Governor signs $31B construction plan

CHICAGO - Gov. Pat Quinn has signed off on a $31 billion state construction plan that includes money for everything from bicycle trails and university buildings to a major overhaul of Illinois highways.
The plan is an effort to repair the state's crumbling infrastructure and create thousands of jobs.
Quinn projects the money will support 439,000 jobs around, though projections weren't immediately available on how many new jobs he expects the bill to create.
The bill won immediate praise Monday from many, including bicycle riders and advocates of higher education.
But gambling opponents were disappointed the construction plan relies heavily on a gambling expansion to pay for it.
Senate President John Cullerton calls the bill a bipartisan job creator.

Where the money goes! http://www.illinois.gov/publicincludes/statehome/gov/documents/CAPITAL%20Combined%20HB0312%20and%20SB1221.pdf

U.S. Sen. Roland Burris won't seek election next year

Embattled Democratic U.S. Sen. Roland Burris is expected to announce tomorrow that he will not seek election next year to the seat that he was appointed to by disgraced then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, sources said today.
The senator is scheduled to make his decision known at a 2 p.m. news conference at a South Side hotel in a "speech to Illinois youth," according to an advisory put out by his office late this afternoon.
A top source close to the senator said that since starting in the U.S. Senate, Burris wasn’t sure he could handle the grueling schedule of fundraising and trying to be a senator, especially in an environment where his popularity waned and “the tide was against him.”
Burris thought it would be very difficult to raise the campaign cash he’d need to win the Democratic nomination, let alone the general election, the source said. But Burris plans to stay in office until his term ends in January 2011, the source added.

Full Article.... http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/07/us-sen-roland-burris-wont-seek-election-next-year.html

Madigan Declines Senate, Gov Bids

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said today that family considerations caused her to pass on a run for U.S. Senate or governor and run next year for a third term in her current job.
“There was plenty of agonizing over my decision," she said at a Chicago news conference. “I have a job that I love right now and I also have a family that I love and I plan on continuing to serve as your attorney general because I think it’s absolutely vital to have an independent advocate in that office.”
She said the prospect of her father, Michael Madigan staying on as Illinois House speaker did not weigh into her decision. “No, I made a decision about what was best for me and what was best for my family and what I ultimately thought was best for the state at this point," she said.
Madigan’s decision stunned Illinois politicians, who saw her being groomed by her father for top statewide office in a state where he has been the longest-running speaker of the House.
Democrats in Washington, including her former state Senate seatmate, President Barack Obama, courted her for a U.S. Senate bid for the seat he once held.
Madigan initially rejected a bid for the U.S. Senate, saying she preferred to serve in the executive branch. But top Democrats in Washington began reaching out to her, contending she would be the best to assure the seat would stay in Democratic hands amid the political debacle that resulted in disgraced and ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to the seat.

Full article.... http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/07/madigan-to-seek-reelection-as-attorney-general.html