Illinois
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IL US Senator Mark Kirk suffered a massive stroke in January, and since then, he's been in hospital, or at the Rehab Institute (one of the best in the world) recovering function on his left side. Details of his recuperation have been slim. I'm not totally without redeeming social value, so, despite a deep ideological divide between the senator and myself, on a human level, I have sympath...
DailyKos (Illinois) - May 8 - 13 clicks 
As a result of the 2010 Census, Illinois will lose one seat in the United States House of Representatives, going from 19 seats to 18 seats. Since the Illinois General Assembly, which is responsible for redistricting in Illinois, is completely controlled by Democrats, and Democrat Pat Quinn is our governor, redistricting strongly favored Democrats . Factoring in incumbent Rep. Donald Manzullo's ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - May 7 - 2 clicks
Carl Finamore, delegate to the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) and former president of the Air Transport Employees Local 1781, visited Bloomington-Normal and shared his experiences as a witness to the Egyptian uprising. Carl visited Egypt in 2011 in solidarity with the revolution, and returned in 2012 to witness its unfolding. During his stay, Finamore … Continue reading » ...
Just BloNo - May 4 - 4 clicks
Bloomington, IL – May 1, 2012 Members of Latinos United for Change organized a Rally and March for immigrant and worker rights on May 1, 2012. L.U.C. was joined by several community groups in an effort to make McLean County more, immigrant friendly. Over 100 community members congregated outside the McLean Count Museum of History … Continue reading » ...
Just BloNo - May 2
This is just disgusting. Speaking at a town hall meeting, TBag Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) suggested President Obama was only elected president because he's an African-American. This is what racism looks like. You don't have to use the "N" word to be a racist, all you have to do is belittle a person of color by stating that the only reason they were elected to the highest office in the land is the c...
DailyKos (Illinois) - May 1
And answer I do by retreating to the far, far northwestern corner of Illinois, which along with southwest Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and northeast Iowa is known as the Driftless Area. This area derives its name from being unglaciated in a region that had many glacial episodes, going back nearly two million years to the Pleistocene Epoch. Having escaped the leveling effect of continental...
DailyKos (Illinois) - May 1
There will be May Day rally and march to support immigrant workers and families, in celebration of International Workers Day. An injury to one is an injury to all! Join us May 1st, at 5 pm, at the McLean County Museum of History (200 N. Main Street). ...
Just BloNo - Apr 30
Bicycling advocates are mobilizing in Bloomington-Normal around the issue of safe bicycle transportation. For many years, there has been a large community supporting biking and alternative forms of transportation in Bloomington-Normal. Two months ago, students at Normal Community High School inspired that community with their bike2school campaign, advocating for bike transportation to school and w...
Just BloNo - Apr 30
I haven't written here for some time — a flaw I intend to remedy, as I highly value both this site and this wonderful community — but wanted to share some information with you all, and with anyone who resides in Illinois's 16th Congressional District. IL-16 encompasses the eastern half of Rockford, the third-largest city in Illinois and largest outside of the Chicago area, and extends south and ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 29
Republicans in IL-13 don't yet have a nominee after incumbent Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Urbana) won a 3-way GOP primary on March 20, in fact, the meeting of Republican county chairmen in 14 Illinois counties in order to select a replacement nominee isn't until May 19. Now, Republicans appear to be rallying around attorney and 2003 Miss America Erika Harold (R-Chicago). Harold, despite being a mu...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 26
The Ed Show -- Interview with Governor Pat Quinn (D-IL) -- Apr 25, 2012 link to video Meanwhile in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn has booming Job Growth in Manufacturing ... by respecting the process of collective bargaining , by getting behind projects like high speed rail , by honoring the workers of this country. Workers, both public and private, who Quinn ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 25
Help support the bike lanes proposed as feasible by the Main Street Feasibility Study! A bicycle lane spanning the entire length of the nine-mile Main Street corridor, through both Bloomington and Normal, is one of the proposals presented as feasible to city governments by the study. Beginning in January of 2011, the Main Street Feasibility … Continue reading » ...
Just BloNo - Apr 24 - 2 clicks
“Big Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” was one of the many spirited chants inside the lobby of Chase Bank on Oakland Avenue Saturday afternoon, as over 50 Bloomington-Normal demonstrators entered the bank and delivered a message for Chase Midwest Chairman, Glenn Tilton. Identifying as the 99%, the activists spoke with the bank … Continue reading » ...
