Illinois

Governor Pat Quinn To End Controversial Early Prisoners Release Program

newsblogs.chicagotribune.com | Posted 12.30.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Pat Quinn, Chicago, Prisoners, Early Prisoners Release Program, Governor Quinn, Prisons, Illinois, Early Release, Chicago News

Gov. Pat Quinn announced today that he is ending a controversial prisons policy that accelerated good behavior credit for new inmates and led to some ...

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Illinois BAN On Texting While Driving Effective Jan. 1, 2010

suntimes.com | FindLaw Blotter | Posted 12.29.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Illinois Law, Texting While Driving, Illinois, Driving, Texting While Driving Ban, Crime, Text Messaging, Texting, Chicago News

On Friday, Illinois will become the 19th state to ban texting while driving....

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Illinois Wind Power: Commission Moves Forward On Exploring Renewable Energy

AP | Posted 12.29.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Wind Power, Renewable Energy, Illinois Commerce Commission, Illinois, Electricity, Illinois Wind Power, Chicago News

CHICAGO — The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a plan that would allow the agency that buys electricity on behalf of utility customers to s...

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Illinois Senate Campaign Ad Calls Mark Kirk 'Homosexual'

nbcchicago.com | Posted 12.28.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Illinois Senate Campaign, Senate Campaign Ad, Politics, Homosexuality, Chicago, Senate, Andy Martin, Illinois, Chicago News

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Illinois Mercury Pollution Up 7 Percent At Coal Power Plants

chicagotribune.com | Michael Hawthorne | Posted 12.28.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Mercury, Mercury Pollution, Mercury Emissions, Pollution, Illinois Mercury Pollution, Chicago, Study, Illinois, Chicago News

Mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants is increasing in Illinois even as it declines nationwide, a troubling trend for the state because emiss...

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What I Want For Christmas: Mass Clemency

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 12.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Rockefeller Drug Laws, Pardons, Law, Capital Punishment, George W. Bush, War on Drugs, Media, Politics, Liberty, Christmas, Freedom, Ethics, Jail, Constitution, Justice, Illinois, Mercy, Crime, Drug War, Amnesty, Toney Anaya, Massachusetts, Forgiveness, Barack Obama, Compassion, George Ryan, New York, Clemency, Pardon-Power, Religion, Prison, Michigan, Jack Johnson, Governors, Politics News
Jacob M. Appel

A mass, collective pardon of nonviolent offenders would reunite hundreds of thousands of families, save billions of dollars in incarceration costs, and might foster a national spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.

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Great Lakes' Asian Carp Crisis Headed to US Supreme Court

Scott Dodd | Posted 12.22.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Supreme Court, Michigan, Fish, Great Lakes, Invasive Species, Asian Carp, Fishing, Illinois, Chicago News
Scott Dodd

Michigan is suing Illinois, the Chicago sanitation district and the U.S. government, seeking an injunction that closes two locks in the canal that connects the Illinois River and Lake Michigan.

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Illinois Democrats Need Obama's Help To Keep His Old Senate Seat

New York Times | James Warren | Posted 12.20.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Alexi Giannoulias Senate, Alexi Giannoulias, Roland Burris, Obama Senate Seat, Obama, US Senate, Jacob Meister, Senate, Cheryle Jackson, Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich, Mark Steven Kirk, Chicago, Illinois, David Hoffman, Chicago News

Some Chicagoans grouse that President Obama has reneged on promises to return home regularly. Midway through a desultory, prickly United States Senate...

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Stevenson High School Students Raise Censorship Concerns With Administrators

Freedom Project | December 17, 2009 10:59 PM | Posted 12.18.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Debate, Newspapers, Administration, Chicago, Media Censorship, High School, Media, Censorship, Stevenson High School, Illinois, Chicago News

Evan Ribot said student leaders at the Statesman have given this speech too many times to deaf ears. The Stevenson High School student newspaper sta...

