As suburban-Chicago drivers dodge potholes and wonder why streets are staying icy longer than usual this winter, they can thank Gov. Bruce Rauner for holding up the money that would make their commutes safer this time of year.

Money that communities in District 39 should be using right now to purchase road salt and repair streets is stuck in Springfield because Rauner vetoed legislation that would have sent those dollars flowing to the communities they rightfully belong to.

Up-to-date figures are unavailable from the Illinois Department of Transportation, which oversees the state’s Motor Fuel Tax distribution, but records show communities in the district collected millions of dollars in MFT money in 2014. Among them:

SPRINGFIELD – State Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) issued the following statement about the death of former Illinois Supreme Court chief justice Thomas Fitzgerald.
 
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Justice Fitzgerald. He was a gentleman and a lawyer’s lawyer – he spoke softly but clearly, and his voice will be missed. His contributions to the state and to Illinois’ legal community will not be forgotten.”
 
Fitzgerald was a Cook County prosecutor who rose through the ranks to become chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. He presided over the Illinois Senate’s impeachment trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009.
 
Fitzgerald died Sunday at the age of 74.

Area residents are invited to visit this Friday’s Addison Community Health Fair at the Addison Park District community center. The event is free and open to all ages.

State Sen. Don Harmon is co-hosting the event with state Rep. Kathleen Willis of Addison, the Addison Park District and other community partners.

When:
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6

Where:
Addison Park District community center
120 E. Oak St., Addison

In 2010, Cook County released more than 5,000 defendants accused of drug-related crimes after determining there was no probable cause for their arrests. Many had been sitting in Cook County jail for more than 25 days awaiting their probable cause hearing. Each day these men and women sat in jail cost county taxpayers $143 – or more than $3,000 for a 25-day stay. It cost them and their families even more from lost time at work and the anguish of having a loved one in jail. Many of these offenders came from low-income families that could not afford to post bail.

Why? Because law enforcement agencies in Cook County send recovered substances to the State Crime Lab to determine whether they are in fact drugs, which takes weeks. Police in every other county use a simple field drug test that costs little more than $1, which could have dramatically reduced the cost to Cook County and the suffering of these people and their families.

Concerned by the Rauner administration’s failure to reach a contract agreement with Illinois’ largest government-employee union, the Illinois Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of legislation that would mandate arbitration and prohibit strikes and lockouts if an agreement can’t be reached.

“The state needs a contract with its employees,” said Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), the measure’s sponsor. “Honestly, it doesn’t seem like the governor’s office is making much progress. Our last contract expired more than a month ago and the two sides still seem miles apart.”

The legislation, Senate Bill 1229, establishes a process in which the state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) may be required to submit to binding interest arbitration if the two sides can’t reach an agreement. It also specifically prohibits strikes and lockouts once the arbitration process begins. A similar model is already successfully used for decades during contract negotiations for the state police and prison guards, as well as local police and firefighters.