Statewide update—Feb. 15, 2011

• (AP) State Journal Register—Quinn signs bill limiting free mass transit access, “Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Monday that ends a policy of letting all senior citizens ride free on mass transit systems. Now, elderly people above a certain income level will have to pay.”

• (Gatehouse News Service) Peoria Journal Star—Expect Quinn to seek more cuts, new taxes, “Even with higher income taxes, Illinois won’t have enough money to pay all its expenses for the coming year, let alone cover the billions in old bills that have been allowed to pile up.”

• State Journal Register—IDOT hiring case in hands of federal jury, “Either 16 Republicans were fired from their former jobs at the Illinois Department of Transportation early in the reign of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich because of their party affiliation, or IDOT leaders at the time were just trying to follow budget office orders to reduce headcount – and didn’t even know which party label fit some of the 16.”

• Rockford Register Star—Late state funds mean school cuts in South Beloit, “The South Beloit School District is preparing to cut between $350,000 and $500,000 from next year’s budget on account of delinquent state money.”

• SouthtownStar—Preckwinkle donor gets job, big pay, “Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is recommending that the board approve a huge pay raise — more than $43,000 — for one of her newest hires, a high-ranking staffer who’s been a regular contributor to her campaigns.”

• SouthtownStar—Judge orders new hearing in Oak Lawn election case, “A Cook County judge on Monday ruled that a challenge to the nominating petitions of an Oak Lawn trustee candidate should return to the village’s election board for an evidence hearing.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 26, 2011

• Peoria Journal Star—Agency Director: I was told to get rid of Republicans; Court testimony comes in lawsuit filed by 16 former IDOT workers, “The former director of the state Historic Preservation Agency testified Tuesday that representatives of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich told him in 2003 to “get rid of Republicans” in his agency.”

• Daily Herald—DuPage hires remap consultant, spikes confidentiality clause, “Schirott, Luetkehans and Garner, P.C. will be paid up to $125,000 to serve as a consultant to the county board committee charged with configuring the future legislative map.  However, the firm won’t need to comply with a confidentiality clause that had DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin raising concerns about lack of transparency.”

• Southtown Star—Quinn signs Medicaid reform into law, “Gov. Pat Quinn signed major reforms to Medicaid into Illinois law Tuesday, calling it a “landmark achievement” as he was flanked by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers who said the changes aim to reduce costs, pay bills sooner and target fraud.”

• (AP) State Journal-Register—Illinois Supreme Court will hear Rahm Emanuel appeal, “About the only thing abundantly clear after a chaotic and unprecedented day at the Chicago Board of Elections: Voters only get to vote once, even if their ballots are wrong.”

• The Southern—Overdue bills still an issue for Illinois, “The state’s stack of unpaid bills will soon double despite an income tax increase, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.”

• Trib Local (Arlington Heights)—Taxpayers organize to influence politics, “Fed up with rising tax bills, residents have organized a watchdog group to  try and influence local politics and keep taxes down.”

• (AP) Peoria Journal Star—SEC reviewing Illinois pension predictions, “The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the Illinois pension systems and state officials’ statements about how much future savings the state will get from reforms enacted last spring, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration said Tuesday.”

• Rockford Register Star—Sheffields savings ideas: Close 8 Rockford schools, reduce staff, “Eight schools will close, gifted and several other programs will relocate to other schools, and kindergarten will shrink to a half-day program if the Rockford School Board adopts cost-cutting recommendations from Superintendent LaVonne Sheffield.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 25, 2011

• Southtown Star—3 area men charged in ‘Cookie Jar’ probe, “A Tinley Park man, an Oak Forest man and a Burbank man, all of whom allegedly took part in a scheme to steal road salt from IDOT, were among seven people charged Monday in an ongoing crackdown on local public corruption.”

• Trib Local (Evanston)—CTA considers chopping two Evanston stations, “As the Chicago Transit Authority seeks community input on potential improvements to the aging Purple and Red lines, three of the agency’s six options include eliminating the South Boulevard and Foster Street stations in Evanston — losses that city officials said would be a blow to commuters.”

• Chicago Tribune—Editorial: Judicial arrogance, “With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of “residency” and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot.”

• Rockford Register Star—Which School(s) could be closed? “Consolidating schools could help the district slash part of its $50 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2012.”

• Trib Local (Wilmette/Kenilworth)—Group formed to push D39 (tax increase) referendum, “If residents of the elementary school district approve the referendum, it would mean an increase of $58.80 for each $1,000 of taxes paid.”

