Obama vows to fight immigration ruling - Yahoo News

 

US President Barack Obama claimed history and the law were on his side Tuesday, as he vowed to fight a court order freezing controversial immigration reforms.

Obama had used an executive order to bypass a hostile Congress and drive through measures to protect about four million undocumented foreigners from deportation.

But a judge in Texas issued an emergency injunction before the measures were to come into effect starting Wednesday.

Obama was defiant: "I think that the law is on our side and history is on our side, we are going to appeal it."

"This is not the first time a lower court judge has blocked something or attempted to block something that ultimately was shown to be lawful."

Twenty-six states -- all but two Republican-governed -- had pressed the Texas judge to intervene, claiming Obama had acted unlawfully.

Federal judge Andrew Hanen of the US District Court in Brownsville, Texas agreed.

Families from Mexico, now living in Maryland, attend a news conference with Democratic Senators to d …

"It is far preferable to have the legality of these actions determined before the fates of over four million individuals are decided," he ruled on Monday.

Immigration is a hot political issue heading towards the 2016 presidential election, around 11 million undocumented migrants in the country.

Obama's executive order would have allowed only some of them to come forward: those who have not committed serious crimes and have children who are American citizens or residents.

Obama has also tried to push more comprehensive immigration reform, which could eventually bring many millions of new voters, many seen as likely Democrats.

"This is something that we necessarily have to make choices about," Obama said again pressing Congress to act Tuesday.

"We have 11 million people here who we're not all going to deport."

Obama vows to fight immigration ruling - Yahoo News

BDR: Question of authority slows breeder-boarder committee

 

Question of authority slows breeder-boarder committee
By Bob Balgemann
Reporter

BELVIDERE - The new ad-hoc committee dealing with regulations for animal breeders and boarders in Boone County had a particular goal in mind.

...

Members were being guided by the belief that the county could have regulations that were more strict, but not more liberal, than the state.

But a memorandum from Boone County State's Attorney Michelle Courier has slowed that process.

Members agreed Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 11) to see if someone from the state Department of Agriculture could attend the Feb. 25 meeting to discuss what the county could do, and not do, when regulating breeders and boarders.

In addition, they want the interim city-county planning director, Kathy Miller, to attend and deal with related zoning issues.

County Administrator Ken Terrinoni caused a slow-down in the regulating process by reading from a memo written by Assistant State's Attorney Fioretti, on behalf of Courier, and dated Feb. 5, 2015.

He stated the Department of Agriculture "is designated as the rule-making body and the body responsible for the effectuation of the Animal Control Act. Further, the Department of Agriculture is also reserved as the sole rule-making and licensing body of foster homes, animal shelters, pet shops and kennels by the Animal Welfare Act.

"As a non-home rule unit of government, without some specific authority to regulate the breeding of dogs, the field of regulation appears to be pre-empted by the Department of Agriculture. There is no apparent authority that allows for the county to regulate the breeding of dogs without intruding on the space occupied by the Department of Agriculture in the authorizing legislation."

Concern has been expressed numerous times about the abuse of animals in Boone County and the need to stop it.

In reference to abuse, the memo states, "To the extent that any breeder, or pet owner is breeding, neglecting or otherwise treating dogs in a manner that isn't humane, the (state) Legislature has already provided the authority for (county) Animal Control and law enforcement to investigate and charge persons with violations of the Humane Care of Animals Act."

Referring to the memo, committee Chairman Denny Ellingson said, "We have to be real careful with what we write. This tells me what we have (on the books) shouldn't be there."

"It raises the question," Terrinoni said in agreement.

As proposed, the county would require a special use permit for any breeder with more than five female dogs. But committee member Gwen Meyer said the question now was being asked as to whether the county could even issue a special use permit.

Another committee member, Jeannine French, said it would be important to get answers to question in writing.

(8) Belvidere Daily Republican

New Poplar Grove Administrator receives caution from... - Belvidere Daily Republican

 

New PG administrator receives caution from village trustee
By Bob Balgemann
Reporter

POPLAR GROVE - The second village administrator, Diana Dykstra, already has received a public caution from a village board member.

But it wasn't a negative kind of observation.

It came during Monday night's regular board meeting after Trustee Don Bawden saw her first administrator's report, which touched on 34 different issues. He urged her to pace herself so she didn't get burned out.

"It's not our intent to overwhelm you," he said.

The former Darien, Wis. administrator-clerk-treasurer started here Jan. 12, with the Feb. 9 board meeting being her second.

Communication among village officials and with residents continues to be a priority. In her monthly report, Dykstra reported on updating the village's web page. She said she found "there is a great demand for this form of communication."

For example, the page had 7,137 views between Dec. 1, 2014, and Jan. 26, 2015. The events/activities page was viewed 844 times; officials and staff page, 525 times; local news (there is a link to the Belvidere Daily Republican), 412 times; village board agendas, 339 times; and village ordinances, 216 times.

