Mary Schmich of the Tribune did a column Friday about the friendship between a Lincoln Park woman and an Uptown street person, the late Wanda Jean Taylor. It's moving and compassionate, and shows the beauty and trials that occur when two very different people open themselves' [...]
The backlog of payments to Medicaid providers is a serious problem in Illinois. When these notoriously low reimbursements to primary care physicians administering care to Medicaid patients don't arrive on time, it makes the doctors increasingly reluctant to treat that population. That diminishes health care access for some of the' [...]
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Saturday, November 21 & Sunday November 22
View Candidate questionnaires
and new endorsement rules online at www.iviipo.org
Below the Fold:
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
Hard Labor
Chicago-based labor reporter Claire Bushey is launching a
new blog at True/Slant. She explains the inspiration for the project in
her first post.
Tamms Tour
As part of his 10-part reform plan
for the Tamms Correctional [...]
The Windy City edition of the New York Times debuted today, featuring an article on the controversial parking meter lease from veteran City Hall reporter Dan Mihalopoulos, now with the Chicago News Cooperative.
In his report, Mihalopoulos digs into the books of Chicago Parking Meters LLC, the private company that now controls the [...]
It's on! The call is out for positive loiterers to meet at Sheridan & Leland tonight from 7-8 PM.After the Cook County Board of Commissioners finally agreed yesterday to fund foreclosure mediation services, housing advocates are celebrating the move as "a huge step" towards stemming the problem.
As regular readers know, it's been a tough slog for those community activists -- led by the group Action Now -- who've been pushing the [...]
Take a look at this headline from today's Daily Herald:
Reading that, you might guess that the west suburban town of about 150,000 passed a referendum opposing an income tax increase in Illinois. Or perhaps someone polled Naperville residents' on the various tax hike proposals being discussed at the state level. Well, [...]
I've been following the Ron Paul / Alan Grayson effort to get the Federal Reserve audited for the first time in it's history. It's an effort to shed some light on where our bailout dollars are going. Ron Paul of course has an additional agenda as well but in this [...]
This just out from Sen. Roland Burris' office:
After months of investigation into the circumstances surrounding the appointment and seating of Senator Roland W. Burris, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics has closed its inquiry and cleared the Senator of any legal wrongdoing.
In a ‘public letter of qualified admonition,’ the Senate Ethics Committee outlined the' [...]
Ah, level ground, at last. Drivers who park at Dib and International Cleaners no longer need fear a vertical pile-up in the hall-of-mirrors parking lot. Cheers! [...]
That's how the Reader's Ben Joravsky describes our own Angela Caputo in his latest article on Chicago's tax increment financing (TIF) network. And you can bet she's wearing that badge with pride.
Joravasky's piece also details how state legislators used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill to quietly extend' [...]
Cullerton: State Lawmakers Have No Gitmo Control
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) says the General
Assembly has no formal control over the decision to relocate Guantanamo
Bay detainees to an Illinois prison. While a committee could review the proposal, any vote would be advisory.
The story titled "Transparency in Action - How a'" [...]
Something for everyone to be aware of, from a reader....
"A number of buildings on the 800 block of Sunnyside were approached tonight by a rather large guy who initially stated that he wanted to come in to share some flyers about a neighborhood block club. I" [...]
One day in 2006, Chicago School Board president Michael Scott sat down for breakfast with CPS chief Arne Duncan, Congressman Danny Davis, and state senator Rickey Hendon in the back room of a soul food restaurant on the west side. They must have expected a quiet discussion in the [...]
All four Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Democratic have produced new videos in the last few days. Let's take a look, shall we?
The first comes from David Hoffman, who cut a highlight reel from a forum held by the Northern Illinois Coordinated Campaign Committee in Rockford on Sunday. In the clip, Hoffman' [...]
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
A Kink In The Campaign
This week's Reader cover story examines the unorthodox primary race in Illinois' 40th District.
Life Support
At Huffington Post Chicago, Shawn Healy digs into a new study on civic engagement [...]
