{"id":336227,"date":"2010-02-18T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T21:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/?p=5972"},"modified":"2010-02-18T16:24:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T21:24:00","slug":"in-the-news-feb-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/336227","title":{"rendered":"In the News ~ Feb. 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below are<\/strong>\u00a0links to news stories of interest from\u00a0newspapers that came up during a search\u00a0today.\u00a0\u00a0These 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\u00a0your computer is recommended.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

State News\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/h2>\n

Hall cuts more than $300,000 from budget, still dismisses four staff members<\/a>
\nLaSalle News Tribune – To save their peers\u2019 jobs, staff at Hall High School scoured the district\u2019s budget for places to pinch pennies. They would be willing to give up wearing graduation gowns (saving $1,000 per year) and cut their classroom spending in half (saving $30,000). They suggested ditching printed handbooks, eliminating postage and requiring parents and students to use the electronic versions available on the district Web site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harrisburg School Board hears appeals regarding possible cuts<\/a>
\nHarrisburg Daily Register –\u00a0 they would like one more special meeting before the March 23 meeting, when cuts must be finalized because the board must give 60 days notice of layoffs. The board learned the Harrisburg Education Association is ready to talk about a 25 percent reduction in all extra-duty stipends. A session with the HEA is set for 3 p.m. Thursday.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

WOODLAND: Foster accepts responsibility for oversight — School board meets with teachers to resolve overpayment values<\/a>
\nOttawa Daily Times –\u00a0 not the first superintendent and this is not the first board of education to put that amount of trust in her. She was here for 33 years.” Meanwhile, negotiations between the board and the Woodland Education Association are at a standstill concerning overpayments and a successor collective bargaining agreement, according to WEA President Deirdre Toler.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cash-strapped LCHS cuts 8 teachers<\/a>
\nLincoln Courier – Eight teachers will lose their jobs as a result of budget woes at Lincoln Community High School. After a closed session, the board voted Tuesday evening on the reduction in force of staff, releasing five non-tenured and three tenured teachers. \u201cRegretfully, districts throughout the state are having to make adjustments due to a lack of state funding,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dismissal of more than 25 support personnel highlights CUSD Board of Education Agenda<\/a>
\nChester Sun Times – The dismissal of more than 25 support personnel in Chester Unit School District #139 highlights the agenda for the Board of education meeting scheduled for Thursday night at the district office. The board could approve resolutions authorizing the dismissal of 16 full time educational support personnel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

D203 could lose out on $8.7 million from state :: Naperville Sun :: Local News<\/a>
\nSuburban Chicago News – “we don’t know where they’re going, and quite frankly, I don’t think they know either,” Mitrovich said. “(In Springfield) the amount of budget recommended is at a level from the state board of education that requires new revenue being introduced into the state system,” Zager said. “In other words, a tax increase. However, it’s probably unrealistic to believe that that’s really going to happen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Charleston school board OKs budget cuts<\/a>
\nJournal&Gazette Times-Courier – School board members refused Wednesday to put off most of about $450,000 in proposed budget cuts, saying that wouldn\u2019t be justified with more, larger cuts expected down the road.\u00a0 The board delayed a decision on whether to eliminate the Charleston High School boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 swimming teams but gave the OK to all others on a list of about $450,000 in cuts.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Galva schools staff, residents offers options to trim budget<\/a>
\nGalesburg Register Mail – Nearly 100 Galva School District employees, parents and residents gathered Monday in the Galva Junior-Senior cafeteria to discuss how to lower the Galva schools\u2019 budget. No action was taken. \u201cWe are just here to talk,\u201d said Superintendent James Minick.\u00a0 The Galva School District is funded 56 percent from the state, 34 percent from local sources and 8 percent from the federal government. Property tax revenue has decreased $273,643 since 2007. The state money in 2007 was $1,714,056 and in 2009, $1,440,413.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parents speak out against proposed SD201U cuts<\/a>
\nCrete Star – said Zach Nelson, a 2005 graduate and member of the school’s band. “There will be no Pomp and Circumstance at graduation.” Nelson, a senior at Eastern Illinois University, challenged school board members to avoid listening to music for two weeks if they believe the band program has no value to the district. “Band also gives these students a place to belong,” said Sarah Brazee,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

UI union cries foul over new furlough, pay-cut policies<\/a>\u00a0 A union that represents visiting academic professionals at the University of Illinois has filed a formal complaint about the UI’s new furlough policy.\u00a0 The Visiting Academic Professionals\/Association of Academic Professionals filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint Wednesday with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the union and state agency both confirmed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

200 supporters turn up at UI unions’ furlough teach-in<\/a>\u00a0 More than 200 supporters gathered Monday to mark a furlough teach-in at the University of Illinois.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

