by Mark Silva
The biggest borrowing in the history of Chicago's Water Reclamation District was supposed to be "fair and reasonable.''
Yet it cost taxpayers $8 million in unnecessary interest and spawned a "bonanza'' for bankers and investors, Bloomberg News reports.
Michael Quint and John McCormick, weighing in with a look at [...]
From the Vargas for Congress campaign:
St. Charles, IL—Republican candidate for Congress Mark Vargas, in an attempt to unify the Republican Party, has decided to step aside, and instead, endorse fellow Republican Ethan Hastert in his bid to become the next Congressman from the 14th Congressional District.
“Politics is all about timing—and [...]
Sarah Palin's latest stop in her book tour de force is at the Twin Cities' Mall of America. (AP video) Shocker polls: That Sarah Palin-Barack Obama gap melts to 1 point Andrew Malcolm, Top of the Ticket.
Solution Near In High-Speed Rail Dispute
Springield leaders who had threatened a lawsuit to block a proposal to run a high-speed rail line through Sagamon County met with state officials yesterday to hash out a solution. The dispute threatens the state's ability to collect billions in federal [...]
Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko says he no longer has a financial stake in a real estate investment firm he co-founded that got deals to manage $68 million for five [...]
by Mark Silva
Credit Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele for reading the White House schedule, the one that features President Barack Obama today proposing a new jobs-boosting program in the midst of pervasive high unemployment.
Obama, Steele says in a letter to the White House today, should be looking [...]
Federal prosecutors will present former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich with revised criminal charges. The reason? The US Supreme Court will hear another Chicago case, that of Conrad Black, the former CEO of the Hollinger media empire.
Rep. Bill Brady, Bloomington, and GOP candidate for governor, is out with a new, and upbeat, ad. Watch: [...]
I keep hearing that State's Attorney Julia Rietz will both meet with the Carrington family and release their report mid-morning today.
[...]
Press release:
Date: December 8, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: SNOW STORM UPDATE
City crews are currently spreading a sand/salt mix on primary routes. As this storm progresses today, temperatures are expected to warm and snow will eventually mix with rain. As a result, primary intersections will be [...]
What left-wing loon wrote this ode to France’s socialist health care system?
For a dozen years now I’ve led a dual life, spending more than 90 percent of my time and money in the U.S. while receiving 90 percent of my health care in my wife’s native France. On a [...]
OBAMA GETS SURGE IN AFGHAN WAR APPROVAL,
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY NATIONAL POLL FINDS;
BUT ONLY 26% OF U.S. VOTERS SAY HE DESERVES NOBEL PRIZE
Public support for the war in Afghanistan is up nine percentage points in the last three weeks, as American voters say 57 - 35 [...]
by Mark Silva
As President Barack Obama heads for Oslo this week to accept the Nobel Prize for Peace -- only the third sitting president to accept the award -- he is ramping up the U.S. military deployment in Afghanistan, an eight-year-old war, to nearly 100,000 troops.
The irony [...]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2009
DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009
In the morning, the President and the Vice President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and the Economic Daily [...]
Please?The city's hunt to fill its cash-starved coffers has come to this: Some traffic-control aides -- those city employees in the fluorescent coats who help cars and pedestrians move' [...]
Hoffman Estates trustees Monday approved a $126 million budget for 2010 that cuts four police officer positions.
But the Village Board could amend the budget Dec. 14 if Village President William McLeod gets concessions, much as the firefighters'' [...]
It was with interest that I read the news item published Monday by the Chicago Tribune's website -- federal prosecutors are likely to come up with a new indictment against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to try to ensure that the "guilty" verdict they are desperately seeking [...]
from White House.gov...
President Barack Obama meets with former Vice President Al Gore in the Oval Office in advance of his Wednesday meeting with business and environmental leaders at the White House regarding the Copenhagen [...]
Federal prosecutors are promising to bring a new indictment against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to avoid issues connected to an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on the scope of the federal "honest services" statute under which Blagojevich has been charged.
That would prevent the need to [...]
I was tired last week of hearing the name Tiger Woods. The guy can golf. I don’t care who he’s sleeping with.
Do I believe in fidelity in marriage? Yes, I do. Am I sad to hear that Tiger has allegedly strayed? Yes, I am. Is it any [...]
Generally, I encourage elected officials to make use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It’s a great way to communicate back and forth with constituents.
But there is such a thing as being too transparent. Consider this status update from State Sen. Emil Jones:
Two rules: 1. The boss [...]
