edited by: Douglas Welch,
Illinois Editor
A defense lawyer said today he won’t follow through on plans to call Mayor Daley to testify in the bribery case of Chicago developer Calvin Boender.
“We do not intend to call him,” Boender lawyer Robert Sanger' [...]
My form for the Census Bureau’s once-a-decade national population count arrived in the mail Monday (along with a batch of coupons and a catalog for my brother from the Ebbets Field Flannel company).Mayor Richard Daley on Monday named a state lawmaker and a businessman with ties to a politically influential Latino group to fill two City Council vacancies, saying they stood out from among' [...]
Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers want to delay his trial five months. Scheculed to begin in June, that would push his trial’s start date to November, just in time for Thanksgiving.
Personally, I was looking forward to a summer with Rod. Rod TV. The Summer of Blagojevich.
You name it.
Via PJStar.com:
The director of technology and library media services at Peoria School District 150 is on paid administrative leave as officials begin to probe allegations of theft.
Sources within the district confirmed Mary Ward was placed on leave Monday but added there’s no evidence she committed any wrongdoing. The [...]
ANOTHER OBAMACARE PROP-PATIENT doesn’t live up to the hype.
A commenter wonders: Are there any real people supporting ObamaCare?
For heaven's sake. She has a sister. She's not without family.
America has just a few nations it can call friends, Great Britain and Israel are among them. As I've blogged before, President Obama doesn't think much of our "special relationship" between our nation and the UK. I attended and participated in tonight's City of Champaign Community and Police Forum. The crowd was standing room only, and the ground rules and agenda facilitated an interesting discussion, at least in my small group. We worked through the four guiding questions, and kept returning to a few key' [...]
“You can’t pass this health-care bill the right way, so now you pass it the Washington way.” Video: You are trashing America. You are killing our Liberty.
But maybe that's what you want.
You [...]
The scene was rather strange.
Room 201A in City Hall is typically a place where aldermen gather for committee meetings, which is to say it’s where they gather to discuss and vote on legislative proposals whose future has almost always been determined ahead of time. Most major legislation before the [...]
ROFLMAO
From: Thornell, Doug [mailto:Doug.Thornell@mail.house.gov]Below is an annotated version of this column:
It's 7 a.m. and I'm walking to Walgreens in the rain to buy blank DVDs.
Not for me, but for my 12-year-old son. He had made a short movie to fulfill a language arts class assignment and the film was due. [...]
Somehow, I completely missed the 1992 film version of "Of Mice and Men" when it came out.
Gene Siskel gave it 3 1/2 stars in his Tribune review:
Gary Sinise directs and costars with Steppenwolf Theater colleague John Malkovich in a timely and powerful remake [...]An "Oh Gee!" award to Gov. Pat Quinn for pronouncing the last name of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias as "gee-uh-NEW-luss" and another to WTTW-Channel 11 "Chicago Week in Review" host Joel Weisman for repeatedly making the same error on Friday's show. C'mon, guys! He's been the state treasurer' [...]
from Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR):
The debate over granting amnesty will reach a fevered pitch this Sunday as tens of thousands of illegal aliens, along with their political allies, march into Washington DC demanding that Congress and President Obama see to it that 13 million illegal aliens are granted [...]
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, who has pressed Congress for over a year to overhaul a health insurance system that leaves tens of millions of Americans uninsured and many millions poorly covered, said today: "I believe we are going to get the votes, we're going to make this'" [...]
With the legislative leaders so far doing little to push an income tax increase, it's looking increasingly likely that early childhood, education, and human services funding could be seriously endangered. But not if members of the newly-formed coalition Women For A Better Illinois have their way. Today its members [...]
Part one of this week's series Unwed and unbothered: Single motherhood carries little stigma today by Kristi L. Nelson of the Knoxville News-Sentinel looks at the complex issue of what we used to call illegitimacy:
While the percentage of children with social, behavioral and emotional challenges are higher in [...]
In previous posts about the closing of Somerset Place, we could only speculate about the relocation of the long-term patients. Today, the Tribune reported that a settlement may be reached to help relocate patients:WHEATON – Karl Rove, the former adviser to President George W. Bush, will address the 49th annual DuPage Republican Party Dinner on Friday at the Marriott Oak Brook. Rove’s visit is part of his book tour promoting his forthcoming memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the [...]
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley moved to fill two vacancies on the City Council Monday, nominating Buhl Press Inc. Vice President Joe Moreno to the 1st Ward seat formerly occupied by Manny Flores and State Rep. Deborah Graham to the 29th [...]
by Mark Silva
Republican leaders are warning Democrats that there will be a price to pay at the polls if they vote for the president's healthcare bill.
But one leading Democratic strategist suggests that it is Democrats who vote against President Barack Obama on the bill who should [...]
I've never like Liesman. Now even less. Video. Read the comments. More debunking LIESman here.by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama's planned, and slightly delayed, trip to Indonesia marks an important step in relations with the Islamic world, says an expert on U.S.-Asian relations who served the Bush administration on this front.
" It is a critical and pivotal strategic country, not only in Asia but" [...]
We've written recently about the importance of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, known to most as CREATE. Launched in 2003, this project -- a joint collaboration between freight railroad companies, the federal government, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, Metra, and Amtrak -- is intended to' [...]
