Statewide update—March 10, 2011

Peoria Journal Star—FOIA access could be curbed; Committee Oks measure giving officials discretion on ‘vexatious’ requests, “Local government officials said it is intended to deal with members of the public who file excessive requests under the Freedom of Information Act as a form of harassment.”

Trib Local (Tinley Park)— Tinley Park to begin posting public records requests, names online, “We’re hoping through publication, and not just the citizens, but the individuals in their mind’s eye, rethink, and not stop asking for FOIAs, but limit them to what they think are important to them.”

• Daily Herald—Island lake mayor to sue trustees over ‘power grabs’, “The lawsuit also will seek an injunction to stop the four trustees, who represent a majority of the six-member board, from dismissing its long-standing law firm, [Ancel Glink] and hiring a suburban law firm to represent the town.”

• State Journal Register—Quinn ends death penalty, commutes prisoners’ death sentences, “We have tried over and over again to come up with a perfect system that makes no mistakes with respect to carrying out the death penalty, and we have found over and over again mistakes have been made and innocent people have been freed,’ Quinn said.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—Ex-Todd Stroger aide gets jobless pay despite corruption charge, “A former top Cook County official awaiting trial on public corruption charges has been collecting unemployment benefits despite her arrest, county officials confirmed Wednesday.”

 

Statewide update—March 7, 2011

(AP) Rockford Register Star—Former Cook County president files for unemployment, county officials protest, “A spokeswoman for current board president Toni Preckwinkle says Stroger applied Jan. 7 to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, seeking unemployment benefits for the $170,000 he received yearly as president.”

• Chicago Sun-Times—The Watchdogs: City Hall hired 139 ex-cons in two years, “One of them smuggled cocaine from Jamaica about a decade ago. Another was a carjacker. A third was convicted in the shooting of two Chicago cops in the 1970s, hitting one of them in the face.”

• Daily Herald—FOI requests: Exercising rights or clogging government?, “[S]ome government leaders say partly because of the law and partly because of single-issue activists like Burns, they’re getting clogged with requests.”

• Chicago Tribune—$1 million contract for mayor’s daughter is on table in Dolton, “Village trustees were set to vote on the contract during a “special meeting” last week, but the board didn’t have enough trustees to vote,”

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.”