Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Morning Shorts

Posted in:

Illinois

* Public wake to be held for US Rep. Rostenkowski

No owners living in the buildings, no developer or contractor to be found. In most cases, there’s nothing of value left behind, the units having been stripped. These barren buildings endure as lures for crime and as deterrents to investment in the neighborhood.

Markowski and city housing officials estimate there are 200 such buildings around Chicago, mostly on the South or West sides, representing more than 2,000 apartments. They have banded together for a program they said is unique for American cities to put them back to productive use for housing.

With a $2.5 million grant from the city, Markowski’s Community Investment Corp. is working to gain title to the condos.

* Redistricting law saves towns money

Expanding the council and the number of wards would be an expensive proposition for any city, made even more difficult during these times of lost sales tax, income tax and development fees to municipalities.

Moreover, the timing proscribed in state law actually made it impossible for local government to comply. The statute says redistricting and an expanded council has to be done 180 days before the next consolidated election, April 2011.

But the earliest census data will start to become available is in January 2011, well after the deadline.

* South, North and West: A fresh take on Chicago

* Towns adding names to FutureGen’s list

Decatur and Springfield are being added to the list of cities considering a bid to play a role in a reworked version of a $1 billion clean-coal project after another Illinois town dropped out because of changes made to the original plan.

* Back to school, but not all teachers attending

* Extra money moves class sizes back to normal for CPS

To fill the system’s remaining $370 million deficit, Huberman early this week unveiled a budget that included raising high school class sizes, on average, from 31 to 33 students, for a savings of $30 million and a loss of 500 teaching jobs.

Ten year-round high schools opened Monday with those larger class sizes, and, as a result, fewer teachers than normal. Huberman said schools will be getting “budgetary guidance'’ soon on how to open slashed positions.

However, it was not immediately clear whether all laid-off high school teachers would automatically be called back to their old slots.

* CPS to Hold Public Budget Hearings This Week

* CTA buses rank No. 1 in collisions

* ‘Metracide’ cases on the upswing

Metracide is not an official cause of death, but it refers to suicides involving Metra trains. The latest figures compiled by the commuter train agency show 14 fatalities this year involving its trains — due to all causes, not specifically suicide — as of early July, including two people in vehicles, spokeswoman Meg Reile said. At least two other deaths have been reported since then, meaning this year’s Metra-related fatality toll already exceeds the 15 recorded in 2009. The highest number on record was 34 in 2004, Reile said.

* New Metra commuter cars on way

* Daily Herald: Metra should take a cue from tollway

It’s been three months since former Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano killed himself while being investigated for a variety of financial wrongs. But the taint of the financial scandal still lingers and will for some time.

That’s why we agree with those who say Metra needs an independent inspector general to keep an eye on the transit agency going forward.

* Residents vent frustrations over ComEd service

* Mosquito population up 800 percent in two weeks

* Right-wing blogger convicted of threatening Illinois judges

A right-wing New Jersey blogger was convicted at his third trial Friday of making threats against three federal judges in Illinois in retaliation for a ruling supporting gun control.

A Brooklyn jury deliberated less than two hours before finding Hal Turner guilty of making death threats.

* Show looks at gangs, pit bulls and violence

* DuPage Water Commission working to right financial situation

After an independent audit by law firm Jenner & Block recommended strengthening the commission’s controls, state lawmakers drafted restructuring legislation that Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed that requires all 13 commissioners to resign on Dec. 31 and that in 2016 will eliminate a countywide sales tax that helps fund the commission.

On Thursday, commissioners voted to start negotiations on a loan extension that would buy the commission time to generate funds to pay off the loan. Commissioner Phil Suess urged the commission’s representatives — staff attorney Maureen Crowley, retired Financial Administrator Rick Skiba and Treasurer Don Zeilenga — to shop around for a lower interest rate than the 2.5 percent rate proposed by West Suburban Bank.

* Aurora civil rights leader Marie Wilkinson dies

* Wheeling may try again to raise 911 surcharge

* Roger Ness: Former Newark, Ill., mayor dies at 59

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 9:44 am

Comments

re violence, though pit bulls did not come up, the Dateline
NBC show last night was one hour of Lester Holt analyzing the
violence in Chicago. worth a look. includes interviews with
police supt, school supt., violent kids, parents, police, teachers,
community workers. comprehensive and scary.

Comment by Amalia Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:08 am