U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said under oath
before a Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday what he has said for well
over a year – that the dormant prison in Thomson, Illinois the federal Justice
Department wants to buy would never hold detainees currently at
Guantanamo Bay.
Instead, the facility, built by the state
government in 2002 only to languish, will house federal inmates. According to the claims by Illinois Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration, and village of Thomson, use of the prison in such a capacity would revive a downbeat
local economy.
Yet one lawmaker has evidently stopped the
conversion of Thomson Correctional Center to a Federal Bureau of Prisons operated facility: U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (pictured), a Republican from Virginia. “The matter has
been discussed and debated for over a year,” said U.S. Senator Dick
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat at the Senate committee meeting. “It was
held up by one Republican Congressman.” Read more »
The recent legislative fight in Washington to keep the interest rate
on federally-subsidized Stafford loans from doubling also provided an
unexpected victory for those concerned with keeping invasive species out
of the Great Lakes.
Recent testing of waters near Lake Michigan has netted genetic
evidence of the presence of Asian carp for a third consecutive year.
Teachers everywhere have always stressed one simple rule when speaking to their students about college: work hard and the scholarships
will come. But as we look at some policies in play related to funding
for higher education, it seems that some lawmakers may disagree with that notion. Illinois legislators are bestowed with the power to hand
out tuition waivers, but, unfortunately, corruption has sullied that process. On the other
hand, the state’s DREAM Act is meant to give undocumented students
better access to higher education funding. It has gotten support, but has
yet to be signed into law.
