looking at the third short-term borrowing plan in recent months to allow the state to pay its bills from November to February
spokeswoman for Comptroller Dan Hynes, said the state borrowed $1 billion in May and another $1.25 billion in August. All that borrowing and the new borrowing – topping $3 billion – is to be repaid by next summer.
State borrowing $1B more to keep running - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
Commodities-hungry China is pulling Brazil, Chile, and others out of recession. But Mexico and Central America, dependent on US sales, are lagging.
China has overtaken the US as largest trading partner for both Chile and Brazil. Other commodities exporters, particularly those with strong ties to China, are also rebounding, including Peru and Argentina.
The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that remittances [from US] to Latin America and the Caribbean will fall by 11 percent this year.
will be confined to families whose total household income is $200,000 or less.
City officials say that roughly half of Chicago’s 400,000 homeowners will be eligible for relief. Grants will range from $25 to $200, with the amount of relief based on family income and the size of the tax hike.
A $25,000 income and a $350 tax hike would trigger a $200 grant, for example. The average check is expected to total $150, city officials said.
Daley's 2010 budget includes property tax relief :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall
Lawmakers in both parties fret that large budget deficits preclude more stimulus, lest the burden of debt outweigh the benefit of deficit spending. Both arguments are wrong.
If anything, ongoing economic problems are a sign that stimulus needs to be bolstered. Deficits are a serious issue, but the immediate need for stimulus trumps the longer-term need for deficit reduction.
The Senate could take a step in the right direction by extending unemployment benefits without further delay. That is the single most effective way to boost consumption
Next, Congress and the administration should agree on ways to ease the dire financial condition of the states
Without another round of effective stimulus, the worst recession in modern memory will likely become — at best — the weakest recovery in modern memory.
Click on the following for this editorial: Editorial - The Case for More Stimulus - NYTimes.com
New report from Tribune Watchdog Section.
Frail and vulnerable residents of nursing homes throughout Illinois are being dosed with powerful psychotropic drugs, leading to tremors, dangerous lethargy and a higher risk of harmful falls or even death, a Tribune investigation has found.
Thousands of elderly and disabled people have been affected, many of them drugged without their consent or without a legitimate psychiatric diagnosis that would justify treatment, state and federal inspection reports show.
Tribune identified 1,200 violations at Illinois nursing homes involving psychotropic medications since 2001. Those infractions affected 2,900 patients.
unprecedented review of more than 40,000 state and federal inspection reports found that nursing homes ranging from "five-star" establishments on the North Shore to run-down facilities in urban neighborhoods have been cited for improperly administering psychotropic drugs.
In 2003, an 83-year-old woman without a diagnosis of mental illness was placed on Haldol -- among the most dangerous antipsychotic drugs -- two days after being admitted to the Heartland Health Care Center in Moline
Click on the following for more details: Compromised Care: Psychotropic drugs given to nursing home patients without cause -- chicagotribune.com
She kept a fairly low profile as she worked with her book's ghostwriter.
"Going Rogue" catapulted to No. 1 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com after HarperCollins announced in late September it had moved up the release date of 1.5 million copies from spring to Nov. 17.
Click on the following for more of the story: Daily Herald | Palin receives $1.25M for book retainer
Taxpayer money, around $15 billion
tough year for the auto industry has turned into an especially trying one for Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler dealers. Sales are down almost 40 percent versus 27 percent for the industry.
Dealers are impatient for details about Marchionne's five-year game plan -- to be announced on Nov. 4. Many say calls to headquarters have gone unreturned or they're told to wait as the CEO tries to keep his plans secret until next month.
only vague assurances of seeing a redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee in the spring and a new Chrysler 300 large sedan sometime next year
Clunkers windfall all but bypassed Chrysler because it lacked enough fuel-efficient models on lots to meet demand
The automaker stopped building 2009 Calibers and won't ship 2010 models with improved interiors until November.
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Dealers anxious as Chrysler stays mum on car plan
Interested parties are asked to send a letter and resume expressing interest and qualifications to Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg, 601 N. Main St., Belvidere, IL 61008.
