Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Question: What do members of our congressional delegation, two former Obama Administration officials, a former Bush Administration official and a former U.S. Senator and Governor from a neighboring state all agree on?
Answer: Preventing the premature closure of Illinois’ nuclear energy plants is critically important to our environment and our economy.
• Former U.S. EPA Administrators Carol Browner and Christie Todd Whitman: “Nuclear Energy Is Critical to Fighting Climate Change.”
- Real Clear Energy, March 12, 2015
• U.S. Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Cheri Bustos: “Illinois Reps Urge Nuclear Solution.”
- The Times, March 4, 2015
• Former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk: “Illinois Must Protect Its Nuclear Energy.”
- Daily Herald, February 13, 2015
• Former Indiana Governor and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.): “Nuclear Energy Plants Well Worth Saving In Illinois.”
- Chicago Sun-Times, February 4, 2015
Illinois depends on reliable, clean-air energy from nuclear facilities to power Illinois and drive our economy. But three of Illinois’ six nuclear plants are at risk of closing prematurely, and the consequences of these closures would be catastrophic:
• $1.8 billion every year in lost economic activity
• Nearly 8,000 jobs
• Up to $500 million annually in higher energy costs statewide, according to a PJM analysis
• $1.1 billion per year due to increases in carbon and other pollutants
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to construct new transmission lines
Only one legislative solution - the Illinois Low Carbon Portfolio Standard (LCPS) - would help prevent these closures. The LCPS is good for Illinois consumers, good for our economy and good for our environment.
Members of the Illinois General Assembly:
VOTE YES ON HB 3293 / SB 1585
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“ComEd has long believed that competitive markets will work in the best interests of our customers. So we are concerned about the negative impact on our customers from a requirement that would force utilities to buy subsidized generation at above-market prices.” (Crain’s, February 28, 2013)
Exelon’s Bailout Legislation is Gross Overreach- Exelon has asserted, but not proven, it needs a bailout for three of its Illinois nuclear facilities yet proposed a subsidy for all six Illinois nukes.
No Faith Based Bailouts - Exelon has refused to disclose any information to prove their plants will be in trouble.
Federal Bailout for Exelon Later this Spring – The coming grid auction, under new rules Exelon lobbied for, is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year for Exelon’s Illinois nuclear plants.
Ratepayer Impact Too Great – The Exelon legislation is going to cost struggling Illinois businesses and consumers $1.6 billion in rate increases over the next five years.
Proposed Solution Not “Market-Based” – The Exelon legislation contains restrictions to ensure only Exelon’s nuclear plants qualify.
Just say no to the Exelon Bailout! Vote no on SB 1585/HB 3293.
Rauner told the Daily Herald editorial board he’s working toward a different pension plan that seeks to break what he calls a “corrupt bargain” between union leaders and politicians who can get campaign money from them.
“I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions,” Rauner said. “I think they’re activist judges who want to be legislators.”
Asked if the state Supreme Court is part of the same “corrupt” system, Rauner replied: “Yes, correct. Yes. Yes. We have a system where we elect our judges, and the trial lawyers who argue cases in front of those judges give campaign cash to those judges. It’s a corrupt system.” […]
“You tell me if you look at who gives them the money and you decide whether there’s a conflict of interest going on in the courts,” Rauner said. “You tell me. Do you think there’s not?”
I happen to think that we have a pretty good Supreme Court here. I’m not a big fan of much of the appellate bench, but the Supremes get a lot more right than they get wrong. Are there some questionable circumstances at the edges? Maybe, but how many Supreme Court justices have been sent to prison in Illinois’ history? Any? [Adding: OK, back in 1969] Now compare that to the other two branches.
And the “fix” Rauner wants is to allow himself to pick all Supreme Court and appellate judges. But they won’t be influenced by his kabillions?
* Rauner’s pattern is if he doesn’t like something then it’s corrupt. If he does like something, well, then it’s all about the 1st Amendment or some other holy writ.
I’d like to see the governor actually show us some history and some facts to back up his claims about this particular Supreme Court. But, really, this is just one more in a long line of over-blown comic book statements.
It also sets the stage for the failure of the pension law, which he can then blame on those evil unions.
…Adding… Rauner said this about Indiana and his own economic development plan, but it applies here as well…
“I am one of the baddest, you know, enemies anybody can have. And when I set a goal, we do it. I don’t care what the headline is. I want the results.”
“Well then, business will have to suffer, all right? And listen, do me a favor, Tom. No more advice on how to patch things up, just help me win, please. All right?”
…Adding More… From comments…
This isn’t political posturing, it’s destabilizing. This isn’t some person throwing accusations from the peanut gallery, this is the sitting Governor talking about his co-equal branch of government.
“No, no, no! No more! Not this time, Consigliere! No more meetin’s! No more discussions! No more Solozzo tricks! You give ‘em one message - I want Solozzo. If not, it’s all-out war, we go to the mattresses.”
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
My name is Wendy Warmowski. My son, Jacob, was a perfectly healthy, happy toddler until several medical errors changed his life forever.
Jacob was diagnosed with an ear infection and given antibiotics. When his antibiotic was nearly finished he took a turn for the worse. We eventually ended up in the ER.
