Wednesday, April 6, 2011

I90 Reconstruction Work Set To Begin This Week

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Work's supposed to begin this week on an I90 Roadway and Bridge Rehabilitation Project to repair and resurface pavement and bridges between the Elgin Toll Plaza and Barrington Road and between Genoa Road and Route 20. 

 
What's involved is milling off the top layer of asphalt, repairing the concrete road base and resurfacing the 52-year-old roadway with a four-inch layer of asphalt. The project also includes rehabilitation of 25 bridges 5  culverts. Other work includes roadway signage, guardrail and storm sewer improvements and installation of additional roadway cameras as part of the Tollway’s Traffic and Incident Management System.


Tollway officials said they'd keep as many lanes open in the work zone as they could by using shoulders and express lanes but they said some temporary lane closures might be required at times. They're supposed to be scheduled during non-peak hours. This week there'll be temporary overnight lane closures to remove rumble strips and prepare the outside shoulders to carry daily traffic during construction.  Pre-stage work's expected to be done in a couple of weeks in the 10-mile section between the Elgin Toll Plaza and Barrington Road.
Later on the project will require occasional closures at some entrance and exit ramps. During the first stage of construction, one I-PASS Only lane at the  Route 59 and the Beverly Road  toll plazas will close with the cash lane remaining open for both cash and I-PASS customers.  Subsequent stages will include split configurations with express and local lanes, and long-term ramp closures with detours at the IL Route 25 and IL Route 31 interchanges. 

Alleged Latin King chief found guilty - chicagotribune.com

 

His power and sway over the Latin Kings, one of the country's largest street gangs, stretched from 26th Street to the East Coast and Texas, prosecutors say.

But on Wednesday, after two days of deliberations, Augustin "Tino" Zambrano, 51, considered by authorities as the gang's highest-ranking leader in the nation, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and multiple federal charges for orchestrating violence and drug dealing in Chicago. The federal jury also convicted three other reputed ranking leaders of all charges.

Click on the following for more details:  Alleged Latin King chief found guilty - chicagotribune.com

Shutdown Showdown: Republicans, Democrats Express Some Optimism About Deal - ABC News

 

Members of Congress will Continue to be Paid Even if Funds Aren't Appropriated for Soldiers

Soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan will not receive paychecks next week if the government fails to come together on a resolution to keep the government funded and avert a shutdown, senior government officials said today.

Military personnel will be paid eventually but not until Congress appropriates money to the Department of Defense

Click on the following for more details:  Shutdown Showdown: Republicans, Democrats Express Some Optimism About Deal - ABC News

Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Race—the current count

April 06, 2011 - 04:00PM ET

Prosser:  739,886

Kloppenburg:  740,090

Click on the following to see the most current numbers from JS Online: AP Politics:

County by county count

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Universities come through in monitoring for radiation | Seattle Times Newspaper

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Federal and state officials have doled out only snippets of monitoring data in the weeks since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The most complete picture of the types and amounts of isotopes wafting across the ocean has come from a surprising source: university scientists.

A team at the University of Washington rigged up a detection system as soon as it became clear the Japanese reactors were damaged. Unlike some agencies, they have shared their full results with the public — including the newest measurements that show levels are now a tenth of what they were on March 20, when concentrations of radioactive material peaked in Seattle.

Click on the following for more details: Local News | Universities come through in monitoring for radiation | Seattle Times Newspaper

WI Special Election: Supreme Court Election Results

Looks like a “Chicago style election”—just change the city of Chicago for the city of Milwaukee and I think we have “been here before”.

UPDATE: 

Wednesday Morning Update:

Here's the current tally, according to the AP:

Prosser: 738,514
Kloppenburg: 738,883
Precincts Reporting: 3625/3630

Update #28: This is headed for a recount.  Please email if you have any info on absentees.  Address: jellis@businessinsider.com.

Update #27: Absentees!  8000 to be counted in Milwaukee, says the Mayor (how convenient!). Prosser lead 1600 votes.

Update #26:  Back to 2000 vote lead for Prosser.

Update #25: Snapback!  He's up by 5000 votes!

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wisconsin-election-results-long-night-ahead-2011-4#ixzz1IiZdymrH

Click on the following for more details:  WI Special Election: Results

State Supreme Court race with wide implications nearly deadlocked - JSOnline

 

was too close to call late Tuesday, after a hard-fought campaign dominated by political forces and outside interest groups.

contest for a 10-year term, Kloppenburg is trying to accomplish the rare feat of unseating a sitting justice. Michael Gableman defeated then-Justice Louis Butler in 2008, but before that it had been 41 years since an incumbent lost a race for a high court seat. Unlike Butler, who was appointed to the post, Prosser was elected to his current term.

Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School estimates interest groups spent more than $3.5 million on TV ads, breaking the $3.38 million record set in the 2008 Gableman-Butler contest, with four conservative groups backing Prosser spending a total of 37% more than one liberal group backing Kloppenburg.

Gableman's defeat of Butler that swung the court majority from 4-3 liberal to 4-3 conservative, with Prosser frequently - but not always - in the conservative bloc.

Gableman's victory also was controversial because of a misleading television ad he ran against Butler. The court deadlocked, 3-3, over whether he violated the judicial ethics code, with Gableman abstaining and Prosser siding with conservatives against disciplining him. Prosser's support of Gableman became a campaign issue.

business groups spent heavily on ads backing the more conservative candidate, in this case Prosser, seeking to ensure rulings favorable to their interests. Kloppenburg was portrayed as soft on crime and overzealous in enforcing environmental laws.

liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee ran ads that played up Prosser's 2010 outburst against Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, leader of the liberal bloc - in which he called her "a total bitch" and threatened to "destroy" her - and his 1978 decision, as a district attorney, not to prosecute a priest later convicted of sexually abusing children.

Just five Wisconsin Supreme Court justices have been unseated by challengers since the court was created in 1852 - Samuel Crawford in 1855; Robert M. Bashford in 1908; James Ward Rector in 1947; George R. Currie in 1967; and Butler in 2008.

State Supreme Court race with wide implications nearly deadlocked - JSOnline