Illinois Review

Trump releases four school choice options for poverty-stricken children

NEW YORK - In stark contrast with Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Republican Donald Trump released four proposals Thursday that his campaign says will increase school choice and lead to better student performance.

If elected, Trump’s first budget will immediately add an additional federal investment of $20 billion towards school choice, the campaign said. This will be done by reprioritizing existing federal dollars. Specifically, Trump’s plan will use $20 billion of existing federal dollars to establish a block grant for the 11 million school age kids living in poverty. Individual states will be given the option as to how these funds will be used.

As President, Trump will establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty.

Federal grand jury accuses ex-Kankakee Valley Park District director of defrauding

SPRINGFIELD – The former executive director of the Kankakee Valley Park District is being accused of defrauding the park district and a related not-for-profit organization for his personal benefit, the FBI reports. 

A federal grand jury indicted Roy Collins of Kankakee, alleging that he accessed and used park district equipment, labor, and funds to benefit himself, including that he used park district equipment and labor to build a pond on his personal property; that he solicited at least one independent contractor to perform work for the park district and on his residence and that he suggested the contractor falsely bill all of the work to the park district.

They also allege that Collins issued a foundation check to purchase a tarp or pond liner for use on his personal property; that he caused a mower belonging to the park district be kept and used at his personal property; and that he kept and used a park district golf cart at his personal property. 

IL Congressman Kinzinger defends Syria on House floor

Berg: Some workers are more equal than others

By Austin Berg - 

For more than a century, Americans have celebrated Labor Day as a tribute to the accomplishments of working men and women.

Single moms who hold down two jobs to pay for college coursework. Small-business owners who take a pay cut before a single worker gets an untimely check. Teenagers learning lifelong lessons in the most mundane tasks.

But Illinois’ largest government-worker union doesn’t care about working Illinoisans. Not the vast majority of them, anyway.

On the eve of this past three-day weekend, one of the state’s largest labor disputes in recent history hit a mile marker. An administrative law judge issued a 404-page decision. She held that state negotiations with AFSCME have reached an impasse.

Well, sort of.

Thorner: 10 years later, how true is Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'?

By Nancy Thorner -  

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. The documentary was a critical and box-office success here in the U.S., but not so much in the U.K. In 2007 a High Court ruling in Great Britain found that Gore’s documentary on climate change contained key scientific errors and breached education law, making it unacceptable for viewing by students. “Representing partisan political views,” the film could only legally be shown if accompanied by a warning about political indoctrination.

After the film’s debut, public’s awareness about global warming increased and the “green” movement surged. Since then, many corporations have gotten on board the Global Warming Band Wagon to exploit and profit from what has now become (falsely) an indisputable fact to many Americans: The Earth is dangerously warming and man is to blame. Climate alarmists warn that unless drastic steps are taken to curb global warming, Mother Earth will suffer grave consequences 100 or so years into the future. This despite a recent article that reports how tens of thousands of scientists have declared that human-driven global climate change is a hoax.

Ives: 17 Votes Later, and Your Property Taxes are still not frozen

By State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) - 

Have you gotten mailers from your Democrat State Representatives saying they voted to freeze your property taxes, yet? If you haven’t, you will. And the mailers don’t lie. They voted for a property tax freeze. In fact, they voted for it up to seventeen times. Do you think, maybe … I don’t know… property tax rates should be frozen, then?

As a state legislator, I can assure you that no bill gets seventeen votes. It is extremely rare that a bill gets a second vote. So what’s going on here?

It’s a game that’s being played. House Democrats, led by Speaker Mike Madigan, know that they are going to have to answer for the fact that your property taxes are sky-rocketing. They need to have a vote or two to point at on a campaign mailer. So, they bring a bill to the floor with no intention of seeing into law, and vote on it. The process is a scam that’s being perpetrated on Illinois homeowners.

GOP challenger wants Bustos to promise she'll complete her term if she wins again

GALESBURG – A rumor buzzing around Illinois political circles suggests Congresswoman Cheri Bustos is toying with the idea of challenging Governor Bruce Rauner in 2018. Bustos is close to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin - whose name has also been mentioned for 2018 - and entered the Illinois Democratic Party's scene with the blessing of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. 

That idea that she may be seeking a more exciting political office didn't set well with her 17th CD Republican opponent Patrick Harlan. 

"Congresswoman Bustos needs to commit to serving a full term for the office she is seeking," Harlan said. "If she is plotting to climb the political ladder and run for governor in 2018, her constituents in the Illinois 17th District have a right to know."

