Very interesting article from Cal Skinner regarding the RTA and PACE buses.
Read all of the article by clicking on the following: Feds Taget Corruption at Pace - Patronage & Contractor Kickbacks - McHenry County Blog
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Election dates to replace Schock set for July 7, Sept. 10 - News - The State Journal-Register - Springfield, IL
CHICAGO — The dates have been set in the special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock.A federal judge in Chicago signed a consent decree Tuesday scheduling a July 7 primary and a Sept. 10 general election.Schock resigned his seat representing Illinois' 18th Congressional District last month amid questions about his office expenses and campaign spending. The Justice Department is investigating the Peoria Republican and a grand jury has begun hearing testimony about the matter.Candidates may begin filing nominating papers for the office Wednesday.GOP state Sen. Darin LaHood, the son of former Congressman and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is considered the front-runner in the heavily Republican district.Illinois and federal officials needed a judge's approval for the dates because Illinois election law conflicts with federal voting law.
Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press
-- While lawsuit-filing rates in most of Illinois are at a 40-year low, they remain high in Cook and Madison counties due, in part, to asbestos cases brought by out-of-staters, a report released Tuesday by tort-reform advocates says.
The 14-page report from the Illinois Civil Justice League, which has long argued that too much litigation hurts the business environment, compares all 102 counties in Illinois by lawsuits filed per 1,000 residents.
Combined, it found 99 counties had 1.2 lawsuits per thousand residents in 2013 - the lowest figure since 1974.
But the rate in Madison, which hugs St. Louis, was 8.2 per thousand, the state's highest rate. Cook, Illinois' most populous county, had a rate of four per thousand….
Read the rest of the article: Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press
Gov. Bruce Rauner aide: Grant freezes for social services may continue - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL
-- A top aide for Gov. Bruce Rauner said grant freezes could continue for the rest of the current fiscal year as the administration tries to balance the budget.Tim Nuding, Rauner's budget director, said at a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee that grant suspensions like the $26 million announced last week for the Department of Human Services would likely continue until the new fiscal year begins in July. The recent freeze has adversely affected several programs, including funding for The Autism Program.Lawmakers passed a budget deal in March to fix the $1.6 billion deficit in the current fiscal year. It diverted $1.3 billion in special funds as well as implemented a 2.25 percent across-the-board cut to other parts of the budget.Human Services sent a letter out April 3 to several agencies alerting them that grant funding would be frozen beginning April 6. Nuding said the budget deal required freezing some funds, and more could be frozen in the near future.“Again, agencies are reviewing — I don’t know what those are yet — but there is the possibility that based on appropriation limits, we may have to look at other areas that to this date we have held harmless,” he said.Nuding and Department of Human Services Acting Secretary Greg Bassi said the suspension would likely last until the end of the current fiscal year unless new revenue is found.Russell Bonanno, director of The Autism Program’s statewide network, said the cuts were having a “calamitous impact across the state,” including full suspension of services in Rockford starting Friday. The Autism Program provides a bevy of services, including health screenings and education for children and parents.Local families are feeling the squeeze. Whitney Rikas, a mother of two autistic children, said without TAP she would have a much harder time teaching her kids basic functions.“If they’re just shut down completely, then obviously we won’t be able to go and it’ll impact both our boys’ life skills — just getting through the day and those things we need to know how to teach them,” she said. “And if they keep going without the funding, we’re not sure how we’re going to be able to afford it.”Stephen Moseley, a 19-year-old with autism, was part of the social skills group at TAP. He presented a letter to the committee outlining why the program is so important to autistic children.Moseley’s mother, former Springfield Democratic Rep. Vickie Moseley, said without the program, he likely would not have been able to even attend the committee meeting.“The very fact that he’s been volunteering at TAP to work with younger kids, the fact that he was willing to write this letter and come with me today is a testament to TAP,” she said. “Believe me, when he was 9, I never saw that kind of situation happening.”
Continue reading: Gov. Bruce Rauner aide: Grant freezes for social services may continue - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Rob Funderburg appointed to lead Illinois Finance Authority - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL
By Kevin Haas
Rockford Register StarPosted Apr. 13, 2015 at 6:58 PM
ROCKFORD — Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed Alpine Bank Chairman Rob Funderburg to lead the Illinois Finance Authority.The appointment was announced Monday in a news release from the governor's office that says Funderburg's background in business and as an entrepreneur make him supremely qualified for the job.Funderburg of Belvidere is the chairman of board for Alpine Bank and Trust and Alpine Bancorporation, Inc. He is also president and treasurer of both Funderburg Farms, Inc. and K-B Farms, Inc. The third-generation banker and philanthropist volunteers with numerous community organizations including the YMCA of Rock River Valley, the Rockford Art Museum, Keith Country Day School, the Belvidere Community School District Foundation for Excellence in Education, Rockford Symphony Orchestra Foundation, and the Rockford Park District Foundation. He was named Citizen of the Year by the Rockford Chamber of Commerce in 2009.The Illinois Finance Authority provides low-cost capital to public and private organizations in hope of fostering economic development, creating and retaining jobs, and improving quality of life for Illinois residents.
Groups warn of Illinois gas tax increase : Politics
April 11, 2015 7:55 pm • Jordan Maddox Lee Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD | A potential boost in Illinois' gas tax could help repair Illinois roadways, but organizations affected by such an increase say that is not the answer.
Bill Fleischli, executive vice president of the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association and the Illinois Association of Convenience Stores, said an increase in motor fuel taxes is not needed and it will hinder Illinois business.
“Though gas prices have been on the decline the past few months, there’s no guarantee the low prices are here to stay,” he told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “Illinois citizens and businesses pay enough on motor fuel to fund (a) more than adequate road construction program.”
Illinois’s motor fuel tax is 19 cents per gallon on top of the federal rate of 18.4 cents. The state also charges a 6.25 percent sales tax on gas.
A coalition of business and labor groups earlier this year floated a plan that could reduce the sales tax on gas, while increasing the motor fuel tax as a way to pay for road and bridge construction projects. Gov. Bruce Rauner says he wants to jump-start a statewide construction program, but has not outlined a specific way to pay for the projects.
Fleischli said the sales tax on fuel goes to the general fund of the budget and some of the motor fuel tax is handed to agencies. So the money generated by a higher tax may not be guaranteed for road construction anyway.
The road fund did have a large surplus until last month when the General Assembly took $250 million to help pay for the $1.6 billion deficit in this year’s budget.
“Taxpayers currently have no assurance that the dollars are actually going to roads,” said Andrew Nelms, deputy director of Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax advocacy group.
Curt Adams, president of Ayerco, which operates 24 convenience stores throughout central Illinois, said increasing the tax could push residents near the state border to head into other, lower-tax states.
Fleischli said roads should be repaired and there is already enough money to do so.
A Rauner spokeswoman did not offer a timeline for when the governor might outline his plans for a construction program.
"Updating and improving the state's infrastructure is one of Governor Rauner's priorities. He looks forward to working with the Legislature to make those investments for the future of Illinois,” said spokeswoman Catherine Kelly.
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