Thursday, March 21, 2013
County President Toni Preckwinkle is asking 1,500 inmates be transferred to home-monitoring, to prevent an overcrowding crisis, ABC7 reports.
Cook County Jail is nearly full to bursting. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is asking the detention center to reduce its 10,000+ population by 1,500 because there is not enough money to pay for them, ABC7 reports. At its current rate of admissions, the prison is poised to exceed its 10,150-prisoner capacity "within days." "The population I had today is what I'd normally have at the worst time of the year," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told ABC7. "You can't sustain that. My overtime budget is exploding right now, absolutely exploding. I'm already close to going through what I was supposed to do for the whole year." To prevent overcrowding, Preckwinkle proposes that by mid-summer, 1,500 prisoners be transferred to home …
Thursday, September 6, 2012
As Lemont-Bromberek School District 113A’s belt remains tightened, school board members eye cost of additional teachers.
Some members of the Lemont-Bromberek School District 113A Board of Education would like to revisit the issue of reducing class sizes in district schools by hiring five to 10 additional teachers at the start of the next school year. Following a financial plan update by Superintendent Susan Birkenmaier Tuesday night, board members entered into a spirited discussion of how the district could accomplish the goal of reducing class sizes while remaining true to its financial plan. In April, the school board voted unanimously to approve a certified staffing plan that would include no additional hires for the 2012-13 school year. An option considered at the time – to use a portion of the savings from the salaries of retirees to hire five …
Sunday, June 3, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, June 3, 2012
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters. SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois General Assembly passed a budget — almost on time — Thursday, with the Senate ending about 1:30 a.m. Friday. The budget spends $33.7 billion for the 2013 general fund — the result of months of negotiations, hearings and a dizzying array of spending and appropriations bills with last-minute amendments upon amendments. The budget, made up of several bills in the House and Senate, includes $6.5 billion for K-12 education, $1.9 billion for higher education, $5 billion for health and human services, and $1.6 billion for public safety. In a testament to how …
Sunday, May 20, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters. SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers must craft next year’s budget and fix huge deficits by May 31, but the closest they came to addressing those problems was a proposal to tax online gambling. Other issues from a proposed minimum wage increases to the Nation of Islam were getting everyone’s attention, as well. Betting on time, taxing iGaming Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, wants legislators to approve his plan to tax and regulateInternet gambling in Illinois before Congress keeps the state’s hands off the industry. Under Cullerton’s proposal, a new Division of …
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Lemont Board of Trustees on Monday is also expected to approve an ordinance that holds vandals responsible for damage caused.
A public hearing will be held during the Lemont Village Board meeting Monday night before trustees vote to adopt the village's budget for fiscal year 2012-13. The board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in Village Hall, 418 Main St. Village administrators have been working on the 2012-13 budget for the past several months. According to meeting documents, the proposed budget includes about $8.3 million in operating expenditures and $8.5 million in expected revenue. The total budget includes about $21.2 million in revenue and $20.9 million in expenditures, according to the meeting packet. In his memo to the village board, Village Administrator Ben Wehmeier said "the current economic condition results have begun to stabilize with limited growth…
Sunday, February 26, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, February 26, 2012
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters. SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's budget proposal tops 400 pages and is more than 3 inches thick. Inside the governor's plan for the next fiscal year, which begins in June, are the details of how he wants to spend $33.9 billion in taxpayers’ money. Illinois Statehouse News examines the governor's plan, speaking with lawmakers and outside experts and checking Quinn's math to make sure that dollars add up. Bigger than last year Quinn’s fiscal 2013 spending plan is $700 million more than the current budget, an increase that will pay for the increase in the state's …
Friday, December 16, 2011
The Illinois Tollwayapproved its 2012 budget Thursday, which includes nearly $609 million in spending.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters. Congress could help states collect online sales taxes Illinoisans who buy the latest best-selling book as a Christmas gift on Amazon.com will pay $12.99. Buy the same book at a local bookstore and they’ll pay an extra 81 cents. The bookstore isn’t charging more. It’s collecting Illinois’ 6.25 percent sales tax, which online retailers without a physical presence in the state don’t have to collect. This tax loophole is costing the cash-strapped state $170 million every year, according to an estimate from the Illinois Department of Revenue. A 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling said …
Monday, October 17, 2011
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters. Work continues on casino compromise It’s a sure bet that gaming expansion will come up during the Illinois Legislature’s fall veto session, but who will win and who will bust is uncertain. A plan to add five casinos throughout the state, expand the number of places where people can make betsat each casino, and allow video gambling at horse tracks eked out of the Legislature this spring but stalled in the face of opposition from Gov. Pat Quinn. Quinn has criticized the legislation repeatedly, calling it “top heavy.” “The bill that they have proposed has many, many defects, and …
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Board members unanimously approved the budget for fiscal 2012 during their monthly business meeting Tuesday night.
For the second year in a row, Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District 113A will operate under a balanced budget. During its monthly business meeting Tuesday night, the District 113A Board of Education unanimously approved the district's 2011-12 budget. Business Manager Barbara Germany provided the board with information regarding revenue and expenditure projections, as well as an update on tax anticipation warrants. Under the approved operating budget, the district is projecting $21.6 million in revenue and $18.6 million in expenditures — giving the district a projected positive balance of about $2.98 million on June 30, 2012. Across all funds, the district is projecting a surplus of about $3.37 million. The district's anticipated …
Edward Andrysiak
11:47 am on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
A politician recently claimed that we should legalize drugs becuase our prisons are full of people, non violent people, who were sentenced to prison time on mostly drug related charges. I have to wonder why we don't leave the laws alone and just fine these people very hefty fines for these infractions. You can put someone in jail for a year and stand the cost of sustaining him/her or you can fine… more ›