{"id":476761,"date":"2010-03-26T17:38:55","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T21:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/?p=6893"},"modified":"2010-03-26T17:38:55","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T21:38:55","slug":"in-the-news-march-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/476761","title":{"rendered":"In the News ~ March 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Below 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0State News<\/h2>\n

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Illinois Assembly overhauls state pension system, cutting benefits<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0A bipartisan Illinois General Assembly handed Gov. Pat Quinn a victory Wednesday, sending him an overhauled state pension system, cutting benefits for new city and state employees to save money for woefully underfunded retirement systems.<\/p>\n

Answers to questions about pension overhaul<\/a>
\nChicago Daily Herald – Here are answers to some of the key questions based on information in the legislation, documents given to lawmakers, the House and Senate debates, and interviews:<\/p>\n

Applause for Madigan, Cullerton<\/a>
\nChicago Daily Southtown – Bravo to Democratic leaders and Southland lawmakers who made an aggressive push for pension reform this week. We applaud those who supported the changes, which will impact only new hires once the bill takes effect. The bill does not change the pension formulas or retirement benefits for current workers. While we wish it would have, we’re pleased with the establishment of a long overdue two-tiered pension system.<\/p>\n

Pension overhaul pleases lawmakers, not unions<\/a><\/p>\n

Local lawmakers feel the pension reforms passed by the Illinois legislature Wednesday are a step in the right direction.\u00a0 But public employee unions disagree. For example, teacher unions fear the plan’s later retirement age will saddle local school districts with an unreasonable financial burden.<\/p>\n

Flider backs pension changes; Rose, Righter vote ‘no’<\/a>
\nJournal&Gazette Times-Courier – \u201cThe federal health care bill had more transparency than this.\u201cWhat I do know is that it provides big breaks to Chicago schools and gives legislators a bigger COLA than downstate school teachers or university employees,\u201d Rose added. \u201cIt also provides relief to Chicago pension systems which may have to be made up out of state funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quinn says he’ll be conservative with pension savings<\/a><\/p>\n

Quinn now has taken one of those steps himself. But Quinn may pay a price in union support and campaign donations. Organizations such as the Illinois Federation of teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees strongly oppose the pension overhaul. The Brady campaign did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Don’t underfund pensions to fund CPS<\/a><\/p>\n

Pushing pension debt into the future only exacerbates a difficult situation. We need leadership willing to make difficult but sound decisions in these challenging times. This problem can’t simply be deferred again. We can’t continue to balance budgets for CPS and the state by mortgaging retirement pensions.<\/p>\n

Kevin B. Huber, executive director, Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund<\/p>\n

Our View: At last, lawmakers step up to the pension plate<\/a>
\nPeoria Journal Star – once upon a time, when government workers lagged well behind the private sector in pay, they have largely caught up (though it’s fair to point out the significant disparities in pay, particularly for teachers, and hence in pensions, across the state). Meanwhile, Illinois’ inability to keep pace with its pension obligations has become so extreme that current state workers are paying for it<\/p>\n

The speedy sweep to a pension plan<\/a>
\nArlington Heights Daily Herald \u2013 Editorial – Whatever the reason, thank goodness for a step forward. Still, shouldn’t we all take one breath and explore whether this approach is best? Why aren’t police and fire workers included? Teachers’ union official Steve Preckwinkle had a point. Pushing teachers to stay in classrooms until age 67 might not always be best for children.<\/p>\n

Illinois school consolidation billed as cost-cutter, but data say otherwise<\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Pat Quinn jumped on the consolidation bandwagon during his budget address this month, suggesting it could help schools drowning in debt. Thirteen districts are actively researching consolidation. And one lawmaker says he intends to introduce legislation that could force small districts to merge.<\/p>\n

School groups: Education layoffs may top 20,000<\/a><\/p>\n

A coalition of Illinois education groups says more than 20,000 teachers and staff could be laid off in the next school year.\u00a0 Schools must tell employees now whether their jobs will be cut next year.\u00a0 The coalition says it has heard from three-quarters of Illinois school districts and they plan 17,000 layoffs.<\/p>\n