Village staffing is an area of interest among at least three village trustees, given the fact there are three people supervising four employees.

Dykstra said she met the Office Manager Maureen Brzinski and her assistant about office operations, workflow, financial software, reporting and office supplies. "There is much more that I will have to learn about the processes and positions," she said. "I would also like to eventually become trained as a back-up to staff operations."

She met with Village Treasurer Maria Forrest on financial issues, with a goal of presenting "public budgetary information in (a) format that is more transparent." They also discussed the capital improvements fund, the need for policy and inventory as recommended by the auditor.

There soon will be opportunity for that as the village currently is working on a 2015-16 budget for the new fiscal year, which will begin May 1.

A second public workshop on the new spending plan will be held at 8 a.m. Feb. 28 at village hall.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Growth Dimensions, marketing arm of Boone County and its municipalities, has been told by county officials to focus more on retail growth. Dykstra said she met with the new executive director, Jarid Funderburg, to discuss "roles, expectations, development leads and networking."

Poplar Grove is proposed to be part of an expanded enterprise zone, which would allow increased incentives to attract new business and industry. A decision by the state on that request could come as early as June.

Unhappiness has been expressed with the service being provided by the Belvidere Park District for Poplar Grove residents, south of Orth Road, who live within its boundaries.

Dykstra said she met with park district officials "to discuss opportunities, establish new relationships, look for improvements to parks, coordination of a park master plan and ability to provide Poplar Grove residents with more opportunities through their organization."

District officials suggested a movie night be held in Poplar Grove. "We will hear more about this relationship as they look to purchase more park land and develop more opportunities in Poplar Grove," she said.

A small group of village residents no longer is trying to deannex from the park district.

There were some resident contacts during the last month, she reported. One dealt with traffic back-up on Summit Street, which she said needs to be explored further. She also met with residents on their concerns following the recent snow events, most recently the storm that hit the weekend of Jan. 30.

(8) New PG administrator receives caution from... - Belvidere Daily Republican

News and Investigations Staff Overtime Soars At Illinois Prisons

The worker who out-earned almost every rank-and-file employee in the Illinois prison system in 2014 was not a corrections officer, administrator or counselor. It was a nurse who more than doubled her annual income working overtime at the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet.

The Stateville nurse, Loreatha Coleman, earned more than $184,000, including almost $100,000 in overtime pay, in the state's fiscal year that ended last June.

She's hardly alone.

While Gov. Bruce Rauner this month promised to hire more prison guards, citing "an unsafe environment" in one of the country's largest prison systems, across-the-board understaffing cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

The Illinois Department of Corrections forked over $320 million in employee overtime and compensatory payments over a five-year period, a BGA Rescuing Illinois investigation found.

The annual payouts are among the largest of any state agency. The cumulative figure is almost twice as much paid during the same period to employees of the Illinois Department of Transportation, an agency that drew criticism in a state audit for excessive overtime in recent years.

Officials with the state's largest public employee union, sympathetic politicians and prison reform advocates see excessive overtime as symptomatic of dangerous under-staffing while corrections officials argued for years that it's an unwelcome, but manageable, strain on the system. In his State of the State address earlier this month, Rauner acknowledged a problem.

"The conditions in our prisons are unacceptable," Rauner said. "Inmates and corrections officers alike find themselves in an unsafe environment. It's wrong."
Rauner, who has yet to name a new director of corrections, didn't specify how many guards he plans to hire. He also touted reforming the parole system to help reduce the prisoner population, now at about 48,000, by a quarter over the next decade.
Overtime is a result of deep staff cuts at the prisons -- reductions that aren't saving money because hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on overtime pay, critics contend.

---

Double Shifts Add Up

Department of Corrections overtime paid annually over the past five years*

2014  $71.6 million
2013  $72.7 million
2012  $57.1 million
2011  $54.4 million
2010  $63.8 million

*Fiscal years ending June 30.

Click on the following to read all of the report:  News and Investigations Staff Overtime Soars At Illinois Prisons

Kicking City Slickers Off Of The Federal Farm Subsidy

 

There’s an old saying, “When the law’s an ass, somebody has to kick it.”

With tens of millions of dollars in federal farm subsidies flowing into urban areas – where there are no farms – Congress empowered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to more-clearly define the word “farmer.”

With a new definition coming soon, many wealthy urban residents just might be booted off of their substantial federal subsidy.  It couldn’t happen fast enough.

Last year, our organization, American Transparency at OpenTheBooks.com, issued our Federal Transfer Report on farm subsidies. We studied three urban areas where there are no farms: New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C. We found they were awash in federal farm subsidies.

A “heat map” of over 10,800 entities receiving > $250,000 in farm subsidies (2008-2011).