• Daily Herald—East Dundee trustees discuss merits of PD merger, “Citing upcoming police contracts, a loss of autonomy, potential coverage issues and other reasons, several East Dundee trustees are balking at the idea of consolidating their police force with the ones in West Dundee and Sleepy Hollow.”

• Rockford Register Star—Vehicles, EMS among Rockford outsourcing possibilities, “According to a report from Chicago-based Baker Tilly, the consulting firm hired last fall to assist in an outsourcing study, the city could realize up to $10.5 million is savings if it moved forward on five outsourcing and four service delivery suggestions.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statewide Update—Jan. 24, 2011

• Southtown Star—Worker’s compensation reform could delay borrowing, “Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) would consider it a “positive side benefit” if progress on worker’s comp makes Republicans more willing to consider borrowing money to pay bills, said spokesman John Patterson.”

• State Journal-Register—Illinois Democrats scoff at rival states’ tax claims, “Illinois Democrats are fighting back against Indiana’s effort to lure companies by portraying the Hoosier state as a better place to do business.”

• Chicago Tribune—Plan would charge state retirees more for health care, “The new push is a crackdown on the rising cost of health care for retired state workers. The program costs the state nearly $500 million a year, and more than 90 percent of the retirees and survivors pay no premiums.”

• State Journal-Register—Top aide leaving attorney general’s office, “Besides being deputy chief of staff for Madigan, Smith has served as the attorney general’s public access counselor for a year, since changes to the state Freedom of Information Act took effect that were aimed at increasing government transparency.”

• Chicago Tribune—Editorial: Curb free rides, “Free rides, of course, aren’t free. The Regional Transportation Authority estimates they cost the transit system $38.5 million in 2009.”

• Rockford Register Star—There’s ‘a lot of mistrust’ on Rockford School Board, “Board President David Kelley said he doesn’t think the board will make substantial progress regarding self-improvement before April 5, [election day].”

• State Journal-Register—Opinion: There’s a reason recall process is convoluted, “…it could be used to oust someone just because they made an unpopular decision. Trying to avoid that is one reason the recall process now part of the state constitution is as convoluted as it is.”

• Rockford Register Star—Rockford City Council to hear outsourcing report at meeting, “The city is hoping to trim some of its $5.5 million deficit by hiring outside agencies.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 21, 2011

• Bloomington Pantagraph—AG: Pontiac school board broke meeting law, “For the second time in less than a year, the Illinois attorney general’s office has notified the Pontiac Elementary District 429 that its board violated the terms of the state Open Meetings Act.”

• State Journal-Register—Opinion: Clean house in workers’ comp agency, “A study by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services ranked Illinois’ workers’ comp premiums third highest in the nation for 2010.”

• Chicago Tribune—Watchdog: Cook County employees were pressured for $100 Todd Stroger fundraiser, “A Cook County Bureau of Human Resources manager pressured employees to contribute at least $100 each to a fundraiser last fall for outgoing County Board President Todd Stroger, a county watchdog reported Thursday.”

• State Journal-Register—Not all roads get salt in bad weather, “State highways and county roads usually receive doses of salt to remove ice, but many township road commissioners use no salt. Most cite cost as the reason, and they add that the practice isn’t new.”

• Trib Local (Joliet)—Will County Sheriif’s Office to offer online report filings, “Residents can file reports for minor crimes and incidents via the Will County Sheriff’s Office website starting Monday.”

• Trib Local (Oak Park/River Forest)—Oak Park considers eliminating, replacing some commissions, “Oak Park officials are looking to reconfigure, and even scale back, some of their volunteer commissions as many struggle to keep the positions full.”

• Daily Herald—Fiscal woes widen between county board and circuit court clerk, “The number of employees in Seyller’s office is at the heart of the disagreement.”

• Southtown Star—SD 225 strips principal of his duties, “A Rich Township High School District 227 administrator—who is suing the district and who was at the center of a monthslong controversy after a photo of him was burned at a party attended by Rich Central staff—has been stripped of his duties as principal.”

• State Journal-Register—Coroner’s jury rules Davlin death a suicide, “But inquest proceedings shed no light on why Davlin, 53, shot himself. Police investigators and the Sangamon County coroner’s office have not released records that could answer whether the mayor’s apparent financial difficulties prompted the suicide.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 20, 2011

• (AP) State Journal-Register—Illinois service providers say state bond sale needed, “Leaders of Illinois social services agencies urged lawmakers on Wednesday to let the state sell billions of dollars in bonds to help catch up on a backlog of unpaid bills.”

