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* Chicago Bans the Sell of Baby Products Made With BPA

FLORES: It spans anywhere from $300 to $500, but it also allows for revocation of the business license. It’s going to be enforced and if we have to have committee hearings on this to maintain and follow the enforcement we will.

But Mayor Richard Daley says the city is in no postion to enforce the ban. Daley says the bill just sends a message to companies. BPA is used by some manufacturers to harden plastic. Some studies have linked the chemical to medical problems, including cancer. But the American Chemistry Council says BPA does not harm children or infants.

* Chicago becomes first city to ban BPA bottles, cups

* Chicago BPA ban: Chicago bans sale of baby bottles, sippy cups with dangerous chemical

* City Council Approves BPA Baby Bottle Ban

* CTA: Fare increase, service cuts possible for 2010

The CTA is addressing a $155 million shortfall for this year mainly by moving $128.6 million designated for capital projects into “capital eligible” alternatives, that includes preventative maintenance and bus and rail car rehabs

This means the capital money will not be spent on other projects, such as fixing up old stations or 100-year-old bus garages.

The CTA also plans to fill this year’s gap through $3.8 million in savings in labor costs, and reducing by $10 million its reserve for injury and damage. No further fare increases or service cuts are planned for this year. A fare increase was imposed Jan. 1.

The CTA had hoped to receive an additional $56 million from the RTA to cover its 2008 shortfall — however, the RTA has since informed the CTA that the money is a loan and will have to be repaid.

* CTA tightens belt, postpones station upgrades

CTA Board Chairman Carole Brown said she was disappointed by the RTA’s flip-flop on the $56.1 million, as well as by RTA inaccuracies in predicting the level of public subsidies. Only last month, the RTA told the CTA that the $56.1 million was being provided as a grant, not as a loan, officials said.

In the future, the CTA will independently monitor the public funding stream more closely, rather than rely on RTA projections, “so we are not surprised” again by the RTA, Brown said.

But RTA officials said they had to obtain bank loans to address the CTA deficit.

* Craigslist plan met by skeptics

* Dart Not Yet Dropping Craigslist Lawsuit

* Dart gives qualified OK to new Craigslist

“The postings are definitely toned down a lot,” he said. “My goal was to get the over-the-top stuff off. … They’ve done that.”

* Craigslist dropping ‘erotic services’ ads

* Craigslist erotic services: Legal pressure shuts down section tied to prostitution

* After Cook Co. sheriff’s suit, Craigslist to pull ‘erotic services’ ads

“It appears as if we have been successful,” Dart said at a news conference in Chicago Wednesday, adding that he is “cautiously optimistic” the new policies will reduce prostitution ads on the site.

The reversal by Craigslist was also praised by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office had sued the Internet site earlier, winning some concessions.

“We think it may make a dent” in Chicago area prostitution, Madigan said of the changes.

But both Dart and Madigan said there likely would still be thinly veiled prostitution ads on Craigslist under the new ‘adult services’ category even with pre-emptive monitoring. But they said that is better than the current anything-goes ‘erotic services’ pages.

* Park board slices Art Institute admission fees by $2 following pressure

* Art Institute fee cut from $18 to $16

* Freight train traffic: Suburban leaders seek help from Obama in rail traffic fight

State Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) introduced a resolution in Springfield calling on Obama to nominate a member to the Surface Transportation Board who will consider “significant community impacts related to public safety, noise, vibration, traffic congestion, and other environmental concerns…”

* Suburban officials trek to Springfield to protest CN blockages

* ArcelorMittal plans ‘mass layoff’ at East Chicago plant

* Gas prices springing up — and up and up and up

* Don’t get used to lower electricity rates

* Farmers hope for dry days

* Mayor Daley alters furlough plan

Under pressure from the City Council, Mayor Daley has agreed to revise his mandatory furlough plan to include a sliding scale: the higher the salary, the more unpaid days off.

* Daley Opens Door to Furlough Changes

* Rules For Furlough Days Don’t Apply To Everyone

* Pedicabs are coming to downtown Chicago

The Daley-sponsored ordinance introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting would require pedicab operators to purchase a $400 license that would only be issued to those with insurance to cover $50,000 worth of property damage, $100,000 to cover injuries to one passenger and $300,000 to cover multiple injuries.

* Chicago Could Require Licenses for Pedicabs

* Chicago slashes waste-bin fees

City fees on private metal waste containers will be reduced just months after the Chicago City Council imposed them.

