Susan Shea, director of the aeronautics division at Illinois Department of Transportation, vowed this weekend to an audience in Glenwood that there will be a third Chicago area airport soon. This, of course, is a reference to the long discussed plan to put an Abraham Lincoln National Airport in Peotone.

Shea also promised that the airport will mean 11,000 local jobs. But the timing of her announcement was curious. It comes as the Federal Aviation Administration has not signed off on any airport construction plan. Also, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Chicago), the public face behind the 3rd airport push, is taking a much-discussed leave of absence from Congress.