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* Rahm Emanuel’s congressional seat attracts 4 candidates so far
State Reps. John Fritchey and Sara Feigenholtz were among four Chicago Democrats who formally joined the race Monday to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress.
Dozens of local politicians have expressed interest in the opening created when President-elect Barack Obama chose Emanuel as his White House chief of staff.
Monday was the first day of the weeklong filing period for the March 3 special primary in the 5th Congressional District.
The others who filed Monday were University of Chicago lecturer Charles Wheelan and Justin Oberman, son of former Ald. Marty Oberman (43rd).
* $10 million tax subsidy goes out the Republic window
Chicago taxpayers have no legal recourse to recoup a $10 million subsidy awarded to Republic Windows & Doors because a requirement that the company create 549 jobs and retain them for eight years has expired, Corporation Counsel Mara Georges told aldermen Monday.
* Olympic Village will need TIF support
* City’s Finance Committee approves use of TIF funds for 2016 Olympic Village
* FAA delays Midway privatization approval
The Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of the privatization of Midway Airport has been delayed because the new operator still is negotiating some financial agreements.
The FAA had expected to sign off on the $2.5-billion transaction by now, but the consortium led by Vancouver-based YVR Airport Services Ltd., told the federal agency it was still working on some financial agreements. That work isn’t expected to be complete until April, the consortium said.
* FAA slowing down Midway takeover
* ‘Clean coal’: Law could open door to new generation of coal-burning power plants
Under legislation Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law Monday, the state will provide $18 million for studies that would lay the groundwork for the plant, proposed for a site near Downstate Taylorville.
The plant, to be built by Tenaska Inc. and MDL Holding Co. about 25 miles southeast of Springfield, would be the nation’s first large-scale test of technology that captures heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Half of its emissions would either be injected deep underground or piped to oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico.
* Mental health facilities closure on hold
* Merciless new parking meters will give motorists no quarter
* Comp-time scandal latest black eye for Cook County
The latest discovery of financial abuse in Cook County comes from the highway department, where employees are accumulating so many overtime compensation hours that they can take months off at a crack and are getting paid doubletime on days in which they are sick or on vacation.
posted by Mike Murray
Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 8:44 am
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TOOT. That’s a good one. I’m not a public employee basher, but this is just robbery.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 8:54 am
There is no such thing as “clean” coal in Illinois. How many more millions are going to be wasted on this nonsense and where is this latest $18 million coming from?
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 8:56 am
Geez Bill, what’s wrong with research? Are we at the end of knowledge? Lot of in the ground.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 9:01 am
Bill -
Of course the coal itself is high in sulfur content and does not burn as “clean” as Wyoming coal. But it’s an abundant state natural resource and people are trying to figure out a way to use it in a way that is more environmentally friendly than now. I do have my reservations about subsidies propping up otherwise questionable strategies (see $10 million loan to Republic Windows). I suppose IL could sell the coal to China…outta sight, outta mind.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 9:05 am
People come in sick and from their vacations to help clear roads and streets of snow and ice and they should not be allowed overtime for it ? Sick Time and Vacation time is an earned benefit. Of course they should get credit and be paid overtime for working outside of their regularly scheduled work hours.
Also if this time is comp’d then I see no issue with them taking this time in the summer. If they are accumulating overtime in the winter it is probably because there is a lot of snow. This means they can’t take their vacation in the winter.
Comment by Reality is Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 9:06 am
How many signatures do I need to filefor Rahm’s seat.
Comment by Wumpus Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 9:26 am
I’m not a Stroger fan but I bet the TOOT (what an acronym) overtime perk for county highway workers is written into the union contract, and probably preceded Stroger’s reign.
A lot of tax-payer robbing union contracts are negotiated between undermotivated government employees (at the state level, that would be CMS)who don’t want to annoy cash-rich unions and ever greedy union negotiators who are trying to take what they can. Guess who wins. Guess who loses.
Whenever union negotiations are going on in government, we taxpayers should be very, very nervous.
Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:03 am
It seem to me that if they have earned the sick time or vacation time and they arrange to take the day off and get called out anyway to deal with a snow storm, they ought to get overtime. Fair’s fair afterall. We want the snow cleared, don’t we?
Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:18 am
County snow removal…..what do they do and where do they do it. this is part of a wider evaluation of service delivery in unincorporated areas. If County government were just about running the health, justice and forest preserve system it would be thorny enough. the obligations in areas where there is no local government are huge and must be evaluated.
