TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalPreckwinkle returning Burke cash, stripping his power to help get judges elected
Following a drumbeat of negative press tying her to federally charged Ald. Ed Burke, Cook County Board President and mayoral contender Toni Preckwinkle said in an email Sunday she is returning all of the $116,000 she raised at Burke’s house in January 2018.
Crucially, she is also stripping Burke of his power to help get judges elected to the bench, removing him as chair of the Cook County Democratic Party’s judicial slating committee. She also called on him to resign from the City Council and as the 14th Ward’s Democratic committeeman.
“I won’t have my name dragged through the mud,” Preckwinkle said in her email.
Preckwinkle has found herself tied to Burke in a 37-page criminal complaint unsealed last week that charges him with attempted extortion. Though it accuses Preckwinkle of no wrongdoing, it says Burke leaned on a pair of Burger King franchise executives to attend a fundraiser for her.
Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/toni-preckwinkle-returning-edward-burke-cash-takes-away-his-judge-making-power/
Rahm on ending federal shutdown: 'Chisel away at the will of the Republicans'
WASHINGTON – In an appearance that served as an audition for a post-mayoral role as a commentator on national politics, Rahm Emanuel on Sunday said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats need to “chisel away” at Republicans on multiple fronts to end the partial federal government shutdown over funding for President Trump’s border wall.
“What I would do if I was Speaker Pelosi is not allow the negotiations to be the only arena,” Emanuel said.
With three GOP senators already calling for an end to the shutdown Emanuel added, “I would make sure every day you were passing that same bill and just chisel away at the will of the Republicans.”
Emanuel also said the public will not engage on the shutdown until it impacts more than 800,000 federal workers, offering as an example the outcry that would happen if unpaid TSA staffers stop reporting for duty at airports.
Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/rahm-government-shutdown-wall-republicans-democrats-pelosi/
Illinois company to help expand Corpus Christi Ship Channel
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – An Illinois company has won a $92 million contract to deepen and widen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to accommodate larger oil tankers.
The Port of Corpus Christi on Thursday announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had selected Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. The federal government and the Port of Corpus Christi are funding the overall $360 million ship channel project.
Plans include expanding the Corpus Christi Ship Channel from the Gulf of Mexico to Harbor Island. The depth would increase from 47 feet to 54 feet from the jetties at the entrance to the channel.
The project comes amid replacement of the Harbor Bridge, which opened in 1959 and has a 138-foot clearance, with a larger span.
https://www.nwherald.com/2019/01/05/ill-company-to-help-expand-corpus-christi-ship-channel/a69awd9/
(no more at link)
Illinois Democrats have control - can they get work done?
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois General Assembly convenes next week, ushering in the Prairie State’s third century with historic numbers of Democrats running the show and pent-up demand for action.
Can they get any work done?
Democrats have not surrendered control of either chamber of the Legislature for more than 15 years, but progress has been overshadowed by scandals that sent two successive governors to federal prison, backed-up bills and a long-overdue pension debt coming home to roost, and, in the past four years, ideological stalemate with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, which stalled even a basic annual spending plan for two years running.
On the heels of Illinois’ bicentennial last month comes Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker with promises of a revamped and fairer income-tax structure, a capital construction plan to bolster roads and bridges, legalized marijuana use to help pay for it, and a boost in the minimum wage.
Backing him are history-making Democratic majorities. In the past 140 years, as a percentage, the Democrats’ 74-44 control of the House is second only to the 118-59 edge they held when the House was bigger from 1965 to 1967, after a failed attempt at reapportionment forced every house member to be elected statewide on the now-notorious “bedsheet ballot.”
Read more: https://www.nwherald.com/2019/01/04/illinois-democrats-have-control-can-they-get-work-done/atx79j4/
Nevada judge shields Wynn documents in Massachusetts review
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Documents collected by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission during a review of sexual misconduct allegations involving casino mogul Steve Wynn will remain secret, at least temporarily, under a ruling Friday by a Nevada judge.
Commission lawyers, its investigations chief and an attorney for Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Ltd. didn't immediately say whether the ruling will impact a decision about the suitability of Wynn's former company to operate a $2 billion casino and hotel due to open this year in the Boston area.
The commission previously said its report could affect a gambling license issued to the company in 2014, including possible sanctions or revocation.
Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez said after a hearing in Las Vegas that she was "limiting what the state of Massachusetts can rely upon, share or utilize" until she decides whether the materials contain information that Wynn's personal lawyers argue is confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege.
Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/national/nevada-judge-shields-wynn-documents-in-massachusetts-review/article_fd0f15dc-2adf-5559-9ad0-d806ebb56ef9.html
NAACP links earthquake signs in Oregon to white supremacy
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A new city policy requiring public signs on brick buildings warning they might collapse in an earthquake is part of a long history of white supremacy aimed at forcing black people to move out of neighborhoods, the NAACP of Portland, Oregon, says.
The group on Thursday decried the policy affecting some 1,600 unreinforced masonry buildings that are on average 90 years old, many in areas with a predominantly black population, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports .
The policy "exacerbates a long history of systemic and structural betrayals of trust and policies of displacement, demolition, and dispossession predicated on classism, racism, and white supremacy," the group said.
The NAACP said the policy will make it tougher for owners of brick buildings to get loans and will discourage investment. It says that means buildings will have to be sold, and that developers will demolish and redevelop, increasing the cost to live there and forcing current residents out.
Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/national/naacp-links-earthquake-signs-in-oregon-to-white-supremacy/article_6a7bbafa-9613-5e0b-8547-6c59d474989c.html
Restaurant removes sign over concerns it's offensive
KEENE, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire restaurant that's preparing to open has removed a sign advertising its name over concerns that it sounded like profanity.
The name of the Vietnamese restaurant in a public building next to City Hall in Keene is a play on a type of soup, which is spelled P-H-O, but is pronounced "fuh." The restaurant calls itself by the name of the soup, followed by the words "Keene Great."
City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said it's intended to sound like profanity and that owner Isabelle Jolie didn't get permission to hang any sign.
Jolie said she doesn't think the name is offensive.
Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/national/city-says-pho-restaurant-s-name-is-offensive-and-other/collection_5c89b632-8e3e-59a2-aa82-bc1b47b46cec.html
Indiana lawmakers facing tight budget, hate crimes debate
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers could struggle to give more than minimal funding increases to public schools in the new state budget that will emerge from this year's legislative session.
Members of the General Assembly will return Thursday to the Statehouse in Indianapolis for a session expected to last until late April.
Republicans are entering their seventh year of supermajorities in both the House and the Senate that give them complete control of legislative action. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and GOP legislative leaders have said boosting teacher pay is a top priority, but that will compete for money with growing Medicaid and child protection expenses.
The legislative session could get sidetracked by a possible heated debate over adopting a state hate crimes law and proposals to allow sports betting in the state.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/indiana/articles/2019-01-02/indiana-lawmakers-facing-tight-budget-hate-crimes-debate
(no more at link)
Judge blasts state agency as court OKs faulty computer system lawsuit
A federal appeals court gave a green light Thursday to a lawsuit brought by Michigan residents falsely accused of unemployment insurance fraud and delivered a blistering assessment of the conduct of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency and top state officials.
The state has acknowledged that at least 20,000 Michigan residents — and possibly as many as 40,000 — were wrongly accused of fraud between 2013 and 2015 by a $47-million state computer system that the state operated without human supervision and with an error rate as high as 93 percent.
Those wrongly accused of fraud through robo-adjudications by the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MiDAS) were subjected to highest-in-the-nation quadruple penalties and many were subjected to aggressive collection techniques such as wage garnishment and seizure of income tax refunds after the state in many cases wrongly said they owed tens of thousands of dollars in benefits and penalties.
Patti Jo Cahoo and several other claimants brought the proposed class-action suit in federal court in Detroit in March 2017. The Unemployment Insurance Agency itself is not a defendant, but Fast Enterprises, the Colorado-based company that sold the state the MiDAS system, is a defendant, along with other state contractors and six state officials, including former Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Sharon Moffett-Massey.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/03/unemployment-insurance-agency-michigan/2474723002/
Whitmer signs petition to reopen Nassar aid fund
Newly sworn-in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday joined a grassroots effort calling on Michigan State University to reinstate a fund covering counseling services for victims of serial pedophile Larry Nassar by signing an online appeal.
“As an MSU alumna, I’m proud to add my name to the list of those who are calling on Michigan State University to reinstate the MSU Healing Assistance Fund to ensure survivors get the care they need," Whitmer said. "It’s time for the university to do the right thing and keep its promise to survivors and their families.”
Whitmer joins more than 1,500 students, faculty, alumni and allies who signed the appeal, calling for the restoration of the $10 million Healing Assistance Fund, which covered counseling services for Nassar victims and their family members. MSU closed the fund last month.
The shutdown of the fund has been a source of contention to victims of Nassar, who said they need it to help them in their journey to heal after Nassar's sexual abuse.
Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/04/whitmer-signs-petition-reopen-nassar-aid-fund/2486044002/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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