Again, a little out of order

Shortfall prompts furloughs
BY KARI ANDREN kandren@patriot-news.com
October 09, 2009
Lower Allen Twp. officials say the township took in nearly $1 million less than expected in 2008, which is prompting one-day-a-week furloughs for all nonunionized employees for the rest of the 2009 calendar year.
At a Tuesday morning meeting with employees, township manager Tom Vernau said the township’s fund [...]

Tax hike no easy sell

Quinn request for tax hike hits brick wall in state House
By Kevin McDermott and Kari Andren
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU       June 1, 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Gov. Pat Quinn’s quest to fill a massive state budget deficit with an income tax hike appeared to all but collapse Sunday, as the Illinois House soundly defeated his tax proposal and [...]

Reaction to Quinn’s budget address

Ill. lawmakers like Quinn’s tone, if not his tax plan
By Kevin McDermott and Kari Andren
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU   Mar. 19 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois leaders across the ideological spectrum are
lauding Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s first state budget speech as a refreshing
blast of candor after six years of fiscal gimmicks and stonewalling by his
predecessor, Rod Blagojevich.
But [...]

Budget address preview

Ill. Republicans to keep open mind on tax hike
By Kevin McDermott and Kari Andren
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU   Mar. 18 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is by no means assured of getting
the major state tax hike he will ask Illinois lawmakers for in a speech today.
But in the face of an unprecedented budget crisis, even [...]

A bit of a paradox

Illinois voters oppose tax hikes even as huge government shortfalls loom
By Kari Andren
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU  03/10/2009
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Illinois voters say balancing the state budget should
be a priority, but they don’t want lawmakers to raise taxes to do it,
according to a poll released Monday.
More than half of the 644 registered voters surveyed said they would [...]

Now what?

Patrick Quinn faces oddball past, daunting future as governor
By Kevin McDermott and Kari Andren
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU   02/01/2009

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Now what?
After almost two months under a brutal national spotlight, Illinoisans might be tempted to think their problems were solved when ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was shown the door Thursday by a unanimous state Senate vote.
But now, [...]

Illinois and Pa…not so different after all

SJ-R Exclusive: Constitutional officers considering layoffs, furloughs
Budget cuts put jobs on the line
By RYAN KEITH, STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Aug 06, 2008 @ 05:11 PM Last update Aug 06, 2008 @ 11:42 PM
Two Illinois constitutional officers are considering dire options to deal with deep budget cuts, with one bracing workers for the possibility of taking several [...]

Environmental round up

Capitolwire: Environmental laws a presence in latest batch of signed bills
By Kari L. Andren
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (July 21) — Within the bevy of legislation Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law in the weeks following the state budget agreement were several environmental measures.
The four bills do everything from studying Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions to joining a regional Great [...]

Post-budget round up

Capitolwire: Bills on fire-safe cigarettes, newborn screenings among those signed by governor.
By Kari L. Andren
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (July 21) — Gov. Ed Rendell signed more than 80 bills into law as part of the annual flood of legislation passed in the weeks after the state budget.
Since June 27, the governor stamped his mark of approval on everything [...]

Museum funding-the next reform?

Today’s Patriot-News contains, sadly, my last story with them. I have moved onto Capitolwire.com now, a subscription-only statewide news wire service stationed here in the State Capitol. For now, my final P-N endeavor…

Bill might cut state money to Whitaker Center
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
BY KARI ANDREN
For The Patriot-NewsThe Whitaker Center for Science and the [...]