Results tagged “jamesmeeks”

With a state budget still not in place and lawmakers trying to figure out how to plug a budget hole that ranges somewhere between $9 billion and $11.6 billion, Governor Quinn has decided to go straight to legislators instead of the usual dealings with party leaders. Among those who Quinn has met with is Sen. James Meeks, who supports Quinn's proposed income tax hike. Quinn told reporters, "I have a number of other legislators -- Democrat and Republican, House and Senate -- I will be meeting with over the next few days. We believe in consensus-building.''

Never one to make a fuss about anything, impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich will today make his first appearance at the State Capitol since his arrest on December 9. Blago is on hand to preside over the swearing in of newly elected state senators, something he is required to do by law. Still, we're expecting him to receive a chilly reception at the high noon ceremony. Also occurring at noon will be the swearing in of new House members by Secretary of State Jesse White; the House will then re-vote on the impeachment of Blago, a technicality because of the newly sworn-in members. After the new senators are sworn in, Blago will then preside over the roll call vote for the Senate President, who we already know will be Chicago's John Cullerton. Cullerton will then address the senate and it's expected Blago will exit stage left, though without the traditional escort of senators.

State Senator James Meeks, who recently led a controversial two-day boycott of Chicago Public Schools, is set to protest at a Cubs playoff game next week by surrounding Wrigley Field with 6,000 people to protest what he claims is a funding disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. But the city's most powerful White Sox fan is asking Meeks to knock it off. Said Mayor Daley:

We waited 100 years for the Cubs to get in. You shouldn’t disturb them. I really believe that. They've been very helpful [by contributing to] a lot of programs. This is their day...It doesn’t do any good in the long run. People are getting tired of it. Everybody knows the inequity. We’ve been talking about it for a long time. This is nothing new. I don’t know why you’re finally writing about it now. It’s just a waste of time for the children. If he wants to do that, so be it. [But], those kids should be in school and tutoring programs.

When we went to Winnetka, that pushed a button that hadn’t been pushed before. By us going to Wrigley Field, it’ll push another button that hasn’t been pushed before. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result. What the mayor has been doing is the same thing the same way. We're doing things a different way.

In spite of the Meeks boycott, Chicago Public Schools reported a record opening day for the 2008-2009 school year on Tuesday when 93.7 percent of the system's 405,000 kids showed up, for a total of 379,485 students (that's a lot of Hannah Montana backpacks).

State Senator Reverend James Meeks called for the end of the CPS student boycott last night after two days, instead of the planned four days, of protests.

State Senator Reverend Jame Meeks's controversial school boycott is underway today, with should-be CPS students bussed to New Trier Township High School and Sunset Ridge School. Protest organizers were hoping to have 3,000 students participate in the boycott, intended to highlight the funding disparities between CPS students and their wealthy suburban counterparts. According to WBBM, the actual turnout is more in the hundreds than the thousands.

Rev. Al Sharpton joined the call for CPS students to boycott the first day of school. State Senator Rev. James Meeks suggested the boycott, which includes taking CPS students to schools in the suburbs to highlight the funding disparity, at the end of July.

According to a report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, one out of every four US bridges is "deficient, either in need of repair or in need of widening to handle today's traffic." [AP, report]

In the continuing soap opera that is our state's budget crisis, Governor Rod Blagojevich made a visit to Rev. James Meeks's south side mega-church, House of Hope Sunday to drum up support for his proposal of free rides for seniors on the region's mass transit system. Besides being pastor of the church, Meeks is also an Illinois State Senator, and is often allied with the governor.

Just when we thought it was safe to look up when walking downtown or driving our cars, the billboards have begun attacking again. This time they aren’t happy with reminding us about our big nose, fat thighs, and horrible mates – this time they’ve attacked what our ears are getting out of those earbuds. St. Sabina Church is erecting billboards that decry disrespectful rappers. There are seven artists, per a call to St. Sabina, who...

So much has happened in politics this week, all across our little city. From the ministers in the West Loop, to construction and development on the South Side, to Top Cops Downtown getting notice in DC, it's like Chicago is just one big happy village, people. Let's take a look: Blago's Budget Puts Him in Touch With God. Governor Rod Blagojevich is on a "crusade," bringing tax fairness, education and health care to all of...

The big news yesterday was Rod Blagojevich's tax proposals. Coming as part of his combined State of the State and budget address to the General Assembly yesterday, Blago is proposing the largest tax hike in state history. Along with raising taxes (which he said he wouldn't do during his re-election campaign), he is also planning to increase spending by 9.5%, to a record $60.1 billion; $7 billion of that would come from the new gross...

We here at the Chicagoist offices follow the news so you don't have to. Sometimes that means sifting through press releases, reading other news outlets, or keeping our ear to the ground. One thing we've been keeping an eye on here is the "education situation" in this state, with all its sick twists and turns. Tax "reform" and education have been quite the issue this winter, with Governor Blagojevich promising not to raise taxes, while...

Chicagoist has been following the potential sale or lease of the state lottery since the New York Times beat our local papers to the punch, reporting on Blagojevich's plan. Besides smaller payouts, (the State's Request for Qualifications states that private operators would have to pay out at least half of the cash collected in winnings), the most shocking statement so far has come from John Filan, the governor's chief operating officer, who told CBS 2 that while a private operator wouldn't be allowed to market more heavily to "ethnic minorities", profit is still top priority.

