After a summer filled with debate amongst the Cook County Commissioners in regards to the sales tax rollback, Board President Todd Stroger's veto, and the commissioners inability to garner enough votes to override said veto, the state legislature has gotten involved. Yesterday, both the House (by a 66-49 vote) and the Senate (by a 49-1 vote) passed a bill that sets the new requirement for a veto override at three-fifths of the commissioners (11) rather than the current requirement of fourth-fifths (14). Now all that's left is for Gov. Quinn to sign it. The bill was specifically aimed at Stroger and the tax rollback. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), said, "This is a great win for taxpayers in Cook County." Stroger spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said, "We're disappointed that the legislature chose not to use logic and decided to change the rules in the middle of the game." Stroger has previously said he would fight any such legislation in court if it was passed. more ›

Talk about awkward. Governor Rod Blagojevich will be in Springfield tomorrow to preside over the state senate to swear in new senators for the new legislative session. And the second item on the senate's agenda after swearing in the newbies? Finalizing rules for Blago's impeachment trial which begins January 26. So what kind of reception will the embattled governor receive. Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes said, "I would say that he would be lucky to just get silence as opposed to outright boos," and Rep. Susana Mendoza added, "I think he should just stay away." Ouch. We imagine it'll probably go something like this: more ›

Mayor Daley has many nicknames among Chicagoans, but we're going to start referring to him as The Harbinger of Doom. Daley announced that he has been informed by several CEOs to expect massive layoffs in the city's private sector as the nation's current economic recession deepens. "Huge layoffs are coming in November and December. And next year, there’s going to be [even more] huge layoffs. All the corporation CEOs have come in to tell me. That’s just the beginning. It’s not their end result." Oh, and that $420 million budget hole the city is facing? Turns out that's not the only bad news we're facing.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Chicago will close the book on 2008 with an unreserved corporate fund balance of just $1.5 million, a dangerously low level that, Wall Street Rating agencies warned, threatens the all-important bond rating used to determine borrowing costs. more ›

Looks like Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes told a little fib on his resume. Gentes, a Democrat who is campaigning for the state senate seat in 26th district, said he took a leave of absence as operations director at the Realtor Association of NorthWest Chicagoland. As it turns out, he was actually fired from the position early this year. Oops! Gentes told the Chicago Tribune that he didn't come clean about his employment history because he was "embarrassed." Still, it's probably not as embarrassing as being caught in a lie because you were too embarrassed to tell the truth in the first place. more ›

While the talk around town has focused on the implications of Tony Rezko's indictment for Blagojevich, the national story has been how close he was to Obama. more ›

Right Now, the State Senate is in the process of grandstanding before voting on the amended transit funding bill. You can read Rich Miller's updates to this point here. more ›

The Illinois State Senate narrowly passed a public-works bill, which includes plans for a Chicago casino. The bill also gives the CTA $200 million in the form of a one-year loan to tide us over until the next crisis. Now on to the House, where this bill will totally die. more ›

Just as a cloud of gloom began to set in over the carless masses of Chicago, a ray of hope came as the State Senate has been called into session on Monday. While a spokesman for Senate President Emil Jones would only say that the session would include discussion of the "transit issue," Sen. John Cullerton, (D-Chicago) told Crain's that he thinks they are going to take up the same bill that Julie Hamos was... more ›

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin more ›

In other news, the State Senate voted on absolutely nothing the other day. We’ve been wondering when Mike Madigan’s luck might run out, and it seems that, at least nominally, the governor has managed to rally a few of the cattle that serve as elected representatives to push back against Madigan’s plans to pork up the budget this year. While his tax plan has been a fiasco, and his wet dream of universal healthcare in... more ›

Finally, the State Senate voted about a budget for the state of Illinois, even if it did not exactly vote on one. By a margin of 34-19 it adopted a sense-of-the-Senate resolution, spelling out objections to the budget document endorsed by the Illinois House last month. Mayor Daley's stalled plan to put the financial squeeze on parents of young graffiti vandals will be advanced by City Council, but only after the maximum fine is... more ›