School Districts Across Illinois Completely Screwed<\/a>
\nChicago Chicagoist – The CPS isn’t the only district in a bad financial place. School districts throughout Illinois are feeling the pinch as money coming in continues to be less than money going out. Some districts, as the Chicago Tribune reports, are finding out that their previous deficit spending is catching up with them — Wheaton Warrenville School District 200, which has run at a deficit for the last 8 years, has had to slash $14 million from its budget. One resident blames union contracts:<\/p>\n

Teacher Reacts to Being Pink Slipped<\/a>
\nPeoria WEEK (NBC) 25 – Hundreds of pink slips are being deliver to District 150 teachers and staff members this week.<\/p>\n

113 more teachers to be let go in Dist. 300<\/a>
\nChicago Daily Herald – demote six administrators in an effort to share the pain with rank-and-file employees. It is tentatively set to meet the first week of April to formally dismiss the teachers. Reeling from Gov. Pat Quinn’s recent budget proposals, District 300 has revised its initial target of cutting $6.5 million out of its budget next year.<\/p>\n

Layoff notices going to 29 Evanston teachers<\/a>
\nPioneer Press Online – Jean Luft, president of the District Educators’ Council, also urged District 65 School Board members to join with the Illinois Education Association on …<\/p>\n

Loss Of Teachers Due To Poor Funding Forecast Likely To Affect Education Quality<\/a><\/p>\n

WJBD Online – An anticipated 17 percent cut in state funding to Illinois schools for the next fiscal year is having consequences at every level of education. Salem and Centralia Grade Schools, Sandoval, Odin, South Central and Raccoon Schools have all announced cuts to certified staff to grapple with the possibility of a massive drop in state funding, with Kell, Central City and Willow Grove Schools likely to follow suit. Several of the schools expect to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in the 2010 to 2011 school year.\u00a0 The only schools escaping without cutting certified staff so far are Salem High School, Patoka and Selmaville Grade School.<\/p>\n

More teacher layoffs hit Metro East<\/a><\/p>\n

The education<\/em> budget shortfall in Illinois totals some 13 billion dollars and across the state some 20000<\/em> school district jobs could be lost<\/em>.<\/p>\n

SD124 cuts teachers amid budget woes<\/a>
\nChicago Daily Southtown – the progress her son has made as a result of the special education program in Evergreen Park School District 124. “All three of my sons have had tremendous help,” O’Neill said at Wednesday’s school board meeting. O’Neill was one of some 200 parents who attended the meeting at Southeast School to protest the district’s decision to lay off 11 teachers,<\/p>\n

Unions, civic groups support Navistar plan<\/a>
\nGlen Ellyn Sun – \u00a0We know people are hurting, and we naturally support efforts to improve our economy and bring jobs to the Naperville area.” Val Dranias, president of the Indian Prairie Education Association (the teachers’ union for School District 204), added, “As teachers, we care very much about the people who we serve. When our community suffers because of the bad economy,<\/p>\n

‘I’m sorry we have to take this kind of action’: Quincy School Board votes to eliminate 78 positions as part of $4 million in budget cuts<\/a>
\nQuincy Herald-Whig – \u00a0Wednesday night as part of its plan to slash $4 million from next year’s budget because of lagging state revenue. The board voted 7-0 to release 28 non-tenured full-time teachers, 10 part-time teachers and 40 full- and part-time support staff, part of a 17-point plan of program cuts and other reductions. “It’s been a very arduous process for the board,” board<\/p>\n

Boosters seek Pepsi grant to build new Benld Elementary School<\/a><\/p>\n

BENLD \u2014 Ben-Gil Boosters are encouraging the public to vote daily for the next week for Benld Elementary School in a competition sponsored by Pepsi for a $250,000 grant to help build a new school.<\/p>\n

EDITORIAL: Four-day school week must be about education, not money<\/a>
\nJacksonville Journal Courier \u00a0– \u00a0The result has been some gut-punching cuts. Jacksonville\u2019s District 117 was expected Wednesday night to take action on up to $2 million in cuts after already dismissing 10 teachers. Meredosia had to cut six teachers. In Carrollton, athletic transportation was clipped, and a grade school principal, six teachers and six staff members were let go.<\/p>\n

Two area districts on financial watch list<\/a>
\nChampaign News Gazette – Two area districts have the unpleasant distinction of being on the state’s financial watch list. Bement Unit school District 5 and Mattoon Unit school District 2 are in the 3 percent of districts that have negative account balances or other financial problems, according to the Illinois State Board of Education<\/p>\n

