Archive for January, 2009
January 13th, 2009
Tonight’s Republican Township caucus at Flinn Middle School should be a quiet affair, at least that’s what most of the people I talked to think.
Senior Editor Chuck Sweeny expects the turnout to be light.
The weather and the lack of any controversial races will probably keep attendance down. I’m sure there are folks who will be there for the curiosity factor because nothing like this has been done around here in years.
Registration is 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with the actually caucus starting at 7.
January 12th, 2009
More from Joelle McGinnis:
“Three crews total (two from Plote and one from RockRoad) worked all day Sunday milling and patching and began again this morning to complete the work on the right lane segment of I-90 between Hampshire and Belvidere. The repair process included removal of the top layer of asphalt, clearing away debris, laying down a new layer of asphalt and rolling/sealing the ‘patches.’ Again material used came directly from a hot asphalt plant and is very different from the cold patch material regularly used by roadway crews to fill potholes. And the ‘patches’ are at minimum 25 feet in length, some much longer in length.”
January 12th, 2009
I was driving home from the Chicago suburbs Saturday and I-90 had so many potholes I thought I was on a Rockford city street. At least four cars were on the side of the road with flat tires, which I’m pretty sure were caused by potholes. I know I hit a couple craters very hard (it was dark, hard to miss them) and thought I’d be stuck somewhere far from home.
It wasn’t too bad on the way to Chicago, but the trip home was terrible
Most folks stayed in the left lane which had fewer problems. One car that passed me on the right was on the shoulder three miles later.
So anyone else notice how poor the tollway’s been recently? Anyone have something worse than a flat tire because of a pothole?
January 12th, 2009
In my Sunday column, a paragraph was garbled just before it jumped to another page. Here’s how the paragraph should have read:
A couple of people I talked to said it’s because of people like me who aren’t “real Republicans” that a caucus is a better system. They don’t want independents or Democrats who “cross over” to decide who will have the R on the ballot in the general election. I think that puts party politics ahead of my right to choose who’s going to represent me.
January 9th, 2009
I just got off the phone with Ald. Jeff Holt, who called to talk about this morning’s editorial.
Holt thinks election officers should do more to inform candidates about the rules. He offered a couple of suggestions. Election officials could provide a one-page “Here are the top 10 things to be aware of” when candidates get their petitions. Or, he said, election officials could host informational meetings to provide information.
Holt said the information is available. When he first ran he had to learn things as he went along, but it would have been easier if he would have had some guidance.
I think Holt’s suggestions have merit. How about the rest of you?
January 6th, 2009
Every day you read about a private-sector business that is struggling so it lays off staff, freezes wages, eliminates pension plans, etc. But then you read how a taxpayer-financed entity hands out pay raises and says there’s no way they can trim payroll or expenses.
Sure some folks deserve a raise, but do they deserve it at percentages higher than what the averages are? For example, should government workers get a 4 percent raise when the rest of us are getting 2 percent raises — if we get anything at all?
Is it sour grapes because we aren’t getting the same kind of raises or are we justified in our outrage in how our tax dollars are spent?
Despite all the talk about how this tax rate is going down or that rate is going down, people are paying more in property taxes. That’s because assessments keep going up. It’s a game that we taxpayers lose.
Taxpayers can’t afford to pay more forever. We’ve all had to make sacrifices in the last couple of years because of the economy. Shouldn’t government workers share in that sacrifice?
January 5th, 2009
Rod Blagojevich, Roland Burris and Bobby Rush are distracting everyone from what Illinois needs to do to bounce back economically. So much focus has been put on Blagojevich’s legal troubles that for all we can see, no one is paying much attention to how bad things are for the hardworking people of Illinois.
Illinois’ unemployment rate is higher than the national average, its roads are in terrible shape and we still have that huge pension mess.Illinois needs to get beyond Blago quickly or Illinoisans will find it more difficult to maintain their standards of living.
January 5th, 2009
Not really, but Assistant Sports Editor Matt Trowbridge offers this tidbit. The last time a Minnesota election was as close as Franken’s was in 1986. Former state Sen. Collin Peterson, now a Democratic U.S. congressman, lost a U.S. House election to Republican Rep. Arlan Stangeland by 121 votes.
That’s Trowbridge’s Uncle Arlan.
“He ran against that guy three times, finally losing the third time,”Trowbridge said. “I think Uncle Arlan served 14 years in the House. I got to visit him in his office when I was a loaner at USA Today.”
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