Below are links to news stories of interest from newspapers that came up during a search today. These links were active at the time of this e-mail, but should you want to save a story, printing it or cutting and pasting the entire article and saving it to your computer is recommended.
Rally Day is April 21. IEA has partnered with several other organizations and rally day is proving to be a fairly large event. We’re encouraging everyone to wear pink to the rally in support of those who have been RIF’d. Click here for a list of things to keep in mind as you’re planning your trip:
The tentative schedule of events for the day, which is subject to change:
9 to 11 a.m. Buses arrive at IEA HQ-visit legislators (time permitting)
11 to 11:30 a.m. Walk to rally staging point at 2nd and Capitol
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. SOS rally speakers at 2nd and Capitol
12:15 p.m. Beginning of march
1 p.m. Visit legislators (time permitting)
(Lunch will be availble at noon and served throughout the day. Members may eat at their leisure.)
State News 
Get the facts on teacher pensions
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – Instead of Social Security, teachers and administrators receive a pension through the Illinois teachers’ Retirement System, established by the state in 1939
Gov. Quinn signs pension reforms into law
Springfield State Journal Register – and prohibiting someone from drawing a public pension while working another public job. The changes affect all five of the state-funded pension systems — for state employees, downstate teachers, university workers, lawmakers and judges Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, supported the changes in the bill, but said the state should do more.
Gov signs pension reform legislation
Chicago Sun Times – Gov. Quinn signed pension-reform legislation Wednesday that will require new state workers to stay on the job until age 67 and deprive incoming employees of the same blue-chip retirement package
Quinn signs pension revamp
Chicago Tribune – the new law doesn’t address Illinois’ $77 billion shortfall in the government employee pension systems, it is expected to save taxpayers money in the coming decades on retirement costs for teachers, lawmakers and many public servants throughout state government, universities, cities, counties and park districts. “It’s imperative to show the taxpayers we’re serious about saving money,”
Quinn signs pension overhaul, cautions against changing it
Chicago Daily Herald – It’s imperative that we have this reform to show the taxpayers we’re serious about saving money.” The new law raises the retirement age for new teachers, state and local government workers to 67, bans so-called double dippers and restricts how much salary goes toward pensions. The proposal was rammed through the General Assembly in one day
Ill. Law Trims Future Pension Benefits For Savings
Chicago WBBH (CBS) 2 -he said it bolsters his case for an income tax increase to help whittle down a $13 billion deficit. “It protects taxpayers and it protects the retirement of thousands of public employees and teachers,” Quinn said after signing the bill in his state Capitol office, surrounded by Republican legislative leaders as well as those from his own Democratic party.
Union argues pension reform doesn’t address current problem of unfunded liability
Decatur WAND (NBC) 17 – Quinn made law changes to public employee pensions. They trim future employees’ benefits and raise the retirement age to 67 from 60. The Democratic governor says the changes will save $220 billion over 35 years. But the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says the law doesn’t do anything to address the pension systems’ $80 billion in liabilities that have not yet been paid.
U-46 teachers’ contract negotiations begin Thursday
Chicago Daily Herald – The first of five contract negotiation sessions between Elgin Area School District U-46 and its teachers union will take place Thursday. With significantly fewer items up for discussion, Elgin teachers Association President Tim Davis said officials hope to have a contract in place
WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderLocal teachers getting ready to …
WREX-TV – About 90 public school teachers and support staff from Winnebago, Boone, and DeKalb Counties will travel from the Illinois Education Association office at 4949 Harrison in Rockford to Springfield to tell legislators their stories of economic hardship created by state’s budget crisis. 55 Sycamore High School students will also be going with them.
Wheaton Dist. 200 OKs 1-year teacher pay freeze
Chicago Daily Herald – discretionary spending reimbursement, which generally covers materials teachers buy for the classroom. In a statement released by the district after the contract’s approval, Wheaton Warrenville Education Association President Bryce Cann expressed support for the agreement. “As education funding from Springfield becomes increasingly less dependable, it becomes even more
Litchfield Board Recognizes Several Students
Hillsboro Journal News – Superintendents Report – Allison made several reports to the board. He said the district had submitted a letter to the Litchfield Education Association, asking them to make concessions in their contracts for the coming year. “It may or may not happen, but we feel this is in the best interest of the district,” he said.