At the ER, Jacob should have had immediate attention and care, but instead we waited. Jacob was eventually diagnosed with strep pneumomeningitis. The doctors ordered antibiotics to be given immediately, but instead we waited again. Because of the delay in treating Jacob he had 6 strokes, fell into a coma and had to have a tube placed down his throat to help him breath. The doctors told me Jacob might not ever wake up from the coma or come off of the ventilator.
Today, Jacob continues to have physical and mental issues. He has vision problems, balance difficulties, attention issues and epilepsy. He has to have special schooling and goes to occupational, physical and speech therapy several times a week.
The civil justice system allowed our family to hold the doctors responsible for their errors and delays that resulted in Jacob’s brain injury. Our settlement allows us to give Jacob the best care he could have so that he can live the best life he can. Trust me; I’d return it all to have that happy, perfectly healthy toddler back.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association fights to ensure all citizens get equal footing in the courtroom. To read more about Jacob’s story, click here.
The satellite TV industry in Illinois has started fighting a potential tax it says could add 5 percent to customers’ bills.
A specific proposal isn’t yet being broadcast in Springfield, but it has come up before. And satellite companies said they shouldn’t be taxed just because cable companies have to pay franchise fees with communities that let them use land to run their wires. […]
Cable providers have proposed the tax before saying it would help level the playing field for TV providers. Several years ago, it was approved by the Illinois Senate but didn’t advance further.
“We’re paying 5 percent for the cost of doing business,” Joe Hadley, President of the Cable Television & Communications Association of Illinois, said.
Cable TV companies pay a 5 percent franchise fee to operate in the state. However, McCabe noted that cable uses public rights-of-way for its technology.
“We don’t use the right-of-way,” she said. “It is not a loophole. It is a different technology.”
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said Illinois has a number of businesses that manufacture components for the satellite TV industry. He said the AMA is concerned that a tax on satellite TV could cost the industry customers and, consequently, hurt the businesses that produce the components.
Dan Clausner, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, said many bars and restaurants, particularly in rural areas, depend on satellite service to provide television in their establishments.
In all, the industry said it serves 1.3 million households in Illinois, which represents about one third of the homes that subscribe to television.
The idea is being bandied about by some as a possible revenue source for a new capital construction program. So…
* The Question: Should satellite TV users pay a 5 percent service tax to help fund a capital bill? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* The Tribune editorial board gushed all over Gov. Rauner today, calling his agenda “The Rauner Revolution”…
“We have a moral duty to have an efficient government. The tax money belongs to the taxpayers. It doesn’t belong to the bureaucracy, and government is not a welfare system.”
— Gov. Bruce Rauner to the Tribune Editorial Board, April 6, 2015.
The common gold-throated U.S. officeholder, politicianus americanus, enters conversations desperate to please you, the voter, right now. Ask about any substantive issue — immigration policy, coal standards, Asian carp — and you’ll often get an obsequious answer intended to convey empathy: “I share your concern about your issue. I’ve looked into it, and, um, everything should be on the table!”
Not so with the rookie governor of Illinois. Bruce Rauner sounds as if he wants to get to every issue, eventually. Now, though, he’s focused on precisely one item: an agenda he calls The Illinois Turnaround. He’s barnstorming the state this week, distributing thick binders and committing himself to transform our governments — especially the broke, broken one headquartered in Springfield.
* And, as usual, the Tribites ain’t worried about the details because WE HAVE A NEW SAINT…
We hope, though, that voters who elected him in November see the thrust of this agenda, if not its every jot and tittle, as a path to growing Illinois’ economy and thus its revenues.
Rauner says the package would save state and local governments money and would make the business climate in Illinois more competitive. But during the hourlong meeting, the rookie governor repeatedly steered discussion away from specifics, preferring instead to drive home his contention that “the system is rigged” against taxpayers and employers.
One such moment came when Rauner railed against public worker unions that donate heavily to further their political aims. Asked how he intended to get a ban on union campaign contributions through a legislature that is heavily backed by organized labor, Rauner pointed to the binders his staff had prepared.
“Read it,” he said. “Change the law … that’s what our proposal is.”
Pressed to explain, Rauner simply said: “Crisis. Crisis creates leverage.”
But specifics are important, because you gotta pass a bill. So let’s take a look.
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. To recover on a workers’ compensation claim, the employee bears the burden of showing s/he has sustained accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of employment.
Currently, if the employment is related at all to the injury, no matter how indirectly, the employee’s injury is compensable. If a work injury aggravates a pre-existing condition even slightly, the employer is 100% liable for the workers’ compensation claim.
Twenty-nine states have a higher causation standard than Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee recently passed laws requiring the workplace to be the primary cause for workers’ compensation to be compensable. Florida’s major contributing cause standard is identical to the one we are proposing.
Proposal
• The causation standard should be raised from an “any cause” standard to a “major contributing cause” standard. The accident at work must be more than 50% responsible for the injury compared to all other causes.
* Some have the tiniest bits of meat added. For instance…
This legislation would repeal the Illinois Prevailing Wage Law. Projects funded by the federal government would still be subject to federal requirements, including the Davis-Bacon Act. Wages would also still be subject to generally-applicable state laws, such as the Illinois minimum wage. While home- rule local governments would be able to determine local prevailing wages, a local prevailing wage would not apply to a state-funded project (but a federal prevailing wage would continue to apply, if the project is federally funded).
