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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
State Senate candidate apologizes after blackface photo surfaces
Candidates--Legislative (11)
Haine, Bill--State Senate, 56
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Raoul, Kwame--State Senate, 13
At a Halloween party at his friend's house at least 10 years ago, state Senate candidate Hal Patton was photographed dressed in an orange football jersey, wearing a black bandana on his head, and his face painted black.<...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
SIU board to hold special meeting to discuss placing president on leave
Education--Higher (37)
CARBONDALE — The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting on Thursday in Edwardsville to consider placing President Randy Dunn on administrative leave and appointing an acting president. The board will also consider the release of documents provided to trustees related to Freedom of Information Act requests, according to the meeting notice se...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
CPS students denied special education services amid 'cycle of chaos,' parents say
Chicago--Schools (18)
Students with special needs in Chicago scored a major victory last month when the state Board of Education ordered dramatic changes in the way Chicago Public Schools offers special-education services to students. After emoti...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
'Gaming disorder' vs. 'digital wellness'
Gambling, Gaming
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Morning Spin
Former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey has been named to conduct a review of operations of the Illinois House of Representatives after a series of sexual harassment and bullying allegations lodged against top aides and allies of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Hickey served as inspector general for agencies under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a pos...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Stop waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to end gerrymandering in Illinois
Redistricting (78)
If you were counting on the U.S. Supreme Court to put an end to House Speaker Mike Madigan’s self-dealing manipulation of the Illinois legislative maps, guess again. Monday’s long-awaited rulings on two ...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
SIU Board of Trustees to hold emergency meeting, discussion on ousting system president
Education--Higher (37)
The SIU Board of Trustees will convene for a special meeting to consider whether or not to place SIU President Randy Dunn on administrative leave and appoint an acting president for the university system. The special meeting of the full board comes after Trustees Joel Sambursky and J. Phil G...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Illinois election managers to train on cyber security
Election Issues (not candidates) (39)
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Internet, Social Media (98)
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Technology (98)
Illinois is on the receiving end of more than $13 million for new election safeguards, but only half of that money will go to local election managers across the state. County clerks and other election managers from across Illinois will be in Bloomington this week for a training session that focuses on protecting the state's election information technology. Logan County Clerk...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
SIU board will meet Thursday to consider putting president on leave
Education--Higher (37)
CARBONDALE, Ill. • The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting on Thursday in Edwardsville to consider placing President Randy Dunn on administrative leave and appointing an acting president. Earlier this month, some board members called for a meeting of the board’s executive committee for the purpose of temporarily ousting D...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Chatham man wins Illinois Bicentennial coin design contest
Treasurer (92)
Hayden Schumer had a lot of history and symbolism to cram onto a commemorative coin for the state’s bicentennial celebration. But Schumer, a 21-year-old college student from Chatham, managed to do it, though, in a way that easily won an online voting competition conducted by Treasurer Michael Frerichs’s office. “Hayden did a great job of incorporating a l...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
IDNR auctioning off confiscated, abandoned items
Natural resources (23)
— The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is auctioning off hundreds of confiscated or abandoned items including deer hunting tree stands, live traps and fishing rods. IDNR says the auction is scheduled for June 23 in Pawnee. The department holds auctions roughly every five years, with all proceeds going to the state wildlife and fish fun...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Rauner to consider allowing medical cannabis for opioid patients
Medical Marijuana
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Prescriptions drugs (81)
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Rauner, Bruce
Gov. Bruce Rauner soon will be asked to weigh in on a bill designed to avoid addiction to prescription painkillers and reduce opioid overdoses by giving certain patients quick but temporary access to the state’s medical marijuana program. The legislation, which passed with bipartis...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Some parents of epileptic kids wary of pot-based medication
Medical Marijuana
A British pharmaceutical company is getting closer to a decision on whether the U.S government will approve the first prescription drug derived from the marijuana plant, but parents who for years have used cannabis to treat severe forms of epilepsy in their children are feeling more cautious than celebratory. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide by the end...
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Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Statehouse Insider: Illinois second to Missouri again
Legislature (56)
Last week marked the first of what’s hoped to be an annual softball game between members of the Missouri legislature and the Illinois General Assembly. It was organized by the St. Louis Regional Chamber and they did it up big time. The game was played in Busch Stadium. And once again, Illinois played right into Gov. BRUCE RAUNER’s narrative that ...
