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* Ill. educators get spas on taxpayers’ dime

* Audit findings reignite debate over facilities.

Some regional education staff for Adams and Pike counties got day spa treatments worth around $150 each as “performance incentives.” Others got $1,500 “mileage bonuses” that had nothing to do with mileage.

* States drop abstinence programs

* Closure looms for public TV station

“Anything is possible,” said Jerold Gruebel, president and CEO of West Central Illinois Educational Telecommunications Corp., which operates three public television stations, including WSEC-TV in Springfield. “We have a cash-flow crisis. It’s a real test of fortitude.”

* Bush declares Illinois a disaster area

* President Bush declares Illinois ‘major disaster’ area; Adams, Hancock, Pike counties to get federal aid

* Illinois: Flood aid not enough

* Red Cross, volunteers provide food, water

* FEMA stalls truckers carrying flood relief

* Filmmaker returns favor to Quincy flood victims

“When I saw how hard people were working to protect their towns and farms, I made a promise to myself that if it ever happened again, I was going to go back and help them,” she said.

* High water could delay start of home cleanups until July

* Waterlogged levee under pressure from Mississippi River

* More West Nile found

* Pontiac prison appears to be spared in new plan

* State, union talks impact 35,000 state workers

* Our View: DNR needs stable revenue

In this challenging economy, absolutely it’s important for Illinois to watch the bottom line. But the governor must be careful not to nickel-and-dime DNR patrons to the point that the public no longer wishes to use its public parks. That would defeat the purpose of having them. We trust that’s not the intent.

* Illinois Works Capitol Bill

* SIU president, Forby take effort on the road

* State’s suit to target mortgage lender for unfair practices

“Countrywide’s conduct has contributed to the high number of foreclosures in Illinois and caused significant harm to the public, the market, and scores of Illinois borrowers and homeowners,” according to a draft of the lawsuit provided by Madigan’s office Tuesday.

* Illinois Plans to Sue Countrywide, CEO

* Striking out near Wrigley?

The alderman said he’s concerned about precedent. A mid-rise building could become an excuse for taller projects. “We’ve got to be careful that 25 years from now the charm of Wrigley Field still includes a neighborhood,” Tunney said.

* Weis announces surge of police patrols

* Commissioners advance benefits proposal for gay married couples who work for Cook County

* Cook County budget, finances leave some scratching their heads

The process is always confusing, but this year, several commissioners said it was nearly impossible because President Todd H. Stroger’s budget department has yet to release the final 2008 budget, more than six months into the budget year.

* Elizabeth holds first ever Green Fair this weekend

* Global warming expert warns local gathering of impending climate change

Johnathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said spending less money on fuel would create jobs by putting more money into people’s pockets and that individual measures, such as recycling, using compact fluorescent bulbs and driving a fuel-efficient car are not enough.

* “Roll Call” Examines Dan Seals and Other Carpetbaggers

* Political tough guy wants you to meet his inner wonk

Emanuel says his policy pursuits have one unifying theme: “globalization and its impact on the standard of living of the American people, and how do you put together a set of policies that make it better?”

posted by Kevin Fanning
Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 8:28 am

Comments

The Gov would just as soon get rid of the DNR with possible exception it has provided in the way of jobs for unqualified hacks he has appointed. At least one of them paid $1500 for the priveledge!

Comment by Leave a light on George Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 8:49 am
==Poshard said the pair accepted the governor’s invitation to craft the bill on the condition that the governor “stay out of it.”== Regarding specific projects: ==”(t)he built-in provisions are as good as we can get,” Poshard said. “Anyone who says there is not absolute accountability in this bill is dead wrong.”==

So Poshard is saying the governor was not part of the list of projects funded, and there’s no way those projects can be changed. Hmmmmm….then what’s the problem?

Comment by Vote Quimby! Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 8:57 am
Should we taxpayers be paying for expensive and unnecessary jails like Pontiac merely because local economies need a boost. Seems like a rather inefficient way of dealing with local economic problems, no matter how many patronage jobs are affected.

In fact, massive incarceration is an inefficient way of dealing with crime, especially given the extreme racial disproportionality of Illinois’ prison population, which calls the whole system of
incarceration into question. But when billions in contracts and jobs are sloshing around, as in DOC,
responsible, research-based social policy goes out the window. You won’t hear AFSCME advocating for
fewer jails, nor our feckless legislators. There’s just too darn much profit involved in keeping this mostly minority population locked up.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:04 am
I see now why the Gov is puching so much for “All Kids” now: ==States drop abstinence programs==

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:15 am
If we made everything legal, then there wouldn’t be any crime.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:40 am
I didn’t need the schools to teach me abstinence when I was a kid. The girls in my class taught made sure I learned it.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:40 am
–rim shot–

Comment by Vote Quimby! Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:47 am
But abstinence makes the heart grow fonder!

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:49 am
Having gone to high school with a bunch of South Side expatriate greaser grrrrls, my abstinence education was much different than wordslinger’s.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:49 am
with abstience education gone next they will be trying crazy experimental stuff like passing out contraception and making it available for free to kids.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 9:59 am
State drops abstinence programs. Heh, very sad!

Comment by Levois Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 10:22 am
“In fact, massive incarceration is an inefficient way of dealing with crime, especially given the extreme racial disproportionality of Illinois’ prison population, which calls the whole system of
incarceration into question.” What do you suggest…public hangings again?

Comment by Siyotanka Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 10:23 am
Public hangings - that’s funny I don’t care who you are.

Comment by Leave a light on George Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 10:41 am
Uh, no, I’m suggesting applying the penal code fairly regardless of race and diverting as many
offenders as possible to community programs. Just
applying the penal code equitably would made a huge difference. According to the Sentencing Project, African Americans are incarcerated at a rate ten times the rate of whites in Illinois (about 2000 vs. 200 per 100,000 residents), despite being about 15 percent of the population.
Just take care of the disparity and your corrections costs go down dramatically.

Comment by Cassandra Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 10:55 am
Most of us acknowledge the issues of racial fairness in administering the state’s penal code. However, letting someone off the hook of a serious crime because their proportionate racial “quota” was filled in the state prison system seems a pretty flippant approach.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 11:52 am
The executions shouldn’t be by hanging, only. Everyone who is convicted of first-degree murder should be executed the same way that he or she killed his or her victim(s).

Comment by PhilCollins Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 12:26 pm
Cassandra is correct in the assertion about proportions, but puts the cart before the horse with the conclusion. perhaps the problem lies not in the penal system but within our social constructs. We have yet to come up with good social tools to address problmes of extreme poverty, childhood neglect and providing structure and education.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 2:49 pm
“But when billions in contracts and jobs are sloshing around, as in DOC,”
I’m not certain about the current DOC budget, but at the time the current governor took office, the entire DOC budget was $1 billion. That 1 billion covered all costs for the department, and that budget has not grown astronomically over the governor’s term. So regardless of Cassandra’s ideas of graft, there just isn’t billions and billions in contracts given out by DOC.
The DHS mega agency has the largest share of the budget pie, not DOC.

Comment by In the Sticks Wednesday, Jun 25, 08 @ 11:09 pm