This legislation would authorize local governments, acting through their governing bodies or by voter- initiated referenda, to exclude certain topics from collective bargaining. These topics include:
• Use of third-party contractors;
• Wages in excess of aggregate limits established by the local government;
• Health insurance benefits;
• Use of employee time for the business of the labor organization;
• Required levels of staffing;
• Procedures and criteria for personnel evaluations and use of seniority; and
• In the case of schools, curriculum or standards of student academic performance, conduct, and
discipline in school.
This legislation explicitly authorizes municipal bankruptcy. There are no requirements, pre-conditions or other limitations to a municipality’s access to Chapter 9 in the proposed legislation. The decision whether to file is left entirely up to a municipality.
Rep. Ron Sandack has already agreed to create some sort of board to help municipalities find a way out of bankruptcy. Rauner wants none of that.
• Starting in property tax year 2016, payable in 2017, all property tax extensions from local taxing districts will be equal to the extension from 2015.
• This will impact home rule and non-home rule units of government and both PTELL and non- PTELL counties.
• It will still be possible for a property owner to see fluctuations in property tax bills due to an increase/decrease in value, new construction or the expiration of a tax increment financing district.
• Through a referendum voters may decide to break through the property tax freeze.
And, “there’s no chance of the property tax freeze” Rauner wants to impose, [GOP state Sen. Dave Syverson] said, because “he’s already cutting funding for local government.”
State funding cuts are threatening services for people living with autism, as families who receive help through a program called the Autism Project say they will be devastated by its elimination.
The Autism Project says Gov. Bruce Rauner confirmed the decision to cut funding for the remainder of the 2015 fiscal year Thursday - on World Autism Day. […]
Help for autism is not covered under Medicaid.
Yes, let’s confirm our autism program elmination on World Autism Day! Hooray for us!
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, told lawmakers on the House floor in late March — before the House and Senate voted on a bipartisan plan to resolve the $1.6 billion shortfall — that state funding for TAP and many other programs for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities would be preserved this fiscal year.
The budget compromise included appropriation authority for TAP to operate through the close of the fiscal year, TAP officials said.
“It appears that Gov. Rauner has turned his back on the budget process for the remainder of this fiscal year, which he and legislative leaders negotiated and passed less than two weeks ago,” Bonanno said. “We can’t understand why he gave his word and then took this action.”
Madigan walked out on a limb, and Rauner sawed it off.
Wonderful.
* The autism cut was only part of a list of grants that Rauner’s administration cut or eliminated on Good Friday/Passover…
Gov. Bruce Rauner suspended $26 million in social services and public health grants as part of his push to whittle away at a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current state budget.
The Republican’s office released a list of targeted programs late Friday that included funding to pay for the funerals and burials of public-assistance recipients, smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things. Rauner also froze $3.4 million in funding for immigrant integration assistance as part of his ongoing efforts to keep the state rolling through the June 30 end of the fiscal year. […]
“Part of the solution to solving the inherited $1.6 billion budget hole without raising taxes or increasing borrowing is to continue to evaluate the current fiscal year’s budget,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “The governor’s office worked with agencies to see which grants could be suspended and prioritized essential services.”
The cuts will save the state $21.8 million in Department of Human Services grants and $4.5 million in unexpended funding through the Department of Public Health.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s recent suspension of state payments for indigent funerals will lead to delays in bodies being picked up from hospitals, nursing homes and morgues, funeral industry officials said Monday.
“You will see the coroner system holding bodies longer and funeral homes less able to do a removal if they don’t really know there’s a payment source,” said Jay Markwell, a funeral director from Casey and president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.
The Rauner administration informed the association a few days ago that it will stop paying claims submitted after Jan. 15 for funerals of public-aid recipients. The action is estimated to save $6.9 million in the current fiscal year and is part of $26 million in cuts Rauner announced last week.
Rauner has proposed zeroing-out funding for the program in fiscal 2016.
The state in recent years has paid between $10 million and $11 million annually for the program, which reimburses up to $1,103 for a funeral and about $500 for burial expenses for indigent clients. Between 8,500 and 9,900 funerals are covered each year.
That was by far the largest cut in Friday’s blood-letting.
“The suspension of grant funding for epilepsy, autism, developmental disabilities, and mental health programs is devastating to the individuals that rely on these services to receive effective medical treatment and care. These programs are designed to keep individuals out of the emergency room, employed, in school, and save the state millions of dollars in healthcare and disability costs. Elimination of these programs will only put individuals out of work, increase costs to state run medical care programs, and endanger the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands Illinoisans living with developmental disabilities and mental health issues.”
Governor Rauner says some of the millions of dollars in state grants to social service agencies that he froze on Friday may begin flowing again.
But agencies that counsel drug addicts, the homeless, autistic people and others may need a little patience as the Rauner administration reviews the state’s budget that’s over a billion dollars short – for the period just until the end of June.
“So what I’ll do is just stop things, freeze it where we are today and then bring some thoughtful discipline to it and then free up the money and go back and reauthorize some grants, start spending a little bit more again but do it on a more thoughtful basis,” Rauner said.
The Republican says his management team is reviewing the grants and some could be reissued in days, others in a couple of months.