Thorner: 'The Conservative Case for Trump' takes on special meaning with Schlafly's death

By Nancy Thorner - 

Phyllis Schlafly's death on Labor Day, Sept. 5, 2016, takes on a special meaning in that Phyllis was at peace in knowing that she had done all she could do and had a clear conscience.  As an American treasure, Phyllis had been fighting the good fight for American sovereignty and cultural renewal for five decades. 

Phyllis Schlafly, as the founder and CEO of Eagle Forum in 1972, was a conservative icon since her bestselling book, A Choice not an Echo, was published in 1964, revealing how the GOP "kingmakers" used every trick in the book to dictate the choice of the Republican presidential nominee.  Their objective was to maintain control of a Republican Party that would mirror the New Deal Democrats rather than offer voters a meaningful choice. 

In 2014, an updated and expanded version of A Choice Not An Echo was published with a forward by Dr. Ron Paul.  This updated book ends with reflections about the 2016 race by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times and others telling readers to prepare for a Hillary and Jeb ticket in 2016.  Phyllis's response at the time was that the 2016 nomination for president was not yet locked up.  And she was right! 

Beating the odds: Manufacturing training opens doors for those with criminal records

CHICAGO - Chicago’s West Side neighborhoods are not only devastated with crime, the aftermath of illegal activity has taken a severe toll on the community’s productivity.

In Chicago Urban League research director Paul Street’s white paper on “Race, Prison and Poverty,” Congressman Danny Davis claims 70 percent of men between the ages of 18 and 45 living in impoverished North Lawndale are ex-offenders.

That’s seven of every ten males in their most productive years burdened with a criminal history.

Statistics show that a sobering 47 percent of those that have served time under the Illinois Department of Correction’s supervision return to incarceration. Having a felony on one’s resume creates a nearly insurmountable obstacle to finding a good job.

But Chicago’s Safer Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, has been providing employment, educational, and supportive services for individuals with criminal records for 44 years. It has now joined up with TMA to provide its clients one way out of the community’s downward spiral.

The recidivism rate for Safer Foundation clients able to find employment drops dramatically from 47 to 24.3 percent. If they’re able to keep that job for 30 days, the rate drops again to 17.5 percent.

TMA is collaborating with Safer Foundation to provide advanced manufacturing training for qualified residents living at Safer’s two residential facilities located in the North Lawndale community on Chicago’s West Side.

At its Schaumburg headquarters, TMA offers two class levels for the Safer students – a Level 1 Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing and a Level 2 class in which the students are pursuing NIMS credentials for programming.

This summer, Anthony Connors is instructing with TMA’s Level 2 class and April Senase is teaching TMA’s Level 1 class.

Chinese break ground on new 95-story Wanda Vista Tower featuring $9M condos

CHICAGO - Having a hard time figuring out how you're going to pay your latest hike in health care insurance or property taxes?

Well, you've little in common with the folks that will be living at the new Wanda Vista Tower - "the largest-ever real estate investment by a Chinese company in Chicago."

Chicago's new skyline addition will be the third tallest, not quite as big as the Trump Tower - the one with the owner's name Donald "TRUMP" displayed boldly on its front.

It's not for certain whether the name of Wanda Vista Tower's owner - China's richest man "Wang Jianlin" - will also appear on his new skyscraper.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to participate in the 96-story building's ground breaking at 375 East Wacker Drive Wednesday.

The tower will include 406 condominium homes, 205 hotel rooms and 346 parking places.Luxurious four bedroom condos start at $9M and one bedroom condos start at $1M. 

The building plans to include a 5,400 square foot ballroom, as well as a full-service spa, a bar and two full-service restaurants. The building plans also include wine storage and a tasting room, a private dining area, demonstration kitchen and a full screening and media room. 

On the 46th floor, health devotees will find Club Vista, with a fully-equipped fitness center and swimming pool.

 

DePaul launches free speech lecture series after banning conservatives

CHICAGO - According to the Depaul Newsline, the series is “Depaul’s broad action plan to address issues that came to a tipping point last spring,” and “will offer perspectives across the political spectrum on various topics including race, free speech and hate speech, and the current political climate.”

“We recognize these issues facing all of American higher education will not be solved overnight,” DePaul President Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider told the Newsline. “Through this series we are hoping to enrich and inform a conversation that provides our university community with fresh and real ways to live our Vincentian commitments.”

In recent months, however, the university has come under fire for announcing that Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos, two provocative conservative speakers who promote free speech and mock political correctness, would not be allowed on campus due to concerns about student protests.