D204 parents, students protest in Springfield :: Bolingbrook Sun :: News
Suburban Chicago News – Because of her concerns, Emily decided to forgo class for the day and join her mother, Cathy, and brother, Alex, on the “Caravan to the Capital,” organized by a group of District 204 parents. Sporting black T-shirts with “Restore Education Funding” printed on the back, approximately 30 parents and students left from the Fox Valley mall early Wednesday morning.
Fees going up in area schools
Chicago Tribune – suit up for sports as many cash-strapped schools raise their participation fees. Faced with dwindling state revenues and property taxes, dozens of local districts have cut expenses and laid off teachers. Now many are asking students to pay more when they register for class or sign up for after-school programs that were free a generation ago — driving up the cost of a public education
Harsh words for state as Mattoon school district seeks preschool grant outside of cooperative
Journal&Gazette Times-Courier – Administrators Tuesday labeled the state as untrustworthy and a “bad business partner” while encouraging the Mattoon school board to insulate the district from having to cover more of the state’s unpaid bills.The board voted unanimously to go solo in applying for a state Early Childhood Grant
Budget cuts earn Dist. 209 some respect
Forest Park Review – The district eliminated 37 other support positions and cut 15 operations and management positions. Among the positions eliminated were 10 part time teachers’ aides, five 12-month secretaries, seven full time security workers and two teen pregnancy counselors.
With state funding in doubt, Proviso lops 58 teachers
Forest Park Review – of poor performance while the other 38 teachers are being released as a cost cutting move given the uncertainty about the level of state aid next year said Chris Welch, president of the District 209 school board. “The first criteria was performance,” Welch said. “There were some non-tenured teachers, we believe the number was 20 non-tenured teachers, who were released for performance based
Ikenberry, other university presidents grilled in Senate
Champaign News Gazette – Tough budget times translated to tough questioning of three public university presidents in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, and no one faced more difficult questions than Stanley
Political News
Edgar: ‘Sometimes you have to deliver bad news’
PioneerLocal.com – Edgar said. “We got into this when the economy was going pretty well. But we overspent. For 10 years, we lived beyond our means.” Edgar gives Gov. Pat Quinn credit for having the courage to call for higher taxes. “I don’t think he’s going to get it,” Edgar said. “I would have told him he should have talked about cuts first.”
Senate committee to vote today on bill to let schools to build wind farm
Chicago Daily Herald – Things are finally looking up for three suburban school districts aiming to build a wind farm downstate and save millions on their energy costs. A bill that would allow the districts to do just that passed the Illinois House in late March and is set for a Senate committee vote today. Last year, Carpentersville-based Community Unit District 300, Keeneyville Elementary District 20 in Hanover Park
A gang of thieves and Gov. Blagojevich
Chicago Daily Southtown – Blagojevich’s defense team likely will claim that this was just business as usual in Illinois. Sadly, they are probably right. The teachers Retirement System pension fund is mentioned quite a bit. This is the fund that governors and lawmakers have dipped into time and again to finance the operation of this state. Instead of
Blagojevich sought ‘good gig’ in return for Senate appointment, document says
Springfield State Journal – was convicted in June 2008 of fraud, money laundering and bribery in connection with an alleged $7 million scheme to shake down a contractor and money managers seeking to do business with a state teachers pension fund. But his sentencing has been postponed indefinitely and he is believed to be cooperating with prosecutors as they prepare for the Blagojevich trial.
Feds detail ex-gov.’s thirst for cash
Crystal Lake Northwest Herald – was convicted in June 2008 of fraud, money laundering and bribery in connection with an alleged $7 million scheme to shake down a contractor and money managers seeking to do business with a state teachers pension fund. But his sentencing was postponed indefinitely and he is believed to be cooperating with prosecutors as they prepare for the Blagojevich trial.
