Fermilab employee, for helping secure the money on Wednesday. The cash infusion means job security for the nearly 2,000 employees of the lab and new, short-term, jobs for the local construction industry.
During a press conference at the high-energy particle physics lab on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, said Fermilab will see the first $45 million of its federal stimulus money in about two weeks and can be expected to start spending the money shortly thereafter.
“The $45 million will get out in the community in the hands of businesses,” said Foster, who estimated the total federal stimulus money will help create 125 local construction jobs.
The $45 million is just the first payment. The lab is approved for more than $100 million of federal stimulus money.[…]
Of the $100 million, one-fourth is planned for general infrastructure improvements. Oddone said much of that $25 million will stay with local contractors, architects and technicians, such as the ones who install air conditioning systems.
Illinois will receive $13.1 million in federal money to encourage children to walk and bike to school.[…]
According to Quinn’s office, there will be 171 projects across the state, including sidewalk repairs, safety training and police and crossing guard equipment. The program is known as Safe Routes to School.
Woodford County got its $302,000 for road work.[…]
The TIP approval also covered other projects that the group previously had feared might not meet time constraints for federal stimulus funding. Primarily, that means Northmoor Road, a joint project between the city of Peoria and Peoria County that accounts for more than $2 million of the $5.4 million in stimulus funding.
One appeal of a controversial railway sale was denied this week, clearing the way for another — this one in federal court.
On Wednesday, the federal Surface Transportation Board rejected an appeal by the Illinois Commerce Commission. The ICC objected to Canadian National Railway Company’s $300 million purchase of the suburban Elgin, Joliet and Eastern rail line, which the STB approved in December.
The news sent Allstate’s shares tumbling in aftermarket trading, down 76 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $27.47. The stock closed Wednesday’s regular session at $28.23, down nearly 14 percent for the year.
The Northbrook, Ill., company said it earned $389 million, or 72 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. That compares with a profit of $25 million, or 5 cents per share, last year. Revenue rose 14.5 percent to $8.49 billion. […]
During the second quarter, Allstate had record catastrophic losses of $818 million, up 17 percent from $698 million in the year ago period, due to a large number of costly windstorms and hailstorms. It was the company’s sixth-consecutive quarter of high catastrophe losses from events other than hurricanes, said Allstate Chairman, President and Chief Executive Tom Wilson in an interview with The Associated Press.
Chicago-based global hotelier Hyatt Hotels Corp. is seeking to raise up to $1.15 billion in an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The filing did not specify the number of shares to be offered or an expected date for the offering, which is the third largest prospective IPO in the U.S. pipeline.[…]
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2008, Hyatt’s revenues came to $3.8 billion, with net income from Hyatt Hotels reaching $168 million.
But for the six months ended June 30, revenues totaled $1.6 billion, with a net loss of $36 million attributable to Hyatt Hotels Corporation, according to the filing.
Shares of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, shot up more than 18 percent Wednesday as an analyst said the carrier was not facing a near-term cash crisis.
Most airline shares were higher, rising from earlier lows, as oil prices dropped below $71.
People who have served three years or more will be eligible for tuition and fees equal to the most expensive public university in their state. They will also get a housing stipend and up to $1,000 a year for books.
The benefits will be prorated for military veterans who have served less than 36 months.
Children will receive the benefit if the person has been killed in the line of duty. Troops who have served six years and sign up for an additional four can pass the college benefit to their children.
The average family with students in elementary or high school is expected to spend $549 on school clothing and supplies this year, down 7.7 percent from the $594 spent last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Back-to-school spending across the country is expected to reach $17.42 billion.
A recent Kaiser report showed that the 10 brand-name drugs most commonly prescribed for Medicare beneficiaries — drugs such as Lipitor, Plavix or Prevacid, which have an average monthly price of $131 — lack generic equivalents.
The soaring cost of prescription drugs is a crisis that has been brewing for years. Americans spent more than $40 billion on prescription drugs in 1990. In 2006, according to federal sources, expenditures rose to more than $217 billion.
