Progress Illinois

Budget Talks Still Tenuious
With only three days to go until the General Assembly's spring session wraps up, a proposal to raise the income tax rate in order to close a $12 billion shortfall is still floundering, although Gov. Pat Quinn insists it's not dead. Meanwhile, after it was voted on this week, House Speaker Michael Madigan's bill requiring the state make good on its full $4 billion pension payment is being stalled by a counter motion.

Campaign Caps Clear The Senate
Yesterday the Senate passed what's poised to become Illinois' first law to cap campaign contributions. Still, good government advocates aren't thrilled with what they see as a major loophole in the bill: lawmakers' ability to transfers up to $90,000 per year between campaign funds. Also, a rewrite of the Freedom of Information Act has cleared both chambers and is headed to the governor's desk.

Welcome To Clout University
Since 2005, about 800 undergraduate applicants -- including a relative of Blagojevich-era influence peddler Tony Rezko -- have been added to a clout list that gave them an admissions advantage at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus, according to a Tribune investigation.

Durbin Discounts Burris' Excuses
Sen. Dick Durbin says he's not buying Sen. Roland Burris' claim that he didn't reveal certain details of his controversial Senate appointment because he wasn't asked the correct questions. ''Back in the old days when I was just a lawyer, I knew how to get a witness ready for testimony,'' Durbin told reporters in Carbondale yesterday. ''You say to them, 'Listen carefully. Don't say anything more than you have to. Make them ask every single question so you don't get carried away and say too much.'''

Indicted Alderman Wore A Wire
As federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Daley ally and 29th Ward Ald. Isaac Carothers yesterday -- on charges of wire and mail fraud, accepting a bribe, and filing a false federal income tax return -- court documents have revealed that the West Side alderman wore a wire for the past year, secretly recording conversations with city officials and developers. The charges against Carothers stem from a deal he orchestrated to back a major development project in exchange for roughly $40,000 in home improvements, as well as funneled campaign contributions.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user SenzEnina.