The former chairman of the legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the April 7 runoff just six months after delivering a rare public tongue-lashing to the mayor and Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) acknowledged he has a contentious “history with the mayor,” particularly when it comes to crime statistics that on Wednesday showed a troubling spike in homicides and shootings during the first quarter of the year. […]
But he also argued that Emanuel has “grown” and “matured” after being forced to fight for his political life in Chicago’s first-ever mayoral runoff.
“You see him engaged a little differently [and] better. He’s out in the communities . . . I see him having two ears, instead of just one mouthpiece. The bottom line is, he is listening more and he’s gonna be that much better of a mayor going forward,” Dunkin said. […]
When Emanuel heard himself described as having “two ears, instead of just one mouthpiece,” he turned to Dunkin and joked, “Your time at the mike’s over.”
Heh.
But that’s not our quotable.
* The endorsement sparked some questions online about whether this was an official Legislative Black Caucus endorsement. It wasn’t, explained Chuy Garcia’s political director…
I think the phrase Clem may have been searching for was “Not the brightest porch light on the block,” but still…
* Paul F. Campos writes about the real reason behind skyrocketing college tuition in the New York Times..
For example, when I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan in 1980, my parents were paying more than double the resident tuition that undergraduates had been charged in 1960, again in inflation-adjusted terms. And of course tuition has kept rising far faster than inflation in the years since: Resident tuition at Michigan this year is, in today’s dollars, nearly four times higher than it was in 1980.
State appropriations reached a record inflation-adjusted high of $86.6 billion in 2009. They declined as a consequence of the Great Recession, but have since risen to $81 billion. And these totals do not include the enormous expansion of the federal Pell Grant program, which has grown, in today’s dollars, to $34.3 billion per year from $10.3 billion in 2000. […]
Interestingly, increased spending has not been going into the pockets of the typical professor. Salaries of full-time faculty members are, on average, barely higher than they were in 1970. Moreover, while 45 years ago 78 percent of college and university professors were full time, today half of post-secondary faculty members are lower-paid part-time employees, meaning that the average salaries of the people who do the teaching in American higher education are actually quite a bit lower than they were in 1970.
By contrast, a major factor driving increasing costs is the constant expansion of university administration. According to the Department of Education data, administrative positions at colleges and universities grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, which Bloomberg reported was 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions.
Even more strikingly, an analysis by a professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that, while the total number of full-time faculty members in the C.S.U. system grew from 11,614 to 12,019 between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators grew from 3,800 to 12,183 — a 221 percent increase.
* Greg Hinz looks at the various budget promises made by both Chicago mayoral candidates and concludes…
Ergo, after we see what each man can get out of Gov. Bruce Rauner—Emanuel’s list looks far more likely to me than Garcia’s—we’re back to the one revenue source that is absolutely within the control of the city: the property tax.
I can hear the screaming already. But for those who are upset, I would point you to a recent study by the Civic Federation about how, relative to property values, Chicago homeowners pay a third less than those who live in Evanston, barely half of what they get charged in Schaumburg or Oak Park, and half or less of what homeowners are dinged in Elgin, Aurora, Buffalo Grove and Joliet.
Either Chicago property taxes are going up, at least somewhat, or the city is going down. It’s that simple.
This annual report compares effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2003 and 2012. Effective tax rates for nearly all selected communities rose between 2011 and 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, the Civic Federation found Harvey had the highest effective tax rate for residential properties at 8.87% in tax year 2012, while Chicago had the lowest residential rate at 1.84%.
Residential property tax rates in Chicago have risen by more than 30% since 2003, while all other selected communities in Cook County have experienced residential property tax increases of at least 55% over the ten year period. Commercial property tax rates also increased in the selected Cook County communities between 2003 and 2012, ranging from an increase of 4.1% in Evanston to an increase of 61.1% in Harvey.
* The AP looks at a questionable Aaron Schock campaign committee mileage reimbursement…
The political director of Schock for Congress, Karen McDonald Haney, received a payment of $4,755.40 on Dec. 20, 2014, labeled “mileage reimbursement” on campaign finance forms filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That payment to Haney, who also is a former political reporter at the Peoria Journal Star, is far larger than any of the travel reimbursements she was paid in February, March, April, July, August, September and October of last year, or four others recorded in September, November and December of 2013. The largest of those checks was $478.80, and appeared to cover all time between Dec. 18, 2013, and Feb. 21, 2014. […]
Travel to some political functions throughout the sprawling, 19-county district was standard with the position.
However, at the standard IRS mileage rate of 56.5 cents per mile in 2014, Haney’s December payment equates to 8,491.78 miles traveled — one-third of the circumference of the Earth. It equates to 157.25 miles per day, assuming she traveled on each of the 54 days between her Oct. 28 payment and the Dec. 20 check, including the Thanksgiving holiday.
That amount actually exceeds the amount on all checks labeled mileage on Schock for Congress disbursement records filed with the FEC for 2012 and 2013 combined, for all campaign staff. Those years together added up to $3,652.86. It also dwarfs the $1,996.51 Haney received in mileage reimbursements for the remainder of 2014.
Monday, Apr 6, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“ComEd has long believed that competitive markets will work in the best interests of our customers. So we are concerned about the negative impact on our customers from a requirement that would force utilities to buy subsidized generation at above-market prices.” (Crain’s, February 28, 2013)
Exelon’s Bailout Legislation is Gross Overreach- Exelon has asserted, but not proven, it needs a bailout for three of its Illinois nuclear facilities yet proposed a subsidy for all six Illinois nukes.