Boone planning commission has three vacancies - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
AMCORE reported a $156.4 million loss in its third quarter.The company’s revenue plummeted to just $34.7 million, the lowest quarterly total by more than $9 million this decade, and because the value of the company’s assets continues to decline, it shifted $60.3 million more into its loan-loss reserves to cover future loan failures.
The losses continue to chip away at AMCORE’s operating capital. The company said in the earnings release that it had $430 million in bank capital at the beginning of the quarter and still had $350 million at the end of the quarter and that potential future credit losses can be covered by its remaining capital
Click on the following for more details: AMCORE losses accelerate - - BusinessRockford.com
initiative has rescued nearly 900 children, led to the conviction of 510 pimps, madams and their associates, and seized $3.1 million in assets, according to the FBI.
Most of the children recovered through the project have been girls, who usually become victims of traffickers around the age of 12, Allen said. He estimated that 100,000 children are still involved in sex trafficking in the U.S., adding that the problem is growing partly because of the recession
Within 48 hours of hitting the streets, one-third of runaways are lured into prostitution or pornography, according to research by the Klaas Kids Foundation, a nonprofit established to help find and rescue missing children..
Click on the following for more of this story and its particular’s for Seattle: Local News | Children rescued in prostitution sting | Seattle Times Newspaper
properties get reassessed on a rolling basis every three years and may not fully capture recent declines in property values.
phasing out of a state-authorized program implemented earlier this decade to soften the tax blow of then-soaring home values. North suburbs received those benefits before south suburbs, so now north suburbs are feeling the pain of the phaseout earlier as well.
consider the situation in Northlake, which straddles the dividing line between the north and south assessment zones. In the part of the town north of North Avenue, the median assessment is up 20.9 percent. But south of North Avenue, the median increase is 8.7 percent
Click on the following for more of the story: Double-digit property tax increases in city, Cook County suburbs -- chicagotribune.com
based in Custer in central Wisconsin, is one of nine organizations to receive such funding from the Department of Energy for similar projects.
Midwest Renewable Energy Association will work with universities, colleges and other groups in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio to train 200 solar instructors in the next five years.
Click on the following for more details: JG-TC.com > Ap-state-il > Wis. nonprofit gets $3.3M grant for solar training
A weekend pass – good for unlimited rides Saturday and Sunday – would increase from $5 to $7 for adults and children over 11.
Click on the following for the Chronicle’s complete view: Our View: Metra's fare hike? It's fair | Daily Chronicle
"resolution authority" over non-bank financial firms for months, viewing it as one of the most important tools for dealing with future crises.
give a government agency the power to take over a failing firm and dissolve it outside of the bankruptcy process, injecting money if necessary to make the unwinding orderly. Shareholders and creditors of the failing company would incur losses, and the financial industry would foot the bill for any bailout.
Click on the following for more details: Bill in works to let U.S. dissolve failing firms - washingtonpost.com
expected to create 2,000 jobs and will likely be operational by 2011. Administration officials said the deal will indirectly create another 3,000 jobs once the plant is fully operational, expected in 2014.
Fisker, which will pay the old GM $18 million for the facility and equipment, is getting tax incentives from the state of Delaware,
The car is expected to cost about $39,900 after tax incentives.
Fisker, which was started two years ago, recently received a $528 million loan from the Department of Energy and will use some of those funds to make the Delaware plant operational. Fisker is producing another electric vehicle, called the Karma, that is expected to come out in the summer and will cost about $80,400
Click on the following for the rest of the story: A maker of electric cars plans to use old GM plant in Delaware - washingtonpost.com
published reports that estimated his fee at $100,000.
Along with Bush, former secretary of state Colin Powell, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired football great Terry Bradshaw and a host of professional speakers spoke on a stage decorated with red-white-and-blue signs that said "Motivate!" and "Achieve!"
Read the rest of the story by clicking on the following: George W. Bush is a hit on the motivational speakers' circuit - washingtonpost.com
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