October 6, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

slyguy

Better Government Association: Does Cicero Garbage Deal Stink For Taxpayers?

The Town of Cicero paid a waste-processing company more than $15 million over the last decade to dispose of residential garbage from the western suburb.

Does something about this arrangement stink?

We ask for two reasons:

  • First, we discovered the garbage company, Heartland Recycling LLC, has no written contract with Cicero’s municipal government – and the firm apparently has, at least in recent times, kept the Cicero work without competitive bidding.

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Huffington Post: Loose E-Cigarette Laws May Cripple Future Regulation

In a rush to keep electronic cigarettes out of children’s hands while the federal government creeps forward with a proposed national ban for minors, experts say that many states are passing laws that could mean fewer restrictions on the nicotine devices later.

Lawmakers last month made Missouri the 41st state to outlaw selling e-cigarettes to minors. Age restrictions have wide support, but Gov. Jay Nixon and public health advocates opposed a piece of the legislation that prevents tobacco taxes or regulations from being imposed on the electronic devices, which heat liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor.

E-cigarette makers have been in a tug-of-war with state and federal governments since the battery-powered devices first were sold in the U.S. in 2007.

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Daily Herald: Salary increase a sticking point in Dist. 75 teacher’s contract talks

The Mundelein Elementary District 75 School Board says one sticking point in the contract negotiations with the district’s teachers is the amount of a salary increase teachers will receive, according to a letter sent to parents Sunday.

The board and the Mundelein Elementary Education Association have been negotiating a new contract to replace the old terms that expired June 30th.

The board’s letter claims their current proposal to the union includes salary increases that are substantially higher than inflation that would make the salaries of District 75 teachers competitive with similar districts.

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Yahoo finance: Sears: Why the troubled chain’s vendors are worried

Sears Holdings Corp.’s deepening financial troubles have forced insurers and banks to raise the cost of guaranteeing payment to vendors, rattling the retailer’s supply chain as the company heads into the key holiday season.

The move by these financial intermediaries — in an opaque but vital quarter of the retail business where makers of goods ranging from apparel to TVs seek to insure they get paid — comes in the wake of unusual steps Sears has taken to raise cash for operations. In the past three weeks, the retailer twice has turned to its billionaire CEO Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund for a cash infusion — first as the anchor on a $400 million loan and then again Thursday as a buyer for most of its stake in the ailing Sears Canada. Sears aims to raise $380 million with that deal.

Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite said the company is on track to raise $1.45 billion this year, a sign of its “financial flexibility” and capacity to meet its obligations. He said the company has the financial resources to work directly with vendors and that there has not been a significant impact on its supplier relationships following the events of the past few weeks.

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Chicago Tribune: When interests overlap for Durbin, lobbyist wife

Sen. Dick Durbin has long said that he and his wife, Loretta, an Illinois lobbyist, take pains to separate their work and avoid conflicts of interest.

But a Tribune investigation has found instances in which Loretta Durbin’s clients have received federal funding promoted by her husband, raising questions about whether the power couple have done enough to avoid inherent conflicts of interest as they go about their jobs.

The Durbins sat down for an hourlong interview with the Tribune last week, and the U.S. senator acknowledged occasional “overlap” in which his wife’s clients received his help, but both insisted that she limited her lobbying to the state and never sought federal funds.

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CARTOON OF THE DAY

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