Cellini left a ‘nervous wreck’ by Blagojevich fundraising, document says
Springfield State Journal Register – The charges relate to an alleged attempt by Blagojevich fundraisers Antoin “Tony” Rezko and Christopher Kelly, along with Stuart Levine, then a member of the teachers’ Retirement System board, to get a $1.5 million donation to Blagojevich’s campaign or a $2 million finder’s fee from a principal in a firm that wanted to manage TRS funds.
Quinn kills plan for new DNR canoe czar
Journal&Gazette Times-Courier – Gov. Pat Quinn quickly dumped a plan Wednesday to hire a longtime aide as the state’s $85,000-per-year canoe czar.Just hours after the hiring of Claude Walker was made public in a story first reported by the JG/T-C Springfield Bureau, Quinn’s administration cut him loose, saying the state’s financial problems are too large to take on new programs
National News
Afghanistan: A Tale of Soldiers and a School It was, in fact, a no-brainer, a perfect metaphor. The Taliban closed schools; the Americans opened them. That this particular school was located deep in the enemy heartland, in a district — Zhari — that was 80% controlled by the Taliban, an area the Russians called the Heart of Darkness and eventually refused to travel through, in a town that will be strategically crucial when the most important battle of the war in Afghanistan — the battle for Kandahar — is contested this summer, made it all the more perfect.
Inside the Battle for Hearts and Minds
TIME.com Today’s Top Stories
Palin Rallies the Tea Party Ahead of Tax Day Protests
Before flooding the nation’s capital, thousands of supporters of the burgeoning anti-government movement journeyed to this liberal redoubt — which they invoked as its ancestral home — for a raucous rally on the Boston Common
Russia’s War on Terror: A Crackdown By Popular Demand
In the North Caucasus, Moscow goes in hot and perhaps brutal pursuit of the alleged organizers of the subway bombing
In India, a Celebrity Wedding Nearly Derailed by Scandal
When a scandal almost derailed a wedding between a Pakistani cricketer and an Indian tennis player, Hyderabad’s media shifted their attention from the real problems of the city
Syrian Saber-Rattling Has U.S. Concerned
Damascus is determined to recover the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, whether through diplomacy or proxy warfare. And that is raising the danger of a regional war
Britain’s Election: Raiding the Obama Playbook
The U.K. election campaign is looking a little American this year, from the “Change we can believe in” rhetoric to the TV debates. But will President Obama’s strategies help convince a dubious British public?
Battle over financial regulation heats up
The battle over reshaping the country’s financial regulation escalated on several fronts Wednesday, with President Obama stepping up his personal efforts to win Senate passage of an ambitious bill while senators from both parties fought to claim the anti-Wall Street mantle.
(By David Cho, Brady Dennis and Scott Wilson, The Washington Post)
Treasury polls public on housing plan
Nineteen months after the government seized mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in what has become the costliest bailout of the financial crisis, the Treasury Department on Wednesday began the process of overhauling them.
(By Zachary A. Goldfarb, The Washington Post)
W.Va. governor asks coal mines to stop work for a day
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) asked all underground coal mines in his state on Wednesday to halt production for one day, so that workers can review safety issues in the wake of the April 5 explosion that killed 29 miners south of Charleston.
(By Steven Mufson and Ed O’Keefe, The Washington Post)
Embattled Holder stands his ground at hearing
Senators challenged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday over the Obama administration’s long-delayed pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and its plans to try alleged Sept. 11 co-conspirators. But Holder conceded little and emerged from the session mostly unscathed.
(By Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post)
Chesapeake blue crabs are back in the black
GRASONVILLE, MD. — And now for something completely different: good news about the Chesapeake Bay.
(By David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post)
Word of the Day for Thursday, April 15, 2010
pelf \PELF\, noun:
Money; riches; gain; — generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten.