U. of I. asks alumni to push state to pay $475 mil. owed<\/a>
\nChicago Sun Times –\u00a0 ask them to pay the appropriation to the U. of I. as passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor.” Ikenberry was one of 13 Illinois university chiefs who called on Gov. Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes to pay up, warning that higher education is in a “perilous” position. Payments totaling $735 million are owed to the universities, which say they are quickly\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Political News\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n

Thousands protest state spending cuts<\/a>\u00a0 Thousands converged at the Capitol on Wednesday to stress a strong message: we need a better budget now. Lawmakers they’re trying to sway, however, seem to be responding: not so fast.\u00a0 More than 2,000 people filled the Capitol to push lawmakers to approve a budget that would spare potential cuts to human service programs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pro-tax groups protest budget cuts at Ill. Capitol<\/a>
\nDeKalb Daily Chronicle Immigrants and homeless mothers joined with prison guards and former prison inmates Wednesday to demand the state raise taxes instead of depending solely on drastic budget cuts to solve Illinois’ historic budget problems.\u00a0 About 2,000 people rallied at the state Capitol to demand action on a budget that’s roughly $13 billion in the red. “Do the right thing \u2014 raise revenues,” said the hundreds of green signs they waved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talk of tax increases takes center stage in Capitol<\/a>
\nMattoon Journal Gazette – A swelling, multi-billion dollar deficit has left Illinois months behind in its payments to providers across the state.\u00a0 For instance, the Williamson County Early Childhood Cooperative in southern Illinois is planning to send layoff notices to its 41 employees in the next few weeks because money from the state has not come through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Views from QCA: Budget cuts, tax hike needed, not more debt for state universities<\/a>
\nQuad Cities Dispatch Argus Leader –\u00a0The State of Illinois has serious financial problems, but right now our elected leaders do not seem to have the interest or the time to say nothing of the stomach for it.\u00a0 You the average citizen of this state have been alerted to the situation time and again. One of the most respected citizens of the state, Mike Lawrence, has chided both parties for their lack of interest in fixing the problem, but that has fallen on deaf ears. In two separate columns penned in December Lawrence said that more cuts were needed and a tax increase was needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Budget crisis shortchanges future leaders<\/a>
\nCrystal Lake Northwest Herald –\u00a0Illinois\u2019 financial crisis, highlighted by a $3.6 billion backlog of unpaid bills and an expected $13 billion fiscal year deficit, is shortchanging not only our present but our future.\u00a0 State-supported universities educate tens of thousands of students in a wide array of disciplines. Our state will need those students\u2019 expertise in years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s what’s holding up tally in GOP gov race<\/a>
\nChicago Sun Times – You may have noticed in all these stories about the incredibly close Republican race for governor that we reporters tend to make fuzzy references to the vote differential between the two leaders, Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington and Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale. One story will refer to a 420-vote margin, and another will say Brady leads by “several hundred votes,”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illinois lawmakers discuss budget in closed session<\/a>
\nStreator Times-Press – State lawmakers are wondering what the fuss is about after a behind-closed-doors meeting on state finances Wednesday.\u00a0 The Illinois Senate closed its doors to visitors and the media for a “joint caucus” meeting of both Democrats and Republicans to review a presentation on state finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hastert spends $1 million in taxpayer funds using ex-speaker perk<\/a>
\nBelleville News-Democrat – Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has plowed through about $1 million in taxpayer dollars in the last two years for an office and staff in west suburban Yorkville, thanks to a little-known perk given to ex-speakers. \u00a0Hastert, 68, a lobbyist and business consultant who retired from Congress in 2007, has hired three of his former staffers at salaries of more than $100,000 apiece\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden: U.S. got ‘money’s worth’ from stimulus act<\/a>
\nWashington Times – Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. asserted in an interview Wednesday that taxpayers have “gotten their money’s worth” out of the $787 billion stimulus program that Congress passed during the depths of the recession. In an interview broadcast on CBS’ “The Early Show,” Mr. Biden defended the program against accusations by Republicans critics that it hasn’t been the job-manufacturing machine the\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Budget deficit on track to beat last year’s record<\/a>
\nBoston Globe –\u00a0 The federal deficit through the first four months of the budget year is running at a record-breaking pace even though the deficit in January was slightly smaller than expected. The Treasury Department said yesterday that the deficit for January totaled $42.63 billion. That left the total of red ink so far this budget year at $430.69 billion, 8.8 percent higher than last year,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dalai Lama-Obama meeting will be about style<\/a>
\nWashington Post –\u00a0 The Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Barack Obama will be more about style than substance. What the Dalai Lama and Obama say to each other will matter less than how the White House portrays the meeting Thursday, as Obama welcomes the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet’s Buddhists in a visit that has infuriated China. Chinese officials will be watching closely to see how\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