Finally, the State Senate voted about a budget for the state of Illinois, even if it did not exactly vote on one. By a margin of 34-19 it adopted a sense-of-the-Senate resolution, spelling out objections to the budget document endorsed by the Illinois House last month. Mayor Daley's stalled plan to put the financial squeeze on parents of young graffiti vandals will be advanced by City Council, but only after the maximum fine is... more ›

A couple weeks back we wrote about the Illinois House approving legislation that would restrict the amount of wine an Illinois vineyard could sell directly to a customer to 12 cases a year. The legislation, HB 429, was drafted to bring Illinois in compliance with the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Granholm V. Heald, in which they found non-reciprocal wine laws in New York and Michigan to be in violation of both interstate commerce... more ›

We're not sure what to dedicate this week's round up to: Rudy Guiliani salivating as he was "asked" about a fictional terrorist attack in last night's debate, Tom Tancredo's vow to double the size of Guantanamo Bay if elected, or Tommy Thompson's large ears and no neck. Ah screw it, this one is dedicated to Rod Blagojevich's hair. Here we go: Mayor Daley Is a Funny Guy. No, really, he is. Go read Mick Dumke's... more ›

The Illinois State Senate is considering a state-wide ban on smoking. Senator Terry Link from Vernon Hills introduced a bill that’s basically the same as what we’re currently living with in Chicago. The bill serves the purpose of easing the woes of businesses in municipalities where smoking has already been banned. They are loosing business as their smoking customers are willing to drive to other bars and restaurants where smoking is allowed. Any statewide... more ›

You remember that poll in the Sun-Times yesterday? Yeah, that one. Well the race for Cook County Board President got a little, well, hot yesterday. In a noon debate at Chicago's Union League Club, the once and future king of Cook County took shots at Peraica, trying to paint him as both a right-winger and a crook associated with disgraced (and convicted) former Cicero town president Betty Loren-Maltese; Peraica accused Stroger of being absent for... more ›

State Senate President Emil Jones was hospitalized Monday after feeling tightness in his chest while working out. See, this is why Chicagoist doesn’t work out regularly. In all seriousness, a minor blockage was detected in Jones’ right coronary artery, and he received angioplasty yesterday to remove the blockage. He will remain in the hospital for several days, but his spokeswoman said he is doing well. Jones should make a full recovery and be back... more ›

Yesterday the Illinois State Senate struck down the nomination of Martin Cohen (pictured) to serve as Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. more ›

It's been a tough couple of weeks for Governor Rod Blagojevich. There was the Hospital Board thing, where some of his donors were indicted, the dust-up with the Auditor General saying his administration couldn't document all the cost savings they claimed, and then the continuing investigation of fundraiser and Panda Express magnate, Tony Rezko. And yet, this afternoon he came roaring back with his long-promised campaign finance and ethics reform proposal, which according to a... more ›

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. more ›

Amidst all the hoopla leading to U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama's coronation -- er swearing-in -- some other interesting Chicago political doings happened this past weekend: Obama's successor for the State Senate was selected and sworn in on Saturday. Chicago City Colleges senior attorney, Kwame Raoul, 40, was selected to fill out the remaining two-year term of the South Chicago lakefront 12th State Senate District. Because the seat was held by a Democrat, Obama's replacement was... more ›

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... more ›

On Tuesday residents of Cicero, a suburb just west of Chicago, elected a candidate many people had written off as a ghost. Michelle Chavez ran against incumbent Republican Frank Aguilar for the Illinois State House of Representatives and Telemundo found her at her challenger's planned victory party when she heard the news that soon she'd haunt the Illinois House. She also celebrated with Aguilar when they each won their primaries. Chavez received 53 percent of... more ›

Election day is November 2nd and if you haven't yet, go to The Chicago Board of Elections web site and click on "Services" on the left side of the page to confirm that you are registered. Once you do that, click on your voter ID number and your district information will display and you can also take a look at a sample ballot. Whoa, look at that ballot! When Chicagoist did we were a bit... more ›

If you read Chicagoist with any regularity – in which case, we love you – you know that we're always reporting about Hollywood coming to Chi-town (or just pretending to come here). Most prominently, we've bitched about Josh Hartnett posing as a Bucktown hipster and fawned over the caped crusader chilling on Lower Wacker. (We always knew Wacker Drive felt like another world and now we know it is: Gotham City.) This week's New... more ›