A few readers saw a march winding its way through Uptown on Tuesday afternoon and asked via email if we knew what it was about.The Chicago City Council held its full monthly meeting yesterday. We've got some of the highlights:
Budget Priorities Take A Beating
All eyes have been on Mayor Daley's 2010 spending plan as of late, which relies on $370 million from the city's asset-sale proceeds to help balance next year's $6.14 billion budget. Despite' [...]
Don't know about you, but Uptown Update has gained a pound or two since The Cupcake Gallery's "soft opening." Now it's time for the Grand Opening, this Sunday, November 22nd, and Darius is promising free cupcakes from noon until supplies run out. We're putting another [...]
A new video from the Dan Hynes campaign has been making the rounds online today. It splices together some footage from yesterday's Campaign for Better Health Care forum in which Gov. Pat Quinn appears a bit tired and distracted as Illinois resident Midge Hough recalls the tragic story [...]
Earlier this week Cook County sheriff Tom Dart and several of the top corrections officials at the Cook County Jail were sued in federal court by an inmate named Kenneth Simmons Mays. In a handwritten complaint he filed on his own, Mays alleges that on [...]
The state's unemployment troubles just keeps growing. Today, the Illinois Department of Employment Security released the October jobless rate. In just one month, it jumped from 10.5 to 11 percent, the highest level in 26 years. CBS 2 has more:
The state reported job losses in numerous industries. The trade and transportation sectors lost [...]
The federal government is one step closer to providing health care and retirement benefits to domestic partners of its gay and lesbian employees. Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved H.R. 2517 by a 23-12 vote. Illinois Democrats Mike Quigley, Danny Davis, and Bill Foster all supported the legislation. GOP Rep. Aaron [...]
We heard from Glenn Brichacek, President/CEO of the Admiral at the Lake Development at Foster and Marine Drive.Yesterday afternoon, as part of the Campaign for a Better Health Care's annual conference, Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic primary challenger Dan Hynes engaged in an hour-long debate on health care reform. Because it costs the state money to provide coverage to the poor and to protect public health, the [...]
It looks like we're finally going to get this done in America. 'Bout time.
[...]
Nursing Home Task Force Releases Recommendations
A task force investigating safety problems in Illinois nursing homes will meet today to unveil a plan to prevent the assaults, rapes, and murders that have plagued some facilities. Gov. Pat Quinn's senior health advisor, Michael Gelder, is recommending more housing [...]
I know this is a trial lawyer’s wet dream, but this is just too funny. In government, we are cautioned to watch for the “unintended consequences” of new laws and ordinances.
This is quite the “unintended consequence.” Texas, in an attempt to ban same-sex marriages, may have actually made all marriages [...]
From Ald. Smith's latest newsletter:
The CTA is conducting a "vision study" of the Red Line stations. In order to get input and feedback, the public is invited to a series of Open Houses. Each Open House will focus on a specific group of stations. Exhibits [...]
Just in the past week, two key Democratic leaders in Washington expressed interesting in crafting a federal jobs package that would likely extend federal unemployment insurance for workers who exhaust their benefits after December 31. But they better move quickly, as more than one million unemployed Americans are scheduled to lose their insurance [...]
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
Homeless Baby Crying
Ryan
J. Down, executive director of Illinois' second largest homeless
shelter, ponders the daunting task of eradicating homelessness in
America.
Inmate Care
Are prisoners' health care needs being met in Illinois?
Mechanics' Sheila Burt reports on' [...]
A Chicago alderman objecting to the creation of a new tax increment financing (TIF) district in his ward?
It's not something you hear about every day. But Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) is reportedly pushing back against some East Loop property owners who want to see their area -- in the' [...]
Earlier this week, the State Journal-Register asked the candidates contending for their respective Illinois gubernatorial party nominations a series of questions about state pension system. According to the paper, most called it their "high" or "highest" priority. If the pols want to get a better sense of what type of shape the system is [...]
A few months back, a coalition of community activists from across Chicago met at City Hall to call out the Daley administration for investing so few tax increment financing (TIF) dollars in affordable housing. After all, over the past decade, a mere 4 percent of the economic development money has gone towards [...]
