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- Catholic Times of Springfield: Catholic cemeterie...
- Reposting: The Cathedral that never was
- How big were the collections for Christmas?
- Father Geary’s Plea for support from Christmas Cat...
- BCJ Letter to Editor: Sally Heisler--St. James Ch...
- St. James new church capacity? 1,000? 850? Now 80...
- How much of St. James’ Diocesan Stewardship (DSP) ...
- Contributions for the weekend of December 18, 2011...
- Beloit Daily News, 12-16-2011: St. Peter parish p...
- The teaching authority of the Catholic Church and ...
- Pope’s strength and health?
- What interest rate will the Diocese of Rockford ch...
- Thousands Abused in Dutch Catholic Institutions
- Rockford Register Star 12-16-2011
- Joliet Diocese’s audit shows the exact terms for i...
- Contributions and building pledges for weekend of ...
- Little known facts regarding Rev. Federspiel, past...
- Openness and Transparency of Finances in Milwaukee...
- Topography of faith
- Financial Reporting at St. James in a previous era...
- Concerned Catholics approaches 6,000 page views si...
- How many pledges have been withdrawn?
- What is position of American Bishops on sexual abu...
- Weekly collection and building campaign for Decemb...
- St. James website has link to its architect
- Campaign Member speaks at each Mass
- Collections for weekend of November 27, 2011
- When will parishioners be updated regarding the ne...
- Rod Snyder and his truths about St. James
- Charles R. O’Malley Trust donates $50,000 to Build...
- The “school brochure”from the new St. James’ Paris...
- St. Mary’s (Huntley) gives weekly updates of its c...
- This week’s “Building on Our Faith Campaign”
- Making do with a faulty translation: A National ...
- Bishop Finn’s history
- New St. James Parish website names parish advisors...
- The Building Our Faith Campaign’s website chart
- New Translation of Catholic Mass Makes Its Debut
- With Mrs. Maggie Daley’s funeral at old St. Pat’s,...
- Did St. James really take its architect's advise o...
- Rites and Liturgy
- Bishop Doran and the “traditionalist”
- Advocates for Mass. clergy abuse victims welcome A...
- St. Vincent’s gives an accounting of its non-monet...
- Weekly Collection and Pledges for week ending Nove...
- Chicago Tribune Reports on St. James School, Belvi...
- Holy Family’s Contribution/Budget
- Are communion rails coming back to churches in the...
- Who determines what is an ugly church?
- Should a parish have financial transparency?
- Bishop Finn avoids indictment by entering diversio...
- St. Katharine Drexel, Sugar Grove: the diocese’s ...
- What has St. Vincent de Paul done the last two yea...
- 11-13-2011 St. James Collections and Capital Campa...
- St. James School on You Tube
- New Parish website uses outdated picture
- How does the Rockford Diocese Calculate the DSP Go...
- 11-6--2011 Collections, Pledges and DSP for St. Ja...
- New Research: Sexual Abuse Cases cost Catholic Chu...
- How Penn State and the Catholic Church Covered Up ...
- Catholic Church in Iceland ready to begin abuse in...
- Vatican rejects child abuse cover-up claims
- Concerned Catholics approaches 5,000 page views si...
- St. James’ new website
- Joliet Diocese says man’s priest sex abuse claims ...
- Cardinal regrets that rape victim has become the f...
- Northwest Herald: Struggling to keep the faith
- The other Pope John XXIII
- Father Helber Daza
- The New St. James Church: Many Questions; Few Answ...
- How much did St. James pay for the two properties ...
- St. James’ Application to rezone two properties fo...
- 10-30-2011 Collections, Pledges and DSP for St. Ja...
- Sunday’s Gospel and subject of Father Geary’s Homi...
- St. Paul Lutheran to lower 2012 tuition to hopeful...
- Does Belvidere’s state grant to preserve historica...