“Given the experiences and security concerns that some other schools have had with Ben Shapiro speaking on their campuses, DePaul cannot agree to allow him to speak on our campus at this time,” Vice President of Facilities Bob Janis told Campus Reform in August.

More at Campus Reform

 

Group helps Westsiders escape hopelessness through manufacturing careers

CHICAGO - Hot summer months are now known as “the killing season” in Chicago’s violence-ridden West Side neighborhoods. During June, July and August, on the average, one person is shot every two hours and murdered every 13 hours.

Just fifteen minutes west of Chicago’s stunningly wealthy Gold Coast, hundreds of violent crimes are perpetrated on neighborhood streets.

There the annual median income for a household is $32,494 and the unemployment rate hovers around 11 percent, with 44 percent of the community’s population not in the work force.

One in four adults in the West Side neighborhoods of Garfield Park and Austin hasn’t completed high school, even though taxpayers spend over $15,000 per Chicago Public School student.

Many of those born into these tough neighborhoods remain from a time when when Chicago’s West Side was a powerful hub for American manufacturing.

Since that busy post-World War II era, unskilled labor dried up as robotics and technology advanced slowly, but surely, taking over manufacturing and allowing the industry to grow more efficient and productive than ever.

But even today, nearly 200 manufacturing businesses remain on Chicago’s West Side, producing nearly $1.5 billion in sales and employing over 9000.

The folks at the Austin neighborhood’s non-profit organization Bethel New Life noted manufacturing’s transition from unskilled workers to skilled machinists and engineers, and latched onto a vision of advanced manufacturing training as a way neighborhood residents could rekindle hope for their lives and communities.

Bost releases first campaign ad

MURPHYSBORO –Tuesday,  U.S. Rep. Mike Bost released the first television advertisement in his re-election campaign for Illinois' 12th Congressional District, titled "Stand Up." The ad will begin running with 500 points this week in the Metro East media market.

"I was proud to feature my grandchildren in our first ad because I believe this campaign is about the future," said Bost. "We must cut wasteful spending, reduce the debt, and lower the tax burden for working families if we're going to strengthen the world our kids and grandkids will inherit. I look forward to continuing to stand up for Southern Illinois' future and ensure our young people inherit a better world than the generation before them."

Thorner/Ingold: EpiPens become a life-saving object of greed

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold - 

EpiPens are a decades-old way of delivering epinephrine, a hormone that counters the potentially fatal effects of severe allergic reactions to things such as bee stings and peanuts.  To children subject to such allergic reaction, having an EpiPen available can be a matter of life and death.  There's about a dollar's worth of epinephrine in each EpiPen, to which Mylan acquired the rights in 2007 and proceeded to steadily impose double-digit price heights.

As Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said:  What good is a life-saving drug if you can't get it?   

In a Los Angeles Times article of August 26, 2016, Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices, David Lazarus wrote:  

"Pharmaceutical heavyweight Mylan has become the latest poster child for drug-industry greed.  The cost of a pack of two EpiPens now $608.61, an increase of 548% since Mylan began selling the drug in late 2007 with 17 price increases during that span, including two since a major competitor was recalled late last year.  Notable is that both Democrats and Republicans have called for investigations."

The two most recent price increases, last November and this May, came after Sanofi SA's competing Auvi-Q was recalled. The absence of real competition is a factor in Mylan's ability to keep raising the list price of EpiPens. Competitors so far have failed at challenging Mylan's EpiPen. 

Catholic health system to strip "St." from hospital names

A large Catholic health system is dropping saint names from its hospitals to create a more unified identity, the Associated Press is reporting. 

Franciscan Alliance treats more than 1.3 million patients in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. It's changing its name to Franciscan Health. The Indiana-based organization announced Tuesday it will also rename 12 of its 14 hospitals.

The decision means two Illinois hospitals will no longer include the name "St. James." Franciscan St. James Health in Chicago Heights, Ill., will become Franciscan Health Chicago Heights. Franciscan St. James Health in Olympia Fields will become Franciscan Health Olympia Fields.

Coulter: Phyllis Stewart Schlafly, 1924-2016

By Ann Coulter - 

Phyllis Schlafly, the St. Louis-born American intellectual who grew from a shy and beautiful girl to become one of the most influential political activists of the 20th and 21st century, died today, Monday, September 5, 2016 according to Eagle Forum.

Schlafly has written or co-written more than 20 books, on military policy, education, legal and social issues. Her first book, “A Choice, Not an Echo,” is credited with winning Barry Goldwater the Republican nomination for president and inspiring the conservative movement that eventually led to Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Her military work was a major factor in Reagan's’ decision to proceed with High Frontier technology.

