House GOP Leader Tom Cross Calls for Rep Derrick Smith to Resign

“In light of the extremely damaging charges contained last week's federal indictment of Representative Derrick Smith (D-Chicago),

I believe he should resign his position immediately.

Representative Smith, who stands indicted on the charge of attempted bribery of a day care operator in exchange for official action,

has brought deep disrespect and damage upon the Illinois House of Representatives and the people of the State of Illinois.



Rep. Smith should spare the House of Representatives any further embarrassment and step down immediately."

Statements by Sen Mark Kirk and Rep Robert Dold, on Blagojevich Beginning Prison Term

Washington, DC - As former Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich begins serving his sentence in a federal prison in Littleton, Colorado today, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Representative Robert Dold (R-IL) encourage implementation of bipartisan, bicameral ethics legislation that would curb public corruption.

"Let the sentencing for Governor Blagojevich be a clear warning to all elected officials that public corruption of any form will not be tolerated. Illinois families have long suffered from an estimated $500 million hidden corruption tax," a Kirk spokesperson said. "We need to make sure our laws help federal prosecutors crack down on public corruption and restore integrity to Illinois."

Congressman Robert Dold, from Illinois' 10th District, released the following statement: “Today we are seeing justice served for Governor Blagojevich and the people of Illinois. I am pleased that the final version of the STOCK Act included a provision that Senator Kirk, Congressman Quigley and I worked on in the Senate and House to ensure that taxpayer-funded Congressional pensions do not go to convicted felons in the future like the former Governor. Now we need to continue to focus on the important issues of the day and work together to spur the economy and stop wasting hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”

Remarks of President Barack Obama on Energy and Gas Prices

Prince George’s County Community College

Largo, MD

March 15, 2012

The skills you learn here will be the surest path to success in this economy. Because if there’s one thing we’re thinking a lot about these days, it’s energy – how to use less and produce more right here in the United States of America. And with gas prices spiking all across the country, we’re getting another reminder of just how important that is right now.



If it feels like we’ve seen this movie before, that’s because we have. Gas prices went up around this time last year. They shot up in the spring and summer of 2008. This has been happening for years. And every time prices start to go up – especially in an election year – politicians dust off their three-point plans for $2 gasoline. They head down to the pump, make sure a few cameras are following them, and start acting like they can wave a magic wand and you’ll have cheap gas forever. Sound familiar?



Well here’s the thing: we know better. You know better. There’s no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to high gas prices. We know there’s no silver bullet. And anyone who tells you otherwise isn’t really looking for a solution – they’re probably just looking to ride the political wave of the moment.



Now, the most common thing we hear from these politicians is that if only we drilled for more oil here at home, gas prices would immediately come down and all our problems would go away.



Well, Maryland, there are two problems with that.



First, we are drilling. Under my Administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. That is a fact. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs to a record high. That is also a fact. We’ve approved dozens of new pipelines to move oil across the country, and just announced our support for a new one in Oklahoma that will help get more oil down to our refineries on the Gulf Coast.



Over the last three years, my administration has opened millions of acres of land in 23 different states for oil and gas exploration. Offshore, I’ve directed my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential resources. That includes an area in the Gulf of Mexico we opened up a few months ago that could produce more than 400 million barrels of oil.



So don’t tell me we’re not drilling. We’re drilling all over this country, and you have my word that we will keep drilling everywhere we can while protecting the health and safety of the American people.



But here’s the second problem with an energy strategy that only relies on drilling. In America, we use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil. But even if we drilled in every square inch of this country, we still only have 2 percent of the world’s known oil reserves. Use 20 percent; have 2 percent.



Now, you don’t need a math degree to realize we’ve got a numbers problem there. If we don’t develop other sources of energy – if we don’t develop the technology to use less energy – we will always be dependent on foreign countries for our energy needs. Every time there’s instability in the Middle East, we’ll feel it at the pump. As rapidly-growing nations like China or India keep adding more cars to the road, the price of gas will rise.



