Just because your opponent is hurling ridiculous charges does not mean you are free to disregard them. You may think it’s absurd to say that you are engaged in a “war on women.” But contempt for the accusation is not enough.
Some strategists argue that the key for Republican candidates is to downplay social issues in favor of economic arguments. I disagree. Pocketbook appeals are great, but the premise — that social issues damage Republican candidates — is shaky at best.
When Pew asked women voters to rank a list of issues in order of importance in September 2012, abortion was named less often than health care, education, jobs, Medicare, the economy, terrorism, taxes, foreign policy and the budget deficit. The only issues that ranked lower for women voters were immigration and energy. A post-election Kaiser poll found that only 7 percent of those who voted for President Barack Obama cited women’s issues as most important to their vote.
* The question: How much will social issues impact this year’s gubernatorial? Explain.
* As many of you now know, Capitol Fax was one of the many victims of last week’s AOL hack. Rich has interrupted his time off on more than one occassion to post the latest updates to you about the situation, and pressure the once tech-staple to resolving the issue. This was part of a text message thread he sent late last night…
If AOL was truly concerned about its customers, it would’ve warned us about a week ago about this problem.”
Hard to argue that point. As a result of the hack, many Capitol Fax subscribers received auto-generated phishing emails.
“AOL takes the safety and security of consumers very seriously, and we are actively addressing consumer complaints,” the company said in a statement. “We are working to resolve the issue of account spoofing to keep users and their respective accounts running smoothly and securely.”
A Twitter hashtag has been started to monitor the situation. You can follow it along here…
Durkin said now is not the time to be using public money on a presidential library.
“The state of Illinois is beyond broke. We can’t pay our bills. We’re $7 billion behind paying state vendors. We have pension systems that are barely afloat. Who in the world thinks that the state of Illinois can afford that right now?” he said. “To say that we are going to put $100 million aside in the hope that Illinois – and, specifically, Chicago – will be the recipient, or will be the designation of the Obama library, I believe it’s inappropriate for that type of discussion at this time.”
Instead of saving the Municipal Employees and Laborers Pension funds on the backs of Chicago property owners, Reilly, vice chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee, zeroed in on Chicago’s 154 tax increment financing districts.
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(Reilly) would change Illinois’ TIF statute to dedicate as much as 50 percent of all existing and future TIF funds toward pension liabilities, providing, what he called a “steady revenue stream” to help solve the city’s $20 billion pension crisis.
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Reilly’s second idea tied to TIFs would pave the way for Chicago to borrow as much as $2 billion against the future proceeds of TIF districts.
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Reilly’s third and final idea calls for the Illinois General Assembly to increase the “distributive share” of the state income tax increase earmarked for local governments, including Chicago.
You might want to read the whole thing. The story is full of information.
More than two dozen Illinois mayors are set to hold a news conference, hoping to encourage state lawmakers to make changes to pension systems for local police and fire departments.
The group meets Monday. They say pension problems are “choking local government budgets” and warn some communities will have to raise property taxes or cut essential services to cover pension obligations. Those service cuts could include laying off firefighters.
The International Association of Firefighters and Illinois Fraternal Order of Police blame the recession, fund mismanagement the failure of some local governments to pay their share.
“No matter how many they say it, there are no facts to support the claim that benefits are have driven this problem,” Illinois Firefighters Union President Pat Devaney said.
Brace yourselves for a lot more of that back and forth.
Related…
* Sun-Times: For sake of higher education, fix pension bill error now: What they didn’t know is that a change in the “money purchase option” could cost some employees hired before 2005 nearly a third of their retirement income. But, university officials say, unless the dating error in the bill is corrected — and June 30, 2013, is changed to June 30, 2014 — that will happen. University employees in all positions, from professors to building service workers, will be affected.
* Illinois schools get waiver from No Child Left Behind progress mandate: Going forward, the state’s lowest-performing 10 percent of schools will receive extra services as “focus schools,” and the lowest half of those will get even more help as “priority schools,” Vanover said.
