Sunday, October 17, 2010

Letter: Manzullo's animal-welfare record extremely troubling | Daily Chronicle

 

To the Editor:


If there's one issue I'm passionate about, it's animal welfare.
So for anyone living and voting in the 16th Congressional District currently represented by Republican Don Manzullo, I'd like you to know one thing: He is the only Illinois U.S. representative that voted against every single animal welfare issue in the latest session.
That record of zero votes for animal protection is common for Manzullo. He voted against protection for everything from primates to marine turtles, wild horses to sea otters, great cats and rare canids to cranes.
It looks like no animal deserves protection if you're Don Manzullo.

Kathy Stelford
Sycamore

Click on the following to see the 25 plus comments to this letter.  Letter: Manzullo's animal-welfare record extremely troubling | Daily Chronicle

Bloomington man gets 2 years for threatening Obama - DailyHerald.com

sentenced a Bloomington man to nearly two years in prison for repeated threatening the life of President Barack Obama.

rejected a defense attorney's request for a one-year sentence after asking Porter why he would sometimes not take his medication to control his bipolar disorder, and Porter replied that he was just being lazy.

Bloomington man gets 2 years for threatening Obama - DailyHerald.com

What gives: Step Increases granted to Boone County Circuit Clerk employees?

It appears that six of the fifteen members of Circuit Clerk, Nora Ohlsen’s clerical staff will be receiving raises this year.  The Boone County Board is attempting to reduce expenses across all departments by 3%.  For the non-union employees the board has proposed a return of the 3% raise granted for FY 2010.  For union employees, a 3 % concession in wages was being requested in contract negotiations.  However such concessions may be in question if the Circuit Clerk’s Office is giving step increases. The present “balanced county budget” (in the process of being laid over for public view) is based upon such 3% decreases in most all departments.

Through an apparent oversight,  Ms. Ohlsen  did not provide a written request to reopen negotiations.  The contract automatically rolled over for one year and the six employees in the shaded area on the photocopy (shown below) will be receiving step increases.  The six employees and the cost of the increase is showed in the first photocopy.     The total additional cost is approximately $5,600 however this could be jeopardizing  other labor negotiations and the budget itself.  Because of their size, the most important negotiations  are with the Sheriff’s Deputies and with Correction both are currently negotiating with the county board.

This worksheet was prepared by Ms. Ohlsen and was part of her presentation to the Finance committee of the County Board back in September.

Click on the photocopy to enlarge:

clerk's budget increase for step increase

Shown below is the section of UAW contract with the Circuit Clerk employees which states the the contract automatically rolls over.

Clerk's --terms of agreement

Based upon conversations with  county board members and with the County Administrator,  it appears that county employees represented by another UAW union may receive step raises due to the county failing to provide a written request to reopen the contract.  That information is being requested through the Freedom of Information Act.

foia 10-15-2010