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* This press release by AT&T is partial payback for the governor signing its deregulation bill into law…

AT&T today unveiled its Illinois wired and wireless network investment plans for 2010, which include plans for more than 80 new cell sites and the upgrade of nearly 300 additional cell sites to 3G throughout the state.

The announcement comes on the heels of Gov. Pat Quinn’s signing of the state’s new modern telecommunications law designed to attract private sector investment in broadband and wireless to meet consumer demands and attract jobs across all sectors of the Illinois economy.

“With the stroke of a pen, Governor Quinn made Illinois an attractive place for AT&T to invest in broadband, wireless and emerging technologies,” said Paul La Schiazza, president, AT&T Illinois. “His leadership in broadband coverage and job creation cannot be understated.”

But this is really not new…

From 2007 through 2009, AT&T’s total capital investment in its Illinois wireless and wireline networks was nearly $3.6 billion. From 2007 through 2009, AT&T’s wireless network investment in Illinois was nearly $975 million.

They added 70 cell sites in 2009 and upgraded 220 existing towers. That’s before the law was passed. What’s driving this newly announced expansion is network pressure created by iPhone and iPad owners, not state law. On the other hand, the company can now get out of much of its state legal mandate to expand and maintain its wired service. So, expect AT&T’s actual capital investment to decline overall, not increase.

* The last time the state passed a payday loan law, the industry just worked around it. And even though its supporters say this new law is significantly tougher, the financial services industry has some of the brightest minds in the world on payroll, so I’ll wait and see if this really works. From a press release…

Governor Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law that will increase protections for Illinois residents obtaining consumer installment loans. The new law caps interest rates charged by consumer finance companies, which can sometimes be as high as 1,000 percent.

“Many consumers who take out short-term loans are doing so as a last resort to pay their bills and provide for their families. It is all too easy for lenders to take advantage of them by raising interest rates and setting very short repayment periods,” said Governor Quinn. “It is important that we do everything we can to protect these consumers who are already hurting, by helping to make these loans more affordable.”

* I’ll believe this when I see it…

There was no new estimate on how many jobs might go along with a Thomson prison filled with federal prisoners. The administration’s original estimate said 1,200 jobs, both direct and indirect, would be created by the third year of operation, based on 1,600 federal prisoners.

Nearly 900 of those jobs would be positions at the prison.

Overall, the administration had said, 3,200 to 3,800 jobs could be created in the region, both direct and indirect.

Those “indirect” jobs are very hard to quantify.

* Last month, the Peoria County/City Board of Health laid off 31 employees and cut way back on its state-supported health programs. Last week was the Woodford County Health Department Board of Health’s turn…

The Woodford County Health Department Board of Health voted last week not to renew several state-supported programs after Illinois informed the board it would not pay for services rendered until December instead of July.

“We knew they were behind (in paying bills), and we decided we could make it until July,” said Laurie Schierer, public health administrator. “But then they told us it would come in December.”

The last time the department received a payment from the state was in December 2009, meaning it would have to go 12 months without a payment for services already rendered, and that wasn’t a viable option. Before last year, the state paid for the programs by the month.

* The Sun-Times misses the obvious point in its editorial today…

Over the weekend, 52 people were shot in Chicago, a stunning tally that the police blame in large part on gangs.

The police will also tell you that the lifeblood of the gangs is the sale of illegal drugs. The gangs are the Al Capones of our day, peddling an illegal product for which the demand is enormous.

We can disrupt the gangs’ operations — as Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart did last week when his officers seized 5,525 pounds of pot worth $20 million — but we will never put them out of business, no more than we could put the bootleggers out of business.

We fill our prisons with young men who have committed drug-related crimes — a shameful waste of human potential and the taxpayers’ money — but nothing changes. For thousands of high school dropouts who might otherwise be washing dishes for minimum wage, the money in drugs is just too good.

The sheriff’s plan is to burn all that confiscated pot, a further reminder of how irrational our drug policies are. We agree with those who say the pot should be used for medical purposes by people living in great physical pain.

Why not just legalize it and put the gangs out of business? Create some new jobs in the process.

* Related and a roundup…

* Quinn expected in Marion Wednesday: There is no word on what the nature of Quinn’s visit will be, but many have been anticipating his signature on a bill that would green light a major development project in Marion.

