Rauner Left U.S. For The Holidays, But Staff Won’t Say Where

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner left the country for the holidays, but his staff won’t say where he went or even why they don’t want to disclose his whereabouts.

The wealthy businessman-turned-governor left the U.S. last weekend for a two-week vacation with family, spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said Wednesday. She said he is paying for the trip himself and plans to return to Illinois on Jan. 3, but she declined to comment further.

Rauner’s staff has made clear they don’t believe his schedule is public information, despite pre-election pledges of transparency. Since he became governor in January, his office has released only limited information about his public appearances, typically hours before they begin — a policy that has prompted a legal fight.

Not sharing information about his travel outside the country is just the latest example of Rauner’s secrecy.

David Melton, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called it “a little odd” for a chief executive who’s away for an extended period.

“I don’t think he’s reconciled himself to the fact he’s a public figure at this point, with all the downsides that may come with that,” Melton said.

There may be valid reasons for not releasing information, whether it’s security concerns or family members’ privacy, Melton said.

It’s also possible Rauner and his staff are concerned about the optics of the governor — who owns multiple homes, though all are in the U.S. — vacationing in a foreign country when Illinois is in the midst of a budget crisis that has hit the state’s poorest residents particularly hard.

Lawmakers in Illinois and elsewhere have a mixed track record of making their travels public.

Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn took several trips to Germany to visit troops at a medical center around Christmas — well-publicized visits that he paid for with private funds. But earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ripped into a Politico reporter during a public question-and-answer session for revealing the mayor and his family planned to travel to Cuba over the holiday break, saying his family’s trips are private.

Associated Press reporters in several states — including Iowa, New Mexico, Washington and Texas — said their governor’s offices typically announce out-of-state or overseas travel, though some do so only if the trips are taxpayer-funded.

Even then, some governors have kept a lid on their travels — and made news nonetheless.

In January, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s office said he was taking an economic development trip overseas, but wouldn’t say to which country because they were worried it could hurt his business recruiting efforts. That sparked several stories speculating on Deal’s “mysterious” adventures, including a Washington Post blog item titled “The governor of Georgia is missing.”

When Lincoln Chafee was governor of Rhode Island, he took a two-day trip on a nuclear submarine off the coast of New England — a jaunt that was only disclosed days after the fact, when Chafee mentioned it to a radio reporter.

When news outlets including the AP have filed Freedom of Information Act requests for Rauner’s schedule his office takes several weeks to release them, and then redacts much of the information so it’s impossible to see where he’s been or with whom he has been meeting.

In September the Illinois Times, a Springfield-based newspaper, sued the governor in Sangamon County court. The lawsuit came after Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office said Rauner must turn over his appointment calendar as requested by the newspaper.

Above is from:  http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/12/24/rauner-left-u-s-for-the-holidays-but-staff-wont-say-where/

Boone County increases court security fee by $10

By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer

Posted Dec. 24, 2015 at 3:00 PM

BELVIDERE — Court fees in Boone County will rise as law enforcement looks to cover the cost of courthouse security, including new safety measures.

The court security fee for civil, felony, misdemeanor and DUI cases has been raised from $15 to $25. Traffic, ordinance and conservation fees will remain at $8.

The fee is charged in civil cases at the time of the first appearance. It's due in criminal cases after a guilty plea or conviction.

Boone County Sheriff David Ernest outlined the need for the increase in a letter sent to Chief Judge Joseph G. McGraw.

"The current fee, which has not been increased in over 15 years, does not generate sufficient funds to maintain the current level of security," Ernest said in the letter. "Over the past year, we have increased the level of security by providing armed bailiffs at the front entrance and in each courtroom. We are also currently looking at a camera system for the entire court house."

The Boone County Board approved the increase at its Dec. 16 meeting.

"With the concerns of our country now, this is something that's necessary for the safety of operating the courthouse," board Chairman Bob Walberg said.

In August, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a law that allowed counties to charge more than the maximum court security fee rate of $25, so long as the fee is set in accordance to a sufficient cost study.

The fee previously generated about $55,000 a year in Boone County. With the increase, the county can expect an additional revenue of about $30,000, according to County Administrator Ken Terrinoni.