That’s not the future I want for the United States of America. We can’t allow ourselves to be held hostage to events on the other side of the world. That’s not who we are. In this country, we control our own destiny. We chart our own course. An energy strategy for the last century is one that traps us in the past. What we need now is an all-of-the-above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-made energy – not just oil and gas, but wind power and solar power; biofuels and fuel-efficient cars and trucks that get more miles to the gallon. That’s the future. That’s where I want to take this country.



Thousands of Americans have jobs right now because we’ve doubled the use of clean energy in this country – and I want to keep making those investments. I don’t want to see wind turbines or solar panels or high-tech batteries made by other workers in other countries. I want them manufactured right here in the United States of America.



After three decades of inaction, we raised fuel economy standards so that by the middle of the next decade, our cars will average nearly 55 miles per gallon – nearly double what they get today. That will save the average family more than $8,000 over the life of the car. That means you’ll be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week. And those are exactly the kind of cars we need to keep building in America.



To fuel these cars and trucks, we’re investing in clean, advanced biofuels that can replace some of the oil we currently use. Already, we’re using these biofuels to power everything from city buses to UPS trucks to Navy ships. I want to see more of these fuels in American cars so that we buy less oil from foreign countries and create jobs here at home.



All of these steps have put us on a path to greater energy independence. Since I took office, America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year. In 2010, our oil dependence was under 50% for the first time in thirteen years.



Now, we have to do better than that. And I know we can. But only if we tell the folks who are stuck in the past that our future depends on an all-of-the-above energy strategy. That’s our job.



Lately, we’ve heard a lot of professional politicians talking down these new sources of energy. They dismiss wind power and solar power. They make jokes about biofuels and electric cars. They were against raising fuel standards because apparently they like gas guzzling cars better. We’re trying to move towards the future, and they want to keep us stuck in the past.



Of course, we’ve heard this kind of thinking before. If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they probably would have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society. Maybe they would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who apparently said, “Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” Or one of Henry Ford’s advisors who was quoted saying, “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only…a fad.” I can’t prove this, but I do not think that man got the promotion he was looking for. They might have even sided with one of my predecessors, President Rutherford B. Hayes, who reportedly said this about the telephone: “It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?” I hear that quote kept him off Mt. Rushmore.



The point is, there are always cynics and naysayers who want to do things the same way we’ve always done them. To double down on the same ideas that got us into this mess in the first place. But the only reason we’ve come this far as a nation is because we refuse to stand still. Because we put our faith in the future. Because we are inventors and builders and makers of things. We’re Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. That’s who we are. That’s who we need to be right now.



And if you want an example of exactly what I’m talking about, consider a very important issue before Congress right now . The question is whether or not we should keep giving $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the oil industry. They’ve been getting these subsidies for a hundred years. One hundred years. These are companies making more money right now than they’ve ever made before. And on top of the money they’re getting from you at the gas station, they want some of your tax dollars too.



That is outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And it’s time for this oil industry giveaway to end. So in the next few weeks, I expect Congress to vote on ending these subsidies. And when they do, we’re going to put every single Member of Congress on record: They can either stand up for oil companies, or they can stand up for the American people. They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century, or they can place their bets on America’s future –American workers, and American ingenuity, and the American-made energy we can produce right here in our own backyard. That’s the choice we face. That’s what’s at stake right now.



Maryland, we know what direction we have to go in. We can let these politicians take us back to an energy strategy for the last century, or we can invest in a serious, sustained, all-of-the-above energy strategy that develops every resource available for the 21st century. That’s the choice we have – the past, or the future. And it’s a choice we have to make.



You know where I stand. And I think most of you agree. Ending these subsidies won’t bring down gas prices tomorrow. Nothing will. But if we’re tired of watching gas prices spike every year – if we want to bring them down for good – we need to look beyond the energy of the past and put ourselves on a path to a real, sustainable energy future.



That’s the future you deserve. So let’s make our voices heard. Get on the phone, write an email, send a letter, and let your Members of Congress know where you stand. Tell them to do the right thing. Tell them we’ve got the tools and the toughness to win this fight. And if we combine our creativity and our optimism – if we keep harnessing our brainpower and manpower and womanpower – then I promise you, we will come back stronger than before. We will create an economy that’s built to last. And we will make this century another American century.



Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

Newt Gingrich on Why Gas Prices Can Fall to $2.50/gallon

Gov Quinn Announces $31.6 Million in Capital Money for City Colleges

CHICAGO – March 13, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today was joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Cheryl Hyman to announce $31.6 million from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction program for a new Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) Center at Olive-Harvey College. The facility will be the first comprehensive TDL education center in the state and supports Governor Quinn’s commitment to growing high-tech jobs. The facility will prepare students for work in transportation logistics and other high-tech careers such as automotive technology, applied engineering and avionics.



“By investing in our community colleges, we can better prepare Illinois residents with the skills they need to compete for these high-technology jobs,” Governor Quinn said. ”We’ll put people to work building this new facility, and we’ll empower students with state-of-the-art tools and training they need to go out and get these good-paying, high-tech jobs.”



The project is expected to create nearly 300 construction jobs and cost a total of $42.2 million, which includes a $10.6 million contribution from City Colleges. Officials will pursue a LEED certification for the 200,000 square foot building, which will house: a high-tech warehouse environment, laboratories, workshops, classrooms and virtual reality simulation facilities. The new building will replace almost 112,000 square feet of temporary classroom space near the main Olive-Harvey College building.



“With this funding, Governor Quinn is supporting our ‘College to Careers’ program that re-engineers, re-imagines, and revolutionizes our City Colleges in order to meet the demand of the high-growth sectors of the future,” said Mayor Emanuel. “This shared investment reflects our shared determination to strengthen our economy together.”



The project is administered by the Capital Development Board, which oversees state-funded, non-road construction projects. Construction is expected to start in spring 2013 and be completed in spring 2015.



“City Colleges’ main goal is to equip our students with credentials of economic value that prepare them to compete and win the jobs of today and tomorrow,” said Chancellor Cheryl Hyman. “The TDL industry is increasingly reliant on high-skill, technology-driven jobs, and this facility will embed technology into our training programs to prepare students to hit the ground running in this fast-growing field.”



Under City College’s “College to Careers” program, industry experts are teaming up with City Colleges, to help students as teacher-practitioners and to help create training programs in City Colleges’ classrooms. This unique partnership also gives students direct access to facilities for training purposes, internships and job interviews.



Training at the Olive-Harvey TDL facility will expand to include: repairing and maintaining heavy equipment; expanded commercial drivers’ licensing; forklift operation; freight expediting, warehousing and logistics information technology; sheet metal technician; automotive technology; avionics technician; and applied engineering. Careers in these high-tech fields can have starting salaries as high as $21 per hour.



The “College to Careers” partnership currently focuses on two industries: transportation, distribution and logistics at Olive-Harvey College, and healthcare at Malcolm X College. Over the next three years, programs in other high-demand sectors will be added. Mayor Emanuel and City Colleges just announced a $479 million, five-year capital plan which includes a new $251 million campus for Malcolm X College, including an Allied Health Academy.

City Colleges’ “College to Careers” partners in transportation, distribution and logistics include: Coyote Logistics, UPS, Canadian National Railway, Union Pacific, AAR Corporation, BNSF, Schneider Finance Inc. and United Airlines. Its healthcare partners include: Rush University Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, University of Chicago Hospitals, Advocate Health Care, University of Illinois at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA, Walgreens, CVS, John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Baxter and the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council.

Governor Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now! program includes $1.5 billion for higher education, including $788 million for public universities and $400 million for community colleges. The overall $30 billion program is expected to create 439,000 construction jobs.

Op-Ed by Pres Obama and British PM Cameron, on Our Nations' Historical Alliance

An alliance the world can count on

By Barack Obama and David Cameron

Seven decades ago, as our forces began to turn the tide of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Washington to coordinate our joint efforts. Our victories on the battlefield proved “what can be achieved by British and Americans working together heart and hand,” he said. “In fact, one might almost feel that if they could keep it up, there is hardly anything they could not do, either in the field of war or in the not less tangled problems of peace.”


Keep it up we have — not only winning that war for our survival but also building the institutions that undergird international peace and security. The alliance between the United States and Great Britain is a partnership of the heart, bound by the history, traditions and values we share. But what makes our relationship special — a unique and essential asset — is that we join hands across so many endeavors. Put simply, we count on each other and the world counts on our alliance.