- Cardinal Burke speaks in McHenry County
- Father Geary’s Update on the new church
- The Observer’s official story on the St. Bernadett...
- The Observer’s official story of the St. Peter’s ,...
- 10-23-2011 Collections, Pledges and DSP for St. Ja...
- Old 2009 article on St. Peter, South Beloit’s buil...
- Bismarck Tribune Announcement regarding Msgr Kagan...
- Announcement by Diocese of Rockford of Msgr Kagan ...
- Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases
- Bishop Indicted; Charge Is Failing to Report Abuse...
- Controversy in Phoenix Diocese regarding parishion...
- UPDATED 10-23-2011 Collections, Pledges and DSP fo...
- DSP–“mostly on track”
- Many diocesan parishes disclose their school subsi...
- 10-7-2011 The New St. James Church: Many Questions...
- St. Mary’s , Woodstock, Il supplies its parishion...
- Viewers have viewed over 4,000 pages of this websi...
- Changes at St. James Cemetery
- Will funeral luncheons continue at St. James?
- UPDATED 10-16-2011 Collections and Pledges for St....
- Goodbye to Father Ospina; Hello to Father Daza
- St. James’ FY 2011 Financial Reports
- St. Mary Oratory, Rockford
- 2008 Outcry concerning Madison’s Bishop Robert Mor...
- [St.Peter’s, South Beloit] St. Vincent de Paul se...
- St. John’s (Johnsburg) Census: Will it reduce the ...
- Papal Infallibility—what should we know about this...
- UPDATED 9-26-2011 Collections and Pledges for St. ...
- [Elburn, Il] St. Gall’s building plan: $6 million...
- Holy Angels, Aurora, Il: FY 2011 Financials in Spr...
- St. Patrick’s, Dixon, Il: FY 2011 Financials on t...
- Weekly Financial Reporting at other diocesan churc...
- 9-26-2011 The New St. James Church: Many Questions...
- St. Patrick’s of St. Charles: Parish expansion ma...
- Finances at the Parish of St. Peter’s Cathedral, R...
- The OBSERVER’s Story of the St. James zoning reque...
- Update on Huntley Catholic Parish building drive
- What amount should St. James’ regular collection b...
- Catholic Charities to see cuts without contracts
- What Rights Do Catholics Have in the Church?
- Father Ospina issue plays on Channel 23
- Viewer have used over 3,000 pages of this website–...
- John Talbot to perform at Huntley Catholic Church
- St. James’ “New Issue”: Father Diego Ospina?
- Huntley church plans big expansion
- How is Rockford’s largest Catholic parish doing fi...
- Has the Rockford Diocese ever done this before?
- Children’s Classes Begin at St. James
- Current St. James Pledges and Regular Collection
- City Council outnumbered by St. James parishioners...
- Last letter posted on website by pastor: June 27,...
- Last Day for Religious Education Sign-Up at St. Ja...
- Letter to Editor: Two Churches
- Holy Family’s Finances: Financial Report to be pr...
- How are other parishes doing financially? St. Eliz...
- Spanish Masses at neighboring parishes
- 9-11-2011 The New St. James Church: Many Questions...
- Belvidere votes on St. James church expansion plan...
- Aftermath of South Beloit’s failed Catholic church...
- Boone County Journal: The DECISION—(St. James Zon...
- Why is the Rockford Diocese and St. James Parish n...
- Did statements from Mayor Brereton and Alderman Ch...
- St. James Campaign begins to post on parish websit...
- Rockford Register Star coverage of the voting on S...
- BNNS Radio: Hear the Belvidere City Council Meeti...
- St. Charles Borromeo, Hampshire, Illinois: A stall...
- The streets of Belvidere are expected to be quite ...
- How good are the finances at St. Peters Cathedral,...
- SHADOW EFFECT: Will the city council be shown the ...
- Rockford Register Star’s View: Downtown location b...
- Embracing the Faith No Matter the Consequences
- The new “lower” height design of St. James church
- Reposting: Did St. James really take its architect...