Since 1967, Schlafly has published the Phyllis Schlafly Report and in 1972, Schlafly founded The Eagle Forum, which grew to nearly 100,000 members. Her syndicated column appeared in 100 newspapers, her radio commentaries were broadcast on more than 400 stations, and her radio talk show, "Eagle Forum Live," was broadcast on 45 stations and the Internet. Throughout her career, Schlafly gave college speeches – including in January 2009, in her still-spry 80’s, when, at a Berkeley speech, she fell and broke a hip.

She was appointed by President Reagan to serve on the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution from 1985-1991. For years, Schlafly was the National Defense Chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Over the years, Schlafly testified before more than 50 congressional and state legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, and family issues. She has been a delegate at every Republican National Convention since 1956. The Ladies' Home Journal named Schlafly one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century.

Read the rest at AnnCoulter.com

Fortner: Crowdsourcing the answer to fairer maps

WEST CHICAGO – This week Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago) filed a Constitutional Amendment which would give Illinois residents significant input on legislative mapmaking. Fortner believes letting the public draw legislative boundaries will lead to fairer maps and less partisan control of state government.

Does such a populist approach sound confusing and impractical? It may be the only way Illinois can pry the all-important legislative map-drawing process from purely partisan fingers.

Under the Fortner proposal, filed Tuesday as HJRCA 60, a commission would provide the necessary tools and data citizens can use to create district maps that meet Constitutional requirements. The commission would rank citizen maps based on a defined scoring rubric and present the top three ranked maps to the legislature for review and approval.

The five-term lawmaker has clearly put a lot of time and thought into the idea.

Sick leave will soon apply to care time for children, other family members

SPRINGFIELD - Employers that provide sick leave benefits for employees in Illinois will soon have to allow employees to use their accrued paid sick time to care for their children and other family members and not just for their own illnesses, the National Law Review explains.

Starting January 1, 2017, any Illinois worker who is entitled to sick leave will be able to use it for absences due to an illness, injury, or medical appointment for a child, spouse, or certain other family members on the same terms as sick leave is allowed for the employee’s own illness or injury.

The Employee Sick Leave Act, which Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner recently signed into law, states that an employee may use his or her employer-provided sick leave for absences “for reasonable periods of time as the employee’s attendance may be necessary” to take family members to medical appointments or otherwise attend to their illnesses or injuries.

Rhoads: God Bless the Angels of Mercy

By Mark Rhoads -

I am sharing a personal misadventure to in order to pay tribute to a special group of people that I did not appreciate enough before.

For the first time in my life in mid-August, I had to have emergency surgery at a hospital and there were rare complications later that made me go back to the ER a second time. I was very lucky to be a patient at a very good hospital with a very skilled doctors and terrific nurses and staff.

Before now, I did not pay enough attention to the challenges of health care workers who are both dedicated and kind. May God bless the profession of health care professionals and support staff and I think them for their personal kindess and vocation.  Most of all I thank my surgeon Dr. J.R, Salameh.

Di Leo: Crime Statistics and the State of our Cities

By John F. Di Leo - 

Chicago’s murder statistics are in the national news again.

Granted, we hardly need to date columns like this anymore, since Chicago’s murder statistics are always in the national news, nowadays.  It’s either the most killings in a month, or the most shootings in a weekend, or the most attempted murders in a year.  Which statistic may vary, but the general subject doesn’t.

August, 2016 was the most deadly month in a Chicago city in 20 years, with ninety successful murders counted in a single month (how many unsuccessful murders – known as “attempted” murders – is not tracked quite as carefully, because so many go unreported).  The city of Chicago logged 2300 shootings in 2016 by the end of August alone, easily on track to top 3000 such attacks by year-end.

The press bemoans it, and the politicians use it as yet another excuse to increase gun control, although how more gun control in a city that already has the most stringent gun control in the country would make any positive difference is beyond explanation.

RNC's Priebus: FBI report shows Clinton disqualified herself from presidency

NEW YORK - The Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign responded Friday after reading through the FBI's released report summary of their conversation with Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in August concerning her email files.

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said,“The FBI’s summary of their interview with Hillary Clinton is a devastating indictment of her judgment, honesty and basic competency. Clinton’s answers either show she is completely incompetent or blatantly lied to the FBI or the public. Either way it’s clear that, through her own actions, she has disqualified herself from the presidency."

The Trump campaign responded, as well.