Despite an intimidating, standing-room-only crowd of coin operator union members, local residents and concerned gambling opponents, the trustees of Orland Park voted 4 to 3 to ban video poker in their village Monday night.
Arguments made by Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association Executive Director Mike Pappas that the capital bill the [...]
Taken at Pearl Harbor, circa 1930, when my dad's brother was there. I never knew Burrhead, but he was a handsome man.
[...]
Not only do the Democrats want to cut Medicare funding, they want to expand coverage.From the Washington Examiner: "Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Diane Feinstein, D-Cal., offered an amendment to a new press shield law that provides legal protections only to professional journalists employed by established mainstream media -- a blatant attempt to curb independent, often blog-based reporting like" [...]
Of course all the people going to the Manbearpig shindig in Copenhagen would take the Free Public transportation. I mean come on, we only got 10 years or the Earth will melt and we all would die. At least, you would think they would arrive in Piouses, [...]
The Peoria City Council will give its stamp of approval to the city’s legislative wish list Tuesday. There are a lot of items on the list, one of them is legislation allowing cities to monitor traffic violations at red light intersections:
[Peoria Police Chief Steve] Settingsgaard also wants to see [...]
The Brady campaign is launching its first television commercial of this campaign beginning Tuesday. The 30-second ad (below) will run in cable markets in Cook County, the collar counties and Downstate, primarily on the Fox News Channel.
by John Brown's Ghost
You probably didn't know it, but you really are endangering my life. Yes, right now. About every 10 seconds or so. Unless you have held your breath the entire time you have read these four sentences, you have endangered my life.
How is that? [...]
From the Senate Republican Communications Center:This has nothing to do with news, the media or Peoria. But I thought I’d share with my readers.
Enjoy:
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Remember Wayne Rodgers, the guy who used to play Trapper John on MASH? He went into real estate and other businesses and made a fortune. If you think this makes him a smart guy, you would be right:
Politically, Rogers considers himself a “Jeffersonian democrat. The best government is the [...]
CU Citizens for Peace and Justice held a press conference Monday, December 7, 2009 at the Independent Media Center to address the ongoing debate over the police shooting of Kiwane Carrington. The press conference pre-empted the release of the report by the State’s Attorney [...]
CU Citizens for Peace and Justice held a press conference Monday, December 7, 2009 at the Independent Media Center to address the ongoing debate over the police shooting of Kiwane Carrington.
Below is video of the press conference.
[...]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release December 7, 2009
PRESS BRIEFING
BY
PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:01 P.M. EST
MR. GIBBS: Good [...]
Via POLITICO:
[Sen. John] Ensign admitted to the affair with Cindy Hampton in June, more than a year after the Hamptons left the senator’s office. Doug Hampton claims that Ensign later aided him in lining up lobbying clients, including arranging a meeting for one of those clients with Transportation Secretary [...]
Just as in the gubernatorial race, the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate has seen a bunch of new endorsements in recent days. Along with their support of Gov. Pat Quinn, Citizen Action/Illinois threw its weight behind Alexi Giannoulias' candidacy over the weekend. From a press release:
"Alexi has a proven'" [...]
Congressional candidate Joel Pollak went straight to national news sources with a discovery he's made while researching his Democratic opponent in IL's 9th CD race -- that incumbent Jan Schakowsky and her felon husband Robert Creamer may have played an integral part in scheming Obama's government health care takeover.
Pollak points to' [...]
Just how many unemployed Illinoisans are facing the prospect of a winter without any income? Too many, according to new state-by-state figures (PDF) from the National Employment Law Project (NELP).
Between January and March of next year, the national policy organization says 66,271 Illinois workers will exhaust their regular 26 weeks of state-based benefits. [...]
As far as I can gather, Glenn Beck could have only found these quotes on my blog. After "balancing" the state's budget, in part, by pushing $3.2 billion worth of bills off until next year, Illinois lawmakers left Springfield over the summer crossing their fingers that the economy would rebound quickly and stave off the obvious need for an income tax increase. It was a naive proposition to say the least. [...]
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
Putting Off LGBT Rights
After they pushed the deadline on a civil
unions bill back another six months, political activist Patrick Kelly
expresses doubt that Illinois Democrats will put the rights of gays and
lesbians ahead of their own re-election [...]
Press release:
(Peoria, IL / December 7, 2009) – Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer that focuses on the safety of your family? The newly released book “Keeping Your Family Safe – The Responsibilities of Firearm Ownership” fits the bill.