School board to pay woman over $100,000 in lawsuit<\/a>
\nPlainfield Sun – JOLIET–Plainfield school board agreed to pay a Joliet woman $105,000 for back injuries she sustained after falling into a culvert that was missing a grate cover near River View Elementary School.
\nSIUE expected to forgo tuition hike, despite state’s budget problems<\/a>
\nBelleville News-Democrat – \u00a0of year when the state has more fluid cash flow because of tax receipts coming in,” Gross said. \u00a0State funding comprises about 55 percent of SIUE’s unrestricted budget. \u00a0”At a private school, tuition covers most of (educational) costs,” SIUE budget director Bill Winter said. “At a state university, for every dollar a student is paying in tuition, the state is matching us<\/p>\n

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

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State Senate OKs school vouchers <\/a>
\nParents with students in the lowest-performing elementary schools in Chicago could obtain vouchers to move their children into better-performing private schools under a plan that passed the Illinois Senate on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Simon said to be Quinn’s lieutenant governor choice <\/a><\/p>\n

Gov. Pat Quinn will say Friday that he supports Sheila Simon, daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, as his choice for lieutenant governor, Chicago media outlets reported Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Quinn picking Sheila Simon as running mate: sources <\/a><\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t have the bow-tie, horn-rimmed glasses or booming baritone, but she\u2019s got Downstate roots, potential appeal to women voters and a name revered among Democrats. Sheila Simon, daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, is Gov. Quinn\u2019s choice for a running mate, a top source told the Sun-Times. Quinn is scheduled to announce his choice for a lieutenant governor nominee Friday. The Democratic State Central Committee will make a final decision Saturday.<\/p>\n

Quinn faces balancing act with running mate<\/a>
\nChicago Daily Southtown – The chance to help pick his running mate offers Gov. Pat Quinn a rare political opportunity. It also offers political dangers. When the winner of the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor withdrew from the race amid scandal, it opened the door<\/p>\n

Lawmakers warn Quinn of backlash if Turner not picked for running mate<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

SPRINGFIELD \u2014 A diverse group of House lawmakers today threw their support behind Rep. Art Turner to be Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn\u2019s running mate and warned the governor could suffer politically if he doesn\u2019t go along.<\/p>\n

House Democrats back Turner for lt. gov.<\/a>
\nQuad Cities Dispatch Argus Leader – \u00a0With just days to go before a Democratic party committee selects Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate, a group of House lawmakers from around the state on Thursday made their case on why state Rep. Art Turner, D-Chicago, should be chosen.<\/p>\n

Turner supporters organize bus trip to Springfield<\/a>
\nJacksonville Journal Courier – the race amid revelations about his past. State Rep. Mike Boland, who was one of the 17 original finalists, has dropped out to support Turner. Turner is a state representative from Chicago. Gov. Pat Quinn has said he’ll announce his pick for the job on Friday.<\/p>\n

Quinn: Pension vote a ‘political earthquake’<\/a><\/p>\n

Calling Wednesday\u2019s pension reform vote a \u201cpolitical earthquake,\u201d Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday said it demonstrates to Illinois taxpayers that state government can make cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bill preventing Ill. from funding Blagojevich portrait passes House<\/a><\/p>\n

Illinois taxpayers would be off the hook for funding a portrait of former governor Rod Blagojevich in the state Capitol\u2019s Hall of Governors under legislation that passed the House today.<\/p>\n

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

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Study finds results of MPS and voucher school students are similar<\/a><\/p>\n

The first research since the mid-1990s comparing the academic progress of students in Milwaukee’s precedent-setting private school voucher program with students in Milwaukee Public Schools shows no major differences in success between the two groups.<\/p>\n

Bleak budgets force schools to consider closure<\/a><\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u00a0– \u00a0… schools this year, compared to about 3 percent in 2008-09, according to a survey conducted by the American Association of School Administrators. …<\/p>\n

Lower enrollment spells closure for city schools<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington Times\u00a0– \u00a0Closing and consolidating schools, and laying off teachers, because of shrinking enrollments are nothing new for urban districts from …<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canadian teacher’s union to buy UK lottery operator for 389 million pounds ($579 million)<\/a><\/p>\n