* Sun-Times: Casino bill must include Chicago — and safeguards: We’d be fine with a Chicago-only plan, because the city, which already draws many visitors, is the best place in the state to plunk down a new casino — or any casino. A city casino would not only encourage current visitors to spend more money while they are here, but also draw additional travelers and conventioneers, people who would spend money in restaurants, hotels and stores. Facing serious financial problems, Chicago needs the financial boost. We share the concerns of critics that casinos bring problems, such as binge gambling and crime, but that’s already here, just past the city limits and over the state line.
* Transit shake-up not on fast track, key lawmaker says: An issue as complicated as how the different transit agencies are governed and funded requires a lot more legislative work and thought, Riley said Monday. He doubted bills about them could be crafted or passed this legislative session.
* Authorities file objections to some concealed carry permits: The Illinois State Police have received 1,669 objections from law enforcement agencies across the state, with about half of those coming from the Cook County Sheriff’s Department. That’s compared to 33,207 licenses that have been granted since Illinois first began approving licenses earlier this year…Ben Breit, Cook County Sheriff Department communications director, said the agency has filed more than half of the objections sent to the state police, with 839 for Chicago and suburban Cook County applicants.
* I-Team: New gun laws would save lives?: One hundred and eighty days is about the time the average simple gun violator in Chicago spends in jail under current law, and 930 days would be the number for the same gun possession crime if proposed legislation becomes law. With the casualty toll after Easter weekend in double digits, it is the remedy police and politicians count on.
* Mitchell: People in violence-plagued areas have to ‘stand up’ to stem the problem: Police Supt. Garry McCarthy says he intends to put more bike patrols in 19 zones on the South and West sides that have a history of high violence. Given the carnage that occurred over Easter Sunday when another 37 people were wounded and eight others killed, there isn’t likely to be any reduction in the amount of police overtime either. But in certain neighborhoods, a squad car would have to sit on just about every corner to stop the brazen shootings.
* Remap leaves two incumbents fighting for Englewood Council seat: Foulkes has told colleagues she will give up her 15th Ward seat, which was redrawn to give it a 68 percent Hispanic majority, to try to unseat Thompson in a ward that is now the home of many of her former constituents, sources tell me. I couldn’t get Foulkes to the phone to discuss her decision. Thompson said she was disappointed but not surprised.
* State wants Island Lake to return $239,000 grant: The grant was awarded in 1992 to help the village purchase about 12 acres called Greenleaf Woods. The sum covered half of the estimated $478,000 purchase price, documents show.
* As subscribers already know, a recent Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll showed Speaker Madigan’s unfavorable rating is even higher than Gov. Quinn’s…
A poll taken for Rasmussen Reports earlier this month found that Gov. Pat Quinn’s unfavorable rating was 55 percent.
That’s pretty darned bad, and perhaps the worst in the nation. But Gov. Quinn ain’t got nothing on Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
A new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll found Madigan’s unfavorable rating to be an almost mind-boggling 65 percent.
Just 20 percent of likely voters had a favorable impression of the longtime House Speaker. Years of negative publicity, the state’s many, many problems, the Republican Party’s decades-long accusations that he’s holding the state back and Madigan’s historically long tenure are all undoubtedly driving these horrible numbers.
According to the poll, 55 percent of respondents would be less likely to vote for a local candidate if that candidate was supported by Madigan. That number alone ought to give the House Republicans reason to hope. All of Madigan’s candidates could be hurt this year just because of the mere fact that Madigan is backing a Democrat.
When asked whether Madigan has been a help or a hindrance to the state’s economic and fiscal recovery, 65 percent said he’s been a hindrance, while just 20 percent said he’s been a help.
Ouch.
Even Democrats don’t like the guy. 50 percent of Democrats say they have an unfavorable view of Madigan, versus 30 percent who view him in a favorable light.
According to the poll, a plurality of 38 percent of Democrats said they’d be less likely to vote for a Madigan-backed candidate, with 33 percent saying they’d be more likely and 29 percent saying it would make no difference.
And a majority of 51 percent of Democrats said Madigan has been a hindrance to the state’s recovery, with just 31 percent saying he’s been a help, and the rest, 18 percent, saying he hadn’t made a difference either way.