- 8-29-2011 The New St. James Church: Many Questions...
- St. James Building Our Faith Capital Campaign—Upda...
- Letter to Editor: A prayer? Will a pastor be reas...
- Boone County Journal Devotes Pages to St. James Zo...
- How large? How Overpowering will St.James “Cathedr...
- Shopper Ads: Vote “NO”
- More questions than answers at St. James meeting
- Viewership for the month of August
- St. James Capital Campaign demands “allegiance”
- The NEW St James: The first “classic” style church...
- Reposting: Will Fr. Geary be able to comply with t...
- The New St. James Church: Many Questions; Few Answ...
- Request not to rush the St. James church project
- St. James’ Proposed 170 PARKING Spaces with requir...
- “Unity T-shirts”
- Boone County Journal coverage of Revised St. James...
- Letter to Editor—Vote “Yes”
- Register Star article of 8-24-2011
- How much does a “bird house”cost?
- Should St. James build a “cathedral style” church?...
- UPDATE: St. James’ Revised Plan due 8-19-2011—or ...
- 8-29-2011: St. James Building Our Faith Capital Ca...
- What is the Mayor going to report to the aldermen ...
- 8-24-2011 Updated//// The New St. James Church: Ma...
- Register Star Guest Columnist Wants Aldermen to vo...
- St. James’ Revised Plan due 8-19-2011—or does a ch...
- August 23 Meeting at Community Building
- Parishioners writes alderman to vote “NO”
- Meeting Tuesday at Community Building
- St. James Capital Campaign Brochure
- 8-7-2011: St. James Building Our Faith Capital Cam...
- A vote “YES” letter to the Aldermen
- How much did the professional fund raising cost St...
- The New St. James Church: Many Questions; Few Answ...
- Stewardship: Diocesan Assessment/DSP
- Parish Stewardship and St. James’ Approval Letter
- One Year After Tuition Cut, Enrollment Trend Turns...
- St. James’ neighbor announces public meeting conce...
- Jack Wolf speaks further of the help requested in ...
- Parishioner makes large ad purchase in favor of St...
- What interest will St. James pay on a DIAL loan? 6...
- UPDATED: 8-9-2011: The New St. James Church: Man...
- St. James Pastoral Plan Circa 2000
- “Collateral” Damage: What was a widow’s intent reg...
- The Homily/Sermon for August 6-7, 2011 Masses
- Insert to the Parish Bulletin 8-7-2011: Update to ...
- 8-6-2011////
- Status of St James Zoning Request
- BCJ Letter to Editor concerning St. James’ new chu...
- St. James Building Our Faith Capital Campaign
- Observer reports South Beloit Church Fundraiser Ca...
- Food for Thought: Yesterday’s Cryptoquote
- Viewership on this blog
- 8-2-2011////The New St. James Church: Many Questio...
- Jean Christensen’s Letter to the aldermen regardin...
- ▼ July (50)
- St James Church Feasibility Study
- BCJ Letter to Editor 7-29-2011—Lincoln’s prayer fo...
- Is St. James admitting that there is a “problem” w...
- Shadow Pictures which Mr. Lickenheld chose not to ...
- The Goal: $3,000,000 pledged; $1,000,000 in cash
- Old St. James Church Belvidere
- What institutional zoning of St. James could mean?...
- A look at what happened at St. Peter’s in South Be...
- Rockford Register Star, July 25-6 web/paper editio...
- 7-26-2011:
- Beloit Daily: St. Peter’s School building projec...
- Can St. James afford to operate a bigger Church?
- Boone County Journal: July 15, 2011—Both Editorial...
- St. James: What do your neighbor’s think of the ne...
- Verbatim Record St. James Zoning Hearing of the Pl...
- The Cathedral that never was
- Holy Family Parish: Rockford’s richest parish not ...