• Chicago Tribune—Cook County ethics official quits after news report reveals political ties to assessor, “An appointed Cook County ethics official resigned in the wake of a news report revealing his political ties to Assessor Joseph Berrios, who is under an ethics spotlight for hiring his son and sister, officials confirmed Wednesday.”

• Trib Local—Would-be OTB in Hoffman Estates gets another extension, “Construction of the Saddle Room restaurant and off-track betting parlor in the Hoffman Estates entertainment district should start in February or March and be open about six months later, said the developer’s president, Parker Grabowski.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—County OKs pay hikes for hospital bosses, “Cook County commissioners on Wednesday reluctantly signed off on controversial pay raises given to a half-dozen top administrators in the county’s health and hospital system serving the poor and uninsured.”

• Trib Local—District 97 [Oak Park] changes course, seeks permanent tax hike, “Just two hours before the state deadline, the Oak Park Elementary District 97 board drastically changed its referendum, both in size and in structure.”

• Southtown Star—Big shake up of administrators at Oak Lawn SD 229, “Seven of Oak Lawn High School District 229’s administrators, including Principal Patrick Keeley, will not have their contracts renewed for the 2011-2012 school year, the school board decided Wednesday night.”

• Chicago Tribune—Editorial: The Monique Davis file, “…the standoff between the Far South Side Democrat and her landlords at CPS shows how even minor disputes can grow into hefty bills that might land in the laps of taxpayers.”

• Daily Herald—McHenry County pays another bill, “McHenry County Board members say they are increasingly concerned and disheartened over the rising costs associated with the investigation of State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi, particularly the appointment of a special prosecutor.”

• Southtown Star—Village reaches pact with public works employees, “Under a four-year contract approved by the Tinley Park Village Board on Tuesday, public works employees will get a 1 percent pay raise in the next fiscal year.”

• Daily Herald—COD candidate booted off ballot by technicality, “Impellizzeri, of Elmhurst, submitted his papers to board secretary Kay Neely one by one, when election law requires that pages be bound and submitted together, according to COD board attorney Ken Florey.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 18, 2011

• Southtown Star (AP)—Tax credit is incentive to hire temporary workers, “Gov. Pat Quinn has signed legislation providing a $2,500 tax credit to employers hiring trainees from the Put Illinois to Work temporary jobs program.”

• State Journal-Register—Thousands hired in Illinois ahead of new pension system, “Thanks to the eight-month span between Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval of a pension reform bill last spring and its implementation Jan. 1, any public worker hired in Illinois as late as Dec. 31 was enrolled in a far more lucrative pension plan than those hired after that date.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—Black wards adding more voters, while Hispanic wards lag behind, “In just 10 weeks since the November midterm elections, every ward in the city showed a jump in the number of registered voters, indicating a high level of interest in the upcoming mayoral contest.”

• WBEZ—Cook County commissioner wants family hiring ban, “The county government has long had a reputation for nepotism. Recently  Assessor Joe Berrios hired two relatives soon after he took over the office.”

• (Gatehouse News Service) Peoria Journal Star—State Comptroller informed that 38 appointees not confirmed, “The Senate of the 96th General Assembly did not confirm any of the listed persons… With their nominations no longer valid, I am unaware of any legal authority permitting the formal nominees to continue to draw a salary or receive expense reimbursements.”

• Peoria Journal Star—Durbin changes stance on death penalty, “U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking member of the U.S. Senate, said Monday he has come to believe that states should not impose the death penalty.”

• Chicago Tribune—State Sen. Lou Viverito of Burbank resigns, “Sen. Lou Viverito’s resignation was effective Saturday, though the 78-year-old from Burbank remains the Stickney Township supervisor, a job he has held for about 35 years.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—Quinn, former state rep. say job not traded for tax-hike vote, “During her final days in office, former state Rep. Careen Gordon scored a lucrative state job after casting an important vote that helped pass Gov. Quinn’s controversial 67 percent income tax increase.”

• Daily Herald—LeBlanc off ballot in Campton Hills but still in race, “Kristin LeBlanc plans to run as a write-in candidate for Campton Hills village president after the village clerk declined to put her on the April ballot because her nominating petitions were incomplete.”

• Center Square Journal—Ald. Schulter drops reelection bid; aims for County Board of Review, “Schulter has served as alderman since 1975. Rumors of his retirement have swirled since November, when a political ally of Schulter filed to run for alderman.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 14, 2011

• (AP) State Journal-Register—Quinn signs tax increase, Dems point to spending caps, “Illinois taxpayers will have to fork over a lot more money now that Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a major tax increase, but Democratic leaders want them to take comfort in knowing that new spending limits will ensure their dollars are handled carefully.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—Opinion: How tax increases will affect state, “Elections have consequences. You Illinois taxpayers who are outraged over the reduced paychecks you’ll soon see should remember that more than half of you voted for Gov. Quinn, and he campaigned to raise your taxes.”

