October 19, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

zombi

 

WBEZ: State government could take over a school district near you

Ask Illinois residents what’s most important to them and their families, and education is likely to be right up there—often at the top of the list.

So it’s no surprise that citizens expect high educational standards from government (and solid financing). But most prefer their state involvement at arms length.

But the fact is Illinois, has the power to take over local schools. They can fire elected school board members and put a new superintendent in place.

Two years ago, it did just that. The state took over two school districts, one in East Saint Louis and the other in North Chicago, a low income and racially mixed suburb wedged between more the tony North Shore and Waukegan.

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Daily Herald: Teachers get most of their demands in proposed Hinsdale contract

Most of the Hinsdale High School District 86 teachers union’s demands are being met in a new two-year contract expected to be ratified Monday by the school board.

That’s according to a copy of the contract proposal obtained by the Daily Herald.

The district had sought a 35-step salary schedule that would have slowed teachers’ abilities to receive maximum pay. Instead, the proposed contract calls for maintaining the current the 19-step scale with a 1 percent increase in pay each year.

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Daily Herald: Taste of Chicago loses money despite million visitors

Officials say stormy weather caused the Taste of Chicago to lose money this year.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration says the annual food festival lost $169,404. A year ago, the festival turned a $272,000 profit.

Although the five-day festival lost a day because heavy rains, it attracted 1.1 million people and generated $5.46 million in overall revenue.

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Daily Herald: Michael Madigan son-in-law Jordan Matyas to exit RTA chief of staff post

The son-in-law of powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan is leaving his job as a top administrator at the Regional Transportation Authority after a turbulent few years.

Jordan Matyas’ resignation will be effective Oct. 31, an RTA spokeswoman said.

Officials did not give the reason for his departure, and Matyas did not respond to a request for comment.

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Reason: How Much Will Obamacare Cost? Bet on ‘More Than Expected’

As the nation prepares for the second enrollment period under The Affordable Care Act in November, there is officially no way of figuring out what Obamacare is going to do to federal deficits compared to the estimates used to push the program through Congress.

Back in 2009, it was really important to President Obama that people understand he would not “sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future. Period.” He sold the plan as costing about $938 billion in its first decade of operation (2010 through 2019) but saving about $143 billion overall because of the various taxes and other revenue it raised. A 2012 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report figured that Obamacare would shave $109 billion off the deficit between 2013 and 2022.

This past June, however, the CBO said it will no longer try to estimate the law’s effects on the deficit. There have been too many delays, postponements, modifications, you name it, to the original bill. “Isolating the incremental effects of those provisions on previously existing programs and revenues four years after enactment of the Affordable Care Act is not possible,” the CBO concluded.

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Daily Herald: Bar associations release Cook County judicial evaluations

The Suburban Bar Coalition this week released its evaluations of Cook County judges running for retention in the Nov. 4 general election.

The SBC represents the North Suburban Bar Association, the Northwest Suburban Bar Association, the West Suburban Bar Association, the South Suburban Bar Association and the Southwest Suburban Bar Association. Coalition members evaluate judges on experience, knowledge of the law, integrity, fairness, judicial temperament and other criteria.

Both the Suburban Bar Coalition and the Alliance of Bar Associations recommended Justice Thomas E. Hoffman, of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, for retention.

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Chicago Tribune: Illinois launches new Ebola hotline, task force

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday the launch of a new Ebola hotline and plans to create an Ebola task force consisting of health care and emergency response departments.

Department Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck also said that by next week, a state lab should be capable of handling Ebola testing.

“We don’t deal with Ebola every day, so we have a steep learning curve,” Hasbrouck said.

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Chicago Tribune: New contract for Chicago police; 11 percent in wage hikes

Chicago’s police union ratified a five-year contract that includes a total of 11 percent in wage increases and $65 million in back pay for approximately 10,000 union members, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced Friday.

City officials have said they may have to use short-term borrowing to cover the back pay, but the deal buys Emanuel a measure of labor peace heading into the 2015 city elections.

The contract includes retroactive wage increases of 2 percent each in 2012, 2013 and 2014, but not for overtime worked from July 2012 to June 2013. The previous contract had expired in 2012.

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New York Times: Unable to Meet the Deductible or the Doctor

Patricia Wanderlich got insurance through the Affordable Care Act this year, and with good reason: She suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2011, spending weeks in a hospital intensive care unit, and has a second, smaller aneurysm that needs monitoring.

But her new plan has a $6,000 annual deductible, meaning that Ms. Wanderlich, who works part time at a landscaping company outside Chicago, has to pay for most of her medical services up to that amount. She is skipping this year’s brain scan and hoping for the best.

“To spend thousands of dollars just making sure it hasn’t grown?” said Ms. Wanderlich, 61. “I don’t have that money.”

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CARTOON OF THE DAY