First Anniversary of Stimulus Highlights Partisan Divide<\/a>
\nThe Wall Street Journal – President Barack Obama said Wednesday the $787 billion economic-stimulus program helped the U.S. avoid a rerun of the Great Depression, while Republicans used the Recovery Act’’s one-year anniversary to renew complaints about the administration’’s economic policies. The stimulus program is facing growing criticism about waste and ineffectiveness. The White House is launching an all-\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Govt. Mortgage Plan Aids 12% of Borrowers<\/a>
\nTime Magazine – The government’s mortgage relief plan has helped only about 12 percent of borrowers who signed up since President Barack Obama announced the program a year ago. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that as of last month, about 116,000 homeowners had completed the application process and had their loan payments reduced permanently. That compares with more than 1 million homeowners\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

House Democrats say merger of health bills is near<\/a>
\nWashington Times – House Democrats on Wednesday said they’re closing in on a final health care overhaul bill that merges the House and Senate plans but they don’t yet know how or when they’re going to pass it. They also won’t disclose how it deals with flash points that helped stall the effort, such as how to prevent taxpayer funding of abortions, whether to include a public insurance option and how to pay for\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More Households Benefit From Loan-Mod Program<\/a>
\nThe Wall Street Journal – The U.S. Treasury said its foreclosure-prevention program has cut mortgage payments for about 947,000 households, at least temporarily. That was the number of households benefiting from easier loan terms at the end of January through the Obama administration’’s Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP. The total was up about 11% from a month earlier. The administration estimates\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obama champions stimulus at one-year mark<\/a>
\nWashington Times – President Obama celebrated the first anniversary of the economic-stimulus law on Wednesday, arguing the $862 billion package is slowly helping to right the economy even as he pushes for additional spending for job creation. Mr. Obama said it wasn’t a “politically easy decision” to shepherd through such a massive spending bill, but the consequences of not injecting money into the economy would\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

National News <\/em><\/h2>\n

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Pew Center on the States: Top eight states with worst pension woes<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a $1 trillion dollar gap between what states have promised their workers in pension benefits and what they\u2019ve actually set aside to pay those bills.\u00a0 That\u2019s the finding of a newly released report by the Pew Center on the States. States have set aside only $2.35 trillion of the $3.35 trillion they\u2019ve promised their current and retired workers in pension, healthcare, and other retirement benefits.<\/p>\n

In eight states \u2013 Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and West Virginia \u2013 more than one-third of the total pension liability was unfunded. Two additional states \u2013 Illinois and Kansas \u2013 had less than 60 percent of the necessary assets on hand.<\/p>\n

Report finds $1 trillion hole in pension systems<\/a><\/p>\n

Salt Lake Tribune\u00a0–\u00a0 The study by the Pew Center on the States comes the same day that the Utah Senate is scheduled to begin debate on historic retirement reforms, …<\/p>\n

Trillion-Dollar Pension Gap Just Beginning Of States’ Fiscal Woes<\/a><\/p>\n

Forbes\u00a0–\u00a0 US states face a 13-figure shortfall in meeting their pension obligations to public employees, a new report by the Pew Center on the States has concluded. …<\/p>\n

States’ pension plans face steep shortfalls<\/a><\/p>\n

MarketWatch\u00a0– A train wreck waiting to happen. That’s the only way to describe the mess that state pension systems …<\/p>\n

States’ pension plan funds fell $1 trillion short in 2008<\/a><\/p>\n

USA Today\u00a0–\u00a0 States underfunded their pension plans and retiree health benefits by $1 trillion in 2008, a new report says. …<\/p>\n

Pension Gap of $1 Trillion Is ‘Daunting’ Bill to US States<\/a><\/p>\n

BusinessWeek\u00a0–\u00a0 US states must contend with a more than $1 trillion gap between what they have saved and what …<\/p>\n

Congress to rewrite No Child<\/a>
\nBoston Globe – Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce today that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress. Last month, the Obama administration launched talks with lawmakers on an overhaul of the 2002 law, which mandated an expansion of standardized testing and established a national framework for<\/p>\n

Girl’s arrest for doodling raises concerns about zero tolerance<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexa Gonzalez, an outgoing 12-year-old who likes to dance and draw, expected a lecture or maybe detention for her doodles earlier this month. Instead, the principal of the Junior High School in Forest Hills, New York, called police, and the seventh-grader was taken across the street to the police precinct. Alexa’s hands were cuffed behind her back, and tears gushed as she was escorted from school in front of teachers and — the worst audience of all for a preadolescent girl — her classmates.<\/p>\n