Just BloNo - Apr 21
Signing wingnut legislation apparently doesn't create jobs (Darren Hauck/Reuters) As I've noted before, Republicans had a great deal of fun back in early 2011 taunting Illinois for (surprisingly) electing a Democratic governor, Pat Quinn. The theory was that Quinn's tax increases, designed to close a huge budget gap, would lead to a business exodus to Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin conse...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 20
A Sunday sermon made the news on Tuesday, as seen here , when a catholic bishop compared Obama to Hitler, and essentially told his flock to vote against Obama this fall. And after the Last Word yesterday, I expected some backlash against Lawrence O'Donnell when he called the bishop and the church out on violating their tax-exempt status. I don't expect it to go anywhere, but Americans United ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 20
Genealogy & Family History Community Leave the blood feuds at home Archie Lee Garrison, my great grandfather, was born in 1882. He was the son of Miles & Mary Francis Garrison and born in Logan County, Illinois. Miles and Mary had...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 20
During the very same meeting in which members of the Vermilion County, Illinois Board of Review decided to place a referendum on the November 6 ballot allowing for voters to approve or reject an electrical aggregation program that is being pushed by Integrys Energy Group, the county board gave themselves, the county recorder, the county auditor, the county coroner, and the circuit court clerk p...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 19
Members of the Vermilion County, Illinois Board of Review have placed a referendum on the ballot that would allow the Vermilion County Board to initiate an electrical aggregation program in Vermilion County. Under such a proposal, a third party that resells electricity produced by Ameren, the utility company that currently provides electricity to residents of Vermilion County, will negotiate u...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 18
Scott Walker should feel right at home in Springfield, Illinois this morning where he is scheduled to speak before the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Up to 2,000 labor demonstrators have assembled outside the Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center Tuesday morning ahead of Gov. Scott Walker's speech to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. "We have enough problems in Illinois, we don't nee...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 17
In Vermilion County, Illinois, the Vermilion County Board of Review is expected to consider whether or not to put a proposed referendum on the November 6 ballot that would give the County Board the authority to negotiate a bulk electricity rate on behalf of residents and some businesses in the county. I am a resident of Vermilion County, and I am outraged that the Vermilion County Board woul...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 16
Over 80 organizations and businesses participated in the 2012 Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo on Saturday, April 14th. The annual event, held in the Shirk Center on the Illinois Wesleyan campus, promotes alternatives for a green, sustainable society and healthy living. This year’s them was Creating Healthy Communities and was McLean County’s first ever … Continue r...
Just BloNo - Apr 15
Since "weatherdude" isn't around, I mean how dare he not be here EVERY SINGLE second there are storms somewhere, I thought I would post this short Diary so people could chat. Here in southern Illinois the first tornado warnings have just started to pop-up. Best I can tell from the reports the worse will pass to the north of me. Good for me, not so good for those that live in Iowa and other pla...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 15
By Bill Bianchi, PDA America’s murderous gun culture, racist attitudes and double standard justice system so apparent in Florida’s Trayvon Martin incident, combined again, this time not in the deep South, but in Cook County Illinois. There a jury acquitted homeowner Donald Rattanavong of manslaughter charges in the shooting death of an 18 year old, Gulliermo Pineda. Bookm...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Apr 14
As the infamous KMOV (my home DMA's CBS affiliate, owned by Belo) reporter Larry Conners interview with President Barack Obama (D) story has made huge waves, is Conners behaving like a neutral journalist, or a partisan right-wing hack? Take your guess, and it's the latter. Mitchell S. Gilbert at Addicting Info has the unbiased takedown of Conners: So what does a nationally unknown TV ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 13
All absentee, military, overseas and provisional votes have now been counted across the 13th Congressional District where PDA progressive, Dr. David Gill won a narrow victory over corporate Democrat Matt Goetten in the March 20 Democratic primary. The Gill campaign reports David Gill is the Democratic nominee by a 162 vote margin. "We gained 19 votes over our election night ma...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Apr 11
This GOP pie fight is over the nomination to replace former Illinois State Senator Rick Winkel for the Champaign County Circuit Clerk. On March 20, Republicans in Champaign County voted for Rick Winkel, a former member of the Illinois Senate, over Stephanie Holderfield, a member of the Champaign County Board . The interesting thing about Winkel's primary win is that he suspended his campaign af...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 10
Organized by Illinois People’s Action and Latinos United for Change, over 40 people rallied for justice in the Trayvon Martin murder case. Reverend Billy Ruffin, Pastor John Rayford, Erica Thurmond, Abel Mohamed, and Sonny Garcia spoke at the event. During his spirited speech, Sonny Garcia announced that Zimmerman, Trayvon’s accused murdered, had been charged with … Continue rea...