* City Council OKs 37 percent reduction in Dumpster fees

* Moody elected Sangamong Democratic county chairman

* Park panel stalls vote on Olympics site plan

* Nearly 700 ignition lock devices put in use

As of Wednesday, 666 Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Devices have been installed in the vehicles of first-time DUI offenders in Illinois.

The devices are not new, but the law requiring first-time DUI offenders to have them installed in their vehicles if they wish to drive during their mandatory driving suspension period is. It went into effect Jan. 1.

posted by Mike Murray
Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:28 am

Comments

Chicago Bans the Sell of Baby Products Made With BPA

Will this help Alderman Burke’s legal business?

Comment by Steve Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:31 am
If someone is concerned with public safety, noise, vibration, traffic congestion, and other environmental concerns resulting from freight trains, I’d suggest they not buy a home close to the tracks.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:33 am
Regarding the CN– My guess is that assemblycritters Holmes, Senger, and Cross didn’t even bother reading the operating reports. If they did, then they’d see that traffic on the EJ&E is down–way down–even less than it was before the CN took it over!! Where were all their complaints a few years back when traffic was higher?? (Crickets chirping)
Mayors Wiesner and Darch: How about some cheese to go along with all your whine???

train111

Comment by train111 Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:35 am
Why do we need government to enforce every law?

Just empower citizens to call it in and/or bring lawsuits and we’d save a lot of taxes on law enforcement and govt lawyers.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:46 am
Burke has a list of every goo-goo ordinance proposed anywhere in the country. Keeps the media occupied.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:47 am
Isn’t it about time to dissolve the RTA, if they can’t operate more competently than this? They can’t give accurate financial statements to the transit services to save their life, apparently; their Moving Beyond Congestion campaign has been an utter bust; what good do they do?

Comment by Angry Chicagoan Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:55 am
Here’s a list of companies doing business with Alderman Burke.
http://nalert.blogspot.c
om/2009/05/chicagos-m
ost-powerful-alderm
an-does.html

Comment by Steve Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 9:56 am
The city ban on BPA is another on the list of stupid ordinances passed by the council.

These is not a single member who has the intellectual capacity to read the scientific literature and determine whether the charges against BPA are valid or not.

What is next? An impassioned appeal by Jenny McCarthy to ban vaccines because they cause autism? What will they choose to ban next.

Time to flesh out the populist positions to phony up their claims that the fight for the people

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:03 am
The Surface Transportation Board has TWO members??? TWO??? What idiots made THAT decision??? Is a quorum one? Do they wait for one member to be absent so that the other can dictate policy decisions? If a quorum isn’t one, what the heck to they do if one is absent? This is the federal government at its absolute dummest.

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:11 am
Snidely,

It’s 3 members at full strength. They are in power play mode right now.

Go Hawks!

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:22 am
Snideley

There were 3 members when the CN-EJ&E decision was handed down. One has since resigned and Obama has to name a replacement.
The whole gist of this is that the STB has been seen as ‘rail friendly’ in its decisions. The assemblycritters are appealing to Obama to have a more ‘resident friendly’ member appointed to the board. It will do nothing to roll back the CN-EJ&E decision however and the sum of all of it is still a whole lotta whine.

train111

Comment by train111 Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:25 am
Thanks for the info. I don’t know why appointing a replacement doesn’t seem to have been a priority. Railroads hand out pretty hefty contributions across both sides of the aisle, so I won’t hold my breath that the next appointee won’t be “rail friendly.”

Comment by Snidely Whiplash Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:32 am
What good does the RTA do? How about stopping many wasteful excesses of the CTA/Metra/Pace? How about (at last!)coordinating regional transit instead of the service boards’ competing with each other? CTA backers need to stop whining and threatening.

Comment by Legaleagle Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:35 am
I’m really getting fed up with Weisner spending my tax dollars fighting the CN-EJ&E merger.

Comment by Ken in Aurora Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 10:45 am
Speaking of “rail friendly” - the STB decision probably put more financial conditions on CN than any other acquisition of an essentially “short line” railroad in my long memory. But, as they say, there’s some people who can’t be pleased no matter how much you try.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 12:07 pm
In an effort to “green” the city of Chicago, Burke is planning to ban breathing since carbon dioxide causes global warming.

Comment by What's next Thursday, May 14, 09 @ 5:03 pm