• Southtown Star—Lawmakers plan to revive gambling legislation in 2011, “Southland lawmakers vowed Thursday to revive a plan that would drastically expand gambling in Illinois, just days after outgoing lawmakers allowed the proposal to stall during the closing hours of the previous General Assembly.”

• Peoria Journal Star—Opinion: Luciano: Taxman, peek at pensions, “Rather than just jamming people with a brutal income tax, our lawmakers could’ve taken a hard look at one of the state’s most glaring trouble spots: Pensions.”

• Bloomington Pantagraph—New state lawmakers propose pay cut for assembly, “Five new Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on their first day to cut Illinois General Assembly members’ pay by 10 percent.”

• Daily Herald—Aurora laborers union agrees to 7 furlough days, “Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1514 reached an agreement this week with Aurora to take the equivalent of seven unpaid furlough days in 2011 to save the city money.”

• Chicago Tribune—Plan would fire corrupt city workers when convicted of corruption; Alderman seeks to change policy of waiting until sentencing, “Ald. Joe Moreno, 1st, said taxpayers shouldn’t be required to continue covering the cost of the workers’ salaries while they appeal their convictions or await sentencing.”

• Daily Herald—District 300 may need $19 million loan, “Late payments from the state and looming expenses will likely force Community Unit District 300 to take out a $19 million loan in the next few months to cover general operating costs, including payroll.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 13, 2011

• Southtown Star—Will lawmakers pay for tax hike? No way. “Voting in favor of the state’s largest income tax increase won’t make outgoing state Rep. Mike Carberry popular on his Oak Lawn block. But the vote was needed, he and other Southland Democrats said Wednesday, to avoid state insolvency.”

• Bloomington Pantagraph—Central Illinois debates income tax increases, “It was a debate taking place across Central Illinois on Wednesday after the General Assembly worked into the early morning to send Gov. Pat Quinn a controversial tax increase bill.”

• (AP) State Journal-Register—Cook County medical examiner double-bunked bodies, “The head of the Cook County medical examiner’s office says it was forced to store bodies two to a cooler tray for a short time.”

• State Journal-Register—Quinn: Will ‘follow my conscience’ on death penalty abolition, “Gov. Pat Quinn won’t say whether he will sign legislation abolishing the death penalty, but even if he does, it won’t empty death row, as then-Gov. George Ryan did before he left office in 2003.”

• Peoria Journal Star—Trial starts in IDOT suit; former state workers say they were laid off because of politics, “The trial got under way Wednesday in the federal lawsuit filed by 16 former state workers who claim they were sacked seven years ago because they were Republicans.”

• Daily Herald—West Chicago, Warrenville chambers merge, “The two chambers merged, effective Jan. 1, into the Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce. The new chamber will serve more than 400 members in the two communities.”

Statewide Update—Jan. 12, 2011

• State Journal-Register—Senate approves end to death penalty; bill headed to Quinn, “Ten years after Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois and nearly eight years after then-state Sen. Barack Obama sponsored reforms to the system, a bill abolishing capital punishment is headed to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.”

• Southtown Star—Senate President: More work ahead, “Senate President John Cullerton says fixing the state’s finances will require hard work even after lawmakers passed a massive tax increase.”

• Daily Herald—Lombard ballot to include term limits question, “A ‘yes’ vote will signal voters want the village board to consider a binding referendum to place limits on the number of consecutive terms officials can serve.”

• Rockford Register Star—Rockford School District presents $51 million cuts plan to public, “The committee came up with proposals to cut $51 million — or 12.6 percent — from the district’s $404 million budget to use for fiscal 2012, which begins July 1. The committee presented its recommendations Tuesday at the School Board meeting.”

• State Journal-Register—Tenaska fails again, project’s future in jeopardy, “The Illinois Senate early today again rejected a bill authorizing a clean-coal technology plant in Taylorville, possibly ending chances of the plant ever being built.”

• Bloomington Pantagraph—Normal mayor suggests form-based code optional, “Mayor Chris Koos is suggesting making the controversial form-based code an option — not a requirement — for developers of properties along the Main Street Corridor in Normal.”

• Daily Herald—Mundelien to merge engineering, public works departments, “In a cost-cutting move, Mundelein officials are merging the town’s engineering and public works departments.”