A recent AARP Illinois survey showed the harsh impact of prescription drug prices on Illinoisans over 50. Nearly 20 percent had to choose between filling a grocery cart, paying utility bills and filling a prescription, and 63 percent of Illinois AARP members are concerned about being able to afford their medicines.[…]
Americans will pay $2.6 trillion in health expenses in 2009, an average of $8,300 per person. But if no action is taken, health expenses will soar to $13,000 per person by 2017, according to the Congressional Budget Office projections.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st), of Chicago, whose district includes Midlothian, Crestwood and Oak Forest, introduced and passed an amendment in committee that clears the path for generic prescription drugs to come to market. His amendment eliminates incentives offered to generic drug-makers by their brand-name competitors to delay entry to market.
With that change incorporated, Rush is expected to support the final version of Obama’s bill, as is U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd), of Chicago. Constituents of the 2nd District support Obama’s plan, according to Jackson spokesman Charles Dujon. […]
Halvorson’s suburban counterpart up north, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean (D-8th) of Barrington said Wednesday she remains unconvinced the bill as written “measurably reduces increasing health care costs for American families, business and our government while protecting quality of care.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd), of Western Springs, said he’ll study the three proposals that emerged from the recently adjourned session. Pelosi hopes to smooth the three versions into one bill by the time the House returns Sept. 4.
METAMORA —Free blood pressure screenings, health care literature and information on volunteer organizations were among the many services for senior citizens Wednesday morning at Snyder Village.
Sponsored by state Rep. Dave Leitch, R-Peoria, and Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, the senior fair has been held for the past decade and typically draws more than 150 seniors.
The national tour stops at various locations in the Chicago area through Aug. 17. At each location, a 40-foot-long customized bus will offer health screenings to adults 18 years and older along with free educational information that is geared to increase the chances for early detection of potential health problems.
The screenings take place inside the vehicle and include total cholesterol levels, blood pressure, bone density, glucose levels, waist circumference and body mass index.
* ‘Early gainers’ using Depo more prone to long-term weight gain: study
Women who gain weight rapidly after starting birth control injections appear to be more prone to long-term weight gain, researchers have found.
***So the CDC keeps track of deaths caused by cows, but not by guns…interesting. Carol Marin may have a point about this being a scandal. Full disclosure: I am a gun enthusiast and gun owner who annually hunts pheasants and my father and brother are both card carrying members of the NRA. So I have no axe to grind here. I just find this an interesting example of how powerful lobbies can be counterproductive on society ***
* Is NRA part of the problem in counting the shootings?(I strongly suggest you read the whole thing)
Kathleen Monahan, the former project director for the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, puts it this way: “While firearms injuries are one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death for Americans, the CDC was prevented for years from investigating injuries and deaths due to firearms. This was always attributed to the NRA’s power in Congress. This is well known among gun violence prevention researchers.”[…]
The NRA’s fearsome clout goes a long way to explaining why only 17 states are part of the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System. Begun in 2002, it ran out of funding by the time Illinois applied in 2004. Private money from the Joyce and MacArthur foundations came to Illinois’ rescue as it tried to examine gun violence. Still that money covers only three counties.
“Information is the gun lobby’s enemy,” said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center, based in Washington.
So much so that when it comes to suicides, the CDC does not break out its data with regard to the method used. Hanging? Drug overdose? Or gun?
Farmers beware: A government report says cattle cause 20 deaths a year on average on U.S. farms.Farmers beware: A government report says cattle cause 20 deaths a year on average on U.S. farms.
There are 1,545 breweries operating in the United States. Thousands more are scattered worldwide — from traditional beer-drinking countries such as Belgium and Germany to newer craft-brewing hot spots such as Italy and Norway. With many, if not most, of those breweries regularly releasing new offerings, seasonal brews and limited one-offs, there’s a never-ending supply of new beers to learn about and sample.[…]
Well, you don’t have to devote your waking hours tuned in to the buzz on beer-geek Web sites, boning up on the latest bourbon barrel-aged stout or the newest brewery to expand its distribution into Illinois. Rather, let others impart their carefully edited and fine-tuned beer knowledge unto you when you head to one of Chicago’s many so-called beer schools.
Classes range in size from the dozen or so people who typically attend Whole Foods’ monthly class at its West Lakeview location to 70 people at Goose Island’s Beer Academy. And they’re geared toward a general audience — from the novice to the aficionado.
