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Peoria Journal Star (AP)—Quinn bars gun-permit disclosure, “Gov. Pat Quinn on Saturday signed into law a measure barring the public from knowing who holds a firearm owner identification card in Illinois. The bill, passed overwhelmingly by Illinois lawmakers in May, was a victory for gun owners who say they have a right to privacy over open-government advocates who say such records should not be secret.”
- Chicago Sun-Times—Sen. Martin Sandoval: ‘Error’ giving reputed mobster’s son scholarship, “State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero) awarded a taxpayer-funded college scholarship for $8,200 to Michael A. Giorango, who’s the son of three-time felon and reputed mobster Michael C. ‘Jaws’ Giorango.”
- Chicago Tribune—Editorial: Public pension rescues, “Public employee unions and their protectors in the Illinois Legislature share a theory about retirement benefits that boils down to this: Whatever pension scheme was in place on the first day of a worker’s career cannot be modified for the rest of that person’s life…But the more scrutiny this till-death-do-us-part view of pension benefits receives, the more unrealistic it appears: Tens of millions of Americans now face the very real prospect of delaying their own, pensionless retirements while they pay taxes for generous but imperiled public pensions.”
- Bloomington Pantagraph—State prisons near capacity, “The union representing prison guards and other correctional staff is concerned that violence its officers experienced recently will be further fueled by overcrowding at prisons originally designed to hold far fewer inmates.”
- State Journal-Register—Congressional map puts farmland, Chicago in same district, “A new census-based political map drawn by the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature, and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, has taken swaths of suburban and rural Illinois and added them to the districts of veteran Chicago Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who could be St. Anne’s next representative. The move was one of the boldest by the national political parties this year as they sought to benefit by changing political boundaries.”
- Chicago Sun-Times—Editorial: Can’t pretend Illinois budget cuts won’t hurt needy, “The result is a tough, bad news budget — a budget Illinois needs but one that inflicts much pain.”
- SouthTown Star—Editorial: Lots of money being spent on politicians’ PR, “Government spends a lot of your money to convince you that government is pretty darn nice.”
- Belleville News-Democrat—Cahokia: Former Mayor Frank Bergman still has village computer, radio, cameras, “Former Cahokia Mayor Frank Bergman, who was hired at the county last month, kept a village-owned computer, a police radio and two hunter-style cameras when his term ended in the beginning of May, according to new Mayor Gary Cornwell and village correspondence.”
- Chicago Tribune (AP)—Chicago’s former top cop taking job with crime commission, “The Chicago Crime Commission announced Tuesday that Weis is taking a position as the group’s new deputy director. Weis is slated to appear at a news conference Wednesday to discuss his new role.”
- Courier-News—Opinion: Blago just following his instincts, Illinois tradition, “Please don’t give me that hackneyed “that’s Chicago politics for you,” because Cook County ain’t got nothin’ on Kane. This kind of wheeling and dealing goes on out here on a daily basis.”
