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Illinois

* Unemployment report leaves experts optimistic

* Better news on jobs: Not a miracle, but progress

* Manufacturing won’t solve next decade’s job woes

* State posts 20th bank failure

* RTA’s matchmaker plan a win for transit growth

* Clean Up Continues on the Canal

* Minorities’ death rate for H1N1 is twice whites’

* Ex-Asst. Corporation Counsel named to Tollway board

* Former Chicago Park District Board president tapped for tollway board

* Former Daley appointee now on tollway board

* Lawmakers seek to expel regional school chief

Legislation in the works calls for abolishing the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education.[…]

“We need to redesign the system,'’ said Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines), who introduced a bill to dissolve the elected office. “The real problem is the schools are not getting the services they need. I think eliminating that office is the best way to get those services.'’

* Metra on track to rehab and rebuild dozens of stations

State will fund $136 million in improvements, which are needed to increase ridership

* Emotionally troubled CPS students lag in graduating

Chicago Public Schools students with behavioral problems are posting the lowest academic performance of all special-education students, with only 18.7 percent of them graduating in four years, a new study by the University of Chicago shows.

* Disabled students: Report links high absences to poor academic performance in Chicago public high schools

* Daley: CPS graduation rate ‘on-track’ to rise in 2012

8% jump predicted for 2012 based on records of freshmen, Daley says

* In city life, Maggie is part of the family

* Slew of tax, fee, fine hikes across the city

* City Hall hit again for delays in reporting hiring violations

* More Chicago hiring abuses alleged: Monitor criticizes Mayor Richard Daley’s team

* Why didn’t worker pay to park while writing tickets?

* Daley says Michael Reese demolition will continue despite historic sites push

* Kennedy Expressway to reopen all downtown lanes this week, but construction will linger until spring

* South Side beaches going back to nature

* Illinois offers holiday light recycling programs

* Illinois sees 7th warmest November on record

* Illinois biofuel projects get federal cash

* Officials consider expanding H1N1 shots

* Kane County prosecutors initiated 4 new state laws

* Oak Lawn budget gets more scrutiny

* Evergreen Park officials still trying to close gap

* West Haven neighbors fight sex offenders facility expansion

* St. Leonard closes doors to sex offenders

* One-of-a-kind taxing class not a fair deal

* SJ-R Opinion: ‘Discussion’ should not be about tax hike

* When columnists jump ship, newspapers spring leaks

posted by Mike Murray
Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 8:50 am

Comments

BigMurr….you really need to offer a special link to the PJS this a.m….They start top of P1…with Andriana’s continuing series of the gov race….GOPs confirm rumor that they are an idea free zone and did not get the nation GOP memo that they are not “for” cutting senior med benefits — this year….then the “political writers” give us some junk they left of last week’s city council news story on animal shelters.
The biggest story of the day is the sudden departure of a Bradley assistant basketball coach…long piece cannot even offer the hint of a rumor…it just reeks of a journalist being real deep in sources. And they want a $1 for it…McDouble is a better bargain.

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 9:03 am
–America lost one-third of its industrial work base in the 2000s, far exceeding the losses in the 1990s, ’80s and so on, back to the war years. The 2010s should bring a moderation in that sharp decline, and in 2011, maybe, the first year of growth since 1997.–

Is it perhaps time to re-examine the bipartisan concensus of “free trade.” To save a few bucks at WalMart, we’re throwing people out of work here in order to support sweatshops around the world.

We need to be more of a producer society, and less of a consumer-with-massive-credit-card debt society.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 10:17 am
I was intrigued that Rich Miller turned off the comments to his post which linked a ten-year retrospective on former Governor Ryan’s Illinois junket to Cuba.

I thought the trip was an insult to democrats world-wide and ultimately a farce (in the end, it produced nothing tangible and added nothing of value to the ongoing arguments regarding liberalization of trade and/or relations with Cuba).

My favorite tidbit from the trip was Governor Ryans unctious press conference he gave in Springfield about it after the fact. After he opined that he thought Fidel Castro’s hold on the government would not last much longer, a reporter asked whether Raul Castro would succeed him and continue the current regime. Ryan scoffed at the question and said “Raul is only interested in running the military. I don’t think he will ever succeed his brother as President of Cuba.” So much for Ryan’s prognostication skills and his “expertise” on Cuba.

Comment by Conservative Republican Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 12:52 pm
I think readers might find this tidbit amusing, regarding our illustrious Rep. Roskam..

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_65/officespace/41165-1.html

Comment by Apple Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 1:34 pm
–I was intrigued that Rich Miller turned off the comments to his post which linked a ten-year retrospective on former Governor Ryan’s Illinois junket to Cuba–

Brother, are you crazy? You’re obviously not a Republican.

Do you know how much business will open up when Castro is gone?

Cuba has been the Big Prize for a long time. Disney is dying for it. A lot of farmers (sugar, cotton) are not.

Cuba is a big place, and very significant, when it rolls back into the Western Hemisphere economy.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Dec 7, 09 @ 4:10 pm