"We already have security personnel but (funds do not) cover the total cost of people," he said. "This will cover the cost of what we currently have plus increased hours and security cameras. It's another revenue stream to pay for costs we're already having. It's all designed to keep the courthouse building safe."

Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/article/20151224/NEWS/151229744

Governor's Office Plans to Issue New Bonds to Continue Road Program

 

The Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers (IAAP) and other groups participated in a conference call hosted by Governor Rauner’s budget office recently. The Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers (IAAP) and other groups participated in a conference call hosted by Governor Rauner’s budget office recently in which Budget Director Tim Nuding indicated that the administration intends to issue $400 million in new bonds in January dedicated to transportation. The bond issuance is intended to prevent any delays in the $1.75 billion FY16 IDOT maintenance program. An additional bond sale will likely be needed in the spring. Nuding indicated that despite recent media reports, the Governor is not looking at additional fund sweeps to help resolve the state’s current budget impasse. He reiterated that transportation infrastructure is a priority for Governor Rauner and the administration remains intent on passing a capital construction plan after the budget impasse is resolved. Above is from:  http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/governoraposs-office-plans-to-issue-new-bonds-to-continue-road-program/26935

Solar blowback hits Reid's Nevada

POLITICO

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Solar blowback hits Reid's Nevada

The Nevada ruling is the latest skirmish in a nationwide green energy battle that pits the Senate Democratic leader against the Kochs.

By Esther Whieldon

12/22/15 06:14 PM EST

Harry Reid’s home state dealt a lethal blow Tuesday to rooftop solar power — the latest skirmish of a nationwide green energy battle that has pitted the Senate Democratic leader against his favorite target, the Koch brothers.

The move by Nevada’s utility regulator, which voted to slash the economic incentives for homeowners to install solar panels, was most immediately a showdown between billionaires Warren Buffett, owner of the state’s largest power company, and Elon Musk, whose SolarCity is the nation’s largest installer of panels that create electricity from the sun. But it also served as a proxy fight in a national struggle about states’ green energy programs, in which free-market groups backed by industrialists Charles and David Koch have fought to roll back incentives that they argue distort the marketplace and force some customers to subsidize other people’s power choices.

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The Kochs’ advocacy groups didn’t directly enter the fight in Nevada, although they have campaigned in states such as neighboring Arizona to cut back programs that allow solar-owning residents to sell their excess power back to the electric grid. And Reid has singled out the Kochs’ opposition to solar incentives as part of his litany of complaints about the billionaire brothers, whom he has accused of “trying to buy the country” to promote their pro-fossil-fuel, anti-regulation agenda.

 

“The Koch brothers are worth more than 135 million Americans combined," Reid told the Las Vegas Sun in August. “Why are they interested in stopping rooftop solar? It hurts their bottom line.”

Reid had no immediate comment on Tuesday’s action by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

The three-member panel, responding to a law signed last spring by Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, voted to slash the payments that Buffett-owned NV Energy must pay to homeowners whose rooftop solar panels feed electricity into the grid, and to hike the fees for homeowners to connect their panels to the wider power system. Companies like SolarCity and rival solar-leasing firm Sunrun have said the decision will most likely prompt them to stop operating in the state, which is the nation's fifth largest in solar power capacity.

Even more galling to solar advocates, the commission made the decision retroactive — meaning the payments will stop and the fees will rise even for homeowners who had installed their panels under the previous program.

The American Energy Alliance, a Koch-funded group that opposes these kinds of “net metering” programs, said Tuesday’s move “makes positive changes to protect all ratepayers.”

“Folks who have rooftop solar tend to be wealthier homeowners, so you have a situation where the poor and middle class are paying for the wealthy to have solar power,” AEA spokesman Chris Warren said.

Solar companies like SolarCity and Sunrun have blossomed in recent years by installing panels on homeowners' roofs at no cost, and then charging a monthly leasing fee that is typically lower than residents' monthly utility bill. But those energy cost savings will disappear after the state commission decided to cut the payment to homeowners by 75 percent, from the retail power price to the wholesale level. NV Energy can also charge rooftop solar owners a fee for allowing them to sell power to the grid.

