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* Green Senatorial Campaign Committee recognized by FEC:

Federal Election Commission Advisory Opinion 2006-36 represents the first time a political party other than the Democrats or Republicans has been granted a national party campaign committee. Such committees have higher limits on campaign contributions that they can accept and give to candidates.

* The state’s export business is growing, up 17% in 2006

* Jesse Jackson Jr.: ALNAC’s plan should get the state’s nod

* Stroger hospital police officer cuffs reporter who was covering protest

* Daley aides says tainted petitions were never used

* Commission approves Daley’s Olympic Village plans:

Mayor Daley is so gung-ho about the idea of building 5,000 units of market-rate and affordable housing and hotels with up to 1,000 rooms that he’s determined to build the project, whether or not Chicago hosts the 2016 Games.

* Duckworth admits to anxiety about husband’s mission

* Editorial: Awareness of Suburban poverty is a start

* Report: Health Facilities Planning Board no long needed

* Editorial:

Lang’s Southland casino legislation merits support: the reality is that casino gambling has been legal in Illinois for several years. And as long as it is legal, it makes little sense to us that there isn’t a casino in the Southland. The state of Indiana has cornered much of the Southland gaming market. Shouldn’t that segment of the market belong to Illinois? Common sense says yes.

* Last call for Metra bar cars

* AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study finds laws can reduce teen crashes

* Friday Beer Blogging: Drinking Studies Edition (This one hits home for me)

posted by Paul Richardson
Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 8:14 am

Comments

Too bad the Southtown can’t explain why an unnecessary airport, which no airline has agreed to use, and for which FAA approval, if ever granted, is at least three years down the road, should be built in Peotone. All that this airport will do is significantly contribute to urban sprawl and pollution in a congested area that already fails to meet federal air quality standards.

Comment by Squideshi Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 8:23 am
So Chicago is going to get an Olympic Village, even if it doesn’t get the Olympics, just because Daley wants it, huh?

Guess the construction patronage network he’s built over the last 20 years needs to be fed.

I fear the day Daley wakes up and decides he wants to invade Indiana.

Comment by Leroy Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 8:25 am
“I fear the day Daley wakes up and decides he wants to invade Indiana.”

Wouldn’t that be a good thing? lol

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 8:28 am
Daley and his friends will get rich due to the sniff of Olympic games. Just think of all the cost overruns! Initial costs x 3 or 4!

Looks like Todd JOng Il has his own private Gestapo

Comment by Wumpus Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 8:40 am
Squids,

Tru Dat! The only regional airport that makes any sense is alreadyup and running and in Gary, Indiana. Every thing else is self-interested non-sense and padding for the Jackson Family fortune - not to mention a few Elmhurst business folks.

The best top-soil in the nation runs from Beecher
on south and west - yeah let’s screw that up.

Almost make me a Greenie - naaw, like they’d have me.

Comment by Pat Hickey Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 9:20 am
Wumpus!
Tood JongIl LMFWIAO!

Comment by Pat Hickey Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 10:09 am
I agree that the peotone airport is fatally flawed. We have an airport in Gary that is already there for expansion, and can barely stay alive. If something does go forward in peotone, it needs to be under Will County control. They also need to stop screwing with the people that live in that area.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 12:45 pm
Message to Pat Hickey - ‘join us…’ Just kidding. I don’t know who the greens ‘wouldn’t have’ as long as they also believe in its 10 key values.

Anyway, with the Peotone/Gary airport debacle, hasn’t Gary already offered to make a tax/income sharing arrangement with Chicago/Illinois in exchange for adopting Gary as the third airport? Think of the waste that could be saved if this sane policy was pursued.

And I love the idea of building a high-speed rail link between Gary and downtown Chicago. There’s money better spent than a boonedoggle of tax-payer money sunk into fields in Peotone. To say nothing of saving more of the ‘green’ belt around Chicago. Plus, won’t some Gov. Ryan cronies loose a lot of money after buying up lots of land around there? Added bonus. Ahh. My 2 cents. Thanks!

Comment by Dorian Breuer Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 1:24 pm
It’s not just the airport in Gary that is already there for expansion. There’s also the airport in Rockford. Rockfordians have long been fed a bunch of BS from the state about expanding local transportation. Expand the Greater Rockford Airport, establish Metra service all the way to downtown Rockford (something Rockfordians have been told would happen for a long time), and do it before the city falls apart any more than it already has.

It is not coincidence that Rich Whitney got almost 25% of the vote in Winnebago, Boone, and Ogle Counties. There is a reason why the Register Star was more willing to listen to him, and why the electorate there was more willing to follow suit. Not like Daley or Jesse Jr. care about Rockford, of course - they and their friends don’t have major land investments there, after all.

Comment by Phil Huckelberry Friday, Feb 16, 07 @ 1:55 pm