Saturday, January 19, 2013
State government grows in the dark, like a fungus. • Bill Daley has an idea to take the party out of state elections. • Time magazine mourns for Illinois.
When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, he promised to take aim at state boards and commissions stocked with politically connected folks drawing large salaries with little oversight into their activities. He would pare down those panels and save you money. Better Government Association investigative reporter Barbara Rose this month looked into whether Quinn delivered: "... more than three years into Quinn’s watch little has changed, except the number of such units is growing. As troubling, many don’t comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, according to a report last year by state Auditor General William Holland." In fact, the governor's office is having a hard time keeping up with it all. "With over 322 boards and commissions, …
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Take the Patch Poll: Does Pat Quinn deserve re-election or would you put another Democrat on the ballot in 2014?
Pat Quinn is so unpopular, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, that Lisa Madigan and Bill Daley would easily beat him in a Democratic primary while Kirk Dillard and Dan Rutherford would topple him in the general election. Quinn says he's going to run for re-election in 2014, but as 2012 comes to an end only 25 percent of Illinois voters approve of the job he's doing as governor. Public Policy Polling says 64 percent of voters disapprove of Quinn's performance — "making him the most unpopular governor PPP has polled on anywhere in the country this year." And there seems to be good reason for that. Last week, 24/7 Wall St. published a ranking of all 50 states, and Illinois emerges as the third-worst-run state in America, …
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Durbin and Kirk support $150 million loan for SimpleHx • Few approve of Quinn • Convicts collect $2 million in unemployment • Poll: Biggert-Foster very close • State House candidate's domestic battery case dropped with scant attention.
One aspect of Obamacare is drawing bipartisan support — at least in Illinois. Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Mark Kirk both back an outfit called SimpleHx, which wants a $150 million federal loan to establish the state's first health insurance co-op under the president's federal healthcare law. The people behind SimpleHx met at Northwestern University last year while pursuing their MBAs, according to Modern Healthcare reporter Kristen Schorsch. SimpleHx is competing against four proposals, including one backed by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, a trade group founded in 1935 that represents more than 150 local hospitals and health care organizations. If the proposals are similar, in terms of promises to save money and …
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Julie Gorczynski's family and friends attended a special ceremony Friday, where Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law to help stop situations like the one that took Gorczynski's life from happening again. The Frankfort teen died in a car crash in Orland Park.
If there was a shared sentiment Friday morning as Gov. Pat Quinn signed "Julie's Law" at a special ceremony at Lincoln-Way North High School, it was bittersweetness, the idea that something positive could come out of tragedy of Julie Gorczynski's death. Gorczynski was killed last summer after the car she was in was hit by a driver going more than 35 mph over the speed limit in Orland Park. The driver had been placed on court suspension seven times previously, all for excessive speeding. A week before the accident, the Frankfort teen had graduated from L-W North, and a week later, she was to turn 18. READ: Frankfort Teen Dies in Traffic Accident Family members, friends and government officials joined the governor at the signing Friday for …
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Sunday, February 26, 2012
With state drowning in debt, the governor turns to the Internet for help.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Will County Board President Jim Moustis took a hard stand Thursday, saying the county will fight to have control over a possible new airport in Peotone. Do you think that's a good idea?
It's a new year, but the old battle over a proposed third Chicagoland airport to be built in Peotone has started up again. Will County Board President Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort) took a vocal stand at Thursday's board meeting, insisting the county needs to have control over the airport's operation, according to a report in TribLocal. I am not going to sit here in silence. I’m not going to let this governor, or past governors … you will not dump on us. We will fight you all the way. If they’re going to force it here, it will be on our terms, not on somebody else’s. Gov. (Pat) Quinn, you will not treat us like somehow we’re second class citizens and we don’t exist. You don’t think you need us. You might find out different later. Moustis and …
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Gov. Pat Quinn's proposal to merge state's 868 districts failed to consider financial incentives promised under the law, according to a recent study.
Consolidating the state's 800-plus school districts into a more manageable number could cost nearly $4 billion, according to a recent report. The Classroom First Commission, a panel formed last year to study ways Illinois could increase schools' efficiency and cut costs, found little support for "sweeping consolidation of school districts," the Associated Press reports. In February 2011, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told the General Assembly that merging the state's 868 school districts into just 300 would save about $100 million, primarily through the reduction of the number of administrators. According to the panel's study, however, Quinn's plan failed to consider the financial incentives that Illinois law promises to merging districts, …
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
In the last hearing to be held on a plan to close the facility, concerned family members, hospital officials and state politicians expressed doubt and fear over the lack of alternatives to the Tinley Park Mental Health Center.
As of Tuesday morning, Nancy Jones' 42-year-old mentally ill son was out on the street. And there's really nothing she could do about it. "We're just in agony right now because we love him and we want to help him and there's no help," said the Shorewood resident Tuesday. "Nobody cares in this state. It's just heartbreaking for us." Jones was among several hundred people gathered in Orland Park Tuesday at a hearing on Gov. Pat Quinn's decision to close the Tinley Park Mental Health Center. READ: Public Hearing: Weigh in Next Week on Quinn's Plan to Close the Mental Health Center Many in attendence at the Georgios Banquets hall wore bright orange "Save the Tinley Park Mental Health Center" T-shirts. About 50 people from advocacy groups, …
Friday, September 9, 2011
Regional superintendent and assistant superintendent will receive $1,000 a month from the county after governor cut their salary in July.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Gov. Quinn signed the DREAM Act to help pay education costs for documented and undocumented immigrants, alike, and give illegal immigrant students some protection against deportation.
Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed the Illinois DREAM Act, which supports a privately funded account to help children of legal and illegal immigrants finance college educations. The fund will rely entirely on private donation and not Illinois tax dollars. While the bill will not be a way for illegals to gain citizenship, it will provide some protection against deportation. Additionally, school officials will be encouraged to become well versed in educational and financial opportunities for these children. The state's two college tuition savings programs will also become available to those families with either a social security or state identification number. To qualify for a private college scholarship, students must have one immigrant parent…
George Pickett
10:50 am on Monday, January 28, 2013
I wonder if he kept the monney? more ›