Sunrun quickly blasted the Public Utility Commission, saying it "ignored months of public input and over 30,000 public comments and voted in favor of solar fees."

 

The company, which has lodged a lawsuit against Sandoval to obtain records about his interactions with NV Energy, said its industry group The Alliance for Solar Choice planned to file a lawsuit challenging Tuesday's PUC action.

The Nevada utility commission's decision does not affect large-scale solar power plants that supply electricity to utilities, like the $1 billion Crescent Dunes solar project partly financed by President Barack Obama's stimulus program, and NV Energy is a major purchaser from them.

Electricians install solar panels on a roof for Arizona Public Service company in Goodyear, Arizona. | AP Photo

Earlier this month, Congress agreed as part of the omnibus budget package to extend a federal tax credit for solar power to 2022, an incentive the industry has said was crucial to keeping it on a path that would make it economically viable without subsidies.

That federal victory for solar power comes as a rising number of states try to adapt their energy policies to accommodate the rising pressure from homeowners and greens — as well as libertarian groups like Georgia's Green Tea movement — to foster more growth of rooftop solar.

Another fight is playing out in Florida where a group of tea-party, environmental and solar advocates are seeking a ballot measure for 2016 that would prevent the state from regulating small solar installation. Utilities there are pushing a rival ballot initiative that would keep in place the current system that requires homeowners to sell power to the utility.

The cost to install rooftop solar installations has dropped by half in the past five years, and the rooftop companies had put panels on nearly 800,000 homes and business across the country by mid-2015.

But the success of leasing business mode has prompted utilities to push back against the net metering policies, which threaten to eat away at their business growth while increasing their costs.

By the end of 2015, total solar power capacity in the United States is expected to be near 28,000 megawatts, or enough to supply some 5.6 million homes. Still, even with the fast-paced growth, solar power provides less than 2 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/solar-blowback-hits-reids-home-state-217084#ixzz3vAM5KhSl

Irene Road I-90 Interchange now open to and from West

I-90 Irene Rod Interchange Complete FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RAMP OPENINGS SCHEDULED AT NEW FULL-ACCESS IRENE ROAD INTERCHANGE  ON THE JANE ADDAMS MEMORIAL TOLLWAY (I-90) $13 million interchange improvements complete, new ramps open  DOWNERS GROVE, IL – The Illinois Tollway is completing the $13 million Irene Road Interchange Project on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) in Belvidere today with the opening of two new ramps carrying traffic to and from the west. The new ramps at the all-electronic interchange are scheduled to open by 5 p.m. on Friday, December 18, and toll collection will begin on January 1, 2016.  The Irene Road Interchange Project included the construction of new ramps to carry traffic to and from the west, coupled with the Tollway’s reconstruction of the Irene Road Bridge completed in 2013 and construction of a new eastbound entrance ramp completed in 2014. The interchange also provides an existing exit ramp for traffic traveling from westbound I-90 to Irene Road.  “The Illinois Tollway is pleased to open the new ramps at the all-electronic Irene Road Interchange on schedule and provide new access to the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway to our customers,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Greg Bedalov. “Built in partnership with Boone County and the city of Belvidere, the full-access interchange is anticipated to provide opportunity for new economic development and employment to the area.”  The Irene Road Interchange is the fifth, all-electronic interchange on the Tollway's system. The Illinois Tollway’s tolling system supports the highest volume of toll payments in the nation, with more than 87 percent of all toll transactions paid electronically through I-PASS or E-ZPass.  I-PASS customers experience faster, safer and more convenient commutes and save time and money. I-PASS customers experience safer commutes because drivers are not required to switch lanes to pay cash. They also help reduce pollution by allowing drivers to maintain highway speeds without having to stop at tollbooths. Toll collection is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2016, on the ramps carrying traffic to and from the west. Tolls for cars with I-PASS will be 55 cents and tolls for trucks will range from $1.70 to $4.50 during daytime hours, with overnight discounts offered. Customers without I-PASS who use the Irene Road Interchange will have seven days to pay their unpaid tolls. The toll rate for cars will be $1.10 for customers who pay their unpaid tolls online at www.illinoistollway.com/tolls-and-i-pass/unpaid-tolls. Tollway customers who would like to pay cash can still do so at the Genoa Road Interchange to the east. The Irene Road Interchange Project is part of the 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future.  Getting Tollway Construction Information I-90 Irene Road Interchange Complete – page 2     The Illinois Tollway has a variety of ways customers can get the latest travel information, including:  www.ilinoistollway.com -  Construction/Planning section, Tollway Trip Calculator, live roadway images and real-time roadway incident/information 1-800-TOLL-FYI-Daily lane closure information www.travelmidwest.com - Real time travel times www.twitter.com - Real time roadway incident information at Tollway Trip 90, Tollway Trip 88, Tollway Trip 355 and Tollway Trip 94/294 About Move Illinois : The Illinois Tollway's 15-year, $12 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future, will improve mobility, relieve congestion, reduce pollution, create as many as 120,000 jobs and link economies across the Midwest region. Move Illinois will address the remaining needs of the existing Tollway system; rebuild and widen the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) as a state-of-theart 21st century corridor; construct a new interchange to connect the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-57; build the new, all-electronic Elgin O'Hare Western Access Project and fund planning studies for emerging projects.   About the Illinois Tollway The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 286 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80).

