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* Quigley Pays Tribute to Carlos Hernandez Gomez
* Daley Still Proud Of Closing Meigs Field
The mayor said he’s proud that the kerosene stink of aviation fuel is long gone from a several-mile stretch of the lakefront. His midnight bulldozer raid that closed Meigs Field provoked a huge uproar from users of private airplanes.
* Chicago schools unveil next round of closings
Officials long have defended the closing of schools because of poor performance, saying they believe it gives students a shot at a better education. But recent research shows that just 6 percent of displaced students were moved to top schools and gained academically. The majority did no better because they landed at schools about as bad as the ones they’d left.
* Teachers to Fight School Closings
* Daley: Failing schools unacceptable
* Riding With Mayor Daley
* City to run Maxwell market
* Springfield School District to use bonds to buy security camera systems
* Charleston school board to vote Wednesday on sales tax pledge
* Marion school board renews tax objection to pavilion
* S&P Goes Negative On Ill. Universities; Sees Financial Uncertainty
* Not All Public University Leaders Taking Pay Cut, Survey Says
* UI board to vote on higher fees for Urbana campus
* Supreme Court won’t close shipping locks over Asian carp fears
* U.S. Supreme Court denies lock closure request
The rest of the lawsuit, still unaddressed by the court, calls for the reopening of a nearly century-old lawsuit about Chicago’s diversion of water from Lake Michigan and permanent closure of the locks.
* Ill. welcomes court decision on shipping locks
* Army Corps: Asian carp DNA found in Lake Michigan
The Corps says researchers combing the Calumet Harbor near Lake Michigan for the presence of Asian carp have found two DNA samples that seem to indicate the invasive fish has already breached the lake near Chicago.
One sample was in Calumet Harbor a half-mile north of the Calumet River; the other was in the Calumet River north of the O’Brien Lock. Both samples were collected Dec. 8. The agency said that two earlier tests in the area didn’t show carp DNA.
* Governors Call for White House Carp Summit
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
* States need to cooperate to deal with Asian carp
* Durbin Supports Supreme Court Decision on Carp
* Biggert addresses canal lawsuit to Lockport chamber
Several states are suing Illinois to shut down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal amid concerns over invasive Asian carp species — a shutdown that would be burdensome to an important commercial corridor, U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert said on Jan. 8 in Lockport.
* Joliet seeks hike in EPA radium limits
Radium is a naturally occurring radioactive element abundant in deep-water wells in northern Illinois and throughout the Midwest. Cities such as Joliet that rely on these deep wells spend millions of dollars each year to remove radium from their drinking water. Some communities pay to dump radium in a landfill, but Joliet and others use a cheaper alternative, mixing it with waste material that is sold to farmers as fertilizer.
About 21,000 tons of Joliet’s radium-enriched fertilizer has been dumped on area farms since 2005 The city is petitioning the state EPA to allow it to dispose of more than twice the level of radium that’s currently allowed.
* Ill. consumer advocate lists utility myths
* Another trade show may leave Chicago
* Chicago Loses Cachet as Convention Center
The convention business nationally was down about 3.1% in 2008 from a year earlier, according to an index put out by Mr. Ducate’s research group, and likely was off in the double digits for 2009, he said. In Chicago, revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30 is expected to be off about 18% from the previous year.
* Rockford needs to move fast to get convention center
* Final vote on video gambling machines expected Monday
* Video gambling revival stalls in Kane
Two supporters of banning video gambling, Ald. Patrick Curran, R-2, and Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, said in talking to their colleagues they expect the measure to fail.
* Layoffs violate rule: unions
CTA President Richard Rodriguez told Kelly his claim “has no merit” and the CTA was following the rules.
* Nearly 100 protest layoffs in Naperville’s police force
* Layoff notices coming this week for 15 city workers
The discussion came during the city council’s first debate of Davlin’s proposed spending plan for the fiscal year that begins March 1. The $105 million budget calls for the elimination of 55 positions — including 15 immediate layoffs — 12 furlough days and smaller pay raises for the entire city workforce.
* O’Fallon council may go it alone on TIF district proposal
* Rock Island approves fee and tax increases
* Des Plaines city council ousts city manager
* Palos Park voters to consider tax increase
* ‘Outrageous’: Cahokia trustee shocked by $1,046 fee to see mayor’s records
The bill was for $1,046.50 and stated at the bottom, “The above items will be released when the invoice is paid in full.” That’s a rate of 50 cents a page for about 2,000 copies.
A shocked [Phyllis] Pearson, who is also a member of the village board finance committee, said there is no way she’ll pay to see records that state law guarantees is her right to review as an elected official.
* East Aurora OKs staff additions despite reservations
* Union County discusses business loan opportunities at meeting
* House will honor Brinker’s contributions
Brinker, whose promise to her sister, Susan Komen, launched the Race for the Cure to fight against breast cancer, received the medal last year for her dedication to the cause.