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Illinois Supreme Court To Rule On Medical Malpractice

AP | Posted 12.17.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Illinois Supreme Court, Illinois, Medical Malpractice, Chicago, Chicago News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court is announcing it will release a decision on whether the state's medical malpractice law is consti...

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U.S. Officials: Gitmo Detainees Will Go To Thomson, Illinois

chicagotribune.com | Christi Parsons | Posted 12.15.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Guantanamo Bay, Illinois, Gitmo Detainees, Guantanamo Bay Detainees, Thomson-State-Prison, Thomson Prison, Guantanamo Detainees, Chicago, Chicago News

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has directed the federal government to buy the near-empty state prison in rural Thomson, Ill., to house federal i...

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300 Clean Water Act Violations! Illinois Citizens File Notice to Sue Reckless Coal Strip Mine

Jeff Biggers | Posted 12.11.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Springfield, Pat Quinn, Sierra Club, Dirty Coal, Prairie River Network, Chicago, Clean Water Act, Epa, Strip Mine, Big Coal, Endangered Species, Illinois, Coal, Chicago News
Jeff Biggers

How did discharges of illegal levels of pollutants, including manganese, total suspended solids, sulfates, iron, and acidic water wind up in some of the last old growth forest in Illinois?

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First Lieberman, Now Huckabee?

Norm Stamper | Posted 12.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Parole, Pardons, Bill Clinton, Gop, Slain Officers, Terrorism, Governor George Ryan, Maurice Clemmons, Baptist Preacher, Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct and Incompetence, Wayne Dumond, Post Prison Transfer Board, Larry Jegley, Major Nidal Hasan, Jim Guy Tucker, Wrongful Convictions, Death Row, Frank White, Mike Huckabee, Arkansas, Jailhouse Snitches, Lakewood Washington, Joe Lieberman, Pulaski County, Tulia Texas, Debra Saunders, Illinois, Pptb, Politics News
Norm Stamper

We should candidly look at whether Mike Huckabee is getting a raw deal for granting clemency to the man who murdered four Lakewood, Washington cops this Thanksgiving weekend.

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Postcard Perfect Holidays In A Prairie State

Karen Dalton-Beninato | Posted 11.30.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Santa Claus, Christmas, Holiday Season, Chicago, Black Friday, Holidays, Illinois, New Year's Eve, Chicago News
Karen Dalton-Beninato

To help jump start the holiday spirit, these are my favorite 10 images four years after evacuating back to the heartland south of Chicago, east of Lincoln's home and north of a cornfield.

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Empty Prison in Struggling Illinois Town Might Be Next Gitmo

Charles Shaw | Posted 11.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo, Prisons, Military Tribunals, Closing Guantanamo, Guantanamo Detainees, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Thomson Gitmo, Thomson Illinois, Illinois, Politics News
Charles Shaw

Beyond histrionics about a wave of jihad descending upon Chicago, the truth of the matter is far closer to the desire of Republicans to keep the extralegal limbo at Guantanamo going full steam.

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The Last Time Byrd's Record Was Broken

John R. Bohrer | Posted 11.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Joseph G. Cannon, Longest Serving Member of Congress, Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia, Bob Byrd, Carl Hayden, Robert Byrd, Arizona, Illinois, Politics News
John R. Bohrer

Today, Senator Robert C. Byrd broke the record of a one-time colleague as the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. Let's put his long run into perspective.

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Illinois Guantanamo Bay?: Local Officials In Thomson, Illinois Welcome Idea (VIDEO)

Posted 11.17.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Thomson Correctional Center, Prison, Thomson Prison, Guantanamo Detainees, Illinois Guantanamo Bay, Illinois and Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Thomson Correctional Facility, Illinois, Thomson Village, Thomson-Gitmo, Thomson Illinois, Chicago News

Thomson VIllage President Jerry "Duke" Hebeler said at a press conference Monday that bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to Thomson, Illinois, could be...