Men are more likely to dislike Madigan than women. 70 percent of men (versus 60 percent of women) view him unfavorably. 63 percent of men (versus a plurality of 48 percent of women) would be less likely to support a Madigan-backed candidate. And an overwhelming 72 percent of men (58 percent of women) think Madigan has been a hindrance to the state’s economic and fiscal recovery.
Chicagoans don’t much care for Madigan , either, but their ire pales in comparison to what the rest of the state thinks of him. 57 percent of Chicagoans have an unfavorable opinion of Madigan, while 63 percent of suburban Cook County voters, 66 percent of Downstaters and 72 percent of collar county residents have an unfavorable opinion of the longest serving House Speaker in Illinois history.
A plurality of 36 percent of Chicagoans would be less likely to vote for a Madigan-backed candidate (34 percent would be more likely), while 60 percent of suburban Cook and Downstaters and 62 percent of collar county voters would be less likely to vote for such a candidate.
A strong majority of 56 percent of Chicagoans believe Madigan has been a hindrance to the state’s economic and fiscal recovery, while 65 percent of suburban Cook voters, 66 percent of Downstaters and 70 percent of collar county voters say the same.
70 percent of whites have an unfavorable view of Madigan, 60 percent of whites would be less likely to vote for a Madigan-backed candidate and 69 percent of whites say he has been a hindrance to progress.
Among African-Americans, a plurality of 46 percent have an unfavorable view of him, they’re split 38-38 on whether they’d back a Madigan-supported candidate and 50 percent say he’s been a hindrance to progress, compared to 34 percent who say he’s helped.
Independents really, really don’t like Madigan. 77 percent have an unfavorable opinion of him (topping Republicans’ 73 percent). 64 percent would be less likely to vote for a Madigan candidate (less than Republicans’ 72 percent). And 74 percent say he’s been a hindrance to the state’s progress (about the same as the Republicans’ 75 percent).
The obvious point here is that Madigan has become the perfect bogeyman. After decades of persistent effort, he’s now known by enough people to potentially change the outcomes of campaigns, and not in a positive way. Gone appear the days when not enough people knew who he was to matter when voters headed to the polls.
Also, if Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner decides to incorporate attacks on Madigan into his campaign theme, it’ll probably work.
The poll of 836 likely voters was taken April 14th and had a margin of error of ±3.4 percent.
* Well, AOL didn’t fix the email problem. Somebody is still spoofing my email address. According to the company, even deleting the account won’t stop this problem. They claim to be working on it, but they say nothing can be done in the interim.
As you might imagine I’m not happy with this turn of events. I’m very sorry for any inconveniences this may cause you. But I, along with many others, appear to be a helpless victim here.
* Welcome to the last week of the calm before the storm that is the month of May in Springfield.
The master of the house is still away, so this week the blog should be light. We will have a full Morning Shorts and posts tomorrow and Thursday. We might even toss up a few questions and caption contests on Friday.
Regardless, we will still have our trusty ScribbleLive to track breaking news. Of course you can send me materials for consideration by clicking my name at the top of the post.
Thanks for putting up with me this week. I’ll be here for at least part of next as well, so stick around because the show will still go on.
I really enjoyed your “Session” playlist suggestions in yesterday’s question. I found this one while playing through some of them and thought it was too good to not add to our list.
Please be safe if you’re traveling this weekend.
It’s good to get high, and never come down
It’s good to be king of your own little town
Friday, Apr 18, 2014 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable TV industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. This proposal is an unfair, unjustified tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV.
Satellite TV taxes will hurt Illinois families and small businesses
• Residential satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
This is not about parity or fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that cable companies value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air. It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks.
Police officers trying to find out who was behind a fake Twitter account set up in the name of Peoria’s mayor have raided a home, seizing computers and phones and hauling several people in to be questioned.
Tuesday’s raid was carried out by four plainclothes officers even though Twitter had suspended the account several weeks ago. Three people at the home were brought to a police station to be interviewed, as were two other people who were met by police at their workplaces.
No arrests were made in connection with the Twitter account, but one of the residents was charged with possession of marijuana, the (Peoria) Journal Star reported. Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard says officers were investigating it as a possible case of impersonating a public official, an offense punishable with a fine of up to $2,500 and up to a year in jail.