In an interview with Rockford's WREX earlier this week about the possible transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the Thomson Correctional Center, Rep. Don Manzullo unleashed what seemed like an unhinged attack on the religion of Islam. "These are really, really mean people," he told the television reporter, "whose job it' [...]
Cook Co. Board Votes To Scale Back Stroger Sales Tax Hike
By a vote of 12-5, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted
yesterday to reduce the county sales tax by half-a-cent, thereby
halving President Todd Stroger's controversial sales tax hike. Stoger
has vowed to veto the' [...]
In an interview with television station WREX in Rockford [...]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already expressed some interest in extending unemployment insurance through 2010. Now it appears that Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is thinking along the same lines.
In a news conference today, the House majority leader said now that his chamber has passed its own version of [...]
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
Rose's Nomination
One
of President Obama's U.S. attorney nominations in Northern Iowa is being
criticized for her role in the Postville meatpacking plant controversy.
The New York Times has the story.
Casting Its Lot
Matthew
Blake reports on [...]
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) kicked off its annual conference in Chicago this morning and health care reform is sure to be a major topic of discussion. Just over two weeks ago, AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni said her organization -- the nation's top health insurance lobby -- was "concerned" that the recently-passed House bill [...]
Mayor Daley appears to be feeling the pressure to come clean about his plans to spend the city's $1 billion tax increment financing (TIF) surplus. As regular readers know, the city's unprecedented budget shortfall has opened the door to some long-overdue questions about why the public funds ($495 million in [...]
A reader writes in...Last week, we noted a rather somber anniversary: Ten years had passed since Congress and the Clinton White House enacted legislation overtturning the Glass-Steagall Act. By dismanting this Depression-era financial regulation (which segregated commercial banks and investment banks), the new law helped paved the way for the wild derivatives [...]
Two-thirds of Americans disagree with the Obama administration's decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court rather than a military court, according to a new national poll.
This story has flaws ranging from minor to serious.
My big beef with the story: if Americans don't know the [...]
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to receive an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on his chamber's health care bill. Sources tell ABC's George Stephanopolous that the package will cost below $900 billion, will extend coverage to most Americans, and will reduce the deficit in both the short- and [...]
The rhetoric offered up by the Illinois GOP in response to the proposal to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the Thomson Correctional Center in Northwest Illinois has so far been irrational and irresponsible. After all, Illinois already houses 35 inmates arrested on terrorism charges. Since put behind bars here, they have gone "totally [...]
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Cross Threatens Legislative Block To Thomson Sale
House
Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) says he'll introduce legislation
that would put to a vote Gov. Quinn's proposal to sell the Thomson
correctional center to the federal government. Meanwhile, federal officials say that in addition to housing prisoners from the' [...]
Police are careful, very careful, when it comes to homicide and suicide. We regret that Michael Scott’s death was ruled a suicide.
Such a loss.
The death of Chicago School Board President Michael Scott was ruled a suicide this afternoon by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. He died [...]
Save on winter energy bills and get a free weatherization kit without leaving Uptown. (Can't beat that.) Check out the flyer above and RSVP to make sure they save you a space.
An Uptown Update reader got a glimpse of the police blue-light camera at Sheridan and Lawrence getting a tune-up this morning.Mick Dumke talks TIFs and more politics with Nick Digilio
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[...]Lots of new campaign advertisements and web videos out in the past few days. Here's a rundown ...
Gov. Pat Quinn has a new ad out, titled "Finally," which hit the airwaves yesterday, according to Capitol Fax:
After yesterday's fiery debate in Rockford, the Quinn campaign also released this clip [...]
One of the most interesting parts of the two hearings on the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) was learning about the process of coal gasification and carbon capture. The TEC, proposed by Tenaska Inc, uses a gasification process that turns coal into syngas, which is converted into Substitute Natural [...]
One of the most interesting parts of the two hearings on the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) was learning about the process of coal gasification and carbon capture. The TEC, proposed by Tenaska Inc, uses a gasification process that turns coal into syngas, which is converted into Substitute Natural [...]
Here's the latest in health care news ...
A Silent Stimulus?
