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[Note from Rich: We’re taking Veterans’ Day off. Comments are closed.]

* Jarrett Out As Possible Obama Senate Replacement

Two Democratic sources close to President-elect Barack Obama tell CNN that top adviser Valerie Jarrett will not be appointed to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

“While he (Obama) thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her in the White House,” one top Obama advisor told CNN Monday.

* Politicians, citizens remember veterans in Illinois

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin plans to participate in a ceremony this afternoon at Camp Butler National Cemetery in Springfield. Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs director Tammy Duckworth will be in Chicago, where she is the guest speaker at a ceremony at a local veterans’ medical center.

* Still trying to open beds for Illinois veterans

* Cellini to be arraigned Friday

* State lawmakers returning with no budget fix on tap

But, there is no consensus yet on a plan to address the state’s budget woes.

According to the General Assembly’s fiscal forecasting agency, overall state revenues are down $406 million through the first third of the fiscal year.

The administration also released a new set of numbers showing that the state may face an overall $800 million shortfall before the fiscal year ends June 30.

That spells trouble for anyone hoping to stop Blagojevich from closing parks and historic sites later this month. He proposed closing two dozen facilities because of a budget shortfall that’s only gotten worse in recent months

* Illinois’ Projected Deficit Threatens Restored Programs

* Sick economy worsens budget woes in Illinois

The state’s top revenue sources — taxes on personal income, corporate income and retail sales — are coming in at lower levels than anticipated. The Revenue Department says tax revenue from riverboat casinos could fall $100 million below projections, too.

The shaky fiscal picture is the reason Blagojevich has not acted on legislation to restore $230 million in budget cuts he was forced to make last summer.

Lawmakers, responding to public pressure, voted in September to come up with the money to spare cuts of more than 300 jobs, cuts in substance-abuse treatment and the closing of two dozen state parks and historic sites. But Blagojevich has said he won’t sign it unless he sees an improved revenue outlook.

* State’s revenue plunge continues

Revenues continue to plummet, the Blagojevich administration warned Monday, threatening to blow another $1 billion hole in a state budget already strapped for cash.

New projections from the Illinois Department of Revenue warn the state could get $800 million less than it was counting on from three major tax areas by next summer, unless the national and state financial picture turns around.

The lagging numbers could provide cover for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to change or reject a measure that would prevent a round of state budget cuts set for the end of the month.

Individual income taxes are projected to be down 4 percent from budgeted amounts, corporate income taxes could decline 14 percent, and sales taxes could be down 3 percent. Those all were expected to grow by about $300 million from the last budget year.

* Web site boosts Tom Cross for governor

Over the weekend, Parrillo launched a Web site geared toward drafting Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross into running for governor in 2010. The site, called It’s Time for Tom, lists several reasons why the long-serving representative from Oswego would be a good candidate — not the least of which, Parrillo says, is his ability to draw the Republican Party together.

“He appeals to traditional and non-traditional Republicans,” Parrillo said. “It’s clear from the drubbing we took on Tuesday (Nov. 4) that we need to embrace and extend an invitation into the Republican Party.”

* AFSCME will go court with its latest effort to stop prison closure

* Sears dips on analyst’s price target cut

* Tough choices for Illinois coal

Illinois is a coal state. The president-elect is from Illinois.

Reaction to the election of Democrat Barack Obama as next president of the United States - and what it might mean to the future of Illinois coal and the global-warming debate - ranges from cautious at best to outright optimism that the industry is about to turn a corner after decades of decline.

But there was agreement that the first signal one way or the other in an Obama administration would be the fate of two central Illinois coal-gasification plants - the $2.1 billion Taylorville Energy Center in Christian County and FutureGen, a $1.8 billion project promoted by supporters as a near-zero-emissions way to burn high-sulfur coal for energy.

* Chicago budget crunch to cost 29 airport greeters’ jobs

* Regional Airports Face Headwinds

* Court blocks CN bid to put rail deal on fast track

* Cabbies vow strike as fares set to drop

* Trib’s $122M loss deepens financial woes

* Obama’s Run Wasn’t Enough to Help Chicago Papers

* Federal dollars to help Elgin neighborhoods hit by foreclosures

* Wheeling exploring flood solutions

* ‘Yes’ not enough to become motor voter

Dozens of voters in Rockford and Winnebago County who thought they had registered to vote at the local secretary of state’s driver’s bureaus found out last Tuesday that they hadn’t

“If you come in for a change of address, they’ll ask you if you want to register under motor voter,” said Dave Druker, spokesman for the Illinois secretary of state’s office. “You have to answer affirmatively, and you also have to fill out the form they give you and turn it in. In some cases, I think, people were thinking that just saying ‘yes’ was enough.”

* IDOT to hold the salt this winter

Milton Sees, secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation, announced Monday during a news conference on winter preparations that salt conservation practices will be instituted.

“This conservation effort will allow us to better utilize the resources available to IDOT and still provide a safe means of travel,” he said in a statement.

* State probing high cost of road salt

* Illinois has 28,000 tons of road salt, more coming

* Chicago Saves on Road Salt

* Lake County judge in DUI case gets license back

* Halvorson will be back as much as possible

* Obama-used items being inventoried in Springfield

posted by Kevin Fanning
Tuesday, Nov 11, 08 @ 8:23 am

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