Illinois Governor Vetoes Law That Would Have Registered 2 Million Voters

Late Friday afternoon, Illinois’ Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed a bill that would have made the state the sixth in the nation to automatically register millions of voters.

Rauner had expressed some support for the policy back in May, telling reporters: “I am a big fan of simplifying the voter registration process and trying to get everyone who should be able to vote, to get them registered and vote.”

Illinois College Students Say They Were Threatened With Arrest And Turned Away From The Polls

Students at Wheaton College outside Chicago, Illinois were looking forward to voting — many for the first time — in last Tuesday’s presidential primary. But instead of exercising their constitutional right, many students were threatened, intimidated, and turned away from the polls without a reasonable explanation.

One polling location near the college campus did not allow hundreds of students to register to vote on Tuesday, despite the state’s new same-day registration law, because one election judge claimed it would take too much time to register all of them. Others were turned away because they did not have Illinois identification, or because of confusion about polling locations. One poll worker threatened to arrest students who were waiting in a long line to be registered toward the end of the day.

People Hate Rahm Emanuel So Much It Might Cost Hillary Clinton Illinois

The race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders has tightened in Illinois' Democratic primary as Sanders' campaign works relentlessly to tie Clinton to Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's deeply unpopular mayor.

The wealth of votes in the Chicago metropolitan area could be key to victory in the state's Tuesday primary. Early voting has already begun, and turnout is reportedly high in the city and surrounding Cook County.

Illinois, Wisconsin Governors Propose Deep Spending Cuts To Universities

If proposals by two Republican governors are approved, public universities in Illinois and Wisconsin could soon experience sweeping layoffs, program eliminations and possible campus closures.

This month, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) unveiled budgets with deep spending cuts for public universities. Rauner's proposed 2016 budget contains a 31.5 percent, or $387 million, reduction in funding for public universities. Wisconsin's 2015-2017 budget would shrink state funding by 13 percent, or $300 million over two years, the largest reduction in the state's history.

IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor

Illinois' new GOP Governor, Bruce Rauner, will personally receive a $750,000 per year tax cut as a result of his decision not to continue the state's temporary 1.25% income tax surcharge that expired last year.

His taxes were cut by an amount equal to the annual income of 14 families of four making the median income. And remember that after adjusting for inflation, that median income number has not materially increased in about 35 years, since virtually all of the income growth resulting from the massive increase in worker productivity over that period has been siphoned off by speculators like Rauner.

Illinois Governor Seeking To Raid Higher Education Budget A Month After Being Sworn In

Higher education is set to take a major hit in Illinois.

Following similar announcements by the Republican governors of Wisconsin andLouisiana, newly-sworn in Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released what he called a “turnaround” budget, that would slash nearly $209 million from the University of Illinois.

“It’s time to make education our top priority again – and that’s what this budget does,” he told lawmakers Tuesday night, touting his plan to give about $25 million more to early childhood education. “With reform, we will be able to invest more in education and give our kids world class schools.”

Illinois Governor Unveils Bleak Budget Plan With Billions Of Dollars In Cuts

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois' new Republican governor called Wednesday for deep spending cuts to Medicaid, pensions and other programs to fix the state's budget mess without raising taxes - a pitch met with quick opposition from Democrats who control the Legislature.

Delivering his first budget address since winning office last fall, Gov. Bruce Rauner said his plan would end "the irresponsible and reckless practices of the past." He said lawmakers must be willing to make politically unpopular decisions to close a more than $6 billion budget hole next year.

"This is our last, best chance to get our house in order," Rauner said.

We Need Syriza in Illinois

The new governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, is a hedge fund manager whose salary last year was $60 million. He spent $65.9 million—including $27.6 million of his own money—buying his last election, and he’s about to introduce an austerity program that will make most folks in Illinois think they are living in austerity-wracked Greece, with less idyllic weather. While he’s generating national headlines by trash talking unions, he is quietly taking a scalpel to every important social program in the state, starting with an Illinois program that subsidizes high-quality childcare for 160,000 low-income kids. Instead of extending a small tax increase that passed the Illinois legislature in 2011, staving off a crisis, he’s letting the increases expire. Rauner is methodically manufacturing an economic crisis for his state, one that will let him do what he has long been set on doing: shrink the government and squeeze the 99 percent.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner Blocks Unions From Collecting 'Fair Share' Fees

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) continued his campaign against labor unions on Monday, using executive authority to block public employee unions from collecting mandatory fees from workers.

Rauner told The Chicago Sun-Times that unions violate the First Amendment by using the funds to make contributions to political candidates. More than 6,500 employees in Illinois are required to pay "fair share fees," Rauner told the Chicago Tribune. Non-union workers in Illinois must pay fair share fees in lieu of union dues to cover costs of negotiating a contract that benefits them. Public employee unions in the state are required to represent all workers in a collective bargaining unit, regardless of whether they are members of the labor organization.

A Song For Bruce Rauner, Illinois' Republican Governor Candidate

While Bruce Rauner may not be able to bank on winning the Illinois governor's seat, the multi-millionaire Republican can count on coming out a winner thanks to a lovelynew tune all about him.

Matt Farmer, a Chicago lawyer and musician has composed and recorded "Plutocrat (The Ballad of Bruce Rauner)," a country song that is sure to get Rauner's legs moving, even with his pockets so heavily weighted with cash.

Illinois Concealed Carry Ruling Sets Stage For High Court Fight Over Right To Carry A Gun

WASHINGTON — The next big issue in the national debate over guns – whether people have a right to be armed in public – is moving closer to Supreme Court review.

