QUOTE OF THE DAY
ChicagoNow: Uber saved in Chicago
For months, Uber has been lobbying against Illinois legislation that would’ve crippled ridesharing businesses.
They staked out “The Bean” at Millennium Park. They took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to inform voters about what state politicians were trying to do. And in the end, Uber gathered more than 80,000 signatures supporting their efforts to overcome proposed state rules that would have served no public safety purpose.
Yesterday, their efforts paid off – Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed the legislation the ridesharing company and thousands of supporters opposed. If passed, the new statewide rules would have set an 18-hour weekly limit on drivers who want to avoid additional steep regulations.
Crain’s: Top Quinn aide exits amid patronage scandal
A senior Quinn administration official is leaving his post amid continuing fallout from a patronage hiring scandal in the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Deputy Chief of Staff Sean O’Shea is going off the payroll, effective Aug. 29. He’s held that position since August 2011, and his responsibilities included overseeing IDOT and its hiring of senior officials in policy positions.
A spokesman for the Quinn administration confirmed the departure, but insisted that it has nothing to do with the hiring matter.
Chicago Tribune: Tattoo plan loses on initial vote in Geneva
A request to open a tattoo parlor in a vacant storefront on Randall Road was narrowly turned down by Geneva aldermen Monday night after lengthy negative comments from nearby business owners, but still could be approved by the City Council.
Ramiro Guillen, a tattoo artist and graphic designer, applied to open a tattoo parlor at 1871 S. Randall Road, in a strip mall next to a Mr. Handyman store and an eye clinic.
Alleged corruption and Detroit pension fund mismanagement that cost more than $1 billion is irrelevant and shouldn’t factor into the city’s bankruptcy trial next week, a lawyer argued Tuesday.
An attorney for the city’s two pension funds doesn’t want U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes to consider the alleged misdeeds before deciding whether Detroit’s plan to shed about $7 billion in debts is feasible and fair. The lawyer asked Rhodes to block evidence about alleged mismanagement and misconduct from being admitted during a trial starting Tuesday in bankruptcy court.
Pension fund lawyer Robert Gordon on Tuesday said bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc., one of the city’s holdout creditors, is expected to argue during the trial that mismanagement and corruption weakened the city’s pension funds. Syncora has said the pension funds are being bailed out by Detroit’s debt-cutting plan at the expense of financial creditors.
Chicago Sun Times: How much buying power does $100 have across United States?
Thanks to inflation, money doesn’t go as far as it used to. And according to some new data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, it doesn’t go nearly as far in New York as it does in Chicago.
The Tax Foundation has broken down the data to show the purchasing power that $100 gets you in various metropolitan areas. And there are some major differences across America.
How does Chicago do?
Northwest Herald: State portal still doesn’t include local gov’t salaries
State lawmakers in 2012 approved a bill to add the salaries of county, municipal and township governments to the searchable Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal.
Two years later, the data is not there. Neither are the salaries of local library employees, which a 2013 bill added. And lawmakers – some concerned, others irate – are wondering why.
The Department of Central Management Services that maintains the website says that the provisions of the bill were “subject to appropriation,” and that lawmakers never set aside any finding to implement the additions. The department estimated during the legislative process that it would cost $480,000 to implement the addition, and $240,000 a year to maintain the data.
Chicago Sun Times: CPS graduation rate jumps 4% to record high
With the start of the school year less than a week away, it is a good time to step back and consider where we are, the progress we’ve made, and the work we have yet to do. We share a guiding principle that every child in Chicago, no matter their circumstances or where they live, deserves the opportunity to make the most of their life. Education is the key to making that happen. For too many years, however, the children of Chicago were not well served by those who were entrusted with these responsibilities.
We are committed to changing that history. Working with parents, teachers, principals and community leaders across Chicago, we are making steady progress — although there is much work left to do.
Wall Street Journal: Cronyism vs. the Constitution
Most of us learned in grade school that the Constitution parcels legislative, executive and judicial power into separate branches of the government. This separation of powers—the system of checks and balances—is to prevent tyranny and ensure that all citizens enjoy equal protection under the law. How true are these time-honored precepts today? Unfortunately, as some colleagues at the Hoover Institution’s program on regulation and the rule of law are finding, the answer is less and less.
With regard to presidential power, the Constitution is explicit: Congress is authorized to make laws, and the president must execute them. The Constitution does not authorize the executive branch to change the laws or decline to enforce them for its own convenience.
Yet President Obama has waived the requirements of laws such as the Affordable Care Act and some laws on immigration—effectively rewriting them. This practice is constitutionally dangerous: Unless it is checked, there is not much short of impeachment to prevent a future president from issuing his own laws by reinterpreting existing laws.
Washington Post: Burger King and Tim Hortons, with a side of tax reform
Burger King announces deal to buy Tim Hortons. “International fast food behemoth Burger King Worldwide Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it will pay about $11 billion to buy Canadian chain Tim Hortons Inc., which sells coffee, donuts, and other breakfast food fare. The deal would merge America’s second-largest burger chain, which is valued at nearly $10 billion, with the Canadian equivalent to Dunkin’ Donuts, which is valued at more than $8 billion. It would also move the new company’s headquarters to Canada, where corporate taxes are significantly lower. ‘The newly merged company would become the world’s third-biggest ‘quick service restaurant company,’ with more than 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries, said Burger King and Hortons in a statement Monday…”
Washington Post: There’s finally someone in charge of HealthCare.gov
About two months ago, the federal agency overseeing Obamacare said it would name its first-ever chief executive for HealthCare.gov, an acknowledgement that the enrollment Web site didn’t have a true leader before its faulty launch last fall. On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that new role will be filled by Kevin Counihan, the chief executive of Connecticut’s health insurance exchange, which is thought to be one of the best state-run insurance marketplaces in the country.
The idea of a single point person to oversee the law’s implementation originally generated interest among some of the law’s advocates in early 2010 and top administration officials. More talk resurfaced after the failed launch of HealthCare.gov last year, when it became clear there was a management problem at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency overseeing the law’s implementation.
It’s easy to see why CMS saw Counihan as the right person to run the enrollment Web site serving 36 states. Counihan, also a former executive with the Massachusetts exchange that was a model for the Affordable Care Act, ran the Connecticut exchange, which managed to avoid major tech glitches while reportedly cutting the state’s uninsured rate in half this year. Maryland is planning to use Connecticut’s technology for the upcoming enrollment period, and other states have looked at using the Connecticut platform. Connecticut also did some unique things to boost enrollment, like setting up a handful of storefronts across the state that were modeled after Apple’s retail locations.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
