Results tagged “congresswoman”

Starting next Sunday, Chicagoans will be able to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables at the Logan Square Green Market using their food stamp LINK card, making Logan Square market the first food-stamp-friendly market in the state. Customers using the LINK cards will pick out their groceries and then pay at a central station, which allows individual farmers to skip the hassle of setting up a wireless credit card machine.

Last night, North Side/North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss her participation in the House Hunger Caucus' Food Stamp Challenge. After accidentally introducing her as Jane (and insisting on calling her such for the rest of the evening, not wanting to admit an error), Colbert dished out his usual satire, suggesting that the food stamp allotment be decreased to $2 to combat obesity. Although she had some difficulty getting...

Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, along with Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Tim Ryan (D-OH), will be cutting way back on grocery shopping this week as part of the Food Stamp Budget Challenge,which started on Tuesday. For a week, Schakowsky will live on approximately $1 per meal. This number is based on the FY05 average monthly benefit of $94.05 for people on the Food Stamp Program. McGovern and Emerson challenged all of the House of Reps to participate; only Schakowsky and Ryan took them up on the challenge.

If you're hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs "so are you nakie" to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor...

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of...

Yesterday Robert Creamer, the husband of Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, representing our friends up in the 9th District, was sentenced to five months in federal prison for check kiting and withholding taxes.

It's the June before an election year, and that means Congressional candidate wannabes are making some hard choices about whether or not they toss their hat into the ring. Why June 2005? Because June 30 is the first important Federal Election Commission's fundraising reporting deadline. The reports, filed in July, are carefully scrutinized by political donors and party bosses across the country. If you don't have enough cheddar in the bank, you're labeled "not viable"...

An open seat Congressional race is like catnip for people in politics -- and they don't come often. Only days after Congressman Henry Hyde's announcement that he will not run for reelection in 2006, one Democrat is in the race for sure, and two Republicans have officially announced their intended candidacies for the Sixth Congressional District. Of the two Republicans, State Sen. Peter Roskam of Glen Ellyn seems to be the front runner. A...

For the fourth straight presidential election Illinois went solidly blue in 2004, labeling our state "Solid Democratic". Since Democrats control the statehouse and the governor's office too, there's talk in Washington of taking advantage of that shading by redrawing Congressional district lines so more Democrats could take Republican districts. It's called "off-year redistricting", and North Shore Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-9) wants Illinois to take a page from Texas' Republican governor and legislature. In 2002, Texas...

On Sunday Attorney General Lisa Madigan gave birth to Rebecca Grace Byrnes, a 7 pounds, 3 ounces, 20 inch baby girl. Babies are a great thing, and Chicagoist is glad to see Illinois political women keep their jobs while they start families. Madigan's printed statement on Saturday refers to a "brief maternity leave." We can't imagine that any top elected official really gets to take vacation, but how long she takes off work will be an interesting precedent.

Rather than talk about how cool it is that Obama is on the cover of Newsweek this week, Chicagoist thought we'd skip the boosterism and talk about something real: Changing suburbanite voting patterns.

Chicagoist reported on the Bean-Crane Eight Congressional District dust-up a couple of days ago. For some reason this weak story has managed to stay in the news cycle, and the various picayune details of a Congressional transition is getting a lot of ink. What gives?

Today’s installment of: what’s up with the government? Illinois’s own Jan Schakowsky (9th District Democrat) has “spearheaded” an effort to rid our nation of a plague on our children. What is this plague you ask? Illiteracy? Disease? Poverty? Abuse? No no, friends: yo-yo water balls. Aside from being our catchy new nickname, yo-yo waters balls are toys, and they are dangerous. So dangerous in fact that Congresswoman Schakowsky, the ranking Democrat on the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, has written a letter. She got Dick Durbin to sign it, too.

Engagement announcements of Members of Congress rarely attract any notice. Everyone knows that Brittany's marriage plans are much more interesting, right? But U.S. Congressman Jerry Weller, who hails from the suburbs and farm land of Will and Grundy Counties, recently got engaged to Guatemalan Congresswoman Zury Rios Sosa. It's a nice story, member of House International Affairs Committee meets foreign official, late night chats over merlot and trade documents, farm boy from Illinois, daughter of bloody Guatemalan dictator...