Our Illinois congressional delegation went into damage-control mode Friday afternoon, sending out a press release urging the Bush administration to increase funding for Fermilab.
The Batavia research facility is facing drastic cuts after Congress passed a federal budget this week that slashed funding for the sciences. Now Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert are trying to find a way to soften the "severe blow" to high-energy physics.
The Chicago Tribune on Friday ran a story about politicians using their clout to get tickets to the Rose Bowl, which will feature the Fighting Illini versus the USC Trojans. A Tribune blog entry expanded on that story with what appears to be a near verbatum conversation with Lauzen, who took acception exception to a reporter questioning why he called the U of I's president's office to inquire about getting tickets.
We're asking readers to pick the most important local news stories of the year. As we mentioned in a story in Friday's newspaper, there's a variety of ways to submit your entries. We'd also like to allow you to submit entries via the blog.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released new data demonstrating the increase in alcohol-related traffic deaths over the holidays. It's no surprise, really, but numbers tend to solidify what we already know.
Secretary Peters explained that data released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that from 2001-2005, an average of 36 fatalities occurred per day on America’s roadways as a result of crashes involving an alcohol impaired driver. That number increases to 45 per day during the Christmas period and jumps to 54 per day over the New Year’s holiday, she added.
Thirty-eight percent of all traffic fatalities during the Christmas period occurred in crashes involving a drunk driver or motorcycle rider and 41 percent during the New Year’s period, Peters said. This compares with 31 percent for the year as a whole.
Of course, police agencies promise to be extra vigilant during the holidays when it comes to arresting drunk drivers. But we know some departments are more vigilant than others.
The resolution that was bizarrely introduced and abruptly pulled from the Aurora City Council agenda this week is modeled after a resolution approved without dissent last month by the city of Elgin.
However, the Aurora version briefly under consideration removes all of the flowery applause for the city of Chicago that Elgin's council had, and does not explicitly offer support for gaming expansion in Chicago. Instead, the resolution asks that any new casino licenses go to "depressed economic areas of the State and in markets that are not adequately being served by an existing riverboat casino."
You could make the argument either way whether Chicago would qualify under this scenario. And I'm not sure it's in Aurora's best interests to be supporting casino expansion anywhere. Aurora's resolution, however, expressly opposes adding slot machines to racetracks.
A fascinating new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center reveals some very interesting findings, namely that more than half of all Latino adults living in the U.S. "worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported." But there's also significant differences of opinion when it comes to immigration reform between native-born Hispanics and immigrants.
Three quarters (75%) disapprove of workplace raids; some 79% prefer that local police not take an active role in identifying illegal immigrants; and some 55% disapprove of states checking for immigration status before issuing driver's licenses. By contrast, non-Hispanics are much more supportive of all these policies, with a slight majority favoring workplace raids and a heavy majority favoring driver's license checks.
In addition to this wide variance in views between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, the survey finds less pronounced--but still significant--gaps within the Hispanic community on a range of matters, from perceptions about discrimination to attitudes about illegal immigration to support for tougher enforcement measures. For example, on questions about enforcement policies, native-born Hispanics take positions that are closer to those of the rest of the U.S. population than do foreign-born Hispanics. Also, the native born are less likely than the foreign born to report a negative personal impact from the heightened attention to immigration issues.
The media is guilty, I think, of often painting Latinos with a broad brush. This report clearly debunks that practice, and shows the calls for immigration reform aren't simply a white versus brown debate.
With the new statewide smoking ban set to go into effect Jan. 1, it'll be interesting to see how enforcement varies from one place to another.
In Kendall County, officials are advocating leniency. Some board members actually wanted to mandate that all cities in the county only give verbal warnings in the first year. State's Attorney Eric Weis wisely told them they couldn't do that.
While each community will decide how aggressive to be, non-compliance doesn't seem to be an option. It's up to our governments and law-enforcement agencies to enforce the law, not find ways around it.
Dennis Hastert was all sunshine when talking about his friend Jim Oberweis earlier this week. The former speaker handed his endorsement -- "for me, the choice is clear" -- to the Aurora businessman.
But it wasn't that long ago that Hastert was using words like "stumbled" and "demogogue" to describe Oberweis and his aspirations for office. Hastert was clearly disappointed three years ago in the positions and postures that Oberweis made in his several failed attempts at elected office.