The account, @peoriamayor, has been suspended by Twitter administrators. The suspension not only prevents the account holder from using the account to add posts, but it removes all previous Tweets.
* Ironically, a number of new parody accounts for Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and the police chief have popped up since the story became public. The Peoria Journal Star’s digital editor has compiled a list of some of those accounts.
I’m sure this isn’t the last we have heard of this story.
When it was active, (Jon) Daniel used it to portray Jim Ardis, the mayor of Peoria, as a weed-smoking, stripper-loving, Midwestern answer to Rob Ford. The account never had more than 50 followers, and Twitter had killed it because it wasn’t clearly marked as a parody. It was a joke, a lark—but it brought the police to Daniel’s door. The cops even took Daniel and one of his housemates in for in-depth questioning—they showed up at their jobs, cuffed them, and confiscated their phones—because of a bunch of Twitter jokes.
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Full disclosure: Part of the blame for this situation rests on my shoulders. I loudly promoted @peoriamayor when I first noticed it, having no idea someone I knew was responsible for tweets that mostly had the fake mayor using drugs and partying. It was pretty damn funny. One of Daniel’s roommates told me that the first question police asked him was, “How do you know Justin Glawe?”
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“Tell them my name. Tell them I did it,” he said, acknowledging the cops have him cornered. “But when they lock me up tell them to tweet using the hashtag #freesleezyd.”
Illinois State House members are advancing a bill that would devote $100 million toward a Barack Obama presidential library. The House Executive Committee meeting in Chicago today voted, by an official tally of 9-0, to authorize using state money for the library…Nine representatives were recorded as voting for the bill, even though there were five lawmakers in attendance at the hearing. That is because Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island), who chairs the Executive Committee, employed a procedural move.
Rita used the attendance record from a previous hearing that occurred Wednesday as the vote for the presidential library cash. House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sat in on today’s hearing, clarified Rita’s maneuver, saying the attendance would serve as nine votes in favor of the library, even though the previous committee hearing was on a possible Chicago casino and not related to a presidential library.
No Republicans attended Thursday’s hearing on the presidential library.
Sullivan serves as the Committee’s Minority Spokesperson. Generally when the chairman asks for “Leave of the attendance roll call,” the question is posed to the person in that position. Sullivan did attend the committee’s previous meeting, which was not adjourned but simply recessed to the call of the chair. As you probably know, attendance is not taken at the start of a meeting when the previous meeting is recessed instead of adjourned.
Adding to the mixture is that committee chairs will often instruct clerks to mark committee members as being in attendance if they arrive after roll call. I haven’t spent nearly as many hours in committee as most of those of you likely to comment on this post, but I have yet to see a chairperson instruct a clerk to have someone removed from the roll call if they leave the room or are not present when a recessed committee resumes. That said, I have seen chairpersons exclude absent members from attendance roll call votes. Clearly that did not happen here, and it does not happen all of the time.
Under the rule of House Speaker Michael Madigan (D, Chicago), the House Rules committee often convenes throughout the legislative calendar to alter, change or suspend House rules to move various proposals. In this instance, even the stated rules appear to be violated.
Under current House rules, a committee cannot vote on measures unless a quorum is present and the proper posting requirements have been met. Under a parliamentary review, the following were violated: Rule 32 providing a majority of those appointed constitute a quorum of a committee, Rule 21 authorizing actions by recessed committees but requiring the House to be in session, and Rule 49 providing that no member of a committee may vote except in person at the time of the call of the vote.
“I’m not even a member of the Executive Committee and the Democrats chose to vote on my behalf, which is a blatant violation of House Rules,” said Rep. Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon). “This is typical Chicago politics at work. My constituents elected me to vote for them. They didn’t elect the Chicago politicians who stole my vote today.”
On Wednesday, April 16th State Representative Dwight Kay served as a temporary replacement on the House Executive Committee for a hearing in Chicago to discuss gaming expansion in Illinois. Rep. Kay participated in the hearing to express his opposition to an amendment which would exclude Fairmount Race Track from the proposed gaming expansion. After the hearing, Kay traveled back to his legislative district nearly 300 miles south of Chicago and was no longer a substituted member on the Executive Committee. Therefore, he was not present at Thursday’s recessed hearing to vote on the legislation to spend $100 million in public funds on the Obama Presidential Library.
