Thursday, March 25, 2010

Pope Was Told Pedophile Priest Would Get Transfer - NYTimes.com

Freising placed full responsibility for the decision to allow the priest to resume his duties on Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy, the Rev. Gerhard Gruber. But the memo, whose existence was confirmed by two church officials, shows that the future pope not only led a meeting on Jan. 15, 1980, approving the transfer of the priest, but was also kept informed about the priest’s reassignment.

Pope Was Told Pedophile Priest Would Get Transfer - NYTimes.com

Illinois Issues blog: New hiring tax credit passes both chambers

businesses with 50 or fewer employees a $2,500 credit for every new full-time job created in the next fiscal year. To be eligible, each new job would pay at least $13.75 per hour.

Click on the following for more details:  Illinois Issues blog: New hiring tax credit passes both chambers

Illinois Review: John Deere to lose $150M this year to ObamaCare; Illinois voters should hold Democrats accountable

Cat said $100m so JD had to do them one better.

Illinois-based Deere & Co. said today they would lose $150 million this year alone due to the Democrats’ government-takeover of health care.

Illinois Review: John Deere to lose $150M this year to ObamaCare; Illinois voters should hold Democrats accountable

Our View: Banning BPA is a good idea | Daily Chronicle

Bisphenol-A, also known as BPA, is a chemical used in the production of a tough, lightweight and heat-resistant plastic used in automobiles, sports safety equipment, digital media products such as CDs and DVDs, food and drink containers, and other common products.

younger children can suffer adverse health effects from exposure to even small levels of the chemical

Click on the following for the next 7 days to read this opinion piece: Our View: Banning BPA is a good idea | Daily Chronicle

State pension deal more politics than reform : Greg Hinz

From start to finish, less than 12 hours.
  Now, the bill that passed clearly will save major coin.  According to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the Legislature's fiscal unit, it will reduce the state's pension liability by $119 billion by 2045. That's more than big enough for lawmakers to go home this fall and tell voters that they'd taken a big, big bite out of the state's fiscal woes.
  

only for new workers, the state does nothing with that $80 billion in unfunded liability for current workers

exempts police and firefighters. They happen to get the sweetest pensions around — full benefit retirement at age 50,

Chicago Public Schools to reduce its required pension contribution by $400 million a year for each of the next three years…Chicago teachers retirement fund only had 54% of the assets needed to pay its eventual liabilities

Click on the following to read the rest of the story:  State pension deal more politics than reform | Greg Hinz | Crain's Chicago Business

Disbarment recommended for W. Dundee lawyer :: The Courier News :: Local News

Counsel for the investigative arm of the Illinois Supreme Court recommended Wednesday that West Dundee lawyer William C. Chesbrough be disbarred.

Fox Valley residents who accuse Chesbrough of bilking them out of a combined $140,000 in separate incidents between 2006 and 2009.

Click on the following for more details:  Disbarment recommended for W. Dundee lawyer :: The Courier News :: Local News

Running low on time, signatures | Daily Chronicle

Today is the deadline to file a petition that would send the decision to buy bonds to fund the expansions of the DeKalb County Courthouse and jail to a referendum, and residents gathering signatures appear to be short.

Click on the following to read the rest of the story:  Running low on time, signatures | Daily Chronicle

Rage on the Right | Southern Poverty Law Center

The signs of growing radicalization are everywhere. Armed men have come to Obama speeches bearing signs suggesting that the "tree of liberty" needs to be "watered" with "the blood of tyrants."

The number of hate groups in America has been going up for years, rising 54% between 2000 and 2008 and driven largely by an angry backlash against non-white immigration and, starting in the last year of that period, the economic meltdown and the climb to power of an African American president.

Read more by clicking on the following:  Rage on the Right | Southern Poverty Law Center

Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval

  • Presidential Job Approval

    March 18, 2010

    Americans' views of President Obama are the most negative since Obama took office last year -- 46% approve and 48% disapprove in the latest Gallup Daily three-day average. Meanwhile, Congress' 16% approval rating is just two points above its all-time low.

    Click on the following to see how the President is doing today:  http://www.gallup.com/tag/Presidential%2bJob%2bApproval.aspx

Economic Confidence Remains Depressed Thus Far in March

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's Economic Confidence Index is -31 for the week of March 15-21, continuing a trend of depressed confidence that began three weeks prior.

Gallup Economic Confidence Index, Weekly Trend Since December 2009

Click on the following for more details on this Gallup Survey:  Economic Confidence Remains Depressed Thus Far in March

Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys - NYTimes.com

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal

Click on the following to read the entire NY Times article:  Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys - NYTimes.com

Winnebago County may spend $48K to form development district - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

No mention what benefit Boone County will get. 

Designating the two counties[Winnebago and Boone] as a federally-recognized economic development district doesn’t guarantee jobs will come here; it only guarantees that both counties can apply for federal dollars for shovel-ready infrastructure projects.

Winnebago County may spend $48K to form development district - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star