No Faith Based Bailouts - Exelon has refused to disclose any information to prove their plants will be in trouble.
Federal Bailout for Exelon Later this Spring – The coming grid auction, under new rules Exelon lobbied for, is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year for Exelon’s Illinois nuclear plants.
Ratepayer Impact Too Great – The Exelon legislation is going to cost struggling Illinois businesses and consumers $1.6 billion in rate increases over the next five years.
Proposed Solution Not “Market-Based” – The Exelon legislation contains restrictions to ensure only Exelon’s nuclear plants qualify.
Just say no to the Exelon Bailout! Vote no on SB 1585/HB 3293.
“The best jobs and the biggest employer are disappearing from the town of Carlton, Wisconsin…”
“The Wisconsin facility was the largest employer in Kewaunee County… About 630 people worked at the plant before it closed last year. Now, about 260 work on mothballing it. By October, only 140 will.”
‘They were the highest-paying jobs in the county, and a big chunk of that was flowing through the economy,’ said Ron Heuer, chairman of the county board of commissioners.”
“The consequences can be sudden and drastic, affecting school funding, real-estate values and economic development that were linked to the facilities.”
“Carlton will lose about $360,000 in annual revenue, roughly 70 percent of its $515,000 budget…”
“There’s a glut of homes for sale, with a 25 percent to 30 percent increase in houses on the market…
”
Members of the General Assembly: Don’t let this happen in Illinois. The fact is, three of Illinois’ six nuclear plants are at risk of closing, and the consequences of these closures are catastrophic:
• $1.8 billion every year in lost economic activity
• Nearly 8,000 highly skilled jobs
• Up to $500 million annually in higher energy costs statewide, according to a PJM analysis
• $1.1 billion per year due to increases in carbon and other pollutants
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to construct new transmission lines
Only one legislative solution - the Illinois Low Carbon Portfolio Standard (LCPS) - would help prevent these closures. The LCPS is good for Illinois consumers, good for our economy and good for our environment.
Members of the Illinois General Assembly:
VOTE YES ON HB 3293 / SB 1585
Thursday, Apr 2, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s were supposed to protect the environment, but lax enforcement left corporations with little incentive to comply. Ultimately, trial attorneys were the ones who sought justice for communities destroyed by corporate polluters.
More than 50 million U.S. residents live with unhealthy air, despite the passage of the Clean Air Act. As many as 49 million Americans have water supplies that contain levels of arsenic, radioactive substance and coliform bacteria. U.S. corporations produce more than 25 billion pounds of hazardous waste every year. Trial attorneys have worked on behalf of targeted communities to force corporations to be held accountable for the contaminants they have dumped in groundwater, rivers and streams. Trial attorneys have led the fight those who have been injured and sickened by corporate attempts to evade their negligence.
Without the civil justice system, many corporate polluters would never have been held accountable for the disasters they caused. For more information, click here.
* I’m shutting down the blog until next week. There could be random posts, and all the live feeds will be left on (of course), but unless something big happens comments will remained closed. I’m not yet sure when I’ll be back online, but I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, this is awesome news…
In what is surely among the biggest concert news – and perhaps the worst-kept secret – ever at Summerfest, the Big Gig will move its opening date up a day to host the Rolling Stones on Tuesday, June 23 at 8 p.m. at the Marcus Amphitheater. […]
The group has vowed to perform 1971’s landmark “Sticky Fingers” LP in its entirety at each concert.
“Sticky Fingers” with its distinctive “zipper” cover concept by Andy Warhol was the band’s ninth studio set – the 11th in America, where the label typically chopped down LPs and added singles tracks to create more albums.
The disc, which spawned massive hits like “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses,” topped album charts in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and across Europe. The record has sold more than 3 million copies in the United States alone. A remastered edition will be released on May 26 to coincide with the tour.
U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today released the following statement on the discriminatory law recently enacted in Indiana:
“I strongly oppose what Governor Pence did. We should not enshrine bigotry under the cover of religion. It’s not just bad practice – it’s un-American.”
Background:
* Senator Kirk was one of 11 Republican senators to vote for the Schatz Amendment to grant married same-sex couples full access to Social Security and veterans benefits.
* Last month, Senator Kirk signed an amicus brief, filed in the DeBoer v. Snyder case before the Supreme Court, in support of same-sex couples’ right to marry.
* In 2013, Senator Kirk was the second Republican senator to voice support for same-sex marriage.
* Senator Kirk was the lead Republican sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which passed the Senate in the 113th Congress.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner says he’s troubled by what he’s read about the situation in Indiana.
“I believe Illinois has struck the right balance between religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws and I support Illinois’ position on these issues,” Rauner said.
Rauner says he believes this law will open the door for discriminatory behavior and that would be bad.
* Scott Reeder compares the advancement of gay marriage to “right to work”…
About 15 years ago, when he was running for the Democratic nomination for governor, Paul Vallas told me he supported gay marriage. Shortly after telling me that, an aide called me and said Vallas was backing off the statement.
The idea was too radical back then.
Later, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, and the idea became acceptable for the public to discuss.
It is now legal in 37 states, including Illinois.
And, last year, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Vallas, along with his running mate, then-Gov. Pat Quinn, ran a platform of touting gay marriage legislation as a major accomplishment of the Quinn administration.
