Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Morning Shorts

Posted in:

Illinois

“Brother Eddie, he was a gladiator. He was a warrior in the issues he stood for,” said board member Angelo Kyle of Waukegan, who lost a close race to Washington in the Democratic primary. “You need a person like that. We will remember him and pray for his wife and children.”

* Report reveals poor oversight of Oak Lawn’s legal bills

Attorney Burt Odelson, who was hired by the village in January to look into legal bills from the former lawyers, described a series of “disturbing” billing problems during his presentation - including billing for duplicate work by multiple attorneys, missing information on invoices and charges for questionable items, including local travel and interoffice conferences among attorneys.

* Real estate taxes due Thursday

* Increase in Job Hiring Expected This Summer

A new employment survey reports the Chicago-area could see a net 11 percent increase in job hiring over the summer.

The report was released by Manpower, an employment services company.

* Solo Cup moving some jobs to Illinois

Solo Cup’s Chicago and Urbana facilities will pick up some of the production from the Maryland and Massachusetts plants. The Illinois facilities could see a 10% to 15% increase in jobs, the company said.

* Area’s need for IT workers to soar

* Chicago cops to get smaller raise

Police officers will get a 6.5 percent retroactive pay raise dating to July 2007 and 3.5 percent going forward to June 30, 2012.

The city also won several several key provisions aimed at improving police performance: random alcohol testing for on-duty officers; mandatory drug and alcohol testing whenever officers discharge their weapons on or off-duty; and the addition of Ecstasy and anabolic steroids to the list of substances to be targeted in the department’s current drug testing program.

The pay raise falls well short of the 16.1 percent overall raise that Mayor Richard Daley once offered to police and even shorter of the 24 percent that the Fraternal Order of Police demanded. But the price tag is still a whopping $375 million - $160 million of it for retroactive pay.

* Chicago police poised to get 2 percent pay raises

* Daley Taps Ronald Holt to Lead Community Policing

* Daley Appoints Holt as CAPS Head

* New CAPS Chief Downplays Burge Impact

* Prosecutors plan to wrap up Burge case this week

* Burge trial: Doctor asked for probe of inmate’s injuries

* Burge Jurors Hear Re-Enactment of Cop Killer’s Testimony

* Red-light camera plan pits Cook County against suburbs

* New Chicago water boss: No plans to privatize

* City truck drivers to picket water department ’shut out’

Like their fellow Teamsters who work as truck drivers at O’Hare and Midway Airports, the Water Management employees say Daley is “punishing” their union for rejecting his demand for furlough days and comp time instead of cash overtime.

* Panel OKs O’Hare car rental fee

* New O’Hare Rental Car Fee Heads to City Council

* Chicago Teachers Union to sue over class sizes

The suit — which may be the first of its kind — will hinge on a municipal code requirement that classrooms contain 20 square feet of floor space per person.

* Sun-Times: Teacher salary cuts the best answer here

Chicago is facing a severe budget deficit, with recent CPS estimates ranging from $427 million to $600 million, a number that remains in flux because the state hasn’t finalized its budget. There’s little hope those numbers will shrink.

Closing that deficit requires belt-tightening across the school system, including even deeper administrative cuts and painful cuts to classroom programs. But there is no way out of this mess without adding into the mix union concessions

* District 204 seeks to keep state income tax withholdings to offset what state owes schools

The District 204 school board approved a resolution supporting the proposal Monday and sent it to the Illinois Association of School Boards, where it will be studied by a committee and voted on by members of school boards across the state in November. If approved, the Illinois Association of School Boards would ask the General Assembly to propose legislation next year.

* Aurora approves new liquor laws

* Aurora enacts tougher liquor ordinance

* County offers early retirement again

The [Lake] County Board on Tuesday approved offering extended insurance benefits and severance pay of up to $20,000 for eligible full-time regular employees.

* Kane County Board fighting use of public funds to defend coroner

* State OKs Vista’s emergency center

* State panel approves ER facility in Lindenhurst

* State hospital board OKs Tennessee firm buying West Suburban, Westlake

* Rock Island schools cut $12,000 in programs when fundraising falls short

* Blessing to use city bonding authority in move to buy building

* Ardis says major budget cuts may loom

* Mayor says Jacob in stable condition

* Pelo lawyers try to get guilty verdict overturned

* Clerk revokes coroner’s authority to issue burial permits

* Chatham to end CWLP contract

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 9:38 am

Comments

–..but bottling and selling the city’s “exceptional” tap water is worth exploring, Tom Powers, the city’s new water management commissioner, said Tuesday.–

I don’t think that’s possible under the Great Lakes compact. You can’t take water out of the watershed.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 9:47 am
The school districts ability to self tax by holding onto income tax is a horrible idea to a horrible problem. It is of course illegal without legislaive support and would subject them to criminal and civil penalties if they just do it.

No locality should have the power to sieze State funds, period.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 9:48 am
On a side note, twitter seems to have crashed again….

Rich needs a capitol fax based twitter type feed for politics…maybe call it fritter…critter….

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 9:50 am
wordslinger, Michigan is doing just that with bottled water from the lake.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 10:35 am
You’re right. I stand corrected. It’s a very controversial loophole to the compact.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 10:53 am
Why do we want a public entity to compete with the private sector, Sounds like unfair competition. Why?

Subsidized infrastructure
Subsidized salaries
Subsidized pensions
No property taxes paid on infrastructure

That does not even cover the fact that currently there is no one who has the skills to put this together and would need new hires.

This is dumb idea. I hope it is not an indication of the intelligence of the new director.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 11:47 am
Rich any chance you would consider an open thread for discussing the blago trial?

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 1:37 pm
There is one.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 9, 10 @ 1:59 pm