Keep Ryan in jail

1 comment November 28th, 2008

Our stalemate over whether former Gov. George Ryan should be freed was over by the end of the day Wednesday with the majority of Editorial Board members saying he should stay in jail.

I see today that Gov. Rod Blagojevich has added his voice to those who think Ryan should be freed after a little more than a year in prison.

Newspapers across the state, however, think Ryan is fine where he is. Read about it HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Should Ryan’s sentence be commuted?

4 comments November 26th, 2008

Sen. Dick Durbin is considering whether to ask President Bush to commute the sentence of George Ryan. So far the editorial board is split on the issue. I’m waiting for more folks to weigh in.

Those who say no, think public officials should be held to a higher standard and anyone who betrays the public trust should pay the penalty.  Also, commuting the sentence would negate the hard work U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office did to get a conviction. Corruption — the selling of the highest office in the state of Illinois — either is a big deal, worthy of the strictest punishment, or it isn’t.

Those who say yes, think Ryan is a feeble, old man, whose reputation — his most valuable commodity — is in ruins. Clemency would get taxpayers off the hook for paying to house Ryan in prison for the rest of his days.

What do you think?

Obama vs. Ditka

3 comments November 26th, 2008

One of my colleagues wrote on the editorial writers listserv that if Mike Ditka had accepted the Republican nomination for U.S. senator, he might have derailed Barack Obama’s road to the presidency.

I think not.

As loved as Ditka is in Chicago, there’s no way Chicagoans would have voted for a Republican even if his last name was Ditka.  In this neck of the woods, Packers fans would have canceled out any Bear fan votes for Ditka. In central and southern Illinois, there are plenty of St. Louis Rams fans who don’t give a flying football about Da Coach.

If I remember right, Obama had a pretty good lead over Jack Ryan, the original GOP contender, before a sex scandal forced Ryan to step aside. Ryan may be the only person political history who got in trouble for wanting to have sex with his wife. Kinky sex, sure, but still it was his WIFE.

Don’t be surprised if Ryan resurrects his political career. Illinois Republicans have had worse candidates.

I’m not betting on it

Add comment November 24th, 2008

By the end of the year we’ll find out which community — Rosemont, Des Plaines or Waukegan — will hit the jackpot and be home to the long dormant 10th Illinois gambling license.

If those three communities sound familiar in casino talks, it’s because they are. They were the finalists for a license in 2004, which shows how much they meet the criteria the Illinois Gaming Board has set up or that the deck has been rigged in their favor all along.

The Gaming Board will hear proposals from those communities Tuesday.

The 10th license has been an issue since 1997 when the Silver Eagle casino in East Dubuque shut down. Eleven years, multiple meetings, lawsuits, allegations of mob ties, etc.,  and we finally may have this issue resolved.

Rosemont looks like the leading contender –  again — because it had the highest bid at $435 million, but Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan still has concerns about Rosemont and the mob.

We’ll see how this all plays out.

Pay it forward

Add comment November 20th, 2008

Because I’ve written about the “Pay it Forward” concept a few times, I was interested in this editorial in the Daily Herald, a newspaper I used to work for many years ago.

Eat your veggies

Add comment November 19th, 2008

If any of you think our daily editorials are too much like, “eat your spinach,” we take that as a compliment.

Take, for example, tomorrow’s editorial . We commend Loves Park Elementary for joining a state program to encourage  more students to eat their fruits and vegetables.  Doesn’t sound novel or anything, but it is. Too few school districts are doing innovative things to break kids out of their junk food rut. A third of kids are overweight and the majority of them don’t get the recommended number of fruits and vegetables — or any, for that matter.

Why? In many cases, it’s because they just don’t taste good. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported last spring on a survey of 1,500 teenagers as to why they don’t eat fruits and vegetables. The survey was done while the kids were in high school and then four years later. Their answers, before and after, were that the fruits and veggies just didn’t taste good.

So, there’s nothing wrong with serving carrots with a little ranch dressing or adding a little extra salt to peas. In the long run, the kids will get more benefit from eating the veggies than they would be harmed by the extra fat or salt.

Go eat your spinach. How’s that for an editorial crusade?

Correction on trunking

Add comment November 18th, 2008

I was wrong about “trunking.” When City Attorney Jennifer Cacciapaglia, talked about it in today’s meeting, I thought she was talking about incidents in Rockford. City spokeswoman Julia Valdez cleared it up in an e-mail.

“No - it hasn’t happened here.  One of our intents in building a stronger animal control program is to help deter movement to this tier.  It is usually gang affiliated, happening more on the east coast but with some incidents happening in more urban areas.  It is virtually impossible for law enforcement to detect because it is hidden from view and any of the noise created is masked by the sound of the stereo.  Law Enforcement or Animal Control agencies usually learn about it after the fights have been going on long term.  When searching on Google you have to look for dog fighting trunking together or you find very little info.  Jen C. learned about it through her own research & communication with the ASPCA.”

‘Trunking’ comes to Rockford

1 comment November 18th, 2008

‘Trunking’ is the most disgusting form of dog fighting. You throw two dogs that were bred to fight into a trunk, drive around with your stereo blaring so no one can hear the dogs fight, and you keep going until one of the dogs is dead.

I had never heard of this distasteful paractice until today. The Editorial Board met with Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey, Ald. Ann Thompson-Kelley, City Attorney Jennifer Cacciapaglia, and city spokeswoman Julia Valdez to talk about proposed animal control ordinances.

Read more about Trunking HERE.

The Chief danced again

Add comment November 17th, 2008

About 9,000 people went into Assembly Hall in Champaign on Saturday to see “The Next Dance.” There were about a dozen protesters outside. Read about the event HERE.

The Chief is back, kind of

Add comment November 14th, 2008

University of Illinois President Joe White visited us in late October and as we were getting near the end of our meeting I said, “Believe it or not, we’ve been talking for more than 45 minutes and no one has mentioned the Chief.”

For those of you who thought the controversy over Chief Illiniwek was over, it’s not.

After Saturday’s Illinois-Ohio State football game, the Chief will make a return appearance at Assembly Hall.

Students for Chief Illiniwek, an independent student group that is not affiliated with the university, rented Assembly Hall for “The Next Dance.” Students get in free while the general public has to pay $5.

Our sister paper in Springfield, the State Journal-Register, doesn’t think much of the idea. Read the editorial HERE.

I always liked the Chief. I remember when I was at the U of I in the mid-70s that some football players used to sneak out of the locker room a bit early at halftime so they could watch the Chief dance.

The Chief often was more entertaining than our football and basketball teams. There weren’t any Chief-bashers back then. If there were, they were not as vocal as they became about a decade ago.

I thought the Chief had retired in peace. I guess “The Next Dance” will fire folks up again.