Village officials are still looking for input from residents on whether they should allow video poker games at establishments within the corporate limits.
Read the entire story by clicking on the following: Poplar Grove wants residents’ feedback on gaming ordinance | Belvidere Daily Republican
A former employee of Boone County's circuit clerk is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the clerk's office.
Donna Osoria, 56, of Belvidere, is charged with theft and official misconduct. The complaint claims Osoria stole between $10,000 and $100,000 between the months of March 2010 and June 2012, when she was the county's circuit clerk.
is being held on $50,000 bond. If convicted, she faces 4-15 years in prison for the theft charge and 2-5 years on the misconduct charge.
The above is from: Former circuit clerk employee accused of stealing from Boone Co. - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader
One study said Mitt Romney's tax-reform numbers don't add up. Another says they do. The reality: It depends a lot on the assumptions made about how deeply Romney is willing to cut tax breaks for the rich, including incentives for investment.
….Romney supporters are eager to defuse the "mathematically impossible" issue as a Democratic talking point. If they can't, it puts pressure on Romney either to lay out more details of his plan, or to backpedal and revise it.
By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer / September 28, 2012
Nineteen of 20 cabinet-level agencies disobeyed the law requiring the disclosure of public information: The cost of travel by top officials. In all, just eight of the 57 federal agencies met Bloomberg’s request for those documents within the 20-day window required by the Act.
“When it comes to implementation of Obama’s wonderful transparency policy goals, especially FOIA policy in particular, there has been far more ‘talk the talk’ rather than ‘walk the walk,’” said Daniel Metcalfe, director of the Department of Justice’s office monitoring the government’s compliance with FOIA requests from 1981 to 2007
Click on the following for more details: Obama Cabinet Flunks Disclosure Test With 19 in 20 Ignoring Law - Bloomberg
By Jamey Dunn
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that poverty continued to grow in Illinois in 2011.
According to estimates from the census bureau’s American Community Survey, about 1.9 million Illinoisans were living in poverty in 2011. That compares with about 1.7 million living below the poverty line in 2010. Last year, the census bureau considered a family of three with a household income of $17,916 or less to be living in poverty; in 2010 it was $17,374 for three people. In 2011, 15 percent of Illinois residents were living in poverty, which is a jump from 13.8 percent in 2010. The numbers from the census bureau are the most current comprehensive statistics available on poverty. For more on 2010 poverty numbers, see this Illinois Issues Blog post.
According to the bureau's findings, the median household income in the state has been slipping during the last three years for which figures are available. In 2011, it was $53,234, down from $58,743 in 2008.
Nationally, the poverty rate held relatively steady. It was 15.3 percent in 2010 and increased slightly to 15.9 percent in 2011. About 48.5 million Americans were living in poverty last year.
By Mark Trumbull | Christian Science Monitor –
Don't be expecting a huge cut in taxes, because I'm also going to be closing loopholes on deductions," Mr. Romney said Wednesday in Westerville, Ohio, flanked by a national debt clock, chronicling the nation's rising burden on future taxpayers.
The comments in some ways raise as many questions as they answer.
RECOMMENDED: Obama vs. Romney 101: 5 ways they differ on taxes
