Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) speaks in Washington in April 2005. Byrd, who evolved from a segregationist to a civil rights advocate in becoming the longest serving member ever of the Congress, died on Monday, a spokesman for the West Virginia Democrat said.Monday, June 28, 2010
Senator Byrd dies
Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) speaks in Washington in April 2005. Byrd, who evolved from a segregationist to a civil rights advocate in becoming the longest serving member ever of the Congress, died on Monday, a spokesman for the West Virginia Democrat said.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
School Officials Say Candidate Overstated His Role
CHICAGO — A leader of the church in upstate New York where Representative Mark S. Kirk of Illinois claims he worked as a nursery school teacher said on Friday that he had overstated his role there.
The leader, Sally Grubb, a member of the administrative council at Forest Home Chapel, a Methodist church in Ithaca, N.Y., said Mr. Kirk had a limited role while working part-time in a work-study program while he was a student at Cornell University nearly three decades ago.
The leader, Sally Grubb, a member of the administrative council at Forest Home Chapel, a Methodist church in Ithaca, N.Y., said Mr. Kirk had a limited role while working part-time in a work-study program while he was a student at Cornell University nearly three decades ago.
“He was never, ever considered a teacher,” Ms. Grubb said in a telephone interview after researching the history of Mr. Kirk’s association with the nursery school. “He was just an additional pair of hands to help a primary teaching person.”
The church has been trying to determine whether Mr. Kirk worked there after The New York Times reported on Thursday about the brevity of Mr. Kirk’s teaching experience. Mr. Kirk, a five-term congressman, is the Republican nominee in Illinois for the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama.
Eight longtime members of the church, including two former pastors, said this week that they did not recall having a male nursery school teacher in 1981, when Mr. Kirk said he had worked there.
“I don’t remember any men who worked there,” said Thomas V. Wolfe, a pastor at the church in 1981, who is now the dean of student affairs at Syracuse University. “It was a team of women. I used to go over every morning and have coffee with them.”
Robert A. Hill, who also served as pastor of the church in 1981 and now is dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, also said that he could not remember Mr. Kirk. He added, “You’re going back 30 years, so my memory is not perfectly clear, but most of the teachers were women.”
Mr. Kirk’s background has come under fresh examination after his apology this month for errors and discrepancies about his military record. A review of public comments by Mr. Kirk over the last decade shows that he has often referred to himself in speeches, campaign commercials and interviews as a former nursery, middle and high school teacher. He taught for a year in London at a private school, after getting his master’s degree at the London School of Economics.
The church has been trying to determine whether Mr. Kirk worked there after The New York Times reported on Thursday about the brevity of Mr. Kirk’s teaching experience. Mr. Kirk, a five-term congressman, is the Republican nominee in Illinois for the Senate seat formerly held by President Obama.
Eight longtime members of the church, including two former pastors, said this week that they did not recall having a male nursery school teacher in 1981, when Mr. Kirk said he had worked there.
“I don’t remember any men who worked there,” said Thomas V. Wolfe, a pastor at the church in 1981, who is now the dean of student affairs at Syracuse University. “It was a team of women. I used to go over every morning and have coffee with them.”
Robert A. Hill, who also served as pastor of the church in 1981 and now is dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, also said that he could not remember Mr. Kirk. He added, “You’re going back 30 years, so my memory is not perfectly clear, but most of the teachers were women.”
Mr. Kirk’s background has come under fresh examination after his apology this month for errors and discrepancies about his military record. A review of public comments by Mr. Kirk over the last decade shows that he has often referred to himself in speeches, campaign commercials and interviews as a former nursery, middle and high school teacher. He taught for a year in London at a private school, after getting his master’s degree at the London School of Economics.
Full article.....http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/politics/19kirk.html
Monday, June 7, 2010
Waukegan state Rep. Eddie Washington dies of heart attack
State lawmakers today remembered Rep. as someone who brought a unique passion to standing up for his Lake County constituents, especially those who had done wrong but needed a second chance.Washington, 56, was back in his Waukegan district Friday when he died of a heart attack, according to Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Terry Link, who's also a state senator. "Eddie always felt that if somebody had strayed and done their time for it, then they deserved another chance," Link said. "He worked in Springfield on recidivism programs, on getting people back to work if they had been behind bars for something and done their time."
Washington, a former Lake County corrections officer, was the first African American elected to the General Assembly from Lake County. He has served in Springfield since 2003. Washington was chairman of the Prison Reform Committee and the Committee on Aging, and also sat on the Mass Transit Committee, the Workers' Compensation Committee and the Appropriations Committee, according to his House biography.
"You never knew what issue would cause Eddie to get up and speak, but you knew when he did speak he was going to speak from the heart," said Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago.
Washington, a former Lake County corrections officer, was the first African American elected to the General Assembly from Lake County. He has served in Springfield since 2003. Washington was chairman of the Prison Reform Committee and the Committee on Aging, and also sat on the Mass Transit Committee, the Workers' Compensation Committee and the Appropriations Committee, according to his House biography.
"You never knew what issue would cause Eddie to get up and speak, but you knew when he did speak he was going to speak from the heart," said Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago.
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