A provocative ruling by a panel of federal appeals court judges in Chicago struck down the only statewide ban on carrying concealed weapons, in Illinois. The ruling is somewhat at odds with those of other federal courts that have largely upheld state and local gun laws, including restrictions on concealed weapons, since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling declaring that people have a right to have a gun for self-defense.

As Bain Ships Jobs to China, Bainport Protesters Arrested for Blocking Illinois Factory’s Closure

Police have arrested three people for blocking the removal of equipment from the Sensata Technologies plant in Freeport, Illinois, to protest a plan by Bain Capital to close the factory and ship their jobs to China. Workers at Sensata have set up an encampment called "Bainport" across the street from the facility to protest plans to close the plant and move operations to China, taking 170 jobs with it. Sensata is owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. We hear from two of the detained protesters: Karri Penniston, 16, whose mother works at Sensata; and Debi Kempel, a Bainport supporter from nearby Pearl City.

Video
Source: Democracy Now!
Author: ---

Immigrant Detention Centers In Illinois Cited In New Report For Human Rights Violations

A report released Monday by two Chicago-based human rights groups calls for the Obama administration to close three immigrant detention facilities they accuse of having the most egregious violations, two of which are in Illinois.

Titled "Not Too Late For Reform," the report was authored jointly by Heartland Alliance's National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR) and examines Midwestern county jails holding immigrants.

At a time when the administration is planning to open more large-scale detention facilities nationwide, the report spotlights three county jails currently housing immigrants they classify as the worst in the Midwest: Jefferson County Jail in Mt. Vernon, Ill., Tri-County Detention Center in Ullin, Ill. and Boone County Jail in Burlington, Ky. In the report, the agencies call for these and other detention centers with frequent observed violations to be shut down.

The NIJC and MCHR are also asking for changes in immigration policy prioritizing alternatives to detention, particularly for "low-risk" individuals without criminal histories.

Illinois House Votes Against Supporting 'Occupy,' Suburban Rep Calls Protests 'Un-American'

The Illinois House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a resolution that would have expressed support for Occupy Wall Street protesters' "peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights."

The bill, filed earlier this month by State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago), was voted down by a margin of 37-58, according to an AP report. Fifteen legislators voted present. The lawmakers voting "nay" in the midst of the state's busy fall veto session in Springfield included both Democrats and Republicans.

Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. (R-Mundelein) called the Occupy protesters "un-American" and said he had read reports of demonstrators involved with the movement "raping and pillaging and beating people up and murdering," AP reports. He voted against the resolution.

"Do you recognize the violence, the crime at these protests?" Sullivan added, according to the Illinois Review's report. "If you don't believe in capitalism, then vote for this. I will not stand for it."

Governor Quinn Cancels 30,000 Public Employee Raises, Union Calls Plan "Illegal And Irresponsible"

In a move that has ignited the ire of labor groups statewide, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced on Friday the cancellation of pay raises for thousands of state employees that were due within the next year.

The cancellations specifically affect 14 state agencies, boards and commissions outlined in a memo sent by the state's Department of Central Management Services Friday. The document reads that though Quinn's "proposed budget to the General Assembly sought to fully fund all collective bargaining contracts," the budget ultimately approved by the state legislature does not leave room for cost of living adjustments, longevity enhancements or step increases. The canceled raises, reportedly, total some $77 million in savings for the state and impact approximately 30,000 employees.

"The fiscal year 2012 budget does not provide the money for these pay raises," Quinn's office explained in a statement reported by Capitol Fax. "If the state paid these increases, the impacted agencies would not be able to make payroll for the entire fiscal year, preventing them from continuing operations and providing core services to the people of Illinois."

In response, AFSCME Council 31 has vowed to take legal action against the governor. Henry Bayer, the union's executive director, called the governor's actions "illegal and irresponsible." AFSCME members were due a 2 percent raise July 1, an additional 1.25 percent January 1 and another 2 percent in February, AP reported.

"Governor Pat Quinn has trampled on the collective bargaining process and broken his contract with the men and women who do the real work of state government," Bayer wrote.

Further, Bayer compared the Democratic Illinois governor to Republican governors including Scott Walker (Wis.), John Kasich (Ohio) and Chris Christie (N.J.) who have taken controversial stances on collective bargaining rights for public employees in recent months.

"By choosing to simply ignore a legally binding agreement, Pat Quinn has sunk even lower [than them]," Bayer wrote. "Not only is Quinn's assault on public employee collective bargaining unprecedented in the four decades of state employee bargaining in Illinois, given his repeated criticism of Walker and others, it is utterly hypocritical … AFSCME will aggressively pursue every available legal recourse to ensure that the collective bargaining agreement is honored and employees are paid according to their contract."

Quinn's latest action is not the first to be criticized recently by labor groups. The governor also recently came under fire by some labor groups for pushing for the passage of Senate Bill 1556, a piece of legislation that would have reduced the number of unionized public employees in Illinois by over 3,000 in eliminating what the governor described as a "management vacuum" in cases where managers and those employees they oversee are unionized.

Of that bill, the Illinois Federation of Public Employees said it would "strip collective bargaining rights from thousands of public employees in Illinois."

While it was approved in the state House, it failed to garner enough support for success in the Senate but Quinn press secretary Annie Thompson indicated they would press on by "ask[ing] all of the legislative caucuses to discuss this issue and consider the consequences of inaction."

Thompson balked at any comparisons drawn between SB 1556 and the "budget repair bill" Wisconsin Governor Walker and Republican legislators of that state pushed through toward ultimately going into effect last week.

Full Article
Source: Huffington