Illinois Business Journal Illinois Business Journal
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If Illinois' governor signs it into law, Illinois will join Maryland and New Jersey as states supporting a shift in how America elects its president. The Illinois Legislature recently passed a bill to replace the winner-take-all Electoral College system with the National Popular Vote interstate compact.		 .

Illinois General Assembly passes bill to popularly elect the president
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

   The Illinois General Assembly passed a bill that, if signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and passed in a similar measure by enough other states, will revoke the "winner-take-all" Electoral College system of electing American Presidents and replace it with the National Popular Vote.
   And, since Blagojevich co-sponsored a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College when in Congress, supporters expect him to sign it.
   The legislation, HB 1685, [continue]

 
American Bottom city leaders strategize to increase population
By KERRY L. SMITH

   As U.S. Census Bureau numbers prove that the populations of the American Bottom cities and villages have stabilized since year 2000, mayors and economic planners in Southwestern Illinois communities are actively engaging strategies to reinvent their towns and restore their populations.
   Alton
   Back in 1970 during the heyday of its steel production, the Census Bureau recorded the city of Alton's population total as 39,700. Mayor Don Sandidge says inner city revitalization and capitalizing on the tourism [continue]

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U.S. Census stats show that since 2000, the populations of the American Bottom communities - those in the floodplain of the Mississippi River - are stabilizing rather than decreasing. Leaders of these towns continue to initiate plans to revitalize their residential, commercial and industrial cores to bring people back.
 

Madigan blamed for holding up capital bill
By KERRY L. SMITH

   After losing the leverage downstate legislators temporarily had to push passage of a long-awaited capital projects bill for the state, frustration continues to mount with a growing number of legislators asserting this claim: House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Democrat from Chicago, is holding up the bill.
   "There will be a capital bill if Speaker Madigan wants one," said State Sen. David Luechtefeld, a Republican from Okawville. He is one downstater who withheld his vote on the recent bail-out plan for the Chicago-area transit program - a costly strategy that hurt the chances for passage of long-term roads, bridges, schools and highway construction program funding. "It's just so disappointing that some downstaters didn't hold the line and force the issue (of a capital bill). Now that leverage is gone. Madigan probably politically doesn't want to give the governor anything. He will probably say outwardly that he's for a capital bill, but if he (Madigan) is, then he's the person who has got to make it happen." [continue]