Federal prosecutors are pushing back against ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s request for a five-month delay in the start of his corruption trial. In a nine-page brief filed with federal Judge James Zagel today, the feds said the trial should commence as [...]
We started hearing helicopters and sirens shortly after 2:30, which in the past month have meant a young mother got shot at a main intersection, and that a fire broke out in a building full of people and no fire alarms. We're hoping this time it's nothing [...]
For months now, Illinois Republicans have criticized Democrats for proposing tax reform plans before undertaking "fundamental economic reforms," like forcing Medicaid beneficiaries into a private managed care system and cutting (already-reasonable) public employee pension benefit. This year, they've added workers' compensation reform to their list of demands.
In November, Senate Minority [...]
Will County GOP Chairman Dick Kavanagh has been getting a lot of heat over a vote he made last week at the county convention. Numerous committeemen expressed their outrage on Illinois Review's post "Uproar at Will County GOP Convention" that Kavanagh chose to vote for the precincts without elected [...]
The archive video feature was created [...]
Chicago city government is finally moving out of the technological stone age. Two years ago, the City Council gave City Clerk Miguel del Valle permission to stream full council meetings live on the city's website. Now, his office is archiving full videos of the proceedings online.
That's a basic, yet valuable, step towards increasing' [...]
by Michael Muskal
President Barack Obama today flew to the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, Ohio, to make his last big campaign-style pitch for healthcare overhaul before an anticipated House vote this week. He brought with him the local congressman, Dennis Kucinich.
Helping transport [...]
One of the more feeble arguments in favor of passing ObamaCare into law is that it will lower costs. The Washington Post's Robert J. Samuelson shoots that chunk of misinformation full of holes.Sans candidate for U.S. Senate Mark Kirk and candidate for state comptroller Judy Baar-Topinka, the rest of the IL GOP's 2010 statewide slate gathered in Addison yesterday to show unified support for Bill Brady's candidacy for governor.
Press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Please announce the following:
IEPA TELECONFERENCE WITH PEORIA CITY/COUNTY LANDFILL COMMITTEE AT MEETING WEDNESDAY – TO DISCUSS EAF DUST HAZARDS
The Peoria City/County Landfill Committee meeting will be held this
Wednesday, March 17, 2009, at 8:30 am at the Lester D. Bergsten
Operations and Maintenance [...]
Jobs are scarce in Illinois for people of all backgrounds, but African Americans are hurting the most. A new report by United for a Fair Economy, which analyzed recent unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Census Bureau, found that Illinois' unemployment rate for black workers is' [...]
by Michael Muskal
There are two things that will substantially determine how long and how well you live. The first is the genes you inherit, and the second is the quality of healthcare you can afford.
The current debate over healthcare overhaul is at its heart a battle over how [...]
The NY Times enshrines our President Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion president ever, as our Lord and Savior on health care. Will it be via the Slaughter Rule? As my blogger friend notes here, this is not the [...]
The HCR bill currently being considered in the House is not all we wanted -- far from it -- but it's a good first step.
Pass. The. Damn. Bill.
[...]by Mark Silva
Nearly half of all Americans count themselves among the middle class, and four in 10 of them say they are struggling in today's economy.
Among those with college degrees, three in four say they are "comfortably" middle class or even moving up in life, yet 25 [...]
This past weekend, GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady tried to appeal to minority voters in the Chicagoland area by voicing his support for "big box" stores. From the Tribune:
“This election is our time. It is our time to reach out, to reach beyond traditional Republican boundaries and borders, to reach [...]
Last week, 150 activists paid a visit to Rep. Dan Lipinski's 3rd Congressional District office in LaGrange in response to his opposition to any health care bill that does not sufficiently restrict public funding for abortion services. On the street outside, constituents (some of whom can't obtain affordable insurance) criticized his' [...]
Republicans have edged around the Tea Party vote in a 3-way vote, but Republicans still need Tea Party votes to win, Rasmussen Reports today:
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds the Democratic candidate earning 34% support, while the Republican gets 27% of the vote with [...]
As if there's not enough to worry about in the world with Obamacare nearing a vote, the state of Illinois getting closer to bankruptcy and unemployment rising, well, there's some real concerns surfacing about the U.S. Census, coming to a mailbox near you very soon... as Jim Kouri writes:
Several [...]
A graphic in the Tribune today looked at the records for NCAA men's basketball tournament teams by seed over the last 100 first-round games. No. 1 seeds in each bracket, for instance, are 100-0. No. 16 seeds are 0-100.
Curiously, No. 5 seeds (66-34) have done worse than No. 6 seeds [...]
When Falls the Coliseum is a way-cool group blog run by Scott Stein. I know its cool because (1) an earlier version of the site had posts and comments just like a blog even though it launched in 1999 and had to be administered by hand because nobody had [...]
from Associated Press
CHICAGO -- Oral arguments are set in a case dealing with the enforcement of a long-debated Illinois law requiring a teenage girl's parents be notified before she has an abortion.
Arguments are scheduled for Monday in Chicago. In November the state's Medical Disciplinary Board voted to allow enforcement of [...]
Blocking out the sun in California.
Doug Ross has 
[...]