A Canadian pension plan has agreed to acquire Camelot Group PLC, the company which operates Britain’s National Lottery, for 389 million pounds ($579 million), the lottery operator said Friday.\u00a0 The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is buying the share stakes held by Cadbury Holdings Ltd., De La Rue Holdings PLC, Fujitsu Services Ltd., Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd. and Thales Electronics PLC, which each held a 20 percent share.<\/p>\n

TIME.com Today’s Top Stories<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Despite New Obama Initiatives, Housing Market May Move Sideways<\/a><\/p>\n

Big federal programs to help the housing market are soon to end, and a rush of foreclosures may be about to begin. The bottom line, analysts say, is a sideways movement for sales and prices with a risk that things could get worse<\/p>\n

Enforcing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Don’t Bother<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pentagon has taken the second of what is expected to be three steps to keep Obama’s promise to repeal a law that has kept gay men and women serving in secret<\/p>\n

Is it Too Late to Share Jerusalem?<\/a><\/p>\n

As Netanyahu and Obama tussle over Israeli construction, many in the Holy City fear that Israeli control has extended beyond the point where the city can be shared between two states<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans Want Another<\/em> Benefits Filibuster?<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s hardly anyone in Washington who thinks Senator Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster of unemployment benefits last month reflected well on the GOP. So why are Senate Republicans doing it again?<\/p>\n

After U.S. Abuse Revelation, the Vatican Fires Back<\/a><\/p>\n

The Vatican has gone into overdrive to stanch the damage from the Milwaukee sex-abuse allegations that have drawn in Pope Benedict XVI<\/p>\n

Most Viewed Articles on washingtonpost.com<\/h1>\n

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1)<\/strong> Aggressive steps readied to fight foreclosures <\/a><\/h3>\n

The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it is tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday.<\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> A critic of GOP’s health-care tactics pushed out from right-wing institute <\/a><\/h3>\n

Three days after calling health-care reform a debacle for Republicans, David Frum was forced out of his job at the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> ‘We have to make them listen’ <\/a><\/h3>\n

IOWA CITY, IOWA — He had no plans to throw bricks, issue death threats, spit in faces or scream racial slurs. But Randy Millam, 52, intended to make a scene, so he woke up early Thursday morning to prepare for President Obama’s visit.<\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> The VAT-man cometh <\/a><\/h3>\n

It won’t be long before we’ll be paying European levels of taxation.<\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> Is there a right to ‘reload’? <\/a><\/h3>\n

There are people who take incendiary words literally.<\/p>\n

6)<\/strong> As U.S.-Israel rift continues, Netanyahu finds himself in a bind <\/a><\/h3>\n

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was welcomed home Thursday night with signs reading “Obama, No You Can’t” and “Netanyahu Stand Strong” after a trip to Washington that appeared only to widen a two-week-old rift between the close allies over Israeli housing construction.<\/p>\n

7)<\/strong> Losing breast not always best for cancer patients <\/a><\/h3>\n

BARCELONA, Spain — For some women, having a breast removed once they have been diagnosed with cancer doesn’t always mean they’ll live longer, a new study says.<\/p>\n

8) <\/strong> Bin Laden threatens to kill U.S. captives if 9\/11 figure is executed <\/a><\/h3>\n

Osama bin Laden has threatened that al-Qaeda will kill American captives if the United States executes self-avowed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed or other members of the terrorist network in U.S. custody.<\/p>\n

9)<\/strong> Senate, House approve ‘fixes’ to health-care law <\/a><\/h3>\n

Congress agreed Thursday to amend the nation’s new health-care law, concluding its long and contentious quest to pass major reforms, and prepared to head home for a two-week recess and to hear from skeptical voters about the legislation.<\/p>\n

10)<\/strong> The pope’s ‘apology’? Not good enough. <\/a><\/h3>\n

When I was a child, Ireland was a Catholic theocracy. If a bishop came walking down the street, people would move to make a path for him. If a bishop attended a national sporting event, the team would kneel to kiss his ring. If someone made a mistake, instead of saying, “Nobody’s perfect,” we sai…<\/p>\n

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

Word of the Day for Friday, March 26, 2010<\/em><\/h1>\n

impecunious<\/strong> \\im-pih-KYOO-nee-uhs\\, adjective<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Not having money; habitually without money; poor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Below 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 \u00a0State News \u00a0 Illinois Assembly overhauls state pension […]<\/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-476761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476761","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=476761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}