Illinois

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council is considering a measure that would allow businesses in the city to install non-lethal electric security fences. The proposal would allow the fences if they don’t border residential or public areas, are surrounded by non-electric perimeter fences and bear posted warnings. The Chicago Tribune …

December 3, 2010, BY DAVE McKINNEY AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters The Illinois Senate on Thursday approved police and firefighter pension legislation that Mayor Daley warned would blow a $550 million hole in the city budget, but the top Senate Democrat pledged to try softening that financial hit next month. …

So which elected officials own stakes in full-body scanning machines now in more than 60 U.S. airports? And what are those individual investments worth? We still can’t connect the dots to say that, because these Congressmen invested in these tech companies, than, ipso facto, those scanners were then put in …

Off the Markley Please take the time to read Beau Hodai’s fascinating report on the issue for In These Times. The prison-industrial complex is one of the most insidious corporate interests in the United States. The industry lobbies for and makes money from counter-productive drug laws, and–you guessed it–the continued …

Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn rehired a former top aide who resigned following ethics violations that became an issue in the governor’s race, his office said today. Jerry Stermer, who served as chief of staff before resigning in August, will return to Quinn’s administration on Nov. 29 in the role of …

November 21, 2010 By Kristen McQueary As he asked voters for their support outside Mount Greenwood School in Chicago on Election Day, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd), of Western Springs, noticed a burly man in his 30s wearing a “Throw The Bums Out” button. The three-term congressman hesitated before approaching …

By Reuters Posted yesterday at 5:05 p.m. Farmland values in the U.S. Midwest, one of the world’s top grain growing regions, jumped 10 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago due to rising agricultural prices and the low cost of money, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago …

from the free-speech-isn’t-free dept This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill — despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear …

$15B DEFICIT | Cites doubts about gambling package November 8, 2010 BY DAVE McKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief SPRINGFIELD — A gambling package that could raise $1 billion annually for the state appears “top-heavy” and should take a back seat in the upcoming fall veto session to raising the income …

Congradulation to all the Illinois political candidates who won this election. While you are running this great country, keep a few facts in mind. The people of Illinois elected you The people of Illinois don’t trust you The people of Illinois won’t fear you or any of your policies You …

Hoping to sway voters in tight statewide races, political groups pump cash into Illinois An unprecedented influx of political cash — most of it from outside Illinois — is feeding an inescapable wave of television attack ads aimed at manipulating voters in the final weeks of high-stakes campaigns for U.S. …

October 27, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The election is another day closer and there are more problems with Illinois’ new vote-by-mail system. Depending on who you talk to, the issue either has the potential to become Illinois’ version of the ballot fiasco they had in Florida in 2000 or it …

By Karen Ann Cullotta, Special to the Tribune October 15, 2010 Just days after his son Ryan’s suicide, Richard Kirchhoff decided that his personal heartbreak would not remain a private matter. “Most people don’t like to say the S-word, which is part of the problem,” said Kirchhoff, a McHenry County …

A day after the unveiling of a long-term regional plan for the Chicago area, Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday announced a $4.25 million federal grant that will go to the agency that prepared the plan. The plan, known as Go to 2040, was crafted by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for …

October 14, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether military personnel overseas received Illinois absentee ballots in time for their votes to count. Ballots to military personnel and other Americans abroad were supposed to have been mailed by September 18. Now the U.S. Justice Department …