Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Western Springs Republican (District 82) said that Illinois government is attempting to circumvent a thoughtful discussion on several controversial bills.
Illinois State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-82nd, Western Springs) is speaking out against some state lawmakers' attempts to pass new laws, including banning assault weapons and allowing same-sex marriage during Springfield's lame-duck session, The Doings Oak Brook reports. According to the paper, while Durkin has not yet stated clear support or opposition to either assault-weapons bans or same-sex marriage, he said that rushing bills through without extensive discussion and public input is unfair, and that he intends to sponsor a new bill "to prevent lame-duck session abuses." “I’ve had it with the 11th hour passage of bills which do not get the thorough vetting before the public and members of the legislature," the paper quoted Durkin as saying. "…
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
About 15 minutes after the polls closed, news media sources put Illinois in the Obama column, giving the president 20 electoral votes.
President Barack Obama won Illinois’ 20 electoral votes on Tuesday, defeating Republican Mitt Romney. Illinois, of course, was never in play. The only visit the president made to his home state late in the campaign came Oct. 25, when he returned to the South Side to cast an early ballot at the Martin Luther King Community Center. Obama is the first president to ever vote early in a presidential election. The Wall St. Journal and the Associated Press called the state about 15 minutes after the polls closed. The president's handling of the economy is a major factor in many voters' decision this year. "This election bears serious significance for our future," said Sheila Brady of Orland Park, outside her Fernway Elementary School polling …
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 …
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Here is a wrap-up of some of the latest political news.
Illinois lawmakers are pushing for a statewide plastic bag and wrapper recycling program, the first of its kind in the country, according to Illinois Statehouse News. The bill requires plastic bag and wrapper manufacturers to establish collection sites within 10 miles of Illinois residents in 90 percent of counties by 2014. “We could do nothing and recycle 2 percent of our bags next year, or we could put in a statewide program and make it to 13 percent,” State Rep. Michael Tryon (R-Crystal Lake), the bill's sponsor, told the Statehouse News. This collection program would evaluate plastic bag and wrapper recycling rates. It would expire in four years, unless the General Assembly renews it. The bill also bars local governments, except …
Sunday, April 22, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
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Sunday, April 22, 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 — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday visited a state he has used as a political punching bag to campaign ahead of a historic recall election in the Badger State. Walker spoke to a crowd of about 300 lobbyists, lawmakers and members of the business community at thePresident Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center.Walker’s speech was part of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business lobby day here. Walker’s visit comes less than two months before the embattled governor faces a recall election, spurred mostly by Act 10, a …
Monday, April 16, 2012
A proposal by the state pension committee to shift the costs of teacher pensions from the state to local school districts could be "catastrophic" to districts 210 and 113A in Lemont, officials said.
Lemont school officials are speaking out against a proposal by Illinois legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn to shift the employer costs of teacher pensions from the state to local school districts. The plan is expected to be part of a list of recommendations by the state pension committee this week to address Illinois' $83 billion unfunded pension liability—$44 billion of which is from the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS). TRS pension covers certified employees including teachers, administrators, social workers and counselors. Currently, a TRS employee pays 9.4 percent of his or her salary into the pension system. By comparison, typical U.S. workers pay 6.2 percent of their pay into Social Security. TRS employees pay 1.45 percent into …
Sunday, April 15, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
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Sunday, April 15, 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 — A state representative was indicted on a federal bribery charge, officials in Washington, D.C., addressed Illinois' fiscal troubles, and warmer weather means road construction is under way from Chicago to Cairo. Rep. Derrick Smith indicted on bribery charge A federal grand jury indicted state Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, on a single federal bribery charge. Smith is accused of accepting $7,000 in exchange for writing a letter of support for a day care center he thought was seeking a $50,000 Early Childhood Construction Grant through the state's Capital Development…
Sunday, March 4, 2012
It's always good to be caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened this week.
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Sunday, March 4, 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 hasn’t met its end of the bargain in funding the school districts this year — and it probably won’t next year, state education officials said Tuesday. The state is supposed to help each district provide at least $6,119 for each student each year. This aid is combined with local property tax revenue and federal funding. But this fiscal year, the per-pupil funding was $5,953, or 95 percent of the required spending, because the state did not provide enough aid, said Illinois State Board of Education superintendent Chris Koch told House Education …
Sunday, January 22, 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. IL lawmakers set to push for school vouchers, again Riding the wave of a victory in school reform last year, education activists are gearing up for another push this spring, this time for school vouchers. Through vouchers, tax dollars are used to help pay for tuition at private schools. Although attempts at instituting a voucher program have been made, the idea has yet to achieve enough support to make it out of the General Assembly. Past plans in Illinois have targeted vouchers at children enrolled in underperforming schools and those who live in economically depressed areas …
Sunday, January 1, 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, January 1, 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. Tax increase, impact, dominate Illinois Capitol in 2011 Call it the year of the tax increase. Illinois‘ tax increase vote in January dominated this year’s session here. Illinois Statehouse News takes a look back at the year, taking stock of the work from state lawmakers. Our year in review looks at the abolition of the death penalty, workers’ compensation reform, education reform, and of course the tax hike and its impact. For more, CLICK HERE.
m hardy
10:21 am on Saturday, January 5, 2013
Navel-gazing restricts your ability to see the interconnectivity of society. If in your purview "the gay marriage issue is important to a select few”, then the Suffrage and Civil Rights movements would have only been important to a select few as well. Rights issues do not deserve the back burner. A white knuckled clench to define “marriage” as man and woman, has the relevance of defining a phone … more ›