* Air travel down 12.6 percent in Peoria for 2009
* Board approves plan for wind farm in eastern McLean County
* Renner announces resignation from county board
McLean County Board member Tari Renner made it official Tuesday: He is resigning from his board seat effective Feb. 28 because he is moving out of District 8.
* Morton mayor asks for a hiring freeze
* Eureka police chief appointed to ETSB
* Washington continuing to see growth
* Champaign council OKs plans for sesquicentennial
* Split council blocks new liquor license
* Council raises liquor license cap
Mayor Brad Cole abstained from all three votes, saying he chose to do so because of “various thoughts by certain folks.”
Cole received a $5,000 donation under Short Enterprises, Inc., for his mayoral campaign in 2007, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. He received another $5,000 donation from the Shorts for his lieutenant governor campaign in June of 2009, according to Cole’s Team Brad Web site.
* Davis takes reins at Pinckneyville prison
Davis, a native of Anna, assumed the prison’s top position as warden days after the Dec. 14 incident that saw an inmate, 37-year-old Alonje Walton, take a hostage before being shot and killed.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 9:32 am
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I find it hilarious that the Friends of Meigs Field still post letters to the editors excoriating Mayor Daley for the Meigs closing. They act as if the airport was their’s exclusively and not for the enjoyment of ALL the people who weren’t wealthy enough to own a hobby plane or corporate aircraft!
Rachel Goodstein, the head of the group, recently wrote that all of Mayor Daley’s problems, from Hired Truck to the Olympics bid failure was traced to the closing of her airport.
On a separate note, classy tribute by Quigley for our friend, Carlos.
Comment by Knome Sane Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 9:49 am
Rich - random question for you. Do you know if the Chicago election officials usually post ward-by-ward returns on election night? I’m interested in the county president race specifically, and I’m wondering if we’ll be able to tell where the results are coming from?
Comment by Jeff Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 9:56 am
Greetings New Intern #2, nice round up of the State’s morning shorts.
Comment by Cindy Lou Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 10:08 am
Hi Barton — Rich hates me, so don’t respond to anything I write, but welcome and best of luck to you all the same, this is a great place to start a journalism career! (He’ll probably say I flatter myself, but anyway…)
Reading the Sun-Times (both staff editorial endorsement and Neil Steinberg) on Julie Hamos, who I like but whose soupcon of independence from Madigan isn’t THAT impressive, a thought came to mind: isn’t Hamos way more qualified to run for senate than any of the Dem candidates? She’s been in office for a decade, Alexi has been in office for 2 years, the others haven’t been in office at all. How did we get to this point?
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 10:13 am
Carlos Hernandez Gomez
For people who want to sign the Guest book for Carlos’ family.
Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 10:15 am
Way to go, Barton!
Comment by Charlie Leonard Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 10:15 am
Knome Sane:
I don’t get the point…unless there’s some Amtrak-like airline I haven’t heard of, all airplanes are privately owned.
And frankly, what’s the difference between a commercial airliner flown for United’s profit and a corporate plane flown to save some company’s bottom line?
The reason Meigs is important is because Daley bulldozed it in the middle of the night with no authority and no public input.
If he can bulldoze an airport in the middle of the night just because he gets a wild hare, what’s to stop him the next time if he wants to bulldoze, say, Grant Park?
Oh wait, he’s already doing that.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 11:11 am
Barton - Actually, Mayor Cole voted “No” on the last vote, which I believe was to expand the number of that particular sort of liquor licenses from 7 to 8… since it was going to pass no matter what, it was a perfect opportunity for Mayor Cole to create plausible deniability.
Comment by BrentRitzel Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 1:09 pm
I wonder if anyone has considered the impact of the Meigs closure on the problems they are having next door at McCormick. To the people with money, convenience can be a stronger factor than cost. Flying into Midway or O’Hare or “Chicago Executive,” and then fighting traffic to get downtown, in a word, sucks. By comparison, Meigs made McCormick one of the most convenient convention centers in the country, by the standards of a lot of the people who make decisions about such things.
Just a thought.
Comment by Dr Kilovolt Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 1:13 pm
YDD:
Not to quibble, but there is one publicly owned airline that used Meigs extensively, and it’s called the Illinois Department of Transportation. My point is this, Meigs belongs ot the people of Chicago. Period. Not the hobby pilots, the corporate titans and the like.
Had Mayor Daley made his intentions to take back the airport for the people, the Friends of Meigs Field — who so sorely miss their private playground funded at taxpayer expense — would have tied it up in court so long that there would be planes landing there today.
Whether the closing has anything to do with the impact on the conventions, which I doubt, I’ll leave up to the economists, and not the pundits.
Comment by Knome Sane Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 1:49 pm
YDD,
Daley tried to close Meigs in a more sane manner years before and was stopped by Gov. Edgar. They reached an agreement to keep Meigs open for something like 5 years. While it was a surprise that he moved so quickly in the middle of the night, Daley had the authority and wasn’t acting on a wild hare.
Frankly I liked Meigs and think it was good for the City. But I get tired of people who are still upset about this issue so many years later.
Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Jan 20, 10 @ 5:29 pm