Just BloNo - Apr 10
Written by Guy Saperstein | AlterNet Now is the time to pressure Obama. Obama was willing to make substantial cuts to the crown jewels of liberalism--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--in order to get a deficit-reduction deal with Republicans. Bookmark/Search this post with: ...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Apr 9 - 2 clicks
Every once in a while something comes along in our bizarre political world that can't help but make you smile. Someone gets something just right. They tell you exactly what you feel in a way that you can't help but connect with. Watch the video and follow me after the break to find out why you need to about Dr. David Gill. ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Apr 4
With no insurance, a tough economy, low Medicaid rates and closing public clinics, patients are being forced to seek routine dental treatment at nearly10 times the cost in ERs, Tribune article says. Bookmark/Search this post with: ...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Apr 1
In Illinois, they run reproductive rights bills through the agriculture committee. In Missouri, they call male lawmakers experts because they are the sons of veterinarians. Written by Robin Marty for RH Reality Check . This diary is cross-posted; commenters wishing to engage directly with the author should do so at the original post . ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 30
Illinois State Rep. Cynthia Soto sponsored HB4487 which would place a moratorium on school closings, consolidations and phase-outs in CPS for the 2012-2013 school year. Sen. Iris Martinez sponsored the Senate version of the bill. We need your help to get these crucial bills passed. We need you to testify at the Illinois House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee hearing. &...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 25
Illinois is the only remaining state where concealed carry of firearms is illegal. This solely because of Chicago. Chicago's state legislature votes are the only reason why a statewide concealed carry law has a majority, but not the supermajority that it needs to be sent to the governor, a Chicago politician who has said that he will veto any such law. Cook County, Illinois is the only county ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 23
by John Laesch at DownWithTyranny , March 22nd, 2012 As we sat down to watch election results Tuesday night, I wrote David Gill a quick text that said, "You're going to do what Cegelis and I couldn't. Pullin 4 ya." Bookmark/Search this post with: ...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Mar 23
The Always Indispensable Rich Miller is reporting at the Capitol Fax Blog that Scott Walker is coming to Springfield next month. He's been invited by -- natch -- the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to be the keynote speaker at the Chamber's annual "Employer Action Day" which this year is Tuesday, April 17, at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel , 701 E. Adams St. According to the sample noti...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 22
Last night was not fun. In Illinois, progressive congressional candidate Ilya Sheyman lost to Brad Schneider by 8% -- 47% to 39% -- while other candidates got 14% of the vote. Honestly, a lot of people were scratching their heads asking, "What happened?" The best answer came this morning from someone close to the campaign: "Nobody voted." PCCC members and many others put thousands of dollar...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 21
When the request came in to my e-mail box, I thought nothing of it. I subscribe to a lot of lefty commie pinko socialist groups (or to the sane among us, people trying to save our country through political action) and I signed petitions and sent e-mails all the time. So I asked my state representative to sponsor some good legislation coming up in the Illinois House. Then I logged off, and ... ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 21
And I only had to outspend Rick Freaking Santorum by millions! (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) The results are still coming in but as expected, Mitt Romney has handily won the Illinois Republican primary. Going forward, look for the Romney campaign to (continue to) declare the race is over and he won, for the Santorum camp to tell them to pound sand, he's not going anywhere and possib...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was an insufferable asshole when first elected, and took perpetual glee in contrasting his tea party ideology with that of his southern neighbor—Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who won an improbably victory in the GOP's 2010 wave. While Walker set out to gut his state's budget and services, Quinn took an opposite tack—he raised taxes to close the state's budget loophole....
