Reboot: Lou Lang—Read the Constituion

Lou Lang to Tribune: Read the constitution! Quinn's budget gets watchdog group's seal of approval -and a warning: Your Reboot Illinois Daily Tip-Off

Patch on Politics

Gov Can't Keep Track of All His Boards and Commissions

State government grows in the dark, like a fungus. • Bill Daley has an idea to take the party out of state elections. • Time magazine mourns for Illinois.

When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, he promised to take aim at state boards and commissions stocked with politically connected folks drawing large salaries with little oversight into their activities. He would pare down those panels and save you money. Better Government Association investigative reporter Barbara Rose this month looked into whether Quinn delivered: "... more than three years into Quinn’s watch little has changed, except the number of such units is growing. As troubling, many don’t comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, according to a report last year by state Auditor General William Holland." In fact, the governor's office is having a hard time keeping up with it all. "With over 322 boards and commissions, …

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George Pickett

10:50 am on Monday, January 28, 2013

I wonder if he kept the monney?   more ›

Patch on Politics

Pat Quinn: Worst Governor in One of America's Worst-Run States

Take the Patch Poll: Does Pat Quinn deserve re-election or would you put another Democrat on the ballot in 2014?

Pat Quinn is so unpopular, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, that Lisa Madigan and Bill Daley would easily beat him in a Democratic primary while Kirk Dillard and Dan Rutherford would topple him in the general election. Quinn says he's going to run for re-election in 2014, but as 2012 comes to an end only 25 percent of Illinois voters approve of the job he's doing as governor. Public Policy Polling says 64 percent of voters disapprove of Quinn's performance — "making him the most unpopular governor PPP has polled on anywhere in the country this year." And there seems to be good reason for that. Last week, 24/7 Wall St. published a ranking of all 50 states, and Illinois emerges as the third-worst-run state in America, …

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Patch on Politics

Bipartisan Backing for an Obamacare Play in Illinois

Durbin and Kirk support $150 million loan for SimpleHx • Few approve of Quinn • Convicts collect $2 million in unemployment • Poll: Biggert-Foster very close • State House candidate's domestic battery case dropped with scant attention.

One aspect of Obamacare is drawing bipartisan support — at least in Illinois. Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Mark Kirk both back an outfit called SimpleHx, which wants a $150 million federal loan to establish the state's first health insurance co-op under the president's federal healthcare law. The people behind SimpleHx met at Northwestern University last year while pursuing their MBAs, according to Modern Healthcare reporter Kristen Schorsch. SimpleHx is competing against four proposals, including one backed by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, a trade group founded in 1935 that represents more than 150 local hospitals and health care organizations. If the proposals are similar, in terms of promises to save money and …

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Family, Friends of Late Frankfort Teen Turn Out for Gov. to Sign 'Julie's Law'

Julie Gorczynski's family and friends attended a special ceremony Friday, where Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law to help stop situations like the one that took Gorczynski's life from happening again. The Frankfort teen died in a car crash in Orland Park.

If there was a shared sentiment Friday morning as Gov. Pat Quinn signed "Julie's Law" at a special ceremony at Lincoln-Way North High School, it was bittersweetness, the idea that something positive could come out of tragedy of Julie Gorczynski's death. Gorczynski was killed last summer after the car she was in was hit by a driver going more than 35 mph over the speed limit in Orland Park. The driver had been placed on court suspension seven times previously, all for excessive speeding. A week before the accident, the Frankfort teen had graduated from L-W North, and a week later, she was to turn 18. READ: Frankfort Teen Dies in Traffic Accident Family members, friends and government officials joined the governor at the signing Friday for …

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POLL: How Will the State's Cigarette Tax Hike Affect You?

The cost to buy a pack of cigarettes goes up in Illinois as a new tax increase on cigarettes goes into effect. Will this change your habits? Tell us what you think.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. The cheap ones, that is. READ: Village Board Adopts New Way to Regulate Tobacco-Sales Licenses Starting Sunday, June 24, the price of a pack of cigarettes increases as the state tax more than doubles on them, thanks to a measure recently signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. The tax increase, which goes from the long-standing 98 cents a pack to $1.98, will create an estimated $350 million in revenue and hopefully force some state residents to quit the habit, the Chicago Tribune reports.  Read the full Chicago Tribune for more details about the cigarette tax increase. But this could force state residents to buy their smokes from neighboring states and drop overall cigarette sales by about 20 percent, the Tribune report stated…

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Sunday Comics

Sunday Comic: Gov. Quinn Tries to Bail Out Illinois

With state drowning in debt, the governor turns to the Internet for help.

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VOTE: Should Will County Have Control Over Possible Third Airport?

Will County Board President Jim Moustis took a hard stand last week, saying the county will fight to have control over a possible new airport in Peotone. Do you think that's a good idea?

VOTE: Should Will County Have Control Over Possible Third Airport?

Will County Board President Jim Moustis took a hard stand Thursday, saying the county will fight to have control over a possible new airport in Peotone. Do you think that's a good idea?

It's a new year, but the old battle over a proposed third Chicagoland airport to be built in Peotone has started up again. Will County Board President Jim Moustis (R-Frankfort) took a vocal stand at Thursday's board meeting, insisting the county needs to have control over the airport's operation, according to a report in TribLocal.  I am not going to sit here in silence. I’m not going to let this governor, or past governors … you will not dump on us. We will fight you all the way. If they’re going to force it here, it will be on our terms, not on somebody else’s. Gov. (Pat) Quinn, you will not treat us like somehow we’re second class citizens and we don’t exist. You don’t think you need us. You might find out different later. Moustis and …

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Tracy

10:40 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012

Lol - Stan, I am hoping this is sarcasm at it's finest lol.   more ›

Report: School District Mergers Could Cost Illinois Nearly $4 Billion

Gov. Pat Quinn's proposal to merge state's 868 districts failed to consider financial incentives promised under the law, according to a recent study.

Consolidating the state's 800-plus school districts into a more manageable number could cost nearly $4 billion, according to a recent report. The Classroom First Commission, a panel formed last year to study ways Illinois could increase schools' efficiency and cut costs, found little support for "sweeping consolidation of school districts," the Associated Press reports. In February 2011, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told the General Assembly that merging the state's 868 school districts into just 300 would save about $100 million, primarily through the reduction of the number of administrators. According to the panel's study, however, Quinn's plan failed to consider the financial incentives that Illinois law promises to merging districts, …

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