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* Reform FOIA

FOIA is supposed to be a floor, a minimum standard that all units of government must follow when taxpayers ask questions about what’s being done in the name of the public. In practice, FOIA too often becomes an obstacle course, manipulated by public officials to discourage the public from asking questions.

We agree wholeheartedly with the State Journal-Register’s editorial today that FOIA “needs reform — now.” The statute needs to be cleaned up and streamlined. And government agencies need to be reminded of their duties under FOIA, which are, after all, merely what government owes to its owners.

* Settlement reached in lawsuit over housing

* Settlement grants more rights to disabled statewide

In the agreement filed Thursday in federal court, the state promised to move adults with mental retardation and other disabilities out of large institutions if the residents so choose. The case, filed in 2005, claimed Illinois violated the civil rights of 6,000 disabled people living in 250 private facilities, such as nursing homes, which the state licenses.

* AG: Don’t reopen Alsip plant

* Berwyn misused drug forfeiture money, U.S. says

* Alsip chemical plant unit to stay closed for now

* Peoria County tax bill heads to governor

* FEMA adds Peoria County to disaster area

“What we do is give them enough to make their homes safe and sanitary and able to function as their home again. We can’t replace everything they lost. We can’t make them whole again,” said Melynda Petrie, a FEMA spokeswoman.

* New Burge Allegations Present Challenge for Cops

Chicago attorney and victim’s rights advocate Tamara Holder is the bearer of bad news, and fresh lawsuits, for embattled former Area 2 Commander Jon Burge. Holder is preparing to file new federal lawsuits against Burge, his associates (or “henchman” as she termed them to me), the city, the Chicago Police Department, and the office of the State’s Attorney of Cook County — the office occupied by one Richard M. Daley at the time Burge was allegedly torturing confessions out of Chicagoans.

* Moving forward on reverse mortgages

* Wheeling avoids layoffs in budget talks

* OfficeMax set to dump more jobs

* McHenry County reports whooping cough cases, urges vigilance

* Those damn immigrants!

* Friday Beer Blogging: Shock Top Edition

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 9:20 am

Comments

Good work on the part of Equip for Equality. Unfortunate that they have to go to court to bring about the obvious…taxpayer money designated for the disabled should go to….the disabled!…and they should have a choice how they use that money.
Illinois has been one of the last holdouts in this area, favoring institutionalization, for obvious reasons. Government jobs (read, patronage jobs) abound in large institutions. Contracts for those institutions attract “campaign contributions,” and our pols are always in need of those. The disabled get what’s left, if anything, under our Blago.

Speaking of large institutions, one wonders if the infamous Howe Developmental Center will ever really close. Just because the highly political DHS says they are going to close it, as with any Blago-directed enterprise, doesn’t mean it’s so.

Comment by Cassandra Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 9:39 am
The first letter to the SJR editor today is about why Medicaid patients in Illinois aren’t getting dental care.

In part, “The Illinois Medicaid program has one of the lowest dental reimbursement rates in the nation for the most common dental procedures.”

And the bottom line (same as all the other bottom lines): “Since these patients are covered by a publicly financed program, it is the responsibility of the General Assembly and the governor to adequately fund the program.”

Comment by Cheswick Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 11:25 am
OK, the senior trips (Berwyn drug forfeiture) were clearly not crime prevention (we really don’t have a senior drug problem here), but the transfers to the park district (which has a lot of after-school type programs) and the school districts (which do a lot with anti-drugs) may not have been as obviously bone-headed.

Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 12:01 pm
The Equip for Equality lawsuit accomplished what advocates for people with disabilities have been pushing the state to do for the past 20 years.

Cassandra is correct when she says that unfortunately, the state only follows through as a result of lawsuits. Seems to me that given the current budget crisis, someone was smart enough to see the savings in settling now, rather than spending more time and dollars(that Illinois doesn’t have) on defending a suit that they were going to lose.

The current administration closed Howe Dev Center not because of this lawsuit, but because they need the $$.

Budgetarily, they will recoup $26M in lost Medicaid funds and then sell the Howe and Tinley Park properties for ??upteen millions.

These funds should be used to support community mental health and developmental disability sytems that have kept their heads barely above water due to the chronic under-funding of the past 20 years.

The end result from this lawsuit requires Illinois to systemically plan for closure. The feds have Choate, Kiley and the other institutions on their de-certification hit list.

Rather than wait for the next lawsuit or budget crisis, lets try and move Illinois’ community disability support systems forward with some real planning and foresight.

Comment by Bob O Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 12:24 pm
At the Illinois Tollway
FOIA = Stonewalling Forever

Comment by Wacker Drive Friday, Nov 14, 08 @ 12:41 pm