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PI Original
by Adam Doster
5:26pm
Tue Nov 25, 2008
6 comments

High-Speed Rail Coming Down The Tracks

Transportation

The Supertrain could be coming to a station near you. Following the excellent news last month that Congress doubled the amount of federal funding earmarked for Amtrak, Sens. John Kerry and Arlen Specter unveiled another bill last week that would build upon the Amtrak ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
3:54pm
Tue Nov 25, 2008
1 comment

Talkin' TIF

Tax Increment Financing

Ask even some proponents of Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) system and they’ll admit it has grown unwieldy. TIF districts now cover half of the city’s acreage, each capturing new property tax revenue in the name of economic development. However, keeping ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
1:04pm
Tue Nov 25, 2008

Andy Shaw Asks Obama About Aid For States And Local Governments

Barack Obama

During the question-and-answer portion of his press conference in Chicago today, Barack Obama asked, "Where's Andy Shaw?  We're going local here."  ABC 7's Shaw quickly popped up and inquired about how the president-elect's stimulus plan would address struggling ...

PI Original
by Adam Doster
12:47pm
Tue Nov 25, 2008
2 comments

Illinois' Abstinence-Only Problem

Rep. Choice

Regardless of what President
Bush says, abstinence-only sex education has been widely discredited.
Last April, a longitudinal study of 2,000 children commissioned by
Congress found that
preaching abstinence does not keep teenagers from having sex nor does
it increase the ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
11:24am
Tue Nov 25, 2008
5 comments

Obama Campaign Finance Mythiness

Campaign finance

This morning, the Beachwood Reporter's Steve Rhodes posted a press release from the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) with a "sigh."  The underlying study found that, while the number of small contributions (less than $200) received by Barack Obama was unprecedented, ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
6:30pm
Mon Nov 24, 2008
1 comment

Stroger Tries To Scare Up Some Cash

Cook Co.

During his six years on the
Cook County board, Commissioner Larry Suffredin has seen his fair share
of malfeasance, manipulation, and all around lousy governance. But
according to a statement he sent out Friday, this week marked “a new
low.”

The north suburban ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
2:17pm
Mon Nov 24, 2008
5 comments

"Clean Coal" Bill Includes A Silver Lining

Environment

A three-year round of tug-o-war
between Illinois environmentalists and the coal industry ended last
week in what appears to be a tie of sorts.

On Thursday, the legislature unanimously passed a bill that paves the way for a new “clean coal” power plant in downstate ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
1:29pm
Mon Nov 24, 2008

Brookins Pleads For Wal-Mart

Wages

As we noted last week, Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th Ward) was the lone city council member to vote down Mayor Daley’s 2009 budget proposal on Wednesday, using his time on the floor to rail against Hizzoner for taking “many communities for granted.” Not to be outdone, Ald. ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
11:47am
Mon Nov 24, 2008

How The State Voted On Con-Con

Following the Nov. 4 election, Progress Illinois conducted an analysis of the statewide, county-by-county results on the proposed 2010 constitutional convention.  We found that voters in every corner of the state -- with the exception of Chicago and East St. Louis -- leaned ...