Photo by ChrisEaves.com/Flickr
Chicago Tribune—Quinn offers details on pension, Medicaid cost cutting, “After being hammered for not providing many specifics during last week’s State of the State address, Gov. Pat Quinn offered up a small handful today, saying he wants to go after the ‘sacred cows’ that drive up state spending. Speaking before a packed City Club of Chicago audience, Quinn said he wants to cut Medicaid expenses by $2 billion, close tax loopholes that cost the state millions of dollars and examine changes to the public employee pension system that include raising the retirement age for workers.”
- Chicago Sun-Times—City Clerk investigates: Does city sticker have gang signs? “City Clerk Susana Mendoza is investigating claims that the city’s 2012-13 vehicle sticker — intended for every Chicagoan’s windshield — includes symbols honoring the gang that Police Supt. Garry McCarthy vowed to destroy. The city sticker design, which includes the city’s skyline inside a heart, with hands pointing up towards a police hat, fire department helmet and paramedic symbol, was advertised as honoring Chicago’s emergency responders. But allegations surfaced online Tuesday on a blog popular with Chicago Police officers that it in fact pays respect to the Maniac Latin Disciples, the street gang that McCarthy made public enemy No. 1 after the shooting of little girls in June.”
- Chicago Sun-Times—Koschman attorneys want transcripts of investigator interviews released, “Attorneys for the family of David Koschman on Tuesday asked a judge to release transcripts of interviews that investigators recently conducted with Koschman’s friends and other witnesses. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez included portions of those interviews in her objection to Nanci Koschman’s request that a special prosecutor re-examine what happened to her son, who died in 2004 following a drunken confrontation with a group that included Richard J. ‘R.J.’ Vanecko, a nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.”
- The Southern—Lawmakers still skeptical of Quinn facilities closure plan, “Many Illinois lawmakers say they are still not convinced that Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal to close centers for people with mental health and developmental disabilities is a good plan. The Legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, a group of state representatives and state senators who play a role in deciding which state facilities will close, on Tuesday discussed the future of both the Jacksonville Developmental Center and the Tinley Park Mental Health Center. Quinn wants to close the state run institutions to save money.”
- Bloomington Pantagraph—Editorial: Approve bill granting access to court records, “Public trust in the legal system is best maintained by providing openness and access to court proceedings and records. A bill recently introduced in the General Assembly would preserve access to search warrant records after the warrants have been carried out and a list of items seized is returned to the clerk of the court. House Bill 4032 became necessary after adverse court rulings, including one from the 4th District Court of Appeals, against a request from The Pantagraph, Decatur Herald & Review and two other news organizations to unseal certain documents in the murder case against Chris and Jason Harris.”