* Loan rates capped

* Quinn signs payday loan regulation

* Our View: With texting drivers, it’s more than a teen problem

* $80M in federal funds available for transportation in Illinois

* Illinois buying new disaster trucks

* WH moves ahead on IL prison purchase

* Plan for Feds to Buy Thomson Prison Moving Forward

* U.S. continues push to acquire Thomson prison for federal inmates

* Our Opinion: Even small state cuts worthwhile

* State rep gets 2nd job from Stroger

* Our View: Wrong to punish independent thought in Springfield; Cross was elected to his position seven years ago on a promise of allowing greater independence for members. Even after this vote, he told reporters that while he was disappointed, “I’m not a guy who’s going to force people to vote a certain way.” Really? Incidentally, Democrat Jack Franks of Woodstock broke with his party and still holds his committee chairmanship.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:25 pm

Comments

- Why not just legalize it and put the gangs out of business? -

Oh god Rich, I’m not sure I have the stomach today for the self-righteousness this argument always seems to bring out.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:29 pm
Meh. Deal with it. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:32 pm
If only I had something legal to help me cope…

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:33 pm
STL, there has got to be a Binny’s or Friar Tuck somewhere near you….

Comment by Heartless Libertarian Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:36 pm
==Why not just legalize it and put the gangs out of business? Create some new jobs in the process.==

Why have the State sell it so we could get that elusive new revenue stream?!?

Comment by Bobby Hill Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:41 pm
After the 2005 reform, the total volume of loans dropped 20.4% and the number of borrowers dipped from 119,936 to 80,049 by 2008. That’s progress.

Comment by David Ormsby Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:55 pm
I think the math sez the Dart Dope comes out to $226 an oz. Seems a little high?
Capt Fax any insights on SW Side pot prices?

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:56 pm
=== The last time the department received a payment from the state was in December 2009, meaning it would have to go 12 months without a payment for services already rendered, and that wasn’t a viable option. Before last year, the state paid for the programs by the month. ==

Good golly that’s messed up….

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 12:59 pm
Re: Health Department cutbacks.

Actually, most local Health Department programs are funded through state grants, or federal grants administered by the State of IL (usually IDPH).

But when you that a really hard look at the entire “processes” covered by the local Health Departments, it’s overall pretty disjointed. It really breaks down into two separate areas, with a number of sub-functions under each area:
1) Community Health
2) Environmental Health

The areas starting to be cut back are primarily in the “Community Health” area. Environmental Health has a fair portion of local funded, fee based applications, and the remainder is also usually covered by the Local Health Protection Grants.

Community Health isn’t so lucky, and the decisions by Health Departments by both Peoria and Woodford Counties are just the tip of the iceberg. Expect to see more.

As an opinion, up to fairly recently the Community Health area of local Health Department operations has been getting the great majority of the resources, and Environmental Health has been getting scraps. But when it came to getting existing operations to work more efficiently, it was the Environmental Health folks who did it better (And they weren’t near close to being world beaters at it, just better). The Community Health folks seemed to always be too busy “standing up” new programs to worry about operating existing programs efficiently.

Just sit through a couple Board of Health, or County Board Public Health committee meetings (virtually any County) if you really want to get frustrated and aggravated at how things work (or don’t work).

Comment by Judgment Day Is On The Way Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 1:01 pm
When I clicked the link to “54 shot in latest violence” this morning, I truly thought it was going to be about Iraq.

Comment by Way Way Down Here Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 1:01 pm
re. At&t -
whoa, you mean they are trying to credit to the telecomm. reforms for really just providing decent service to customers (to make up for crappo service in past years??

noooo, that’s just crazy talk. I’m sure they wouldn’t do something as sneaky as that.

Comment by dupage progressive Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 1:24 pm
Does Turner have any particular qualifications for assessing the training program?

And even if he does…how effective are these programs. What percentage of the people who go through them actually get jobs-real jobs. What percentage of those are still employed one year later, two years later, etc.

Blatant past corruption aside, it’s time for some sunshine project to take a look at state and local job training programs and their effectiveness. A currently serving politician can’t possibly be objective because these programs generate so many great patronage jobs, whether the programs are effective or not.