To weather the unrelenting economic recession without slashing services, state governments are going to need more assistance from Washington. Luckily, some help is on the way. And it's coming via an unlikely source.
Below are our daily picks from the Illinois blogosphere and media at large:
Burdening The Poor
The debate in Springfield about an income tax hike should focus on reforming an outdated and highly regressive state tax
code, writes Galesburg Register-Mail guest columnist Judy Guenseth.
Why Todd Stroger Is [...]
Todd Stroger's inadequacies weren't the only topics of discussion at yesterday's forum for the Democrats vying for Cook County Board president. Two of Stroger's rivals also weighed in against one of Mayor Daley's: his resistance to full disclosure of how hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money [...]
After watching again and again as Illinois lawmakers relied on financial gimmicks to pay for core services, budget experts knew it was only a matter of time before Springfield would be forced to confront the state's ballooning structural deficit.
Last week, the Pew Center on the States confirmed that the moment [...]
To read Sarah Palin’s shockingly shallow Going Rogue, one is immediately struck by how nasty and vindictive Palin is, and that her book is little more than a veiled mechanism for settling scores with old foes who have triumphed over her throughout Palin’s lifetime.
Is Palin [...]
MEET & GREET AT OLD TOWNE BOOKS AND TEA, OSWEGO, FRI., 12/3, 5PM to 7PM
The Kendall County Democratic Women will host a meet and greet event at Old Towne Books and Tea, 61-63 S. Madison Street (across from the Post Office), in Oswego on Thursday, December 3rd, from 5PM until 7PM. The [...]
Ten days ago today, President Obama signed into law a federal unemployment benefits extension granting jobless benefits to unemployed Americans set to exhaust their allotted insurance by December 31, 2009. When can workers in Illinois who qualify expect their checks to arrive? We put in a call to Greg Rivara, a [...]
The latest from the 2010 U.S. Senate race ...
Yesterday afternoon, Rep. Jan Schakowksy announced her endorsement of State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in the Democratic primary. When they rolled out Rep. Luis Gutierrez' backing a week earlier, the campaign used the occasion to highlight Giannoulias' position on the need [...]
Illinois' prison system is finally making major headlines. But not for the reasons we had hoped.
Over the weekend, the White House announced that the near-empty Thomson Correctional Center in rural northwest Illinois has emerged as a potential candidate to house terrorism suspects from the Guantanamo Bay military prison. Federal officials, at the' [...]
Did you know that you are eligible to sign up for an account at North Side Community Federal Credit Union simply by being a resident of Uptown, Edgewater, Lakeview or Rogers Park? North Side is "an alternative to costly payday lenders and currency exchanges, without" [...]
Report: Body Of School Board President Found
A body believed to be that of Chicago Board of Education president
Michael Scott was found in the Chicago River near the Merchandise Mart
this morning. Concerned about his whereabouts, his family
had contacted police Sunday night to report he was missing.
A reader sends in the following photo and writes:
Chicago foodies are all abuzz about soon-to-open Ceres' Table, the first solo outing by well-known chef Giuseppe Scurato. It'll be at the former Monticchio space, 4882 N Clark (next to Lincoln Towing). We wish it as much success as the buzz anticipates, and look forward [...]
Look, we’ve spent plenty of time over the last several years critiquing Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.
Let’s make sure we remember that when it’s time to go to the polls.
Cook County Board president Todd Stroger took some heat for not attending today’s Democratic forum [...]
Thomas Palley in a post well worth reading explains:
The world economy has paid dearly for complicity with and silence about the economic policies of the last 15 years, which have culminated in the deepest and most dangerous recession since the 1930’s. It will pay still more if policymakers remain [...]
Golf balls take 1,000 years to decompose, and they release toxic metals into the environment as they break down.
Yet another reason to kick yourself when you lose a ball.
Golf balls are often lost by players, in fact there are a few lost in my own [...]
If you have the time and inclination to make it to the Daley Center Monday morning, the case involving the Mosa Building (1014-1036 West Leland) is on the docket at 9:30am. The presence of the court advocates shows community concern; although they are silent representatives, occasionally [...]