It’s an example of how, in the Overton Window model, an idea can move from unthinkable to radical to acceptable to policy.
The concept can be applied to other issues, of course.
For example, Illinois allowing ordinary citizens to carry concealed firearms has moved from unthinkable to a policy in a decade, with the most visible action coming in the last few years.
Right-to-work laws could be another good example.
Five years ago, it would have been unthinkable for an Illinois governor to support a law prohibiting workers from being forced to pay money to a union in order to keep a job.
A year ago, Dan Rutherford, then a candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, told Illinois News Network it wasn’t even an issue.
Now Gov. Bruce Rauner is calling for creating right-to-work zones in Illinois.
It is being treated by the political establishment in Illinois as a radical idea.
* While Illinois did pass a gay marriage bill and a concealed carry bill, most of the national progress on gay marriage has been via the federal courts, and it was a federal court which ordered Illinois to pass a concealed carry bill.
He does have a point, though. There was zero discussion of right to work before Bruce Rauner became governor. Bill Brady favored right to work in the 2010 campaign, but he didn’t talk about it a lot.
The debate is most certainly on, with Gov. Rauner relentlessly pushing his side of the argument. He may be able to swing some opinions his way, but unless the federal courts side with his “fair share” ideas, and/or unless his party gets control of the legislative district map-drawing process in a second Rauner term, this ain’t going anywhere any time soon.
* Long-term? I dunno. The unions need to do a much better job of defining themselves. To too many in the “movement,” it’s very much like a religion. They are actually a service provider, and they need to start thinking along those lines, marketing themselves as such and, most importantly, providing even more valuable services to individuals.
…Adding… From RNUG in comments…
Unions have a decent story about helping to create the middle class and they need to do a better job defining the destruction of unions being part of a plan by the 0.1% for destruction of the middle class.
I’m not sure they need to go all out against the 0.1 percenters, but they do have a great story to tell and people are becoming increasingly aware of the shrinkage of the middle class. They have a solution to a widely recognized problem.
Almost half of Illinois voters – 48.6 percent - tend to oppose hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” because of concerns about the environment, according to a new poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
By contrast, 31.8 percent believe that fracking should be encouraged for its economic benefits, and 20 percent are not sure about the issue.
Fracking is a process that utilizes high-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals to extract oil and natural gas from underground shale formations.
The poll, taken Feb. 28 thru Mar. 10, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Opposition is stronger in the Chicago area than it is downstate. There are 53.5 percent of Chicago and 51 percent of Chicago suburban voters who believe the practice should not be encouraged, while only 29 percent believe it should be encouraged for economic purposes. Downstate, 41.3 percent say fracking should be discouraged and 38.3 percent say it should be encouraged.
John Jackson, visiting professor at the Institute said “It is interesting to note that the highest level of support for fracking is Downstate, where it is likely to take place and have whatever economic benefit and environmental damage it may hold. “Those in Chicago and the suburbs, where it is not likely to have a direct impact are the most opposed,” he said.
Jackson added: “for all the national debate and publicity, a large percentage claim to not know much about fracking, and this is particularly surprising Downstate where it has been much debated.”
Voters’ opinions on fracking are split along party lines. Among Democrats, 19.7 percent believe that fracking should be encouraged, while 54.8 percent of Republicans want to encourage the practice. Similarly, a majority of Democrats (61.9 percent) and a minority of Republican (28.8 percent) voters believe that fracking should be discouraged due to environmental impacts.
Opinions on fracking are strongly influenced by whether or not a person believes the practice is safe. The majority (89.7 percent) of those that believe fracking is safe also believe that it should be encouraged. Similarly, the majority (92.8 percent) of those that believe fracking is not safe say it should not be encouraged.
Young people are much less likely than other groups to encourage fracking.
Almost three-fourths (73.8 percent) of respondents aged 18 to 25 believe fracking should not be encouraged due to environmental impacts. Only 11.9 percent of young adults believe the practice should be encouraged for economic reasons.
Location and political party affiliation appear to influence how much a person has heard about fracking.
People in the city of Chicago have heard more about fracking than those downstate. Forty-two percent of those in Chicago have heard a lot about fracking compared to 29 percent of voters downstate.
Republicans and independents have heard more about fracking than Democrats. Roughly 70 percent of both Republicans (69.5 percent) and independents (70.1 percent) have heard a lot or some about fracking. Only 55.8 percent of Democrats have heard the same.
Young people and Democrats are less likely than other groups to see fracking as a safe way to extract oil and natural gas.
Young adults (aged 18-25) are nearly twice as likely as people of other ages to believe that fracking is either not very safe or not at all safe. Fifty-nine point five percent of young adults believe the practice is not very safe or not at all safe compared to 34 percent of voters of any other age.
The percentage of Republicans who believe fracking is either safe or somewhat safe (61 percent) is over double the percentage of Democrats who believe the same (28.3 percent). A third (35.4 percent) of independents see the practice as safe.
These opinions are set within a larger national debate over hydraulic fracturing. Fracking regulations released by the Obama administration on March 20th have received push back from both parties, with those who support fracking claiming that regulations unnecessarily slow production, and environmentalists claiming the regulations are not strict enough.