Comment by cassandra Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 1:26 pm
DO, while I do not doubt your numbers, if the first law hadn’t failed, there would be no reason for this new law.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:03 pm
Umpteen years ago, gambling revenue was supposed to be the panacea to the education system’s financial woes. We’ve seen how well that turned out.

We have sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. Those haven’t balanced the budget, either.

I would be in favor of legalizing marijuana, but let’s not kid ourselves that it would solve the state’s financial problems. We’ve been down that path before and somehow, it never quite works out that way.

If politicians in Illinois had the goose the laid golden eggs, they would either sell it at a loss or kill it.

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:07 pm
*After the 2005 reform, the total volume of loans dropped 20.4% and the number of borrowers dipped from 119,936 to 80,049 by 2008. That’s progress.*

Is that all loans or just the ones that were regulated in 2005? The predatory lenders simply shifted to a different loan product to get around to ‘05 regs, hence the need for the new law.

Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:26 pm
Well, here goes,

Aldyth is right, legalizing other activities have not turned out to be the financial panacea they were touted to be. In my one foray to the “boats” I saw quite a few elderly and disabled folk lining up to play the slots. Nice, we balance the state’s checkbook on the backs of those on fixed incomes. Problem is, the books ain’t balanced. Anyone who thinks that legalizing a vice to make money off it for the state only has to look at the books to see it ain’t working.

And, for that matter, believing that the criminal gangs would suddenly become law abiding citizens in the face of wholesale legalization of drugs is misplaced hope. Criminals exist - period. They are not created by making certain activities illegal. They exist outside of law-abiding society because they are anti-social. They will find other illegal activities to engage in. Because that is what they do. Clean up one drug infested neighborhood, the gangs just move to another neighborhood. Legalize drugs and the bad guys will just move on to another profitable crime. There is no easy solution to the problem. This is an ongoing challenge to society. One we should not give up on.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:29 pm
===legalizing other activities have not turned out to be the financial panacea they were touted to be===

Tell that to the former millionaires who ran the numbers rackets.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:31 pm
Also, only fools would believe that the Lottery was a “financial panacea.”

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:33 pm
- Legalize drugs and the bad guys will just move on to another profitable crime. -

Sure there will still be crime, but there is no illegal activity as profitable as drugs (well, outside of white collar crime probably). Take that away, even partially, and you’ve significantly decreased the opportunity for people to make money through illegal activities. Decrease that, and you decrease some of the incentive for gangs to grow and the funding available for them to resist the police. Criminals won’t go away, but I’m willing to bet they would decrease in number.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:47 pm
===Sure there will still be crime, but there is no illegal activity as profitable as drugs ===

Exactly.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:52 pm
@Aldyth - well said.

@Dupage Dan - Let’s make them come up with something new!

(What comes next is just a general comment)
We can not just sit here and do nothing becasue the “gangs” are bound to find something else to do that is illegal. Also, let’s not forget that all those drugs that reach our inner city streets are often stored in suburbia…just sayin…

Comment by GetOverIt Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:54 pm
“Also, only fools would believe that the Lottery was a “financial panacea.”

Doesn’t mean we believe it, just means that is how it was presented, followed by gambling boats, followed by land-based casinos. Whenever it is proposed that a particular enterprise is the answer to finding the financial promised land, it turns out that it isn’t the case. Or, the money has been spent before it comes in.

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:55 pm
===just means that is how it was presented===

By whom? Where are your quotes? A link maybe?

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 2:57 pm
Identity theft/credit card frayd is quite lucrative. The numbers are staggering. Credit card companies pass on the cost of that to us consumers in the amounts of billions of dollars. People from all walks of life engage in this crime. Many are lowly store clerks who copy credit card info and use it later. Steal credit card apps from mailboxes and sign up. We send persons with “promising futures” to prison for this crime. Looks like another candidate for legalization.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:01 pm
That has to be the dumbest thing anyone has ever posted on this blog, DD. Truly stupid.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:03 pm
Rich,

I remember when we were told the proceeds from the state lottery would all go into the education fund. Don’t remember the projected income from that period in time but I remember the rhetoric. We were told that the state’s students would reap this benefit that would increase the state’s share of the cost of education. The press releases were all glowing. Imagine our chagrin when we learned that altho all the proceeds went into the education fund, dollar for dollar of GRF $ was deleted and returned to said fund to be used elsewhere. Those lies have not been forgotten.

