Search query: Illinois

Credit: edmunds.com Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to install school zone speed cameras was momentarily derailed earlier this week. The delay was caused by an Illinois Attorney General’s opinion in 1974, which clarifies the statement “when children are present” in regards to school zone speed limits. According to the Attorney General’s opinion, a child must be visibly present in order for the speed limit to be justified. A section of his statement reads: “The word ‘present,’ as defined in both law

Credit: E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago TribuneGovernor Pat Quinn recently vetoed a casino expansion bill in Illinois, which was heavily supported by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Quinn's reasoning: there is already too much corruption in Chicago politics and not enough regulation present in the casino plan.Proponents of the bill claim the plan would have generated millions in revenue and thousands of jobs. Illinois is currently the fifth-ranked state in the country with the biggest debt, trailing Ca

The 2012 Republican Party platform was formalized today at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. In it, the GOP takes a firm stance against instituting a national popular vote scheme. From the official platform document: We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact or any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College. We recognize that an unconstitutional effort to impose “national popular vote” would be a mortal threat to our federal system an

Credit: LA Times The Republican platform committee pushed a number of anti-illegal immigration platform planks on Tuesday. On top of advocating a completed border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and requiring employers to use a national E-Verify system when hiring new employees, the committee took a  stance against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. There haven’t been too many changes made from the 2008 GOP platform. The party is moving more to the right on several issues, including i

Credit: LA Times The Republican platform committee pushed a number of anti-illegal immigration platform planks on Tuesday. On top of advocating a completed border fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and requiring employers to use a national E-Verify system when hiring new employees, the committee took a stance against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. There haven’t been too many changes made from the 2008 GOP platform. The party is moving more to the right on several issues, including im

Photo: Tim Harris / The New York Times WES MESSAMORE: I’m here with Zahra Billoo, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Davi Barker, the Assistant Director of Muslims 4 Liberty to discuss a recent rash of violence, vandalism, and threatening behavior toward American mosques. Since the Sikh Temple shooting earlier this month we have seen multiple mosques attacked across the US, seven by my count. We’ve seen worshipers pelt

Sen. John McCain speaks at the 2008 Republican National Convention With both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions taking place in the coming weeks, it begs the question, is it much ado about nothing? From an independent perspective, the partisan presidential conventions can seem like a gigantic echo chamber. In fact, evidence shows majority of independents will not tune in to the events and will not pay attention to the campaign messages, because in general, they ignore those thi

(UPI: Bill Greenblatt) Not only are the political and media class pushing Todd Akin out, but a deadline for a decision looms. According to Roll Call: "Missouri state law allows a nominated candidate to withdraw his or her bid for office by 5 p.m. on the 11th Tuesday before the election which, as it turns out, is tomorrow. If Akin drops his bid before tomorrow's deadline, the state's GOP central committee would pick his replacement." I'm sure I'm the only (other?) person in the world who thin

Is it  a good idea to put floating and underground nuclear power plants in ocean water that is already heating up, when these plants need large amounts of water for cooling? Even non-nuclear inland power plants are affected by drought and lack of usable water. During a recent heat waves, a power plant in Illinois had to shut down because it was overheating due to its cooling water intake pipe being blocked with dead fish killed by low water levels. They were delicious, by the way. And then th

As the fastest growing social network ever, Pinterest has positioned itself nicely to become the next "big thing" in political campaigning, with candidates finally recognizing the easy-to-use nature of the platform and the number of politicians on Pinterest on the rise. While the platform is stereotypically known for it's abundance of wedding themed boards, it is evolving into a platform ample for sharing personal and political images. Paul Booth, assistant professor of new media and technology