Endangered Species: Media Observe The Decline of Industry-Funded Deniers At Paris Climate Summit

Endangered Species": Media Observe The Decline Of Industry-Funded Deniers At Paris Climate Summit

Research December 17, 2015 12:11 PM EST ››› DENISE ROBBINS 

  

            

Industry-funded climate denial organizations hosted events during the United Nations' climate change negotiations in Paris in an attempt to inject false balance and misinformation into media coverage of the event. But unlike coverage of the Vatican climate summit earlier this year, mainstream media outlets did not take the bait this time around, instead noting these groups' diminished influence and accurately portraying them as outliers that are out of step with mainstream climate science.

Industry-Funded Groups Held Paris Media Events Denying Human-Caused Global Warming

Heartland Institute, CFACT Hosted Events To Disrupt Paris Climate Summit And Promote Climate Denial. On December 7, in the middle of the United Nations summit in Paris, where countries convened to reach an international climate change agreement, the Heartland Institute held its own "counter-conference" called the "Day of Examining the Data." Heartland wrote that its "experts" intended to explain "the compelling evidence that humans are not causing a global warming crisis" and  "expose the agendas and true costs of the agreement being negotiated there." That same night, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) premiered its film Climate Hustle, which according to CFACT features Climate Depot's Marc Morano leading viewers "through the propaganda-laced world of 'climate change' claims." [Media Matters, 12/3/15; Heartland.org, accessed 12/15/15; CFACT, 12/1/15]
The Heartland Institute Is A Climate Denial Organization That Has Received Oil Industry Funding. As Media Matters previously documented, the Heartland Institute received over $700,000 from Exxon Mobil between 1998 and 2006. Heartland has also received significant funding from organizations with ties to the oil billionaire Koch Brothers, including the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and Donors Trust. The Heartland Institute is infamous for its annual climate denial conferences and is perhaps best known for running a billboard campaign associating acceptance of climate science with "murderers, tyrants, and madmen" like the Unabomber and Charles Manson. [Media Matters, 7/31/15; Media Matters, 3/8/15]
CFACT, "Merchant Of Doubt" Marc Morano Have Fossil Fuel Ties. Morano runs the climate science denial blog Climate Depot, which is financed CFACT. CFACT has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from ExxonMobil, Chevron and Donors Trust, a dark money group backed by the oil billionaire Koch brothers. [Media Matters, 7/31/15]

Mainstream Media Portrayed Groups As Outliers Without Advancing Their Science Denial