On Thursday, Hastert tried to mute his past criticisms, saying he was concerned more with the tone of Oberweis' past campaigns, not the positions he took. It seems to me that's a bit of subtle revisionist history on the former speaker's part.
The timing of Kevin Burns' announcement that he's dropping out of the race is curious. Did he think he had a shot at gaining former Speaker Dennis Hastert's endorsement? If so, did he have reason to think this?
Burns gave no indication he expected Hastert's endorsement in announcing his campaign "suspension," either during an interview or in a subsequent press release. But you have to wonder if he was wishing for Hastert's blessing to keep his flagging campaign afloat.
Some posters over at a new blog discussing Aurora police union issues raise an interesting question about the department's K-9 unit: What happened to it?
The department has not replaced two dogs that died over the last year or so. See their stories here and here. And the city's 2008 budget doesn't appear to fund the unit.
Not to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but does it occur to anyone else that schools are a bit too trigger happy when it comes to closing down because of the weather?
I'm sure the decision-making process isn't easy -- and who can really fault schools for choosing safety first -- but (and here we go) in my day it certainly seemed like we went to school come hell or, quite literally, high water.
Likely knowing that he won't be getting former U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert's blessing to succeed him in office, state Sen. Chris Lauzen launched a pre-emptive strike Monday by calling on Hastert to stay out of the 14th Congressional District race.
In an open letter to Hastert sent to local newspapers, Lauzen urges the former House speaker not to endorse in the Republican primary election "out of respect for the people whom we all serve and for the future unity of the Republican Party in this area." He asks Hastert, who is not a big fan of Lauzen, to let the voters decide and then back the GOP nominee.
Hastert has said his endorsement is coming soon, and all signs point to Jim Oberweis. In a tight race, that has to make Lauzen very afraid. But his letter makes him look like a sore loser before anything has even been decided.
You have to imagine police and prosecutors would have been pretty nervous had a jury found Angel "Doc" Luciano not guilty of murder. After all, they had already lost one of the cold-case trials to an acquittal. But Luciano, the reputed head of Aurora's Latin Kings, was found guilty Thursday by a jury.
What made this case different from the prosecution of GeorgeTorres?
The president of Sho-deen Inc. brought Aurora aldermen some good news Tuesday, telling them that he expects the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to sign off on his EastBank project next year. But he also talked about one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the massive condominium development: an electric substation.
David Patzelt wouldn't talk about ongoing negotiations with ComEd, but the utility company's executives told The Beacon News editorial board in September that the developer wants ComEd to pick up much of the $12 million to $13 million cost of moving the substation. President Barry Mitchell stressed that ComEd has a responsibility as a public utility to keep costs down for consumers, and that means pursuing the cheapest option when it comes to infrastructure. In this case, that means leaving an operating substation right where it is.
Bottom line: It's not ComEd's responsibility to make sure Sho-deen's condos get built.
We're not going to link to it from here -- this is supposed to be a family-friendly blog, after all -- but local police agencies looking to show how serious they are about cracking down on prostitution need look no further than Craigslist, an online personals site, where a variety of "services" are seemingly available to anyone with an e-mail account or a phone.
No wonder Aurora police have made three arrests in recent months for prostitution. It's really not that difficult to find people on the Internet willing to get paid for sex. The most recent arrest came this week when Jason A. Pauls, 34, was charged with prostitution.
The mess of a special election to replace former House Speaker Dennis Hastert isn't getting any less messy -- for the voters or the candidates, or as it turns out, for the people who have to work the elections.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, in setting the two election dates on Monday, made the surprising move of putting the special general election to fill Hastert's vacancy on a Saturday, March 8. The special primary will be held on the same day as the regular primary -- the traditional Tuesday election -- on Feb. 5. The Chicago Tribune reports the governor moved the special general election to a Saturday to help increase turnout. According to the Trib, election officials say "It'll also lead to greater costs for taxpayers because workers will be owed overtime pay."
Putting the extra cost aside -- and that's annoying, too -- will a Saturday election actually increase turnout?
Aurora saw a nearly 73 percent increase in foreclosures in the first half of 2007 compared with the first half of 2006, the Sun-Times reports. In the city of Chicago, the foreclosure rate was 40 percent higher.
Among suburban communities, Aurora ranks 32 in the number of foreclosures per square mile. Overall, Aurora had 586 foreclosures during the first half of the year.