Written by two physicians, one an emergency medicine physician at [...]
Good for Americans for Tax Reform and the Alliance for Worker Freedom. They are pushing for the Justice Department to investigate SEIU President Andy Stern's multiple visits to the White House over the first six months of Barack Obama's presidency. Questions about Stern and SEIU Treasurer Anna Burger's SEIU-promoting efforts and the' [...]
Stephen Moore of the WSJ's Political Diary wrote last weekend that word is the Republican National Committee is getting behind GOP primary candidate Elizabeth Coulson in the 10th CD -- hoping to succeed Congressman Mark Kirk. Moore suggested Coulson -- one of the Illinois House GOP caucus' most liberal members -- [...]
In the “I can not make this stuff up” file, the EPA is going to declare CO2 is a “public danger”.
So the stuff we breathe out, and feeds plants so they grow so we can have food on the table is now a danger to us [...]
The question that dominates the Illinois gubernatorial race this cycle is a huge one: What will each candidate do to fix the state's budget deficit? Because the shortfall is so large, righting the ship will require
comprehensive changes both in the way the state generates and spends
revenue. We've already seen
by Mark Rhoads
In a post on Sunday, I was critical of what I thought was the slow and incomplete coverage of The New York Times to the story of how hacked emails of top pro-human caused global warming scientists compared to overseas newspapers. Well here is one-half pat on the back [...]
December 7 is an unofficial Veteran's Day--and we can never have too many of those. So I just had to snap a photograph the Belleau Wood US Marines monument in Des Plaines, Illinois this afternoon.I've always been a pretty big football fan, but here are two things I do not remember seeing when watching college and pro games 25 years ago an more:
1. The constant attempts to punch or wrench loose the football during tackles. As I recall, fumbles used to be the result [...]
Lake Effect News and Uptown Exchange, Truman's newspaper, are running a story about the lack of security at Truman College:
Smoke in non-smoking areas, sleep at their desks, talk on their personal cell phones, read the newspaper – I’ll take “What do Truman security guards REALLY do?” for [...]
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama's job approval in the Gallup Poll's daily tracking survey today -- 47 percent -- marks a new low for the president's job ratings.
Obama's approval has fallen below [...]
by Mark Silva
In the aftermath of the ACORN workers offering tax advice to self-appointed undercover video-cops posing as a prostitute and pimp, ACORN has investigated itself and found that its employees broke no laws.
That may come as little surprise to ACORN's critics.
The organization's director calls the results of [...]
The Daily Herald reports
Cutting Illinois' minimum wage is increasingly becoming a key proposal by Republican candidates for governor as they push ideas to help the state's economy....Andy Mckenna, a Chicago business owner and former head of the Illinois Republican Party...told WBBM's At Issue program on 780 AM Friday that' [...]Of course there's no concern about opening Thomson to international terrorists, after all, we've been okay thus far with an Illinoisan in our midst that plotted an attack on the Danish newspaper and the Mumbai assault.
The FBI reports today about additional charges on Chicagoan David Coleman Headley, but there's also two other Chicago' [...]
The conservative alternative to Mark Kirk. Running for Senate in Illinois. Give Patrick Hughes a good look.Rep. Mark Kirk's decision to abandon his previous position on cap-and-trade might have earned his U.S. Senate campaign a few extra supporters, but it's certainly angering his former allies in the environmental community.
Over the weekend, the Illinois Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) -- both of whom [...]
Rich Miller's >Question of the Day is similar to a question that occurred to me. News reports tell us that
Public surveillance cameras ... recorded (Chicago Public Schools CEO_ Michael Scott over a roughly 45-minute time period as he drove to the location along the Chicago River where he would,' [...]
URGENT from Life Advocacy Briefing on US Senate action today:
We have just received word from a key Capitol Hill staffer that the Nelson/Hatch Amendment to explicitly exclude abortion from the Senate’s version of ObamaCare is likely to come up in the Senate today – Monday, Dec. 7.
Please contact your two [...]
by Mark Silva
Sarah Palin's Going Rogue national book-signing tour may be good for more than book sales:
Public opinion of the Republican former governor of Alaska has risen in recent months, according to the findings of a new [...]
At last week's full Chicago City Council meeting, Ald. Tom Allen (38th Ward) opposed Mayor Daley's budget and offered several proposals to raise revenue in the short-term without raiding various reserve funds. Included among them was a one-year pause on the mayor's precious tax increment financing (TIF) system. Later [...]
[...]