A few days ago, the New York Times scooped the local dailies with a piece about Rod Blagojevich's plan to cash in his chips, so to speak, with plans to privatize the Illinois Lottery. If you are feeling particularly bureaucratic today, you can read the state's Request for Concessionaire Qualifications here (PDF). John Filan, the state's Chief Operating Officer cites the government's inability to efficiently manage what he claims is essentially a retail operation. “Gaming...

Daley has suddenly become the great scholar, spouting wisdom in public about public-school reform, not just in Chicago, but also in Illinois. Over the weekend, he fired another salvo in his crusade to save the children. Opening a community center in Avondale, Hizzoner used the opportunity to call on the governor to institute mandatory full-day kindergarten, which would have the added effect of lowering the mandatory age of enrollment to 5 (it's currently 7, but about 95% of Illinois 5- and 6-year-olds are enrolled in school). Education is always a hot topic, especially in an election year, and this isn't the first time that Daley has pushed for this kind of change.

Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court and would-be Mayor of Chicago Dorothy Brown has been getting all bent out of shape over the word choices of a certain South Side preacher. After Rev. James Meeks told the press that he had no intention of endorsing for mayor "anybody who's going to lose," Dorothy Brown has practically barnstormed the local press, accusing the minister of "hurtful" and "sexist" remarks. Meeks retorted that he wasn't necessarily talking about her.

Whew! What a week it's been in politics, and it's only Wednesday! Chicagoist has lotsa political tidbits for you today, so saddle up little buckaroo, and let's ride out!

Halloween is here, a time when you can show off your creativity as well as the parts of you that are usually only seen by a board-certified physician. WGN says the top costumes this year are princess, pirate, witch and Spider-Man. Last year's favorites were tinker, tailor, soldier and spy. If you haven’t made your plans yet, Centerstage Chicago has a tidy guide with costume tips, food ideas and recommendations for a sober or sauced...

After much speculation, State Senator James Meeks announced today that he will not run for governor as a third-party candidate this fall. Meeks was considering a run because he was disappointed with Governor Blagojevich's school funding, but after being briefed on Blago's new unreleased plan, the Reverend said, "I'm saying I'm off the ballot. Forget it." This is quite a change of heart as just last week Meeks announced he would begin collecting the 25,000...

We held off writing anything about gay marriage opponents trying to get a referendum to change the Illinois Constitution to define marriage as a relationship between a woman and a man on the November ballot because we didn’t want to give the haters at Protect Marriage Illinois any attention, and we hoped they would fail in their quest to collect the needed signatures. The good news is that organizers of the referendum fell short in...

The latest Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll has Governor Rod Blagojevitch (which is apparently Zogby for Blagojevich) ahead of Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka, 43% to 37%, despite having a low approval rating. Of course, other recent polls by Rasmussen Reports and Glengariff Group show Topinka ahead by a slight margin, so take it for what it's worth. To Carol Marin, it's not worth much. Today she reminds us that November is still a long way away.

So far this week Chicagoist had an argument with our siblings over baseball, endured a date with a guy who isn't even registered to vote, forgot to set our alarm clock, thus making us late for a big meeting at work, fell down some stairs, and accidentally threw our favorite cashmere sweater into the dryer. And it's only Wednesday! Sigh. Even with all of that, our week is still not going as poorly as Governor...

As we’ve mentioned before, State Senator James Meeks is none too happy with Governor Blagojevich, and he is thinking of running for governor as a third-party candidate. Originally he wanted to run because he was disappointed with Blago’s educational funding, but Meeks also thinks Illinois needs a pro-life and anti-gay marriage candidate like himself. Didn’t we already have a couple of candidates like that in the Republican primary? And didn’t they both lose? Meeks has...

Now that the primaries are over, we can all take a deep breath before we look ahead to the November election. However, there are still plenty of questions that need answering. Will Stroger be on the November ballot? We all know that he is currently recovering from a stroke, but what we don’t know is just how serious his condition is, and if he will recover well enough to stay on the ballot or serve...

In our February review on local politics we casually mentioned that the Legislative Black Caucus, led by State Senator James Meeks, was considering backing a third-party candidate if Governor Blagojevich couldn’t find a better way to fund schools in light of his pledge to not increase sales and income taxes. We thought it was an empty threat to try to get Blago to reconsider his positions and remind him not to take the black vote...

In May of 2005 Mayor Daley announced a partial hiring freeze when officials found that (brace yourself!) patronage was in full effect for certain positions within City Hall.

Is there other news to discuss outside of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? If there is, we’re having a hard time paying attention to it. Despite occurring some 920 miles away, the tragedy in the Gulf Coast region has already become a local and state issue as the massive loss of life and property, the looming health and energy crises and the breakdown of the rule of law have a ripple effect across the nation....

Chicagoist doesn’t drive very often and when we do it’s usually because we’re headed out of town on a road trip. So when we overhear traffic reports, we usually pause only long enough to laugh at the poor bastards stuck on the Kennedy as we wonder if we’ll be sitting next to the guy that smells like pee again on the bus this morning. There’s some good news in this morning’s Sun-Times for anyone who...