Wednesday, Apr 1, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Exelon has repeatedly claimed their $1.5 billion bailout bill, the so-called “Low Carbon Portfolio Standard,” is actually “a technology-neutral policy that rewards all low carbon resources equally within a competitive market framework.” Is it?
The following exclusions are contained in the legislation:
• No projects “whose costs were being recovered through State-regulated rates as of January 1, 2015” (Exelon’s plants were built with ratepayer funds and paid off long ago)
• No projects with power purchase agreements longer than five years (how most independent projects are built)
• No hydro power larger than three megawatts
• No project unless registered in “Generation Attribute Tracking System”
• Must meet “Minimum Internal Resource Requirements”
Crain’s put it best:
“the bill places such great limits on bidders other than Exelon’s Illinois nukes that Exelon is highly likely to win most if not all of the credits…the nukes by themselves could meet the state’s new standard.” [Crain’s, February 26, 2015 – emphasis added]
Exelon’s $1.5 Billion bailout bill ensures only Exelon will benefit. Or as the Belleville News Democrat said:
“State lawmakers need to see this bill for the dirty trick it is and kill it.”
* I don’t think a travel ban is a wise idea. I mean, how can we poach their businesses if our state employees aren’t allowed to cross the border?…
More cities and states have weighed in on SB 101, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, by issuing bans on nonessential state- or city-funded travel to Indiana. No such plans are presently in store for Illinois, however.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, calling the law “just wrong, plain and simple,” said March 31 that Denver employees would not be travelling to the Hoosier State on city business. In doing so, Hancock joined Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee, Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, among others, in issuing such orders.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will not be issuing such a directive. Spokesperson Catherine Kelly told Windy City Times March 31: “Governor Rauner has no social agenda and is focused completely on his Turnaround Agenda, which will make Illinois more competitive for job creators and empower local voters to control their property taxes.” [Emphasis added.]
* The Question: Translate the Rauner administration statement?
Amid a standing-room-only crowd, Oswego village trustees Tuesday night took no vote on first-term Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” resolution.
Rauner’s office has asked cities and villages across the state to support his initiatives aimed to “get the house in order” by changing how Illinois does business. One of the changes Rauner wants involves letting local communities enact “right-to-work” zones, which would allow voters to decide whether or not employees should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment.
Organized labor unions packed Oswego Village Hall Tuesday night, with many union members urging the Village Board to reject the resolution. […]
Village President Brian LeClercq said the governor’s resolution was placed on the agenda for information purposes and there was no intention to bring it to a vote.
LeClercq suggested village trustees review Rauner’s agenda for the sheer reason of how much has been packed into the proposal.
Earlier this month, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the governor’s proposal violated federal and state law. She said right-to-work laws could only be enacted state-wide, not in individual counties or cities. The issue is likely to be settled by the courts.
“This is not a local issue. So, one, why do we have it?” said Pam Parr, an Oswego village trustee.
Oswego Village President Brian LeClercq said he was asked by the governor’s office to put the issue before the board and the community.
“I think we need an adequate amount of time to digest information and then see if there’s anything we do agree on that we can take back to the governor,” LeClercq said.
While the board did not discuss right-to-work zones after its public comment, Village President candidates Tony Giles and Gail Johnson did address the matter after the meeting.
“I believe this is a state issue, and I believe in the Attorney General’s ruling. We need to address this as a state,” Johnson said. “I don’t think Oswego should be a test case for this. I think we’ve gone down the road before of trying to go around state statute with a resolution, and we lost. We spent too much money. I don’t want Oswego known as a place for test cases to fight state law.”
Giles also said a right-to-work zone isn’t appropriate for Oswego.
“I’m a proud member of the Illinois Education Association and the Oswego Education Association,” Giles said. “I don’t see anything in what I’ve been presented so far that a right-to-work area for Oswego would be a good idea. The legalities also have to be worked out. … But I think if it’s something the Village Board wants to discuss, it’s something we should discuss just like any other issue.”
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, who witnessed his rival Chuck Schumer move aggressively to secure the post of Democratic leader, may now have to fight to keep his own job.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray is refusing to rule out a run to be the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, a position Durbin wants to keep in the next Congress. Yet several Democratic sources say she is getting encouragement from senators to take on a larger role in the leadership. And the Democratic leader-in-waiting, Schumer, is open to seeing Murray elevated to whip from her current role as the caucus secretary, the No. 4 job, several sources said. […]
Reid has thrown his support to Durbin for the whip’s job, an endorsement viewed as “status quo” and not a snub of Murray, one source close to the Nevadan said. A Durbin aide asserted Monday that Schumer and Durbin had reached a deal in a private conversation in the Senate on Friday morning: The Illinois Democrat would endorse Schumer for leader, and the New Yorker would back Durbin for whip. Asked for comment, a person close to Schumer said: “It never happened, and they know it.”
As I reported on Friday, a Durbin aide said that Durbin immediately went to Schumer on the Senate floor [after talking to Harry Reid] and told him he would support him — and that he wanted to remain as whip. The Durbin aide said that Schumer agreed to back Durbin. That was the deal.
Soon afterward, Durbin publically announced his support for Schumer. […]
Durbin spokesman Ben Marter told me on Tuesday, “The two senators agreed to support each other and shook hands on it. That’s what a deal is.”
On Friday, a Schumer spokesman told me that Schumer was just focusing on his own leadership contest. On Tuesday, a person close to Schumer told me, “The Durbin thing never happened.”