Reuters: To Diplomats At Paris Summit, Deniers Are "Yesterday's Men." Reuters reported that, to the diplomats and officials at the climate summit, Morano, CFACT,  the Heartland Institute and other climate deniers are "yesterday's men." Reuters juxtaposed the deniers with the "thousands of environmentalists, scientists and even big business leaders, who have come to U.N.-sponsored climate talks to pledge their commitment to cutting the manmade emissions that an overwhelming majority of scientists say are warming the planet." The article noted that the "one place" where the deniers remain influential is in "conservative circles in the United States, where they retain a powerful voice in a Republican party," but stated that they are "swimming against the tide in Paris." The article concluded by quoting Unilever Chief Executive Paul Polman as saying: "The only endangered species now ... is the climate change denier." [Reuters, 12/8/15]
Politico: "Little Interest" At Summit In "Outliers" Like Heartland And Morano That Deny Climate Science. Politico reported that even countries that once had deniers in "upper echelons of government" have now moved "beyond questioning global warming to debating what, and how much, to do about it." Politico added that "[n]egotiators in Paris say they're not paying any attention" to the deniers and there was "little interest in the remaining outliers" who question the science, pointing to the fact that Heartland's counter conference "drew a crowd of no more than a few dozen." The article quoted St. Lucia's sustainable development minister James Fletcher saying that there are fewer climate deniers "in the face of overwhelming scientific and physical evidence," which makes it "difficult" for the deniers "to claim any legitimacy." Politico also quoted Morano as saying: "People are very annoyed that we're even here ... They see us as the turd in the punch bowl. That's the bottom line." [Politico, 12/8/15]
New York Times Reference To Heartland's Counter Conference Made Clear That Heartland Denies Scientific Consensus. In an article about Republican opposition to the climate talks, The New York Times reported that the Heartland Institute "held its own conference," describing the organization as "a Chicago-based think tank that does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change and has ties to Republican lawmakers." [The New York Times, 12/11/15]
Bloomberg Contrasted Heartland's Arguments With "The Vast Majority Of Scientists" Who "Agree Humans Are Altering The Climate." Bloomberg reported that the U.N. summit gave Heartland "a fresh platform to promote their counter arguments," but added that "[s]tudies have found the vast majority of scientists agree humans are altering the climate, with potentially disastrous consequences." The article, headlined "Twilight of the Skeptic," also pointed to the "dwindling ranks" of climate science deniers. [Bloomberg, 12/11/15]
The Washington Post: Heartland's Denial Claims "Wildly Out Of Sync" With Discourse At UN Summit. The Washington Post reported that Heartland's claims were "wildly out of sync with the discussions" at the U.N. negotiations, and noted that "doubts about the science of climate change" have "vanished from the public discourse" at the conference. The Post also reported that there is now a "broad international consensus" on climate change, and that Sen. James Inhofe's (R-OK) climate denial claims "are seen as strikingly out of step, if not anachronistic." [The Washington Post, 12/10/15]

Mainstream Media Previously Advanced Denial In Coverage Of Vatican Climate Summit

The Heartland Institute And Morano Previously Organized Publicity Stunt To Disrupt Vatican Climate Summit. On April 24, Climate Depot publisher Marc Morano announced that he would "be part of a high level skeptical delegation with the Heartland Institute, traveling to Rome to offer alternative voices to the Vatican and Pope Francis on global warming." The Vatican climate summit in Rome, which was held on April 28, was "seen as a key part of the lead-up to release of the new papal encyclical" on climate change, according to Vatican Insider. [ClimateDepot.com, 4/24/15; Vatican Insider, 4/28/15]
Media Reports At That Time Helped Advance The Deniers' Misinformation Campaign Against The Pope. Reports by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters and NPR uncritically relayed the deniers' criticism of the Vatican climate change summit and Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change. These outlets failed to note that the organization behind the efforts had received fossil fuel funding or that their claims humans are not responsible for global warming have been firmly rejected by the vast majority of climate scientists. [Media Matters, 4/29/15]

Despite Improved News Coverage Of Deniers In Paris, Denial Still Appeared On Several Major Newspapers' Opinion Pages

Four Major U.S. Newspapers Published Opinion Pieces About Summit That Promoted Climate Denial. A Media Matters analysis found that four of the ten most widely circulated U.S. newspapers published opinion pieces during the Paris conference that promoted climate science denial: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Post, and The Orange County Register. Among those was a USA Today op-ed by Morano, who claimed that "many scientists [are] skeptical of the scientific claims and goals behind the U.N. climate agenda" and that "[t]he notion that a U.N. agreement to limit emissions will somehow alter the Earth's temperature or storminess is bordering on belief in witchcraft."

[Media Matters, 12/16/15]