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Thomson Prison In Illinois Is Leading Choice In Obama's Search For Stateside Gitmo

AP | TAMMY WEBBER | Posted 11.17.2009 | Chicago

Read More: White House, Pat Quin, Pat Quinn, Guantanamo, Thomson Illinois, Obama, New Gitmo, Gitmo, Mark Kirk, Thompson Prison Facility, Jan Schakowsky, Thomson Prison, Chicago, Thomson Correctional Facility, Illinois, Gitmo Detainees, Cuba, Chicago News

CHICAGO — The Obama administration may buy a near-empty prison in rural northwestern Illinois to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay along with fede...

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10 States Face Looming Budget Disasters: Pew Report

AP | JUDY LIN | Posted 11.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: States Fiscal Crisis, Wisconsin, California, States Budgets, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Michigan, Oregon, Politics News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Arizona, the budget has grown so gloomy that lawmakers are considering mortgaging Capitol buildings. In Michigan, state ...

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Howard Dean Stresses Importance of Grassroots Pressure on Public Option

Ellen Gill | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Illinois Tenth Congressional District Democrats, Howard Dean, Illinois, Chicago, Fifty State Strategy, Public Option, Politics News
Ellen Gill

Dean said that he thinks the public option should be Medicare, administered by the same agencies and under the same rules as Medicare.

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Health Insurers Agree To Help Pay For H1N1 Vaccinations

Chicago Tribune | Posted 10.28.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Health Insurance Swine Flu, Health Insurance Flu Vaccine, Swine Flu Vaccines, Illinois Swine Flu, Swine Flu, Illinois, Vaccinations, Chicago News

Several major Illinois health insurers have agreed to cover the costs of administering the H1N1 flu vaccine to their policyholders, the Illinois Depar...

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Readers' Photos of Fall Leaves

Huffington Post | Posted 10.20.2009 | Green

Read More: Slidepoll, Leaves, Best-Fall-Foliage-Pics, Autumn, Fall, Green Living, Fall Foilage, Colorado, New York, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Utah, Maine, Montreal, Alabama, Nature, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, South Dakota, Green News

Following our slide show of the best places to go for autumn leaves, readers sent in their favorite photos of fall foliage. From Michigan to New Hamp...

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Video Poker: A Bad Bet for Illinois

Rep. Jack Franks | Posted 10.16.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Illinois Video Poker, Gambling, Illinois, Illinois Budget, Rod Blagojevich, Illinois General Assembly, Video Gaming Act, Illinois Gaming Board, Chicago News
Rep. Jack Franks

I've filed a bill to repeal the Video Gaming Act, which allows places licensed to serve alcohol to have up to five video poker machines for patron use -- the equivalent of 60 new casinos in Illinois.

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Honest-Services Fraud: Law Used To Indict Blagojevich Challenged As Vague

AP | MIKE ROBINSON | Posted 11.12.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Supreme Court, Jeffrey Skilling, Blagojevich, Springfield, Conrad Black, Chicago, Rod Blagojevich, Politics, Vague, Honest-Services Fraud, George Ryan, Corruption, Illinois, Chicago News

CHICAGO — Among the corruption charges faced by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a statute of just 28 words with enough pop to send big n...

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Christopher Kelly Dead: Ex-Blagojevich Fundraiser Found Dead Just Days Before Prison Sentence Was Set To Begin

AP | MIKE ROBINSON | Posted 11.12.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Corruption, Blagojevich, Blagojevich Scandal, Christopher Kelly, Politics, Kelly Dead, Rod Blagojevich, Chicago, Illinois, Fundraiser, Fundraising, Christopher Kelly Dead, Chris Kelly Dead, Blagojevich Corruption, Chicago News

CHICAGO — A former chief fundraiser for ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich died Saturday, just days before he was to begin serving at least ei...

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