John Farney's blog

And finally, I really hope that Chicago wins the Olympic vote today - in fact I wouldn't even mind if the Cook County voting rules were in effect!

Happy Independence Day - see everyone at the parade!

From the Chicago Tribune this evening:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-champaign-bank-shut-down-may22,0,2560829.story

About 18 months ago a very good friend of mine who is president of a small community bank told me that 300 banks will fail by the time this whole mess is over. He may be right. Strategic Capital is the first local bank to fail. I hope there will not be many, if any, more.

I'm filling in for Joan this week.

I know I have posted the last one before, I just like to let my Cub fan friends know I'm thinking of them!

Tom Kacich has an interesting article on the power struggle developing inside he Democratic Party.

http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/central_illinois_gazette/2009/04/17/this_will_be_interesting

I'm not sure of their by-laws, but Klein's plan seems to be logical to me.

Since there has been questions raised about Phyllis Clark's knowledge of election procedure, I went down to the basement and looked through my 2005 file to find the attached letter showing that there was a lottery - in this case a coin flip between the Democratic and Republican parties. This letter was sent to the County Clerk and later I received a copy from the County Clerk's office for my records.

Tonight is Caucus night in the rural townships of Illinois. There will be party nominations for Township offices such as Supervisor, Road Commissioner, Clerk, Assessor and Trustee. I know of several heated races in Sidney, Mahomet and Fisher. I'd love to hear stories from tonight's meetings if anyone is attending - how the attendence was, how they were run, and of course, who the winners were.

I found this quite humorous . . .

Joan is on vacation this week and asked me to get this thread started . . .

After a lengthy public comment session, testimony by the Champagn County Nursing Home Board of Directors, questions and comments from County Board members, a bi-partisan majority of the the board overwhelmingly voted to enter into a three year contract with Management Performance Associates to operate the Champaign County Nursing Home.

Later in the meeting, the board passed the $592,000 loan by voice vote, laying the groundwork for MPA to have a fair opportunity to make Champaign County Nursing Home viable again.

I apologize for the short post that lacks analysis of the speakers, questions, etc, but I have not been home all day and am ready for bed!

(also, internet access was not working at Brookens tonight. I plan on asking the proper folks to look into the problem)

The Thursday, June 12 meeting of the Champaign County Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting location has been changed to the County Board Meeting Room at the Brookens Center. The meeting time remains at 7:30 a.m.

Originally the meeting was scheduled to take place in a classroom at the home. The anticipated crowd dictated the change in location.

Quite frankly, my blood is boiling right now. Here's the N-G story on the violations at the CCNH.

On a side note, for the life of me, I cannot understand how a new building can already have fire code violations.

Also, there is a Nursing Home Board of Directors meeting Monday, June 9 at 7:30 a.m. at the Nursing Home. Its time to start packing these meetings and demanding action, not just words.

WICD reported during their 10 O'Clock newscast that Champaign County will consider a settlement with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. The County originally faced a fine of $50,000 due to a County Co-administrator's failure to properly comply with various regulations during the delayed construction of the new Champaign County Nursing Home. The settlement calls for the County to provide $19,000 in free services to area senior citizens - health screenings, diabetes testing, etc. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? $19,000 is a whole lot better than $50,000, right?

Well, as is always the case with anything involving CCNH, and specifically the County Board Facilities Committee, chaired by Steve Beckett, you have to read the fine print. We have $19,000 in taxpayer dollars spent on senior services to comply with the settlement, then you add the $26,000 in attorney fees through February, and all the sudden this settlement isn't looking all rosey, is it? Just wait until we get the bill for March, April and May!

I'd also point out that the settlement and legal fees for this issue alone will be greater than the salary of three full time employees (at $9.62/hr) who are about to be laid off at CCNH. 

Somehow though, Denny Inman still has his ($100,000+/yr) job. Sad.

In reading the agenda for this Thursday's County Board meeting I noticed that the Clock & Bell Tower project was back on the agenda. You'll remember that over the summer Steve Beckett passionately lobbied for the use of Public Safety Sales Tax money to build a new (from the ground up) Clock & Bell Tower as well as stabilize the masonary on the 1901 part of the Champaign County Court House.

Well, the newest numbers are in and in usual Champaign County Facilities Committee fashion, they are up. Over $475,000 to be exact.

The total amount approved at the August meeting was $6,342,332.07. On Thursday's agenda (page 33), the total amount to be approved is $6,819,065.14.

Of course, I'm probably overreacting since Steve promised that once the County ponied up the big money, the private donations would be rolling in!

Just a reminder to everyone that voter registration for the February 5 General Primary ends on Tuesday, January 8. In Champaign County, the County Clerk's office will be open until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday for voter registration.

Also, Early Voting opens on Monday, January 14 and runs through January 31. Early Voting is the relatively new option that registered voters have where they can go to their local County Clerk's office and cast their ballot without needing to give an absentee excuse. The Champaign County Clerk's office will offer early voting Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to Noon during the Early Voting period. The office will also be open for Early Voting only on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 21 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For details on what is required to register to vote and other election information, visit www.champaigncountyclerk.com and click on Election Services.

Mayor Prussing has made her appointments to the Urbana Citizens Police Review Board. I honestly don't know any of the appointees, but I have heard some of their names in community circles. The list does appear to be a diverse group of people with impressive educational backgrounds.

Appointees include:

Tom Costello (Assistant Managing Director CUMTD)

Scotty Dossett (Retired Scientist/Consultant)

Grace Mitchell (Secondary Alternative Education Director, UHS)

James McNeely (General Manager Brinks Transportation)

Philip Chong Ho Shon (Assistant Professor Criminology, Indiana University)

Diane Gottheil (Former consultant to Governor in corrections, first director of Community Corrections program)

Ivy Williams (Student Services Coordinator, Champaign Schools)

The mayor's appointment message is found at http://www.city.urbana.il.us/Urbana/City_Council/Agendas/12-17-2007/mayoral_appointments.pdf

I haven't picked a candidate for President yet, but this is a ringing endorsement  (and a pretty funny commercial). 

Huckabee is also endorsed by Ted Nugent and WWE star Ric "Nature Boy" Flair.

I just saw my first political television ad of the season, one for Republican Jim McConoughey who is running for Ray LaHood's seat.

October 17 - too early? Has anyone else seen ads yet?

Go Cubbies!