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
http://thinkprogress.org/... Yes, he actually said this. During a town hall in Illinois Monday evening, the former Massachusetts governor told a voter to “vote for the other guy” if she wanted access to “free birth control” and said that the federal government should not subsidize women’s health care through Planned Parenthood: First of all, the "birth control" that Republicans have m...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
Our "primary highways" series continues today with a visit to the state of Illinois. The Land of Lincoln seems to have more major interstates than other other I have reviewed, but there are lot of other things to see in our travels as well. We start in Chicago, and then make a long and circuitous route southwards towards the southern tip of the state at Cairo, passing by universities...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
At a high dollar fundraiser in Chicago with host Oprah even President Obama says freak heatwave has him "a little nervous" “We’ve had a good day,” Obama said. “It’s warm every place. It gets you a little nervous about what’s happening to global temperatures. But when it’s 75 degrees in Chicago in the beginning of March it gets you thinking…” “Something’s wrong,” ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
Cross posted at my personal blog.... Yesterday Mitt Romney came to Bradley University in Peoria, IL and then Rick Santorum came to a Pizza restaurant (parking lot). I decided to take in both rallies. More below the fold. Interestingly enough, though Santorum was the more extreme candidate, Romney got under my skin a lot more...a whole lot more. ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 20
In Vermilion County, Illinois, there is only one competitive Democratic Primary race in the entire county: County Board District 5, which includes Danville Township Precincts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 14, and Danville City Precinct 30. What's a Democrat who lives in another county board district to do on Primary Day? BE A REPUBLICAN FOR ONE DAY!!! There is one very intriguing downticke...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 19
Introduction: I believe unfortunately we are near the end of the road when it comes to this Republican Primary process. Hopefully the polls will be wrong and Santorum will be able to hold up decently and win a sizable number of delegates in Illinois but if PPP and ARG are right, that will not happen. If Santorum does collapse in Illinois we will have enough information to know that Romney will ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 19
On the eve of the Illinois primary, weekend polling (to say nothing of the disastrous Santorum collapse in the Puerto Rico primary) seemed to suck a little bit of the intrigue out of the GOP presidential contest tomorrow night. While Mitt Romney has led in every poll in Illinois of recent vintage, it now looks like his lead has crept into double digits. I will, having been burned about 25 ...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 19
With all the screaming about how women shouldn't get something for nothing, a dose of reality For a popular Blue Cross Blue Shield plan in Chicago, a 30-year-old woman pays $375 a month, which is 31 percent more than what a man of the same age pays for the same coverage, according to eHealthInsurance.com, a leading online source of health insurance. Gosh, it must be all our sluttish behavi...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 19
Was just viewing the web page of the Rockford Register Star due to the fact that Romney was here yesterday and Santorum was here today. Our local political beat writer, Chuck Sweeny, covered the speech and got this quote: Santorum said this election's main issue isn't the economy. Rather, he said it's an election that is crucial to restoring basic rights and freedoms to America that were...
DailyKos (Illinois) - Mar 19
Bill Bianchi, PDA-Chicago Illinois contracts would provide private insurance coverage costing 400% more than single payer systems in other countries. Bookmark/Search this post with: ...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Mar 9 - 4 clicks
Laura Bassett, Huffington Post 03/ 8/2012 1:27 pm On International Women's Day, Congress Debates Measure To Limit Reproductive Rights Chicago Democrat Mike Quigley (IL-5) Leads Defense Bookmark/Search this post with: ...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Mar 8 - 4 clicks
This is authored by Hyde Park Johnny of Daily Kos, who has written extensively on Chicago Public Schools. Please visit the original story for accompanying pictures and video. -Ed. Parents, community members and supporters of Piccolo and Casals elementary schools have had enough of CPS “Turnarounds” which fire all staff and turn the school over to private, politically-conne...
Progressive Reads (PDA-IL) - Feb 21 - 4 clicks
Here is the letter I wrote to the PJ Star about their editorial critical of the Obama Administration’s new rule on contraception and health insurance http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/ourview/x1085185303/Our-View- When I read the Journal Star Editorial regarding the Obama administration requirement that employers include contraception coverage in the ...
slothropia.com - Feb 9 - 4 clicks
I notice the ol' blogosphere is thinning out. I understand why. When one is tasked with other things and the social sites siphon off readers, it is a bit difficult to produce copy day after day. The approach for me has been to wait for something of reasonably large political or policy significance and then to write about it. To some extent that is become an excuse for procrastination. Since I n...
Upper Mississippi River Basin - Feb 1
