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Illinois

* Marin: ‘Man behind curtain’ faces lots of questions (but he hasn’t answered any yet)

* “Former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Seymour Simon, who held positions at multiple levels of government during a varied career in public service, died Tuesday at the age of 91.”

* Blagojevich, Topinka set date for first debate

* Gov. Rod Blagojevich made if official Monday - the new state-supported Amtrak service, including a route to Galesburg, will begin Oct. 30.

* Attorney General’s probe targets hospital executives

* Schmich: `Obamania’ isn’t everyone’s cup of cappuccino

* Demand forces Obama town hall meeting move to Rock Valley College gym

* Steinberg: Gov ready to hang up on sneaky cell charges

* Brown: Fired TV anchorman now on other side of political game

* “Taking care to alert but not alarm, Cook County officials cautioned their suburban counterparts Tuesday about a potential health crisis that threatens every town, every school and every business”

* “The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and an Aurora outlet mall settled a lawsuit over who pays for $4.7 million in road improvements to access the mall.”

* “Some Carpentersville officials are tired of waiting for the federal government to take action on illegal immigran”

* Mayor’s aide quits to run for city clerk - Hispanic aldermen angry Daley didn’t pick one of them

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 8:16 am

Comments

Every year my taxes are raised because of increased public service fees (police, fire dept, schools, etc. I am not complaining about paying my share of the taxes. I like many others are upset when not everyone pays their fair share. I applaud these 2 individuals for taking a stand. I saw a bumper sticker once that said something like In America you pay taxes and speak english or you get out.

Comment by Taxpayer #1 Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 8:34 am
This aide of Daley who wants to be Chicago City Clerk seems to have no distinguishable talent besides an ability to kiss the Mayor’s “mistletoe.” A far better choice for voters in the Clerk’s race would be Water Reclamation District Commissioner Frank Avila, who won his election four years ago without owing his political soul to Daley or to HDO.

Comment by fedup dem Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 8:58 am
Bird flu. Puh-leez.

Mr. Martin must be one of the Cook County Health
Dept employees spotlighted for their exorbitant salaries in the local press this week.

Time to do a little scare mongering.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 9:34 am
Of even more significance in the “Mayor’s Aide” story is that Sen. Miguel del Valle is considering giving up his Senate leadership position to run for City Clerk. That would be a blow for the Senate Dems and teh Latino Caucus, but he would surely wipe the floor with teh Mayor’s aide who has zero name recognition.

Comment by In the No Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 10:35 am
If I was Tony I’d stay in Syria or somewhere in the middle east. I hear there’s a vacancy in Osama’s cave.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 11:47 am
He might want to stay out of Syria as well.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 11:50 am
No props to Walmart? They opened their first store in the Chicago today:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0609270253sep27,1,3929564.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

A true triumph of capitalism.

Comment by Leroy Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 1:00 pm
I bet a lot of Blagojevich’s inner circle hope Tony remains out of the country because they know when he gets back the Feds will be all over him.

Tony just might roll over on Rod in order to get a little less jail time of his own. I bet Rod is sweating bullets about now.

Comment by Unreasoned Support Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 1:54 pm
Oh, nice piece in Crains’s from Mike Colias (he does good healthcare reporting) on AG Madigan’s probe. I’m a little more Right-of-center, but boy is Madigan getting my vote for her work on the charity care issue with these Illinois hospitals.

Glad to see that issue in the news here on CapFax, because I’ve worked in the industry, and there are some real jerks in the biz who get themselves elected to the boards of powerful and influential trade associations (have personally seen a former middle manager of mine get mercilessly screwed out of his commission money one month, so have zero love for many of these top healthcare execs based on how I’ve seen them treating their OWN people in the past). Please, regardless of how you vote, back the Democratic AG’s push for reform of the hospital industry. It is a bipartisan issue, so I hope more people pay attention to it.

Did you know that the hospitals harass and hound patients over medical bills and then write it off even if at least some of those people could have been helped through the system of applying for some type of financial assistance? Go to the website for the First Illinois HFMA and look at the board of directors over there to see who gets elected onto that board. One is a collections lawyer whose clients include Provena and Advocate, two systems that have gotten themselves into a LOT of hot water over the charity care, billing, and collections issues.

Go Lisa!!

Comment by Angie Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 2:27 pm
Seymour Simon is a hero of mine after hearing how he stood up against pay toilets @ O’Hare. I would have just dumped on the floor in protest. Take that Pat Quinn!

Some in Carpentersville=Jack Roesser? Just keep him focused and don’t let him speak too much.

Schmich, her obsession of Obama is really annoying. Perhaps the cult she has begun will go and she will be the first to drink the kool aid.

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 3:48 pm
My money says Blago is a no show for the debate.
If he does show, then JBT should answer every question with “the governor is a crook and he’s going to jail!”

Question: Treasurer Topinka, what color is the sky?
Answer: Don’t ask me, read any newspaper in the state, the governor is a crook and he’s going to jail!

Talk about making national news, even Katie Couric can get that right.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Sep 27, 06 @ 8:22 pm
She should ask Rod why he didn’t dismiss Sister Claudette from his panel on hate crimes while she’s debating him! Better yet, she should ask him where the heck his brain was when he tapped a top aide to Minister “white devils” Louis Farrakhan for ANY panel in the first place. We’re all ears on that one, Rod. Please answer that for us all. Where WAS your brain? Guy can’t do his own research properly, in my opinion.

Comment by Angie Thursday, Sep 28, 06 @ 12:17 am