With City Hall all a-whirl with this week's news, there's still actual business to take care of, one of those items of business being the City's 2011 budget and the growing deficit. Starting tonight and continuing through next week, there will be three separate public hearings at which The Office of Budget and Management and members of the City Council's Budget Committee will hear present Mayor Daley's preliminary budget for next year - which includes that $650 million gap - that the next mayor will get to inherit. And you will have a chance to present feedback; that is, after all, the point of these hearings is to get your feelings on them so let them hear you, loud and clear. The meetings are:
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Results tagged “financialcrisis”
Trio Of Budget Hearings Kick Off Tonight
Financial Aid Denied to 130,000 College Students
With the state feeling the financial crunch and reeling from that recent budget dust-up, we knew lots of folks we're going to suffer repercussions. One of the latest groups to feel the sting is a group of the state's college students who were denied financial aid. Why? Because they applied after the state's May 15 deadline, a deadline which, in the past, had been set much later. Then there's this, according to the Sun-Times:
Jesse Jackson Pays A Visit to Factory Sit-In
As the sit-in at the Republic Windows and Doors plant reached its third day, Rev. Jesse Jackson paid a visit to factory workers. The factory was suddenly shut down this week after Bank of America canceled the company's line of credit due to the current economic crisis. Workers, however, are demanding severance packages they say are owed to them. A law signed by Gov. Blagojevich a few years ago backs this claim up. According to NBC 5:
The Illinois WARN Act, signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2004, requires employers to give 60 days notice to employees and their unions, the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity’s Bureau of Workforce Development and the Illinois Department of Labor, of a plant closing or mass layoff.Union officials say the line of credit the company had was around $5 million; Bank of America was one of several banks that recently received money in a bailout package from the Federal Government, totaling $25 billion for BoA, which the union says obliges BoA to maintain their commitment to the company. Jackson is meeting with workers in an attempt to work out a deal. According to Jackson's Ranibow PUSH Coalition, Jackson is trying to get BoA to reinstate the credit and keep the factory open, even though BoA claims the factory's finances are not its responsibility.
Why Did The Bailout Fail?
Yesterday, Washington and Wall St. descended into chaos as the bailout plan was voted down by the House of Representatives. But why? What happened? Some House Republicans blamed a speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), “I do believe that we could have gotten there today, had it not been for the partisan speech that the Speaker gave on the floor of the House. We put everything we had into getting the vote to get there today.” Here's the speech. Does Pelosi speak the truth? Or is it an unnecessary poke in the eye? And is it really a valid excuse by Republicans? Somehow, we don't see this speech also causing 40 percent of Democrats to vote against the bailout.
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