Someone with more legal experience might be able to chime in, but I think technically since the Committee was recessed and Kay was not marked as being absent when it resumed, he would have still been a substituted member.
* Fitch Ratings stuck with its “A-” rating and “Negative” outlook on Illinois’s general obligation bonds. From the explanation…
BUDGET TEMPORARILY STABILIZED WITH TAX INCREASE: Temporary increases in both the personal and corporate income tax rates, coupled with statutory spending limits, have closed a significant portion of the structural gap in the state’s budget through the current fiscal year 2014.
NEED FOR LONG-TERM SOLUTION REMAINS: Due to the temporary nature of the enacted tax increases, the state will need to find a more permanent solution to the mismatch between spending and revenues. The Negative Outlook reflects the critical need to address this issue. The governor’s recommended budget for the coming fiscal year would make these tax increases permanent and provide a basis for the state to achieve fiscal balance.
LARGE BALANCE OF DEFERRED PAYMENTS REMAINS: The state has a large general fund accounts payable backlog, which although reduced still totaled $4.2 billion at the end of fiscal 2013. The state prudently used higher than forecast income tax collections in fiscal 2013 to pay down a portion of the accounts payable balance.
The governor has proposed two alternative budgets for fiscal 2015; one based on current law with expiring tax rates and a second recommended budget that makes permanent the higher tax rates. The current law budget is balanced through large spending cuts. Even with the higher taxes maintained, however, the recommended budget would rely on a small interfund borrowing ($170 million or 0.4% of forecast general fund revenues) to balance. The recommended budget includes a total of $650 million in interfund borrowing, the balance of which would be used to pay down accumulated accounts payable.
* A budget roundup…
* State approves prison hepatitis C drug, likely to cost millions: Officials say there are an estimated 100 to 150 inmates at each of the state’s 25 prisons who have the disease…Documents show the state estimates the cost of treating an inmate with Sovaldi will range from $61,000 to $122,000.
* SIU budget cuts could cost hundreds of jobs: “With a $23.5-million dollar decline in our appropriation it will get into the hundreds of people that we will not be able to rehire,” said Dr. Glenn Poshard. “There may be layoffs, but there certainly will be hundreds of positions left unfilled.”
Since December 2012, GTCR has owned Correctional Healthcare Cos., which got a five-year contract with a five-year renewal option from the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice in February 2013 to provide medical, dental and mental health evaluations and treatment for the approximately 900 inmates, ages 13 to 20, of six state-run youth detention centers in the Chicago area and downstate.
The state deal is worth as much as $99.3 million.
Grant Klinzman, a Quinn spokesman, says the Democratic governor wasn’t involved in awarding the contract and didn’t know of Rauner’s ties to Correctional Healthcare.
Rauner campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf notes that the Winnetka Republican retired as managing director of GTCR in October 2012 — two months before the firm acquired Correctional Healthcare and four months before the state contract was awarded. Schrimpf says Rauner didn’t work on the Correctional Healthcare acquisition and wasn’t aware the company has a state contract.
Rauner has said if elected he would put his investments into a blind trust.
State Rep. SUE SCHERER, the freshman House member from Decatur who faced quiet but — as it turned out — tough primary opposition in March, survived the race with the help of more than $90,000 from committees controlled by House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago.
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Most of the Madigan support doesn’t show up on Scherer’s campaign finance report, because $89,702 of the total came as independent expenditures from Democratic Majority, one of the committees Madigan controls. Those expenditures, which can’t be coordinated with a candidate’s campaign, included money for staff, polling, insurance, and printing and postage for a barrage of Scherer mailers that went to households in the 96th.
Because they were independent expenditures, that also meant they weren’t capped. Direct contributions from that committee to Scherer could not have topped $78,900 in the primary.
Scherer’s own campaign committee had $58,085 in the bank as of Jan. 1, raised $94,625 in the first three months of the year, spent $86,792, and ended up with nearly $66,000 in the bank as of March 31.