- July 14, 2011:
- Shopper Ad: Attention Aldermen, VOTE NO
- Does Bishop Doran have a problem in South Beloit?
- 7-12-2011
- Belvidere Daily Republican: Belvidere council tabl...
- Jack Wolf: Rockford Diocese stance on Belvidere c...
- Boone County Journal: St James Decision Tabled Unt...
- Maximum Capacity of St. James Church 850 or 1000?
- Listen to Tuesday Night’s Belvidere City Council
- First to stand up: Casey Brothers Letter to Editor...
- Vote “NO” on the St. James Church Zoning
- St. James Church zoning requests up for Belvidere ...
- A Response to this new website
- The new St. James Church will be very big—you can ...
- President Lincoln’s statement on Litigation
- Scale: New Proposed St. James to old St. James Ch...
- Boone County Journal Letters to the Editor
- Will the new St. James Church cause a parking prob...
- Will Fr. Geary be able to comply with the requests...
- Pastor of St. James states parishioners give “over...
- What is the Institutional Zoning which St. James P...
- Listen to Committee of Whole meeting of the City o...
- Did St. James really take its architect's advise o...
- Belvidere Planning posts the St. James zoning pack...
- St. James Zoning passes the advisory city commissi...
- Will the new St. James Church cause a parking prob...
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Intended as a discussion group, the blog has evolved to be more of a reading list of current issues affecting our county, its government and people. All reasonable comments and submissions welcomed. Email us at: bill.pysson@gmail.com REMEMBER: To view our sister blog for education issues: www.district100watchdog.blogspot.com
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Updated: Index of postings on Concerned Catholics of Boone County
$5 million is just the beginning of Illinois’ health care exchange costs
August 24, 2011
By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois is touting a $5 million federal grant to set up health-care exchanges as part of the national health care law, but residents may not have access to an exchange for a couple years.
Illinois wants to have an exchange ready for federal review by 2013, said Kate Gross, assistant director for health planning at the Illinois Department of Insurance. If Illinois fails to set up its exchange by January 2014, it will be required to use an exchange chosen by federal officials.
The $5 million, Gross said, will be spent "on groups of consultants or firms to … begin to help (us) truly figure out all of the pieces that we're building."
These consultants or firms will write a report for lawmakers that details how the state should proceed to create a health-care exchange, Gross said.
A handful of full-time state employees in the Department of Insurance also are working on the exchange project, but Gross said more outside help is needed.
Illinois has spent $1 million on consultants to study Illinois' health insurance needs, but Gross said the state needed additional consultants to discern where to begin.
That report, provided by Wakely Consulting Group, a private consulting group from from Boston, suggests broad goals, such as using technology to identify under-insured populations and foster a competitive health-insurance marketplace.
But the report does not suggest how the state can accomplish these goals. Lawmakers are going to have to decide how to follow up on the report's vague goals.
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges are intended to help consumers shop for coverage in the same way airline travelers look for airfare bargains online.
Gross said the consultant or firm paid $5 million must address whether Illinois' health care exchange will be part of state government, quasi-public or nonprofit.
The Legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability held its first study committee meeting Wednesday morning in Chicago. The lawmakers discussed a number of topics, but did not arrive at any solutions. The commission is expected to meet next week here.
Legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn in July started Illinois toward the health-care exchanges. SB 1555 requires businesses with less than 50 employees to spend at least $2,750 per employee on health insurance for their workers. The legislation also sets an October 2013 deadline, but does not specify how the exchanges will be governed.
Until a health-care exchange is finalized, and up and running, Jamie Lewis is not going to worry. Lewis and her husband, Troy, own Heritage Landscape and Design in Moline.
"You never know what's going to happen until it gets put through,” said Lewis.
Lewis said her firm, which employs about 26 people for landscape design and hardscape work, pays for about half of the health insurance bill for its workers, but she did not specify the actual amount.