Do you, Rich, have a different memory of that time?

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:06 pm
It was not billed as a panacea. It was billed wrongly, obviously. But not as a panacea. And, frankly, dude, you’re about to lose your commenting privileges for that previous moronic statement. Watch yourself.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:08 pm
Do I get an award for that, Rich?

I was not suggesting that credit card fraud be legalized, I was only challenging STL’s assertion that =there is no illegal activity as profitable as drugs=.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:09 pm
DD - Can you even remember what the debate is about from one post to the next? Rich never said this was the solution to the state’s financial trouble. He said it could help with the crime/gang problem and possibly create some new jobs. Way to try changing the subject after your hilariously stupid post though, I tip my hat to you sir.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:10 pm
I know it means jobs for some folks, but prisons as an economic development tool makes me want to cry.

I’ve spent much of the last year traveling with my big boy checking out universities. Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10, Mac, Big East, SEC.

I’ve hit every public university in Illinois, plus Northwestern. What amazing places they are. It’s rejuvenating to be around so many smart kids. Every smart and hard-working kid on the planet Earth is trying to bust into American universities.

And here in Illinois, we’re trying to get by on the cheap, we owe them money. What a disgrace. That’s where we should be putting our money.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:14 pm
DD for mayor!!!! In other news, “Drug Dealers Battle Inflation: Dime Bag Now Twenty-Dollars” Story at 10pm.

Comment by GetOverIt Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:15 pm
No, I don’t have a link. I’m remembering dinner time conversation with my parents and grandparents when the Democratic Precinct Committeeman and his wife visited for the evening. It had to be at least thirty-five years ago, because I was in college at the time.

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:17 pm
Perhaps, STL, you missed a few of the earlier posts. Aldyth made some parallel reference to legalizing some gambling as a comparison to the drug issue. I was merely responding to that. The reference to the state’s financial trouble was only an extension of that analogy.

I’m sorry if my earlier post was not seen as sarcastic, as I intended. I didn’t think it would be taken seriously. Sheesh.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:20 pm
Aldyth, that ain’t enough. Some precinct committeeman 35 years ago is your sole source? Try harder.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:25 pm
DD - Whenever I say stupid things I say I was being sarcastic too.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:26 pm
Okay Rich, you win. I won’t bring up conversations from the past unless I can dig up the participants. Literally, in the case of the people involved.

However, you have not changed my mind that the Lottery was sold to many as the answer to financing better education in Illinois. People did believe that the money would be used to supplement GRF so that funding would grow. Instead, the proceeds were used instead of GRF. Which didn’t allow for the massive expansion of state funding for education that people thought was supposed to happen.

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:42 pm
===However, you have not changed my mind that the Lottery was sold to many as the answer to financing better education in Illinois.===

Again, you’re wrong.

The original purpose of the Lottery - when it was passed - was to subsidize the RTA.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:43 pm
STL,

You’re right, I should just fess up. I was seriously suggesting we legalize credit card fraud. If it makes you feel better to think that, be my guest.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:44 pm
- I was seriously suggesting we legalize credit card fraud. -

No, you were seriously trying to refute my argument by using a straw man. If it makes you feel better to keep denying that, be my guest.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:50 pm
This is the first I’ve heard of it being used to fund the RTA.

Quoting: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=71805

“The Lottery: This wouldn’t be the first time the government has used gambling as a bail-out for public works deficits. The Illinois Lottery has been linked to education since its inception in 1974, when it was sold to the public as a means of increasing funding for public education.”

