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via Mary Slosson, Chicago Tribune Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters who have been camped in front of Los Angeles’ City Hall for nearly two months will be evicted on Monday, city officials said on Friday. “We’re asking the participants in the Occupy LA encampment to pack their belongings and leave in an orderly manner,” Los … Continue reading
via Kristen McQueary, WBEZ It’s that time of year when candidates for political office come knocking. In Illinois, people running for everything from village board to Congress need hundreds of signatures by Dec. 5 to get on the ballot. But the old-fashioned practice of going door-to-door is getting an update in the Internet age. Technology … Continue reading
via Denise Lockwood, Caledonia, Wisconsin Patch Wisconsin recall supporters outed an anonymous Facebook group called Operation Burn Notice on Tuesday as a coordinated effort designed to destroy petitions signed to force Gov. Scott Walker and other Wisconsin Republicans out of office. Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, denounced the anonymous group, in a Madison … Continue reading
via Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune Maggie Daley, who dedicated herself to children’s issues and the arts while also zealously guarding her family’s privacy during 22 years as Chicago’s First Lady, died a little after 6 p.m. tonight, more than nine years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 68. Mrs. Daley was surrounded … Continue reading
via Amy Bingham, ABC News Now that the 12-member congressional “supercommittee” has announced its failure to produce an all-encompassing, deficit-reduction package before its Wednesday deadline, the full Congress faces deadlines of its own. Before lawmakers pack up for Christmas, they must first decide whether to extend the payroll tax break and long-term unemployment benefits, both … Continue reading
via Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones Undeterred by Mississippi’s failed attempt to grant fertilized eggs the same rights as adult humans, anti-abortion rights advocates in Colorado and Virginia signaled Monday that intend to bring the effort to their states. In Virginia, Delegate Bob Marshall (R) filed legislation that would amend the state constitution to declare that … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post Republican State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Decatur, introduced a bill Tuesday urging Congress to “enact legislation dividing Illinois and Cook County into separate states.” The bill [HJR0052] argues that the state of Illinois is “functional to the extent that its people agree on politics, society, and economics.” Because, according to the bill, … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post Big banks are on track to spend a record amount lobbying lawmakers this year. The five banks that spend the most on lobbying have boosted their lobbying outlays by 12 percent in the first three quarters of 2011, compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by the … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post With the Illinois state legislature still deliberating a tax incentive package to lure both Sears Holdings Corp. and the CME Group to keep their operations in the state, an offer from another state referenced by Gov. Pat Quinn serves as a stark reminder of how high the stakes are. Quinn told … Continue reading
via Emily Friedman, ABC News Asked tonight about who he might consider to fill the vice presidential spot should he become the GOP nominee, Mitt Romney got more specific than he has in the past, naming New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte as one option for the post. “I have no names for you, it’s presumptuous, … Continue reading
via Megan Garber, Nieman Journalism Lab In his Times column this morning, David Carr wonders about the future of the Occupy Wall Street movement and, specifically, its fate as an ongoing topic of mass-media conversation. “Occupy Wall Street left many all revved up with no place to go,” he writes. Which is a problem, traditional-press-coverage wise, because: “In addition … Continue reading
via Ryan Teague Beckwith, Roll Call News The super committee has officially failed. In a joint news release, Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction Co-Chairmen Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said they concluded today that they will not be able to make “any bipartisan agreement” public before the deadline. The brief statement was … Continue reading
via Jeremy Herb and John T. Bennett, The Hill A supercommittee failure would trigger at least $500 billion in cuts to national security spending, but there is no consensus on just where they will be made. Lawmakers included the automatic cuts in the debt ceiling deal as an incentive to get Congress to agree to … Continue reading
via Ben Johnson, Slate The banking lobby has a new message for the Occupy movement: don’t mess with our money. A well-known financial services lobbying firm based in Washington has come up with a plan that would funnel close to $1 million in funds towards undermining the Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy protests. According … Continue reading
via Justin Sink, The Hill Herman Cain publicly addressed his campaign’s request for Secret Service protection for the first time Friday, saying at a campaign stop in Florida that his staff was concerned for his safety. “We were in New Hampshire and there was some things that, quite frankly, made us feel a little uncomfortable,” … Continue reading
via Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post In 2008, the owners of a Sacramento ice cream parlor donated thousands of dollars to support Proposition 8, which would ban marriage equality in California. Gay rights activists, unhappy with the owners’ actions, posted negative reviews of the company online. Protesters also stood outside the shop and handed out free rainbow … Continue reading
via Byron Acohido, USA Today Facebook users on Tuesday were assaulted by a wave of pornographic and violent images, pushed into their accounts as content supposedly liked or recommended by their friends. The images included doctored photos of pop singer Justin Bieber and other celebrities in demeaning poses. Other images depicted extreme violence and abused … Continue reading
via Erik Oster, The Faster Times November 16th was the first ever American Censorship Day, in response to the House of Representatives holding their first hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an act drawing comparisons to the Great Firewall of China. (And the method that would be used, DNS blocking, is the same website … Continue reading
via Reuven Blau, Helen Kennedy, Tina Moore and Matthew Lysiak, New York Daily News Occupy Wall Street hoped to show there was life after Zuccotti Thursday by staging a series of marches and rallies – starting with a sneak attack on the Stock Exchange itself. As the city braced for a “sizeable” crowd, observers on … Continue reading
via James Ylisela Jr., Crain’s Chicago Business Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain’s investigation finds. Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that would have … Continue reading
via Tanya Somander, ThinkProgress Taking office with the promise to create jobs, Ohio’s GOP Gov. John Kasich has achieved little but dismal poll numbers in pursuit of a deeply unpopular agenda. Indeed, his attempt to demolish workers’ rights recently earned him an unprecedented rejection of a governor’s signature legislation within the first year in office. … Continue reading
via Omar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, The Washington Post Gay and Muslim groups say they are relieved after a Michigan lawmaker agreed to drop a provision in an anti-bullying bill that would have carved out an exemption for religious or moral beliefs. State Sen. Rick Jones, a Republican, inserted a carve-out for a “sincerely held … Continue reading
via Adam Liptak, The New York Times The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a challenge to the 2010 health care overhaul law, President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, setting the stage for oral arguments by March and a decision in late June as the 2012 presidential campaign enters its crucial final months. The decision to hear the case prompted confident … Continue reading
via James Oliphant, Chicago Tribune The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the … Continue reading
via Colleen Long and Verena Dobnik, AP, TIME Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. About 70 people were arrested, including some who chained themselves together, while … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 