* I’ve avoided writing about this race mainly because Brian Hopkins and I go way, way back to our college days. But, whatever. Numbers is numbers, as they say, so for his sake, I hope this poll is accurate…
A new Ogden & Fry poll on Chicago’s 2nd Ward aldermanic runoff race shows Brian Hopkins in the lead over Alyx Pattison.
The survey, conducted Tuesday on behalf of Aldertrack, showed Hopkins polling at 55.3 percent to Pattison’s 44.7 percent.
Hopkins and Pattison are competing for the open 2nd Ward seat being vacated by Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor. Fioretti opted to run for mayor after he was drawn out of his original 2nd Ward and into the 28th Ward during the 2012 remapping process.
US Sen. Dick Durbin and most labor unions, among others, are backing Pattison. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, among others, are backing Hopkins.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked state Republican chairman is looking to put Democratic Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in a political trick bag on property taxes.
Republican Commissioner Timothy Schneider of Streamwood intends to ask colleagues at Wednesday’s board meeting to record their opposition to a property tax increase. The symbolic measure would not have the force of law but could tie Preckwinkle’s hands as she tries to fashion a 2016 budget with significantly higher costs from rising debt payments, increased employee salaries and possibly bigger pension contributions.
Preckwinkle, who has maintained all options are on the table for balancing next year’s budget — including the “last resort” of a property tax hike — called Schneider’s move “ill-conceived and irresponsible.” […]
The county has not increased property taxes since 1994, when an ordinance was passed requiring a two-thirds vote of the 17-member board to increase taxes by more than 5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever was lower. But other local governments, including the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, repeatedly have raised property tax collections in the last 20 years.”
Schneider is also the state GOP chairman. He has signed up two Democrats to his resolution, but needs three more to pass it.
Sneed has learned that Urban League President and CEO Andrea Zopp, whose resume reads like a corporate bible, is being urged to run for the U.S. Senate and is mulling it over.
Sneed also hears former White House chief of staff William Daley, the brother and son of former Chicago mayors — and others — have talked to the uber-credentialed Zopp about being a potential candidate against GOP U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk.
“Yes, I have talked to her about it and have enormous respect for her, consider her my friend, and think she would be great in government and politics — but I can’t push anybody — anyone to run,” Daley tells Sneed.
Sneed hears that a cadre of top Dem leaders are very concerned about an absence of persons of color on the Illinois Dem ticket, besides perennial Dem candidate Jesse White, whose latest incarnation is secretary of state.
A Daley-backed African-American with no political experience leaked the day after Tammy Duckworth’s campaign kickoff?
Also, Duckworth is an Asian-American, which makes her “of color.”
And what about African-American Congressman Robin Kelly, who is also interested in the seat?
If I was a tinfoil hatter, I’d almost think this was designed to split the vote somehow. But I’m not, so I won’t claim it.
Sneed hears rumbles a plan may be afoot to shove freshman State Sen. Tom Cullerton, (D-Villa Park) — a member of Chicago’s legendary Cullerton political clan, which includes State Senate President John Cullerton, — into Duckworth’s congressional seat. “They are trying to work out a deal,” a Sneed source said.
A deal with whom? Raja Krishnamoorthi, who has already announced his candidacy, has the ability to raise serious cash. And, yes, there are some concerns that his name could pose a problem in the general election with middle aged white ethnics, but he’s been waiting for this congressional chance for years and passed up a run for a specially created state Senate seat in 2012.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security says jobless rates fell in every Illinois metro area in February. It was the 12th straight month of across-the-board improvement.
The department said Tuesday in its monthly report on the state’s metro areas that while nine of the 14 tracked areas added jobs in February, the Peoria, Bloomington, Carbondale-Marion and Quad Cities areas all lost jobs.
However, the Bloomington area still posted the lowest unemployment rate in the state last month at 5 percent. The highest was the 7.3 percent rate in the Decatur area.
Chicago-area unemployment fell to 6.6 percent in February from 8.8 percent a year earlier.
* From IDES…
Illinois businesses added jobs in nine metros. Largest increases: Danville (+3.5 percent, +1,000), Champaign-Urbana (+2.3 percent, +2,400) and Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metro Division (+1.7 percent, +58,200). Decreases: Carbondale-Marion (-0.7 percent, -400), Bloomington (-0.5 percent, -500) and Peoria (-0.5 percent, -900). The industry sectors recording job growth in the majority of metros were Retail Trade (10 of 14), Government (9 of 14), Mining and Construction (8 of 14), Transportation, Warehousing and Public Utilities (8 of 14) and Education and Health Services (8 of 14).
“More Illinoisans are finding work as unemployment rates continue falling across the state. However, over-the-year, nearly 85 percent of the state’s job growth occurred in the northeastern part of the state. This regional job growth has masked losses in Peoria, Bloomington, Carbondale-Marion and the Quad Cities.” IDES Director Jeff Mays said. “Job growth needs to occur in all areas for a successful recovery.”
The not seasonally adjusted Illinois rate was 6.5 percent in February 2015 and stood at 12.2 percent at its peak in this economic cycle in January 2010. Nationally, the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in February and 10.6 percent in January 2010 at its peak. The unemployment rate identifies those who are out of work and looking for work and is not tied to collecting unemployment insurance benefits.