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:56 pm
That story is wrong. Period.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 3:58 pm
http://www.thesouthern.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_29b1269c-7e3f-11df-9b07-001cc4c002e0.html

Comment by CM Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:06 pm
STL,

Yes, I refuted your argument that illegal drug sales are more lucrative that most others. Credit card fraud costs society huge amounts of money. The difference here is that the use of illicit drugs is said to be a victimless crime while credit card fraud obviously has vicitms. That is the issue that comes back here time and again. When you use the argument that illegal drugs attract the criminal element because it is so lucrative the conclusion that is implied is that crime is diminished when the drugs are legalized. Are you suggesting that we legalize all illicit drugs? Pot is lucrative, and relatively harmless compared to the harder drugs. Will the gangs disappear when pot is legalized? Of course, they will just shift to other drugs, just as lucrative and, in some cases, more easily transported. So, the idea that there will be fewer problems with drugs in totality by legalizing pot is not suported. If you are suggesting that all illicit drugs be legalized we will not ever agree.

If the argument is that drug use can have no victims I would disagree. I have stated my position on that here previously and won’t waste your time reiterating it. Does making the drugs illegal solve that problem. No. Neither does legalization. Chronic problems require life long remedies.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:06 pm
I used to hang out in Zeke Giorgi’s office [Zeke was known as the “father of the Lottery”] and he used to carry around an article about how the numbers rackets were legalized to finance the RTA.

Don’t take my word for it. Cal Skinner was a state Rep. at the time…

===Most won’t remember, but Rockford State Rep. Zeke Giorgi could not get his beloved lottery idea passed until the state needed money—about $60 million—to finance the RTA.

The lottery was not passed to help finance education, no matter what is impressed upon your mind.

The money was only directed to education during the 1980’s when legislators got tried of answering the question, “Wasn’t the lottery passed to finance education?”===

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:08 pm
I did a little searching and found that the lottery wasn’t specifically linked to funding education until 1985. I don’t remember that it was related to the RTA, however. It must have been the drugs.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:08 pm
=The money was only directed to education during the 1980’s when legislators got tried of answering the question, “Wasn’t the lottery passed to finance education?”=

See, it didn’t matter where the money was going - it was nothing more than a shell game. We get the gov’t we deserve.

Comment by dupage dan Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:10 pm
The “worst Bill ever” becomes the “worst Law Ever” Tommorrow at Union Hall in Marion (how appropriate). It defies logic as to why this bill became law when the developer has nothing signed up but wishes and pipe dreams with hundreds of millions in state money.

Comment by Ronbo Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:12 pm
By the way did Forby put in a private prevailing wage requirement in the bill like he did for Enterprise Zone?

Comment by Ronbo Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:15 pm
Did they really say Quinn’s leadership “cannot be UNDERSTATED”? How is that a compliment?

Comment by girllawyer Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:17 pm
After extensive searching, I did find documentation that supports your position that the Lottery money was intended to support the RTA. However, according to what I read, in 1972 when the legislature was considering starting a lottery, one of the arguments was that it could be used to help fund education.

http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_10_3_03_gribbin.pdf

Pages 6-8 address it.

Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:19 pm
Point of Information:

Legislation to create the Illinois State Lottery was approved in December, 1973, as part of the agreement that created the Regional Transportation Authority. Its purpose was to provide revenues to replace state funds that would be used to help subsidize mass transit in the Chicago area. In fact, some legislators who voted against the lottery authorization said they did so because the money was NOT earmarked for education.

Source: “Lottery, RTA bills OKd, go to Walker.” Chicago Sun-Times, December 2, 1973

Comment by Charlie Wheeler Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 4:46 pm
Charlie, I think that was the article that Zeke carried with him. lol

I wonder if they buried him with that article still in his wallet.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 5:07 pm
There are two likely possibilities:
A. People like it this way.
B. The wrong people are in charge.

I believe in “B” and I am getting really annoyed when I hear people using “A” as a justification of doing nothing about it themselves.

Comment by FDR Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 6:39 pm
Rich,

It might well have been… the story was on page one of the Sun-Times, with a big picture of Zeke being congratulated by Harold Washington. I got a copy of the clip years ago when Don Saltsman was passing them out on the House floor.

Comment by Charlie Wheeler Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 7:53 pm
DISASTER TRUCKS giveaway needs to be investigated and exposed! Anyone and EVERYONE involved in this mess needs to be named! It’s not monopoly money to me but it must be to those involved. Let them line up to take their bows so the honest people can come by and kick them while they’re bent over! THEN FIRE THEM IF EMPLOYEES OR THROW THEM OUT OF OFFICE!!!!

Comment by obamalac Tuesday, Jun 22, 10 @ 8:50 pm