Today's NG:

The city council on Tuesday is expected to make a final decision on "Big Broadband," and the vote could determine whether the Champaign-Urbana high-speed Internet network will continue or be buried.

The council is schedule to vote on the project during its regular meeting Tuesday night at 7 in the City Building, 102 N. Neil St.

Maryland consultant Doug Dawson will travel to Champaign for the meeting to answer questions council members have about the project.

Fearing that the city would be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in the years following the network's construction, some members and Mayor Jerry Schweighart in recent weeks have expressed concern about the financial sustainability of the network.

Tuesday's Council agendas are here, with links to supporting materials for the Broadband discussion.

Monday, March 15, 2010.

Friday, March 12, 2010.

Thursday, March 11, 2010.

Today's NG:

Even before Gov. Pat Quinn formally proposed his budget that includes a cut in the state revenue sharing program with cities and counties, there were howls from local government.

Champaign County Administrator Deb Busey said Quinn’s planned reduction in income tax sharing with municipalities would mean a loss of $795,000 to the county. The governor will propose today a reduction from 10 percent to 7 percent in the amount of income tax revenue the state passes on to local governments.

“To us that’s a 30 percent drop in the revenue stream,” Busey said at Tuesday’s county board committee of the whole meeting. “In 2008 that generated over $3 million.”

Discuss.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

The Daily Illini has published a searchable database of salaries for all UI system employees.  Their justification:

Employee salaries are one of the largest items on the University's budget. With the recent mandatory furloughs and changes in the administration, there has never been a more important time for continuing the transparency the University has started. In addition, this list allows the public to see how their tax and tuition dollars are being spent.

Kudos to the DI. 

Discuss.

Today's NG:

Before voting unanimously to approve $2.3 million in cuts and revenue enhancements, several board members said they were satisfied the district has done that as well as it could.

The cuts also include: reductions in departmental budgets at the district level (not building budgets); the elimination of three director jobs and one special education administrator job; and the end of the extended-day program at Stratton Elementary School. The district also proposes selling land near Barkstall Elementary School and Dr. Howard Elementary School, and putting an energy savings program into place.

Discuss.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

I still wonder if these proposals will ever be allowed to come to a vote:

The two issues related to the county board are part of a package of various reforms, including whether to eliminate the office of county auditor and whether to establish an independent county board redistricting commission.

Tuesday's public meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Brookens Administrative Center, 1776 E. Washington St., U. It will be held within the county board's regular committee of the whole meeting, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Discuss.

The NG:

With the tab for city ordinance violations ranging from $165 to $310, Champaign stands to gain more than $43,000 in revenue from fines, assuming all those ticketed plead guilty or are found guilty. Last year's police overtime cost taxpayers just over $10,600.

"It's like last year. We had a ton of arrests but we thought it was a success," Friedlein said. "We have recognized some of our key issues. Some of our party sizes seem to be down, which equates to, typically, less issues for us overall. We still had typical nuisance issues with balconies."

He said cracking down early (about 9:30 a.m. Friday) on an apartment complex where a young woman threw a beer can off a balcony helped a bit with that problem.

"We pulled in, took enforcement action and that party was shut down," he said, adding that word spread through that complex on East Armory quickly and police received no more complaints from that building of things being tossed from on high.

"That's the message you want to send our early and strong: We won't tolerate those behaviors that create a public-safety risk," he said. Nine people received tickets for throwing objects off balconies.

Discuss.

Monday, March 8, 2010.

Friday, March 5, 2010.

We will know more tomorrow:

The Illinois Republican Party finally may have a nominee for governor.

 State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who's been trailing colleague Bill Brady by a couple of hundred votes, has scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon, and all indications are that he finally will concede the race.

 A press advisory sent out a bit ago says only that Mr. Dillard will "provide an update on the status of his campaign," following a meeting of the Illinois State Board of Elections to certify final election totals.

Discuss.

(Disclosure:  I helped Kirk Dillard's campaign for Governor.)

DI:

Assistant to the Chief for Community Services Rene Dunn, Champaign Police Lt. Brad Yohnka, Patrol Division Commander for University Police Lt. Skip Frost and Champaign Police Sgt. Scott Friedlein spoke at the Champaign Police Department.

“There has been a recent change in our city ordinance with regard to throwing things off balconies,” Yohnka said. “In the past we had to be able to identify exactly who threw the item. Now, we can also charge the actual residents of the apartment that it came from, which gives us a whole lot more leverage.”

One of the changes made from last year will be a new emergency ordinance by the mayor prohibiting package liquor stores from opening before 11 a.m. on Unofficial, Friedlein said.

The police also emphasized the importance of keeping interruptions out of the classroom.

“If you want to take the day off classes and have some drinks if you’re of age...great. That’s your choice,” Frost said. “But what you will not do is mess with the academic mission of the University. Anyone who is caught doing that will be dealt with pretty harshly by the Dean of Students Office.”

Both the Democratic and Republican Parties in Champaign County re-elected their Chairmen at last night's state mandated biennial conventions.  From a press release by the Champaign GOP:

Elected Republican Precinct Committeemen voted to seat local attorney Jason Barickman to his third term as Chairman. Upon re-election Barickman said, "While the last few election cycles have been challenging for Republicans both across the nation and in Illinois, the local party has managed to hold its own and has even picked up a few seats along the way. This year, we can rightfully say that we're in the midst of a Republican resurgence, and Republicans all over the country are expecting big wins this fall. Locally, we feel that we have every reason to feel optimistic about our candidates up and down the ballot. Our goal moving forward is to continue to do everything we can to support our local candidates to take full advantage of all the exciting opportunities that we have in November. Tonight, we've put together a diverse team with all the experience, talent and enthusiasm required to get us there."

The committee moved to elect Kristin Williamson, a public relations associate and former three-term Champaign County Young Republicans Chairman to serve as the Party's Vice-Chairman, Diana Williams, owner and operator of Williams Business Interiors & Appraisals as Secretary, and Champaign business leader Habeeb Habeeb as Treasurer.

The Champaign County Democrats had a contested race for Chair, with incumbent Al Klein defeating Kevin Sandefur in the weighted vote about 2300 to 2000.  Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and Sandefur were elected Vice-Chairs.

Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Not sure if any other local communities have had enterprising folks start something like this, but there is now a website called  Rantoul Journal featuring various items about Rantoul.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.  The community events page alone makes it valuable.