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Archive of Illinois on Friday July 06, 2007
Springfield budget talks yield no progress
The Illinois House spent hours repeating familiar budget arguments. The Senate convened, then immediately adjourned. Gov. Rod Blagojevich holed up in his office. The first day of the General Assembly's special session wasn't exactly special. Read More
Some minimum-wage earners not happy
While most people would be excited about a pay increase, Gretchen Lesle is worried a $1-per-hour bump in Illinois' minimum wage could come back to haunt her in the form of higher prices. Read More
Plenty of doubt over lottery sale plan
The Illinois House is poised to vote as early as today on whether to lease the Illinois lottery and issue billions in bonds to pay down the state?s pension debt. Read More
Safety on the streets -- Jesse White discusses details of teen driver bill
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said he doesn't mind being "the bad guy" as long as it keeps teen drivers and others on the roads safe. Read More
From the people to the gov, Welcome to Illinois
If you've driven into Illinois lately, you may have noticed that the state's welcome signs have a new look. The Illinois Department of Transportation just finished putting up 66 new green and white welcome signs at entry points throughout the state. Read More
Horse slaughtering plant to remain closed
CHICAGO ? The last U.S. plant that slaughtered horses for human consumption will remain closed after a federal judge on Thursday dismissed its challenge to the state law that shut it down. Read More
Fire marshal to lose $3,923 in salary for DUI arrest
The state fire marshal will lose nearly $4,000 in pay, but he will not lose his job in connection with a May drunken driving arrest in which he was driving a state-owned vehicle. Read More
WORTH NOTING: Money can't buy good press
New York's top Republican state senator lashes back after a newspaper scorches him over travel expenses. Kentucky's first dog has her own Web site, Internet video, and now a book deal? Visits to Internet porn sites cost an Iowa state employee his $84,500-a-year job monitoring other employees’ computer usage. In case you missed any of those stories this week, "Worth Noting" fills you in. Read More
Pension costs growing sharply for Illinois government
Pension systems for Illinois teachers and government employees are $41 billion short of the money ultimately needed for retirement benefits. Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to eliminate a big chunk of that shortfall by privatizing the state lottery and borrowing money to reinvest. Read More
Ban on horse slaughter upheld
A federal judge effectively put a horse-slaughtering plant in DeKalb out of business with a ruling Thursday that upholds a state law banning the production or possession of horse meat for human consumption. Read More
Stroger's cancer diagnosed prior to his nomination
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger said Thursday that prostate cancer had been diagnosed in him months before he was picked by Democratic Party leaders to be on the ballot in 2006, and that he did not publicly disclose the serious illness because he did not want to compound his mother's woes. Read More
Salmonella poisoning cases include local child
A metro Atlanta child is among 57 people sickened in an 18-state outbreak of a rare form of salmonella poisoning, state and federal health officials said Thursday. Read More
Fireworks on the fifth
Smoke from Independence Day fireworks barely had time to clear the air above the Capitol before state lawmakers started in Thursday with their own political pyrotechnics. Read More
Stroger -- I kept cancer secret for mom
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger conceded Thursday that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer months earlier than his staff had previously announced, but said he hid the matter until very recently because of concern for his mother. Read More
Illinois finalizes FutureGen lobbying contract
The state has finished hiring a prominent Washington, D.C., lobbying firm to push officials to build a prototypical power plant in Illinois. Read More
Blagojevich's lottery privitization plan likely to be scratched
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to privatize the state lottery may soon join his other proposals in the Legislative dustbin. Read More
Shoppers or state will get extra tax paid at CherryVale
If you?ve shopped at CherryVale Mall since Sunday, you may want to double-check your receipts. You could be claiming back a few bucks. A few retailers at the shopping center applied Rockford?s 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase this week to its stores in the mall in Cherry Valley. Read More
Lawmakers return to Springfield
Legislators held a special session that was called by Governor Rod Blagojevich to try to end the battle over a multi-billion dollar budget. However, some lawmakers are not happy the governor refused to attend a budget hearing Thursday. Read More
House fights lottery lease
Lawmakers spent the first day of a special legislative session Thursday attacking Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to lease the state lottery, and a key Democratic lawmaker predicted the Illinois House would vote to condemn the idea as early as Friday. Read More
Teen's controversial conviction stands
HOUSTON -- A Texas appellate court on Thursday let stand the conviction of Shaquanda Cotton, the black teenager from the small east Texas town of Paris whose sentence of up to seven years in youth prison for pushing a hall monitor at her high school provoked national criticism and fueled allegations of racial discrimination in the town's schools and courts. Read More
Schools move toward following students' yearly progress on tests
The Cohoes city school district, outside Albany, is considering a gifted program for elementary students and adding college-level courses after discovering that its top students improved less on standardized tests in the past two years than everyone else in the district. Read More
La. passes new partial-birth abortion ban
Louisiana lawmakers this week unanimously approved a ban on a medical procedure known as partial-birth abortion, passing the first in what could be a spate of similar state laws next year. Read More
Govs win greater flag powers
(Updated 1:40 p.m. EDT, July 2) Governors now enjoy new authority to order the Stars and Stripes lowered on federal buildings – including the White House – under a law just approved by President George W. Bush. Read More
New state laws bring changes July 1
Come Sunday, it will be a felony in Iowa to dismember a body to conceal a crime. New York City will have to stop sending undercover investigators to Virginia to buy guns in sting operations. And even Rip Van Winkle will have to show some ID if he wants to buy beer in Tennessee. Read More |
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