Mike Bell, Scherer’s Republican challenger this November in the 96th House District, reported just $5 on hand at the close of the first quarter. Bell, R-Edinburg, raised $6,730 through the first three months of the year, $2,000 of which were contributions from his mother, Joan Bell, and another $1,200 on a loan taken by Mike Bell. Another $1,000 came from Elizabeth Soldwedel, who uses the on-air name “Liz Willis” at Capital Radio Group in Springfield and works communications with the Illinois House Republicans.
A roundup…
* WALSH: SORRY, SEN. KIRK, THAT TRAIN HAS ALREADY LEFT THE STATION: What’s changed in the past thirty days that caused Mark Kirk to take back his previous statement? And let’s be clear: he didn’t change his mind. He has no interest in supporting Oberweis, and he genuinely wants Durbin to get reelected.
* You may recall last month the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s eavesdropping law. Among other things, the law required a person recording conversations to receive consent from all participating parties before pushing the “Record” button. Now a days, you don’t even need that. It’s all fair game.
“We cannot let this stand, because right now, you can record anybody, any time with or without (their) knowledge and use it for whatever purpose — and there’s nothing to control that,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. “I think that’s a situation we really need to fix.”
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Ideally, Nekritz said, she’d like to have a new eavesdropping statute proposed before the end of the General Assembly’s spring session on May 31. But with lawmakers focusing more on the state’s finances than criminal law, she’s not confident a bill will advance.
She wants to keep one of the primary provisions in the old law — that all parties in a conversation give their consent before any recording is made — and add in exceptions for conversations that cannot reasonably be deemed to be private.
Question: Are there any provisions in the old Eavesdropping Law you would like to see in a hypothetical new statute?
Cheer up, everyone. We’re talking about the Blackhawks. They aren’t exactly the Cubs offense in New York or Chris Sale’s bullpen support in the ninth. IT’S THE MOTHER FLIPPIN’ BLACKHAWKS! RALLY CAP TIME, CHICAGO!
* Analysis: Pension reforms to cost workers $55 million by 2025: The Anderson Economic Group also calculated the cost to Chicago taxpayers that Emanuel hopes to offset with a $250 million property tax increase if Gov. Pat Quinn agrees to sign the pension reform bill. The city will be required to contribute $530 million by 2025. That’s 9 percent of overall city revenues and $450 million more than the city would otherwise be required to contribute without pension reform. But the cost of waiting even five more years to confront the city’s pension crisis was even worse. It was pegged at $310 million because of lost investment returns.
* Sneed: Cardinal George may preside over his last Easter Mass on Sunday: George’s third and final dose of chemotherapy for his third bout of cancer is Monday, the day after Easter. “Then we’ll see what comes next,” said Dolan. Sneed is told the cardinal’s request a week ago that the Papal Nuncio begin his replacement process was based on more than just his deteriorating health. George, who replaced Cardinal Joseph Bernardin five months after his death, regrets missing the opportunity to seek Bernardin’s opinion and “ask questions,” said Dolan. “He’d like to give his replacement that opportunity.”
* IDNR fires Tony Mayville: The 58-year-old Du Bois resident said officials claimed he began campaigning for the seat before he was cleared to run by IDNR chief Marc Miller. He said his handling of campaign donations from a coal company also played a role in his firing. “I still contend I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Mayville, who was earning $92,642 annually before his ouster.
* Brown: Odds may finally favor a Chicago casino — if Madigan is dealing: In particular, the most important new wrinkle — giving ownership of a Chicago casino to the State of Illinois, which would then split the revenue 50-50 with the city — bore the fingerprints of a solution crafted by Madigan to resolve the city’s problematic demands for public ownership.
* Beaman files new lawsuit against former Normal police officers: Beaman served more than 13 years in prison for the 1993 death of Jennifer Lockmiller of Decatur before the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 2008.
* ISU Students continue to ask questions about Flanagan resignation: Members and supporters of the group I Paid For Flanagan met in Schroeder Hall Wednesday night to lay out exactly what they the university to answer. Organizer and Senior Sociology Major Chris Roehl said it starts with answering where the money for Flanagan’s $480,000 severance package comes from.
