Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago, Emanuel won along with Obama, mayor’s allies say

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 19:32:01 -0500

President Barack Obama’s re-election — and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s front-and-center role in it — will pay dividends for Chicago, mayoral allies predicted Wednesday.

Top Democrats to meet Monday on pensions

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 12:20:54 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — Mike Madigan has spoken. The powerful House speaker and Gov. Pat Quinn finally connected Friday after going much of the week incommunicado following Madigan’s snub of a Tuesday meeting with Quinn and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) to talk pensions. The upshot is the three Democratic leaders have all agreed to sit in the same place on Monday to see if a deal can’t be hashed out to reconcile competing House and Senate pension-reform plans that stalled last week, triggering two credit downgrades for the state.

Activists rap Rauner’s let-people-decide view on gay marriage

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:24:38 -0500

As he announced his run for governor this week, venture capitalist Bruce Rauner said the best way to deal with the same-sex marriage question is by taking it out of the hands of the Legislature and putting the question to the people. However, there’s a major problem with going that route, according to gay rights activists. A people’s initiative on an Illinois ballot would do nothing. But getting a constitutional amendment question on the ballot would mean putting the question right back to state lawmakers who failed to call the measure for a vote last week.

Businessman Bruce Rauner blasts union bosses as he jumps into governor’s race

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:11:47 -0500

As he officially launched his bid for governor, Bruce Rauner made clear in an interview with the Sun-Times on Wednesday that his presence in the governor’s mansion would mean a Rahm Emanuel-esque, all-out battle with the state’s top unions.

Prosecutors try to oust suburban school board member over past felony conviction

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 02:21:31 -0500

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office moved Tuesday to remove a south suburban school board member from office because he’s been convicted of felony theft — the third time this year in which authorities have filed such a lawsuit against a local school board member. Joe Louis Sherman, 47, a member of the Ford Heights Public School District 169 board, pleaded guilty in 1998 to retail theft and was sentenced to probation. He stole alcohol and cigarettes from a Jewel-Osco, court records show. The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this month that he and two other Ford Heights board members, Mark Mitchell and James Coleman, have felonies.

Pension reform, casino bill, gun control — legislators left a lot undone

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:54:29 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — Democrats won historic super majorities in both the Illinois House and Senate this year yet whiffed dramatically Friday when it came to passing pension reform, a Chicago casino deal and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. The futility also included legislation many pension-reform advocates, including Gov. Pat Quinn, regarded as salt in the wound — a last-minute push by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to skip pension payments to the Chicago teachers’ retirement fund to avert a $400 million funding shortfall this summer.

DePaul basketball arena bill passes Senate, heads to Quinn’s desk

Fri, 31 May 2013 18:06:00 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate gave final legislative approval Friday to a McPier makeover plan that includes funds for a new DePaul University basketball arena at McCormick Place. The measure pushed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel passed 38-17, with two voting present, and now moves to Gov. Pat Quinn, who has expressed support for the plan. The legislation passed the House Thursday.

House, Senate pass bill allowing concealed weapons — now it’s up to Gov. Quinn

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:54:29 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — After six months of debate, the question of whether Illinois gun owners should be allowed to carry their weapons in public places now rests with Gov. Pat Quinn. The state House voted 89-28 to approve a compromise gun deal that preserves local gun laws, including Chicago and Cook County’s bans on assault weapons, and keeps gun owners from carrying their loaded weapons on public trains and buses. But it hands gun owners a potent new right that would end the state’s last-in-the-nation prohibition on concealed carry.

No same-sex marriage vote until November: ‘I’ve never been sadder,’ sponsor says

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:54:29 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — Gay and lesbian couples who want to legally marry in Illinois will have to wait. It’s a delay that was met Friday with tears, anger and confusion. His voice breaking with emotion, state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) tearfully said Friday that he would not call for a vote on his bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the closing hours of the spring legislative session. His short speech was interrupted by shouts of protest from same-sex couples who came to Springfield in hopes of witnessing history. Shame!” someone shouted. “Justice delayed is justice denied!” yelled another.

Black Illinois House members split on gay marriage bill, Sun-Times survey finds

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:25:38 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — Less than half of Illinois House Black Caucus members say they back the push to legalize same-sex marriage or are likely to support it, a Chicago Sun-Times survey of the pivotal voting bloc has found. Four members of the 20-member caucus have told the Sun-Times they will vote for same-sex marriage while five others indicated they are leaning toward a ‘yes’ vote. Seven remain undecided, and four are opposed.

GOP fund-raiser: Right’s ‘stupid’ internal feud is ‘destroying’ party’s chances in 2014 elections

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:42:47 -0500

A schism within the Illinois Republican party came to a head Thursday with key donor Ron Gidwitz telling the Chicago Sun-Times that the conservative faction of the GOP was “destroying” the party’s chances in next year’s statewide elections by bungling an internal feud over a social issue. “The state central committee . . . is destroying any chance that the Republican Party has in 2014,” Gidwitz says.

Outgoing GOP chief Pat Brady warns leaders: ‘It’s not 1980 anymore’

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:38:59 -0500

With Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady on his way out the door, the next person to lead the state Republican party will have to glue together the fractured pieces of a bloodied and bruised party that’s allowed social issues to polarize its members. Just how difficult a task that will be depends on whom you ask, though both moderate and conservative Republicans insist they support a “big tent” that includes a diversity of beliefs.

Madigan overhauls Cullerton pension plan

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 06:35:29 -0500

SPRINGFIELD — In a potential breakthrough, a new pension package pushed by House Speaker Michael Madigan surfaced Tuesday that scraps a framework favored by Senate President John Cullerton but still angers labor unions, who derided the plan as “illegal” and vowed a legal challenge if it passes. Madigan’s 277-page revision to a Senate-passed bill originally backed by Cullerton would reel in the size of annual pension boosts retired state workers and teachers get and spare suburban and Downstate school systems from shouldering the state’s share of educators’ pension costs.

Conservatives and black clergy unite against same-sex marriage

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 06:41:42 -0500

Black clergy from Chicago and the south suburbs on Monday began another round of robo-calls narrated by the Rev. James Meeks to condemn same-sex marriage, urging people to compel their state lawmakers to oppose a pending Illinois House bill. The effort though, represents a marriage of another kind. The Chicago-based African American Clergy Coalition joined forces with the National Organization for Marriage, pooling resources as the groups aim to kill same-sex marriage legislation that has already advanced from the Illinois state Senate.

Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock opts not to run for governor

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:28:10 -0500

The Republican Party is losing one of its potential front-running candidates for governor. U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock has opted not to seek the governor’s mansion, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. The young GOP rising star is expected to make a formal announcement Friday.

City asks judge to toss out legal challenge to new ward map

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:14:00 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to declare Chicago’s new ward map unconstitutional on grounds that it violates the one-man, one-vote principle and uses “grotesque shapes and boundaries” to protect incumbents. The city’s arguments include: that the League of Women Voters lacks legal standing to file; that wards differing in population by less than ten percent do not constitute an equal protection violation” and that re-districting is a “peculiarly legislative function” that has been “traditionally respected” by the courts in the absence of “invidious discrimination” on the basis of race.