TIME.com Today’s Top Stories<\/a><\/h2>\n

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Why Washington’s Tied Up in Knots<\/a><\/h3>\n

Discontent with government is at its highest level in more than a decade \u2014 making it harder to solve the country’s biggest problems. A breakdown of how Washington stopped working, and what to do about it<\/p>\n

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Why Unicef Wants to Keep Kids Out of Haiti’s Orphanages<\/a><\/h3>\n

As Haiti releases eight of the ten Americans charged with attempted kidnapping after the quake, Unicef is working to ensure it doesn’t happen again<\/p>\n

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Shaun White vs. Lindsey Vonn: Who’s Better?<\/a><\/h3>\n

Both U.S. icons of the Vancouver Olympics won gold on Wednesday. Their respective sports have a long-time rivalry. Let the bantering about the more impressive athlete begin<\/p>\n

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Why Obama’s Nuclear Bet Won’t Pay Off<\/a><\/h3>\n

If you want to understand why the United States hasn’t built a nuclear reactor in three decades, the Vogtle plant outside Atlanta is an excellent reminder of the insanity of nuclear economics<\/p>\n

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Unraveling the Middle East Muddle<\/a><\/h3>\n

Obama’s push for an Arab-Israeli peace is floundering. It’s time to focus on what’s actually achievable<\/p>\n

Most Viewed Articles on washingtonpost.com<\/em><\/h1>\n\n\n\n\n
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1) A matter of life, death and faith<\/a><\/h3>\n

Maribel Perez breathes in short puffs, panting almost, through a hole cut into her trachea and covered demurely with a patch of gauze. Clear tubes connected to a noisy machine in the living room of her small Alexandria apartment pump pure oxygen into her nostrils.<\/p>\n

2) Sarah Palin, the new Goldwater?<\/a><\/h3>\n

Why Sarah Palin — and populism in general — won’t win the presidency.<\/p>\n

3) Large worldwide cyber attack is uncovered<\/a><\/h3>\n

More than 75,000 computer systems at nearly 2,500 companies in the United States and around the world have been hacked in what appears to be one of the largest and most sophisticated attacks by cyber criminals discovered to date, according to a northern Virginia security firm.<\/p>\n

4) Two top Taliban leaders arrested in Pakistan<\/a><\/h3>\n

KABUL–Two Taliban leaders responsible for overseeing the rebel movement’s presence in northern Afghan provinces have been arrested, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials. The arrests occurred in close proximity to the capture of the Taliban’s second-in-command.<\/p>\n

5) Growth hasn’t hit payrolls a year into the stimulus effort<\/a><\/h3>\n

The giant economic stimulus package enacted a year ago has helped stabilize the economy but has not made much of a dent in the nation’s vast unemployment.<\/p>\n

6) What’s holding the Democrats down<\/a><\/h3>\n

They’ve got eight months to dispel the GOP myth that they aren’t governing as moderates.<\/p>\n

7) Deal means plenty of losses, brighter future for Wizards<\/a><\/h3>\n

It set in during the introduction of the Wizards’ starting lineup, when there was an intimate smattering of patrons in the arena. The lights were turned down and the music blared, but there was nothing dramatic about the game tipping off. It was as if a D-League game had come to Washington. The M…<\/p>\n

8.) Evan Bayh’s last straw<\/a><\/h3>\n

With Evan Bayh’s exit — and a broader exodus — could Senate gridlock get worse?<\/p>\n

9) At murder trial, girl recalls vile life with adoptive mom<\/a><\/h3>\n

At times sweet and always poised, a 9-year-old girl mesmerized a Montgomery County courtroom Wednesday with the harrowing story of life inside the home of Renee Bowman.<\/p>\n

10) Appalachia is slipping from grip of Democrats<\/a><\/h3>\n

WISE, VA. — The anger at Washington that is seeping across the country registered a while back in the high ridges of Appalachia, a once-indomitable Democratic stronghold where voters turned away from President Obama in 2008 just as overwhelmingly as they embraced him most everywhere else.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Word of the Day for Thursday, February 18, 2010<\/em><\/h1>\n

duplicity<\/strong> \\doo-PLIS-i-tee, dyoo-\\, noun<\/em>:<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech; also, an instance of deliberate deceptiveness; double-dealing.
\n2.<\/strong> The quality or state of being twofold or double.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below are\u00a0links to news stories of interest from\u00a0newspapers that came up during a search\u00a0today.\u00a0\u00a0These 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\u00a0your computer is recommended.\u00a0\u00a0 State News\u00a0\u00a0 Hall cuts more than $300,000 from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}