The federal farm program was originally intended to “protect the national food supply” and “preserve the family farm.” Yet, our findings showed wealthy investors piggy-backing on a growing government program – the largess of farm subsidies had become part of their investment portfolio. Many of these wealthy investors don’t live in “rural areas,” but instead utilize “farm managers” and taxpayer dollars to maximize return on their “farm” investments.

The amounts are significant with the top 10,806 entities receiving billions. For example, just 491 entities received over $1 million in farm subsidies amounting to over $725.7 million (2008-2011) and averaged $1.734 million each.

In New York City, Wall Street financiers, Rockefellers, wealthy heirs and Upper East Side recipients all received subsidies. Even the non-profit National Audubon Society collected nearly $1 million in subsidies including New York tobacco subsidies and Minnesota lamb slaughter aid.

In Chicago, IL, the city ranks seventh out of over 1,200 municipalities in the state in the receipt of federal farm subsidies.  It’s 930 individual entities collecting the subsidy including wealthy traders at the Board of Trade and downtown duck charities reaping millions. Even Reverend Minister Louis Farrakhan, the founder of the Nation of Islam, opened up two charities and collected over $317,000 of farm subsidies and commodities loans during a sixteen year period.  Interestingly, the IRS and Illinois Attorney General have no record of either charity.

In Washington, D.C., the U.S.Department of Agriculture executives and lobbyists – the people who created and manage these transfers – participate in the subsidy largess.  Now, Congress charged them as the regulators who will write the new definition of “farmer.”

So who are the DC elite pocketing the farm subsidies? Thomas J. Vilsack- current Agriculture Secretary in the President Barack Obama administration is taking his farm subsidy check in Iowa. Vilsack is the recipient of $20,046 of farm subsidies between 2008 and 2011, most while he’s been Secretary.

The subsidies are bi-partisan: William T. Hawks- former Under-Secretary of Agriculture of Marketing and Regulatory Programs in the George W. Bush administration has received over $70,527 in farm subsidy relating to his ownership of Mississippi farm interests. Most of the subsidy related to conservation payments as well as cotton subsidies. Sen. Chuck E. Grassley received over $61,284 in subsidy collected at his Arlington, VA condo for his farm operation in Iowa.

Of course, the lobbyists get in on the action too. Using our data at OpenTheBooks.com, Susan Ferrachio at the Washington Examiner found that Van Boyette is a top lobbyist representing agricultural interests who’s received $83,194 for his farmland in Iowa. Other top lobbyists include the lobbying giant Gerald Cassady ($6,780); former twelve term Rep. Charlie Stenholm ($12,576); and Carlyle Thorsen ($8,164), a former top aide to House Majority Leader Tom Delay.

So, the big question is reform. Can the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut the rich, land invested, city slicker off of the federal government’s subsidy?

The stakes for taxpayers are high.

According to a 2011 report by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous,” the IRS and USDA determined that $316 million in farm subsidies were paid to millionaires (2002-2009). The gross majority of those payments went to millionaire recipients in urban areas. In Coburn’s report, rockers Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen, media mogul Ted Turner, and former NBA star Scottie Pippen were highlighted for receiving large subsidies.

There’s billions of taxpayer dollars at stake. The ass needs a kick.

***

Note: Adam Andrzejewski is the chairman of American Transparency and the founder of OpenTheBooks.com. He is the author of the federal oversight

Kicking City Slickers Off Of The Federal Farm Subsidy

Genoa pushing for Amtrak project change | Daily Chronicle

GENOA – Genoa Mayor Mark Vicary hopes persistence will convince state leaders to change plans for an Amtrak passenger rail service so a stop is built in Genoa.

Vicary sent a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner and his staff last week asking them to cancel the project and review an alternate route between Rockford and Chicago that includes stops in Genoa and Freeport. Vicary says choosing that route would save the state millions.

Vicary said a Rauner staffer replied, suggesting he set up a meeting with Brian Oszakiewski, Rauner’s infrastructure policy adviser.

“It’s just a refreshing change that we’ve got someone who cares enough to actually review, to make a thorough analysis instead of just relying on the political process,” Vicary said.

Meanwhile, plans to extend Amtrak service from Chicago to Rockford are on hold, along with all other major projects from the Illinois Department of Transportation, department spokesman Guy Tridgell said.

Tridgell declined to elaborate on how long state leaders would take to review projects or if they would be open to changes, but at least one of the towns already has spent tens of thousands of dollars planning to build an Amtrak station there.

Under the agreement announced in April with the Union Pacific Railroad, Amtrak would offer a single round-trip service daily between Rockford and Chicago by the end of this year, Tridgell said.

There would be stops in Elgin, Huntley and Belvidere, and a second daily round-trip option would be added in 2016 when improvements are complete.