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Monday, June 18, 2018
Rauner signed a budget this year, but at SIU Carbondale, impacts of 2-year impasse still felt
Budget--State (8)
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Education--Higher (37)
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Governor (44)
Bryant, Terri--State House, 115
CARBONDALE — On June 4, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a full state budget for the first time since he took office in 2015, and leaders of Illinois public universities breathed a sigh of relief. The $38.5 billion spending plan cruised through both chambers of the General Assembly with bipartisan support, offering public institutions secure appropriations and putting to rest fea...
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Monday, June 18, 2018
Metro-East state representative creates petition calling for IBHE study of SIU system funding
Education--Higher (37)
Stuart, Katie--State House, 112
State representative Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has launched a petition calling for a study into the allocation of state funding between the Carbondale and Edwardsville campuses. Stuart announced in press release that she was launching a petition drive calling o...
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Monday, June 18, 2018
Appellate justice in 'full campaign mode' as he seeks election to seat on the bench
Candidates--Judicial (27b)
Justice David Overstreet, who seeks election to a seat on the Fifth District Appellate Court, says he is in full campaign mode ahead of the November election. Justice David Overstreet, who seeks election to a seat on the Fifth District Appellate Court, says he is in full campaign mode ahead of the November election. But the judge, who currently sits on the bench by appoi...
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Sunday, June 17, 2018
Retiring state senator gets unwelcomed parting gift from #MeToo victim
Sexual Harassment (96)
Clayborne Jr., James--State Senate, 57
Illinois state Sen. James Clayborne's plan to leave the statehouse and rely on his law license and connections to build a lucrative retirement may have just received a wrinkle. Or maybe a dose of karma. < read more >
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Sunday, June 17, 2018
Bipartisan work yields gun bills, fate rests with Rauner
Guns and Gun Control, FOID, Concealed Carry (46)
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Legislature (56)
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Rauner, Bruce
Legislation aimed at curbing gun violence — some of which wouldn’t have stood a chance just a few years ago — won approval in the Illinois General Assembly this spring amid scrambling to respond to mass shootings around the country. Ultimately, they’re bound for Gov. Bruce Rauner, who’s proposed his own measures, in some cases similar to those OK...
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Sunday, June 17, 2018
Gov. Rauner owns Sangamon farmland — with somebody
Rauner, Bruce
Gov. BRUCE RAUNER is now in the farming business in Illinois, he told nearly 5,700 people — mostly high school students in their blue FFA jackets — at the organization’s state convention at Bank of Springfield Center last week. But some basic questions about Rauner’s involvement didn’t yield specific answers from his office. ...
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Sunday, June 17, 2018
We need to do more to help those who want to be here
Immigration (99a)
I have often wondered why skin color is so important to some people. Basically, only the exterior surface of a body is different between us. Our blood color, flesh color, muscle color, etc., are pretty much the same throughout all races. So why do race problems continue to exist? I submit it isn’t the physical that divides us, but the conditional part of our being th...
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Saturday, June 16, 2018
When employers join 'The Illinois Exodus'
Employment, Jobs (40)
A television ad last fall for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s re-election campaign featured governors from surrounding states touting their economic prosperity while crediting, sarcastically, < read more >
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Saturday, June 16, 2018
Our flag and everyone is entitled to hope
Budget--State (8)
Stewart, Brian--State House, 89
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan said, “When we honor our flag we honor what we stand for as a nation – freedom, equality, justice and hope.” In case you were wondering why you saw so many flags this week, June 14 was Flag Day.
Honoring our flag dates back to our own Revolutionary War. The first president to proclaim Flag Day on June 14 was Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Congress estab...
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Saturday, June 16, 2018
Rauner names Justin Blandford curator of Governor’s Mansion
Rauner, Bruce
A superintendent for several state historic sites in Springfield has been named curator of the Illinois Governor’s Mansion. Justin Blandford was named to the $120,000 a year position Friday by Gov. Bruce Rauner. As curator, Blandford will be responsible for creating and implementing a new strategic vision for the newly restored mansion, Rauner’s office said. That...
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Saturday, June 16, 2018
Rauner names Williamsville woman interim HFS director
Rauner, Bruce
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday named a Williamsville woman to serve as interim director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Teresa Hursey, who will earn $142,339 annually in her new position, takes over for Felicia Norwood, who recently accepted a position as an executive vice president at Anthem, a for-profit health care company. Hursey has been with HFS sinc...
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