Results tagged “illinoisgeneralassembly”

Of all the causes to get behind, it’s not often we hear about activists fighting for prisoners’ rights. But that’s the purpose of The Sewing Rebellion’s + Tamms Year Ten event, taking place this Sunday.

Last week, both houses of the Illinois General Assembly passed a law that would enable Illinois to bypass the Electoral College in future presidential elections. The move came just before New Jersey Governor John S. Corzine signed similar legislation on Sunday that would eliminate New Jersey's participation in the Electoral College. The only other state to have passed a similar law is Maryland, which was the first state to take up the cause.

Ron Huberman et al handed down the proposed 2008 CTA budget, and it ain't pretty. At all.

State Rep. Edward Acevedo (D-Chicago) is no stranger to the long green. As one of the chief sponsors of HB 429, the wine shipping bill that aims to bring Illinois in compliance with the 2005 Supreme Court ruling in Granholm v. Heald by limiting the ways consumers can obtain wines, Acevedo received $7,500 in campaign contributions from the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois for carrying their water. Turns out that Acevedo is also the litigious...

While the state government devolves into a teeming cesspool of Machiavellian intrigue and self-loathing (quickly becoming an annual tradition in one form or another here in the Land of Lincoln), the world of politics moves on. While we have no problem kicking around Blagojevich (and the other asshole cynics downstate), this week, we're putting it aside, damn it! With out further adieu, here it is, your dose of news before lunch: Daley Takes his Public...

On Tuesday, the CTA Transit Board passed its 2007 budget. And then promptly asked for more money. In order to remedy the slow zones throughout the system, which now make up 34 percent of the Red Line and portions of the Blue Line, the CTA estimates it needs an additional $500 million dollars over and above the state and federal dollars it already receives (the budget currently allocates $35.7 million for 2007 but nothing for...

How are Polling Places Selected?

It’s been 11 years since the Illinois General Assembly passed a parental-notification abortion law, but it has never gone into effect. That’s something the Illinois Supreme Court plans to change. Chief Justice Robert Thomas called a suburban Christian radio show last week and said he planned to revive the law, which would prohibit minor girls from getting abortions without parental consent.

The price tag on the Dan Ryan construction project wasn't the only thumping big number in the news this past weekend. True to the predictions that we wrote about a couple weeks ago, ComEd announced the results of their first energy auction late Friday afternoon, translating into a whopping 25 percent increase in monthly electricity bills come January.

Houstonist reports on cross-dressing thieves and undressing educators this week. A Peeping Tom defends himself with a papaya and an outraged onlooker asks Ken Lay, "TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" Also, FEMA wants it's money back. LAist are a bug bunch of geeks. They're Star Trek geeks, David Duchovny geeks and Frank Gehry geeks. During their Cochella preview their readers reveal themselves to be Depeche Mode geeks. Seattlest saw their basketball team preparing to leave for...

Since members of the Republican-dominated US Congress aren't too keen on impeaching President Bush for screwing over the country, the Illinois General Assembly is trying to find a way to make it happen. Democratic State Representatives Karen A. Yarbrough, Sara Feigenholtz, and Eddie Washington are pushing a resolution to "submit charges to the U.S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his...

Chicagoist guesses that the Illinois General Assembly has no real legislating to do, as they had the time to to vote on whether the 1985 Chicago Bears are the greatest football team of all time.

Try as they might to spin things in a positive manner, it has NOT been a good year public relations-wise for the Chicago Transit Authority. Remember in the spring when they proposed so many "doomsday budget" scenarios that they came across like a spoiled child begging for more allowance money while not doing any more work around the house? Those were good times. Or when CTA Board Chair Carole Brown started her own weblog...

Yesterday Governor Blagojevich addressed the Illinois General Assembly and urged them to pass his All Kids legislation, which would provide affordable health insurance to all children in the state.

The ongoing battles between the Illinois General Assembly and the CTA have once again hit the papers. After reading this article in the Sun-Times, we’re left with the same sinking feeling we get in our stomach whenever we attend a cockfight: no matter whom we root for, it just feels wrong.

">pay 700 dollars for a 23 dollar ticket. But be sure he does so online!"

Chicagoist was just commenting, it seems, about how President's Day is one of those half-holidays where nothing happens really, but if you're lucky you get the day off. Well, same with Pulaski Day. Except you have an even slimmer chance of getting the day off.

While a lack of action on expanded gambling in the state and the CTA bailout dominated headlines during the Illinois General Assembly's veto session these past two weeks, something important did get sent to Gov. Blagojevich's desk. Both the House and Senate passed a bill that allows voters an additional two weeks to register to vote. Currently you must register 4 weeks before election day in Illinois. Voters that register during the additional two weeks would have to either vote by mail or at a special location.

We're all about to get fucked someplace really uncomfortable—no, not the back of a Volkswagen; more like the back of the bus. The Illinois General Assembly will close its veto session today without approving additional funds for the CTA. They've postponed action on the CTA budget until the middle of next year at the earliest. Remember how the CTA made two budgets; one if the State coughed up the cash to batch major budget gaps, and another "doomsday" one if they didn't? Well, we're looking at the doomsday one. Awesome.

With the Illinois General Assembly's veto session beginning Monday, quite a bit of important legislation could be passed. Leaders of the State Senate and House met with Gov. Blago Thursday to discuss the agenda. Legislators will discuss increasing the number of armed security guards at the capitol (in light of the September shooting of security guard William Wozniak), the CTA bail-out, more casinos in Illinois (as one possible source for the CTA bail-out) and one...

The Illinois General Assembly adjourned on Tuesday, but House Speaker Michael Madigan called them back to the capitol for a one-day session next week. If the legislature can’t work it out, the elections board, the state attorney general or the federal courts can.

Here's the Obama For Illinois senatorial campaign site, which has the Obama Blog. And as a U. Chicago law school professor, Obama is beloved, even after standing up a Maroon reporter. The New Republic's Noam Scheiber recently wrote an article about Obama (registration req'd), Black Commentator searches for the "Real" Obama, and the Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn posts excerpts of an Obama interview Jeff Berkowitz did. You can also read Obama's memoir, Dreams of My Father.