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Afternoon shorts

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I missed some items in Morning Shorts and the local elections roundup, and others have popped up since then, so I’ll add ‘em now…

* Senator Murphy to host online chat this evening on his bill that would ban access to “social networking” Websites in certain public facilities.

Under the proposed legislation sponsored by 27th District state Sen. Matt Murphy, all public libraries and schools in Illinois would have to prohibit access to sites such as My Space, Facebook and personal blogs from computers.

The proposal, which Murphyâ€™s office says is the only one in the nation that calls for a complete ban on these sites, has been a hot topic since it was introduced Feb. 9. It has since been referred to the rules committee.

Murphyâ€™s live online discussion will be held 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at his blog, senmattmurphy.blogspot.com. The freshman senator will answer questions people have on his bill.

Be there or be square.

* Environmentalists are near a meltdown over plans to recycle nuclear fuel an hour southwest of Chicago

* Charlie Johnston: GOP Senate Race Reality Check

* Bill Baar: Jesse Jackson Jr to Todd Stroger: there are consequences to a vote

* Slusher: Sticky issue of putting ideological labels on political candidates

* Rosemont gaming license still in play

* Governor’s backlog of clemency requests draws fire

* ArchPundit thinks the story on Daley paying $100 to students for election day work was seriously flawed.

* “Today, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law released a new report finding that Illinoisâ€™s campaign finance system is broken and badly in need of reform.” [From a press release]

* Alone among major Midwestern states, Illinois places no restrictions on campaign contributions, allowing unlimited donations from any source.

* Disclosure laws, supposedly the bulwark against corruption instead of contribution limits, are easily evaded.

* The State Board of Elections has been hamstrung by partisan gridlock and has failed to enforce the law. Wary of conducting investigations and resolving cases that could have political ramifications, the Board has signaled that campaign finance laws can be evaded without repercussion.

* The report also finds that Illinois is the only state in the Midwest that has no public campaign finance system of any kind. Under a public financing system candidates agree to limit campaign spending in exchange for campaign financing provided by the state â€“ either through matching funds or an outright grant.

* Mayor Daley’s last TV ad of the season…

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 22, 07 @ 12:39 pm

Comments

They may call it “recycling” but that don’t make it so. It’s not recycling. In fact, most of the spent nuclear fuel will still remain after the process; and worse yet, it will produce plutonium, which only makes it easier to create nuclear weapons. This area already has three nuclear plants nearby–Braidwood, Dresden, and LaSalle. It also has one of the nation’s only high-level nuclear waste dumps–the GE Morris Site–a failed project that no longer receives shipments. Now they want to put an “experimental burner reactor” there too? Keep packing them in there, and you’re just asking for a disaster when the next tornado comes through.

Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Feb 22, 07 @ 3:08 pm
So Sen. Murphy wants to talk with constituents (via his blog) about banning blogs … oo-kkaayyy.

What is it with social conservatives wanting to impose a nanny-state? Then again, maybe it would ban folks from visiting Illinois Review with all its sex talk of late.

I can understand doing this at k-12 schools (many school districts already have — as the article indicates), but libraries where adults use the computer access too?

Does the ban include schools such as community colleges, like the one Mr. Murphy got his start at? (He was a Harper College trustee before being elected to State Senate.) You’d run into adults there too.

Does this ban even have a chance of passing in a Democratically-controlled State Senate?

Comment by NW burbs Thursday, Feb 22, 07 @ 4:05 pm
That’s not the “Brennan” Center for Justice, it’s the “Soros” Center for Justice. Just look at their contributors.

Comment by Reformers? Thursday, Feb 22, 07 @ 4:49 pm