Comment by Amy Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:29 am
Well, Word,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with research, in fact I’m an advocate for research. However with the dearth of “research” universities in our state that have had their funding severely cut over the last 6 years, why are we using state funds to provide a windfall of taxpayer dollars for private companies to do “research”? Let the experts decide if this pumping gas into the earth stuff is feasible. It sounds dubious to me. Six’ idea to ship that stuff to China sounds a lot better.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:54 am
Wump,
If you say you are a Green, you only need about 40.
Comment by Bill Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:56 am
927 good signatures. Come one, come all.
Comment by Illinois.Pundit Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 11:29 am
Bill,
Let me clear up a couple of things. First, this is not a research project. The Taylorville Energy Center is a coal gasification facility which will take Illinois coal and convert it into substitute natural gas (methane). Most of the methane will be used to generate electricity in a natural gas power plant located on site and the rest will be sold to other plants that use natural gas. The plant will capture more than 50% of the carbon and either inject it deep underground in saline acquifers or pipe it to the Gulf of Mexico.
Emissions from this plant including CO2 will be as good or better than other natural gas plants.
Contrary to what you’ve been seeing on TV, there is such a thing as Clean Coal and it’s happening right here in IL. This will be the cleanest coal fueled power plant in the world once it comes online.
As to the $18 million, this money will be repaid to the state once the project reaches financial close.
Comment by DaveChgo Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 11:36 am
How many are needed to run as a Republican,does 47th ward Republican Committeeman Ed Burke have enough signatures yet?
Comment by anon Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 11:39 am
Is Ed Burke related to Gene Schulter?
Comment by Ravenswood Right Winger Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 12:31 pm
CO2 flooding of old oil fields has a long history in petroleum engineering. Introducing a miscible short chain hydrocarbon to the oil residue in the rock lowers the average viscosity of the mixture and helps drive the emulsion to points of lower pressure - wells.
Capture the CO2 from Illinois coal and use it for tertiary recovery of Illinois oil.
Comment by Y2D Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 12:44 pm
I’m really having trouble understanding why Mike Quigley and Sara Feigenholtz are are both running for the Emmanuel’s seat since they both come from Lakeview/the 44th Ward. It really makes absolutely no sense for them to split their base. My personal opinion is that Sara is potentially a much stronger candidate because of her state legislative experience and her gender. Feigenhotlz and Fritchey seem to be the “big dogs” in this race so far. quigley seems like a spoiler candidate, notwithstanding his reformer bona fides.
Comment by Captain America Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 12:55 pm
===My personal opinion is that Sara is potentially a much stronger candidate because of her state legislative experience and her gender.===
Not to mention her superior fundraising ability, far better organization, likeable personality, etc., etc., etc. Quigley is in over his head. Again.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 12:57 pm
==Whenever union negotiations are going on in government, we taxpayers should be very, very nervous.==
You don’t seem too enthusiastic about the power of your one vote. Can’t you just vote against the candidates that capitulate to unions with your tax dollars while also lobbying for their endorsement with their campaign dollars?
Comment by Gabriel Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 1:18 pm
I’ll ditto what you just said Rich - my remarks regarding Sara’s sterling qualities were obviously incomplete.
Comment by Captain America Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 1:34 pm
I agree Rich.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 3:23 pm
I’ll ditto rich’s comments as well. I’m pretty familiar with some of the lakefront folks and Quigley has few friends there because his ego is too big for others to fit into the room. That’s probably why Sara had a huge turnout for her volunteer drive last weekend, why he didn’t and why he hasn’t filed his petitions yet.
Comment by Ditto Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 4:48 pm
Ditto, are you on Sara’s staff?
Comment by she ain't pure Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 5:26 pm
She ain’t pure - ha! Yes, along with Illinois Pundit, Captain America and the slews of others touting her strength as a candidate in this race. You couild always recruit your fellow fritchey supporters to join in and make things more competitive on the blog.
Comment by Ditto Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 6:00 pm
Last I checked, blogs don’t vote
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 7:12 pm
Anon - or apparently a sense of humor.
Comment by Ditto Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:08 pm
ditto, the reason i ask is because you sound like a broken record. yes, we know she had a crowd of 125 people blah, blah, blah…can’t you tout something a bit more substantive? oh, and even with all of her support she still got 2000 signatures less than fritchey. how you like them apples?
Comment by she ain't pure Tuesday, Jan 13, 09 @ 10:34 pm
She ain’t pure Im a little surprised by your bitterness. I’m also surprised that Fritchey only got 6000 signatures when he had the machines of mell, banks, schulter, Allen, etc. rough housing people to sign. John, stop trying to get the last word.
Comment by Illinois.Pundit Wednesday, Jan 14, 09 @ 7:25 am