If the health-care exchange doesn't deliver cheaper alternative, Lewis said, “we'll just hire less people," but she won’t be laying off any people.
Kim Clarke Maisch, the Illinois director for the National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, which lobbies and advocates for small- and medium-sized businesses, said those kinds of decisions are what she hopes lawmakers keep in mind, as they craft Illinois' health-care exchange.
"Who gets to be part of the exchange? Are employers going to have to pay for part-time workers?" Maisch said. "There's a lot of technical things, but very important aspects to the exchange that will make it or break it."
Maisch said she and her group are not opposed to health-care exchanges. But some private groups, including NFIB, and several states, not Illinois, have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the requirement that people buy insurance. Opponents of the law say it's unconstitutional for the government to force someone to buy health insurance.
A federal court in Atlanta earlier this month ruled that the mandate went beyond Congress' power. The ruling is the second on the federal health care law. The first upheld the mandate.
Costs for the exchanges are likely to vary from state to state, depending on how they build their exchanges.
Court delays superintendent pay case
August 23, 2011
By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ regional school superintendents are going to have to show a central Illinois judge why he should force the state to pay them if the superintendents are going to get a paycheck anytime soon.
Illinois’ 44 regional superintendents have been working without a paycheck since July 1, when Gov. Pat Quinn used his veto power to strip $11 million from the state budget. Last Friday, the superintendents filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County Circuit Court asking a judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would force the Quinn administration to pay them.
But it will be Thursday before the superintendents learn if their case will go forward.
Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt on Tuesday delayed a hearing on the restraining order request, giving lawyers for Quinn more time to prepare their response to the lawsuit. Schmidt scheduled a hearing Thursday, and tipped both sides to the question he wants answered.
“Temporary restraining orders usually stop something,” Schmidt said. “This request would force the state to start paying the superintendents. I’d like to hear arguments on that.”
Terence Corrigan, assistant bureau chief for the Illinois Attorney General’s Springfield office, argued the case Tuesday on behalf of the Quinn administration. Corrigan asked Schmidt for more time to deal with what Corrigan called the “serious constitutional issues” involved in the superintendents’ requests.
Bob Daiber, president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, which lobbies for the regional superintendents, agreed that there are serious constitutional issues at hand. But he said the case before Schmidt is simple.
“It stops the state from violating the law,” Daiber said.
Daiber has been talking with Quinn’s office since July 1. He said the reality of two months without pay forced the superintendents into court.
Kelly Kraft, the governor’s budget spokeswoman, said the administration continues to talk with Daiber and the regional superintendents.
“We continue to work toward a short-term solution to ensure payment through the veto session,” Kraft said. “The conversations continue to be productive.”
The governor has said for months that he wants to pay the superintendents, but wants to take the money from local sources. Local voters elect regional superintendents, but the state pays their nearly $100,000 a year salaries.
But Quinn’s plan to shift superintendents’ pay from the state to local taxpayers requires action from the Illinois General Assembly. Lawmakers are not expected to be back at the Capitol until late October. Once they return, there also is a possibility that legislators will overrule Quinn’s veto and restore state funding for the superintendents.
Daiber is quick to say the superintendents cannot wait that long.
“We already have one regional superintendent who intends to leave at the end of this month because of the situation,” Daiber said.
Daiber said St. Clair County Regional Superintendent Brad Harriman has indicated he will leave his post soon.
Harriman said his last day will be Sept. 7.
“I’m gone,” Harriman said by phone Tuesday. “I’ve already made up my mind.”
Harriman said he was not thinking about leaving his post until recently. Even if the state starts sending checks in September, he said he will not not stay.
“This is something that wasn’t even on my mind two weeks ago,” Harriman added. “And I know I’ll take a hit to my pension, but I’m going to retire early.”
Harriman was elected to his second term in 2010. He said he does not have another job lined-up.
Both the Quinn administration and the superintendents are due back in Schmidt’s courtroom Thursday afternoon.