“Hillary Clinton is applying for a job that begins each day with a Top Secret intelligence briefing, and the notes from her FBI interview reinforce her tremendously bad judgment and dishonesty," Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said Friday.

U.S. Senate candidates tell IL farmers they support "comprehensive" immigration reform

NORMAL - While Donald Trump made headlines this week with his visit to Mexico and the roll out of his 10-point immigration reform plan, neither Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk nor his Democrat challenger Tammy Duckworth agree with Trump's plan. 

Trump's 10-point plan calls for deporting criminal illegal immigrants, implementing the E-verify system, ending sanctuary cities and completing a wall on the nation's southern border.

Both Kirk and Duckworth back "comprehensive" immigration reform, they told state agricultural leaders at the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable Candidate Forum in late August. 

Illinois Farm Bureau’s 80,000 members are calling for "commonsense solutions" for the immigration dilemma in 2017.  The Bureau wants reform to "provide incentives to keep experienced guest workers in agricultural jobs and provide opportunities for new immigrant workers in the future."

The Bureau argues that immigrants are beneficial to Illinois' economy because - 

Is the Unemployment Rate Lying to You?

How many Americans are really unemployed? Does the unemployment rate reflect reality? Or is it ignoring the millions of people who simply gave up and are no longer looking for work? Learn the truth about unemployment in this short video.

Latest report shows Obama's jobs strategy a dismal failure, Trump advisor says

WASHINGTON - Only 151,000 American jobs were added in the month of August, as the unemployment  rate persistently held at 4.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday morning. 

The Obama Administration was hoping to report 180,000 new jobs for August. Wages grew slower in August than the month before, and the average workweek for employees was a bit shorter. Only 62.8% of the American public 16 years and older is participating in the labor force.

The Trump campaign's economic advisor David Malpass was quick in response, saying the August jobs report shows the stagnant Clinton-Obama economy fails to deliver the good paying jobs Americans desperately need. 

Illinois' unpaid bills are stacking up, but those being paid are just as infuriating

CHICAGO - Illinois has been without a state budget for two years - meaning that there have been no budget cuts despite lower revenue, meaning the state's debt is filling a bigger and bigger pit every single day. 

That's distressing for most Illinois taxpayers who are confused about what's going on, what's getting paid, what isn't getting paid and for the most part - most just don't really want to know. 

Sort of like a cancer diagnosis - thinking maybe if we ignore the situation, it will correct itself or go away altogether.

However, now even Republican lawmakers won't promise to block more and more tax hikes after the November election. That means that while property taxes soar, a new service tax and a state income tax hike are on the way. 

Almost as if both Republicans and Democrats want those of us that work hard everyday to pay taxes to just shut up and keep paying - and don't you dare express any outrage with their expenditures because we taxpayers just don't have enough sense to know how badly our dollars are needed to keep the state afloat.

Oh, and 70,000 vouchers remain unpaid. Imagine seeing that stack on your kitchen table.

Foster: Trump is completely right on immigration

By Howard Foster - 

I am relieved that Donald Trump continues to run his campaign based on repudiation of the open immigration policies of the last several decades.

Yesterday was a key day in this campaign. He went to Mexico and had a civil meeting with the President and then delivered a detailed, point-by-point plan laying out how immigration will change if he wins. There will be big changes. We will once again treat people in this country illegally as criminals and not as Democrats in waiting. 

Breens welcome new baby boy

Photo by Doug White

LOMBARD - State Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) and his wife Margie announced this week the arrival of their new adopted baby boy, Matthew Elijah. 

Trump: Immigration reform should make life better for American citizens

PHOENIX - Wednesday night in Phoenix, Arizona, where the immigration issue is paramount, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outlined his plan for dealing with persons that have entered America illegally.

Before the rally, Trump flew to Mexico, to meet with President Enrique Nieto, who has invited both Trump and Hillary Clinton to visit.

In Wednesday night's speech, Trump points to 10 different aspects of dealing with illegal immigrants he hopes to implement if elected president in November.

His speech as released by the campaign:

Trump assumes one point lead over Clinton, Rasmussen says

NEW JERSEY - Hillary Clinton’s post-convention lead has disappeared, putting her behind Donald Trump for the first time nationally since mid-July.

The latest weekly Rasmussen Reports White House Watch shows Trump with 40% support to Clinton’s 39% among Likely U.S. Voters, after Clinton led 42% to 38% a week ago. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson now earns seven percent (7%) of the vote, down from nine percent (9%) the previous two weeks, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein picks up three percent (3%) support. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.