New Web site posts liquor license holder info -

Information on nearly 28,000 business is available on the commission Web site, http://www.state.il.us/LCC/, by name, county, city, license number or ZIP code. In addition to bars, taverns and restaurants, the site includes information on distributors, importers and winery shippers.

Here is a recent revocation of a Belvidere license:

License No.
09-1A- 76576
Doing Business As
BIG THUNDER SALOON
Activity Code
REVOKED
License Class
RETAILER
Expiration Date
4/30/2010Address
1491-1493 N STATE ST
BELVIDERE , IL 61008-

Click on the following:  New Web site posts liquor license holder info - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

Med marijuana bill gets support from some in GOP

The bill is SB1381.

Jim Ryan, the former state attorney general and a cancer survivor, said he could support a "narrowly drawn" bill legalizing medical marijuana.

"It can provide needed relief for patients with various afflictions," said Ryan, a Republican.

Rival Republican Bill Brady took the opposite view.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said he would consider signing a medical marijuana bill. "In general, I believe that people who are seriously ill deserve access to all medical treatments that will help them," he said.

His primary opponent, Comptroller Dan Hynes, said he opposes outright legalization but did not address medical use of the drug

BeHealthySpringfield.com

Website of Dallas Wrongful Death Lawyer Michael Grossman : Man Killed by Debris From Building Explosion

Although accidental, Mr. Greenfield's death was avoidable.  NDK America, the company who owned the building and manufactured crystals for LCD 

Read more about the NDK explosion from this website:  Man Killed By Debris From Building Explosion | Dallas Wrongful Death Lawyer Michael Grossman - Texas Wrongful Death

Opinion: Obama’s Race to the Top competition won’t fix public schools

Interesting article from the Opinion section of the Christian Science Monitor indicating that charter schools and tying teacher pay to student performance don’t work.

Margaret Raymond of Stanford University released the results of her study of charter schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia. She found that 37 percent of charter schools posted worse standardized test scores than comparable traditional schools, 46 percent did about the same, and only 17 percent were superior….according to the data, regular public school students have almost always out performed charter schools.

Raymond study is the largest study of charter schools so far, it offers hard data to help taxpayers judge the merits of expanding the movement.

Performance pay for teachers has not fared any better…May 2009, the Texas Educator Excellence Grant was quietly retired after getting lackluster results, even though payments to teachers were based overwhelmingly on the test scores of their students.

Click on the following for more details:  Obama’s Race to the Top competition won’t fix public schools / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished as Banks Seek Profits From Bailout

The Fed’s paid to free big banks of “toxic assets” and will pay again as these same banks profit on the final sale of “toxic assets”.  The PPIP was designed to lower the amount of these risky bonds which the big banks had on their balanced sheets—the banks actually increased their holdings.

Public-Private Investment Program was introduced in March by Geithner as a means of helping struggling banks by reviving the market for unpackaged loans and mortgage securities that aren’t backed by government-supported institutions, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Under the program, asset managers were supposed to raise money from investors and, with additional capital and loans from taxpayers, buy as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets from U.S. banks, freeing up money for lending.

banks, which were expected to reduce their holding of such volatile mortgage securities, bought them before the government program was running and may now profit, said Michael Schlachter, managing director of Wilshire Associates, the Santa Monica, California- based investment-consulting firm. “Some of them created this mess, and they are making a killing undoing it.”

Click on the following for more details:  No Good Deed Goes Unpunished as Banks Seek Profits From Bailout - Bloomberg.com

School bills are due, but state won't pay

the state again missed its categorical and grant payments to all 871 Illinois school districts.

But the same state that's no longer paying for these programs legally requires them.

Neubauer, who has worked in Illinois school finance for more than a decade, said it has never been this bad.   "No. Absolutely not. Not even close," he said.

While the categorical and grant money has stopped, the general state aid is still going. By and large, the richer a district, the less of its budget comes from general state aid.

Click on the following for more details:  School bills are due, but state won't pay :: Beacon News :: Local News

Will latest jobs bill really produce jobs?

Republicans scoff at the "Jobs for Main Street Act" title that House Democrats put on their $174 billion package last month….

In its last vote of 2009, the House narrowly passed the bill, 217-212, without a single Republican supporter….

$75 billion in infrastructure and public sector spending: tens of thousands of new construction jobs, 5,500 more police officers, 25,000 additional AmeriCorps members, 250,000 summer jobs for disadvantaged youth, 14,000 part-time jobs for parks and forestry workers.

The CBO has estimated that employment was 600,000 to 1.6 million higher in the third quarter of 2009 because of the[last] stimulus act.

Click on the following for more details on this debate:  Will latest jobs bill really produce jobs? | Daily Chronicle

7 arrested in Aurora prostitution sting

The new look of prostitution and law enforcement—the internet. 

operation, which targeted the erotic sections of Craigslist and Backpage.com, began during the evening of Dec. 30 and continued into the early morning hours of Dec. 31.

Daily Herald | 7 arrested in Aurora prostitution sting

Fight Against Asian Carp Threatens Fragile Great Lakes Unity

 

In 2008, the eight states that touch the Great Lakes helped push through a federal-state compact that bars diversion of water from the lakes unless all of the states (and the Canadian provinces involved) agree.

Read what is at risk by clicking on the following:  Fight Against Asian Carp Threatens Fragile Great Lakes Unity - NYTimes.com

Jailed sheriff faces murder for hire charges

How bad can things get? 

MURPHYSBORO -- A southern Illinois sheriff already accused of selling marijuana, often while on duty, now faces charges of solicitation of murder for hire.

Gallatin County Sheriff Raymond Martin was in custody at the Jackson County Jail on the drug charges when was arrested Saturday.

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | Jailed sheriff faces murder for hire charges

With extension granted, McHenry Co. officials taking time on drug court

The state legislature last year passed an amendment to the Drug Court Treatment Act that made the courts a requirement, and not just an option, for all of the state's 22 judicial circuits by Jan. 1. But the legislation included a clause allowing a judge to give a circuit a reprieve of up to two years if it can show it lacks resources and is undergoing financial hardship.

"Typically, drug addicts have the highest rate of recidivism of anyone in the criminal justice system, about 70 percent," he said. "If we can drive that down to 30 percent, that's a huge impact."

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | With extension granted, McHenry Co. officials taking time on drug court