Local Interest

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
Michael White for Governor Campaign
INFO@ILLINOIS2010.com

Mr. Michael White of Lindenhurst and Dr. Will Boyd of Greenville have filed suit against the Attorney General, Secretary of State and Chairman of the State Board of Elections

Springfield, IL September 1, 2010:  The County of Sangamon Circuit Court has scheduled an Emergency Motion before Judge Graves in Courtroom 5D in the Sangamon County Courthouse on Wednesday at 10AM (September 1st). 

Probably the best thing I've seen written on the (current, perpetual) problem of politics in this state and the nation...

by Donna Smith

Greg Koger was found guilty on three misdemeanor counts by a jury on Thursday, August 26, 2010. Charges against him were pressed by the so-called Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago and carried out by the Skokie police and a Cook County State's Attorney. After he was found guilty following a three-day trial, a judge immediately revoked his bond and sent him directly to the Cook County jail where he spent last night.

I met Greg in 2005 through the UC-IMC Books to Prisoners program. Greg was then an inmate in Pontiac Correctional Center and we became pen pals. In December 2006, Greg was released and has since lived in Chicago and held a job as a paralegal working for an attorney.

To hear of Greg's re-incarceration is crushing. Greg is no harm to society. His jailing is another sign of a cruel and inhumane criminal in-justice system.

Below is a statement from the Ad Hoc Committee for Reason and Dropping the Charges in support of Greg.

BD

The News-Gazette strikes again in its efforts to portray anything the police do as no worse than regrettable. In today's (Aug. 26, 2010) edition, a front page story by Patrick Wade continues the baffling stupidity of insisting that Officer Daniel Norbits didn't shoot Kiwane Carrington, his gun did!????

Interestingly, they are now able to admit it was a "police shooting" that killed the 15-year old in the first paragraph, but then return to their pattern of acting as if Norbits just happened to be there when it "discharged," killing Kiwane. With that sort of logic, since Chief RT Finney also was there when the trigger pulled itself, then why wasn't he also disciplined, since maybe he should also be failed with supervising Norbitts's gun? The newspaper can't bring itself to admit that it was Norbitts who pulled the trigger.

Affects of  Bullying at School often Overlooked

While the US National Statistics will say the violent crimes are decreasing in public school, bullying, either as an act of verbal or physical abuse, is a problem that is not decreasing.

MSEA Strike Picket

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Students and educators in Mahomet were back to class on Monday, Aug. 23 after the Mahomet Seymour Education Association (MSEA) and the school board were able to settle on a new contract on Aug. 20.  The settlement marked an end to a two-day strike, the first strike ever in their union’s history.

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->

MSEA secured a one-year contract with 2.6% raise (step + .5%) for teachers, 3.5% (step + 1%) for aides and 3.5% for other support staff.  Union president Joan Jordan commented on the two-day strike and the negotiations saying, “I’ve negotiated several contracts and this has been the most contentious process I have ever been through.”

<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->

Building Up to ‘The Battle’

The Mahomet Seymour Education Association is claiming victory having settled a contract about 2:30 pm on August 20.  This signals and end to the two day strike for MSEA.

More details and pictures will be forthcoming here at UCIMC later today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRATERNITY BOYCOTTS BLOOMINGTON’S MARRIOT HOTEL!!! 

As students were moving into campus dorms along Florida and Pennsylvania Avenues in Urbana, the SEIU Local 73 and the Campus Labor Coalition held a rally to bring attention to the deepening crisis in public education. The union also held other pickets across campus throughout the day. At lunchtime, they marched in front of students and parents chanting “Students Move In! Tuition Hikes Out! Students Move In! Wage Freezes Out!”

As freshmen students return to campus this fall, they face a 9.5% tuition increase voted on this summer by the Board of Trustees. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is asking workers to accept wage freezes and recent hires among the Building Service Workers are recommended to take a 13.5% pay cut. Across the campus, empty faculty positions are not being filled, job searches are being cancelled, tuition waivers for graduate students in Fine Arts are being rescinded, and annual contracts for lecturers and instructors are not being renewed.

MSEA Picket

The first day of school for Mahomet Seymour students did not happen today because the Mahomet Seymour Education Association (MSEA) has been out on strike since 7 am.

The union has had previous struggles with the school board over employment issues. The summer of 2009 was spent pressuring the district to bargain with MSEA about staff performing medical procedures like the insertion of catheters. The district board had refused to negotiate the matter and expected non-medical staff to perform medical procedures.