The service originally was planned to run on Canadian National Railway tracks, but after years of failed negotiations with the Montreal-based company, officials were able to finalize an agreement last year to switch to a new route that used tracks owned by Metra and the Union Pacific Railroad.

But Vicary questions whether then-Gov. Pat Quinn made the $233 million decision with the state’s budget constraints in mind.

“This project was not thoroughly negotiated for the best interests of the taxpayers and envisioned with the original $60 million route based on a recent state consultant study,” Vicary wrote in his letter to Rauner. “Instead, former Gov. Quinn’s impulsive blunder is now a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar boondoggle.”

Meanwhile, Huntley village leaders believe the project – as presently planned – ultimately will move forward, Huntley Village Manager Dave Johnson said.

He plans to check with state officials in a week for an update on the project’s review

Johnson estimated the village[of Huntley] has spent $50,000 of the $400,000 budgeted for project engineering plans so far.

“It’s a significant part of the village of Huntley moving forward with our downtown renovation project,” Johnson said. “It’s an important part of our community, as well.”

Read the rest of the story:  Genoa pushing for Amtrak project change | Daily Chronicle

PREVIEW: Mayor Hopes for Governor's Support for Amtrak Project

 

ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- Rockford's mayor says, like many of us, he'll be paying close attention to what Governor Bruce Rauner has to say at Wednesday's budget address.

Mayor Larry Morrissey says he's hoping the Governor mentions new funding for education to help bring down property taxes. The mayor says that and funding a project to bring Amtrak service to Rockford will have a major impact on the Forest City moving forward and he hopes the Governor sees our community as a priority.

"Ultimately, the Governor wants to move projects forward that make sense for him and the state of Illinois, we think that project makes a lot of sense, and any necessary appropriation we hope that he would support the legislature providing it in the budget," says Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey.

PREVIEW: Mayor Hopes for Governor's Support for Amtrak Project

No Appointments or Job Openings in Boone County Government

Above is taken from:  http://www.boonecountyil.org/page/employment-opportunities

Obama Immigration Policy Halted by Federal Judge in Texas - NYTimes.com

 

A federal judge in Texas has ordered a halt, at least temporarily, to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, siding with Texas and 25 other states that filed a lawsuit opposing the initiatives.

In an order filed on Monday, the judge, Andrew S. Hanen of Federal District Court in Brownsville, prohibited the Obama administration from carrying out programs the president announced in November that would offer protection from deportation and work permits to as many as five million undocumented immigrants. The first of those programs was scheduled to start receiving applications on Wednesday.

Judge Hanen, an outspoken critic of the administration on immigration policy, found that the states had satisfied the minimum legal requirements to bring their lawsuit. He said the Obama administration had failed to comply with basic administrative procedures for putting such a sweeping program into effect.

The administration argued that Mr. Obama was well within long-established federal authority for a president to decide how to enforce the immigration laws. But Texas and the other states said the executive measures were an egregious case of government by fiat that would impose huge new costs on their budgets.

Mr. Obama said he was using executive powers to focus enforcement agents on deporting serious criminals and those posing threats to national security. Three-year deportation deferrals and work permits were offered for undocumented immigrants who have not committed serious crimes, have been here at least five years and have children who are American citizens or legal residents.

As part of the package, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson also established new priorities, instructing enforcement agents to concentrate on deporting the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists and gang members, as well as migrants caught crossing the border illegally.

Since the lawsuit was filed on Dec. 3, the stark divisions over Mr. Obama’s sweeping actions have played out in filings in the case. Three senators and 65 House members, all Republicans, signed a legal brief opposing the president that was filed by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal action organization.

Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, who is known for crackdowns on people living in the country illegally, also filed a brief supporting the states’ lawsuit. In December, a federal judge in Washington dismissed a separate lawsuit by Sheriff Arpaio seeking to stop the president’s actions.

On the other side, Washington and 11 other states as well as the District of Columbia weighed in supporting Mr. Obama, arguing that they would benefit from the increased wages and taxes that would result if illegal immigrant workers came out of the underground. The mayors of 33 cities, including New York and Los Angeles, and the Conference of Mayors also supported Mr. Obama.

“The strong entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants to the United States has significantly boosted local economies and local labor markets,” the mayors wrote in their filing.

Some legal scholars said any order by Judge Hanen to halt the president’s actions would be quickly suspended by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

“Federal supremacy with respect to immigration matters makes the states a kind of interloper in disputes between the president and Congress,” said Laurence H. Tribe, a professor of constitutional law at Harvard. “They don’t have any right of their own.”

The states’ lawsuit quotes Mr. Obama as saying many times in recent years that he did not have authority to take actions as broad as those he ultimately took. Mr. Tribe said that argument was not likely to pass muster with appeals court judges….

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Obama Immigration Policy Halted by Federal Judge in Texas - NYTimes.com