As leading world economies, we are coordinating closely with our G-8 and G-20 partners to put people back to work, sustain the global recovery, stand with our European friends as they resolve their debt crisis and curb the reckless financial practices that have cost our taxpayers dearly. We’re committed to expanding the trade and investment that support millions of jobs in our two countries.



As the two largest contributors to the international mission in Afghanistan, we’re proud of the progress our troops have made in dismantling al-Qaeda, breaking the Taliban’s momentum and training Afghan forces. But as recent events underscore, this remains a difficult mission. We honor the profound sacrifices of our forces, and in their name we’ll carry on the mission.



Over the next few days, we will consult about preparations for the NATO summit in Chicago, where our alliance will determine the next phase of the transition that we agreed to in Lisbon. This includes shifting to a support role in advance of Afghans taking full responsibility for security in 2014 and ensuring that NATO maintains an enduring commitment so that Afghanistan is never again a haven for al-Qaeda to launch attacks against our citizens.



As members of the international community, we have been united in imposing tough sanctions on the Iranian regime for failing to meet its international obligations. We believe there is time and space to pursue a diplomatic solution, and we are coordinating our diplomatic approach with China, France, Germany and Russia, our P5+1 partners. Meanwhile, as the United States imposes its strongest sanctions to date and the European Union prepares to impose an embargo on Iranian oil, the choice for Tehran will be sharpened — meet your international obligations or face the consequences.



As two nations that support the human rights and dignity of all people, we continue to stand with those brave citizens across the Middle East and North Africa who are demanding their universal rights. Having joined in the mission to protect the Libyan people last year, we support Libyan efforts to build democratic institutions and hold free and fair elections this year. We condemn the Syrian regime’s horrific violence against innocent civilians, and we are focused on the urgent humanitarian task of getting food and medicine to those in need. With our international partners, we’ll continue to tighten the noose around Bashar al-Assad and his cohorts, and we’ll work with the opposition and the United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to plan for the transition that will follow Assad’s departure from power.



As two of the world’s wealthiest nations, we embrace our responsibility as leaders in the development that enables people to live in dignity, health and prosperity. Even as we redouble our efforts to save lives in Somalia, we’re investing in agriculture to promote food security across the developing world. We’re working to improve maternal health and end preventable deaths of children. With a renewed commitment to the lifesaving work of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, we see the beginning of the end of the AIDS pandemic. Through our Open Government Partnership, we’re striving to make governments more transparent and accountable.



Finally, as two peoples who live free because of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we’re working together like never before to care for them when they come home. With new long-term collaborations to help our wounded warriors recover, assist in veterans’ transition back to civilian life and support military families, we recognize that our obligations to troops and veterans endure long after today’s battles end.



Our troops and citizens have long shown what can be achieved when British and Americans work together, heart and hand, and why this remains an essential relationship — to our nations and the world. So like generations before us, we’re going to keep it up. Because with confidence in our cause and faith in each other, we still believe that there is hardly anything we cannot do.



Barack Obama is president of the United States. David Cameron is prime minister of Great Britain.

NBC Chicago to Produce New Syndicated Show "Steve Harvey" Creating 100 new jobs, with Help of State Tax Credit

CHICAGO – March 12, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced a new NBC production will be filmed in downtown Chicago. The new daily show, “Steve Harvey,” will be produced at NBC 5 studios and is expected to create around 100 jobs. NBCUniversal estimates that the show could bring approximately 35,000 audience members and visitors to Chicago each year.



“Our commitment to the film industry is helping us bring new shows to Illinois and create jobs for our residents,” Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said. “We are pleased to welcome Steve Harvey to the great state of Illinois, and look forward to a long-lasting relationship with the show, NBCUniversal and Endemol USA.”



In the one-hour show debuting this fall on NBC, actor, comedian and best-selling author Steve Harvey will cover a variety of topics, ranging from relationships and parenting to navigating today’s workplace, while incorporating his comedy roots. NBCUniversal estimates that production will bring millions of dollars to Chicago-area merchants and businesses.

“I commend the state of Illinois - the Governor’s Office, the Film Office and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity - in their proactive efforts to attract film and television production to their state, and in particular making it possible to bring the ‘Steve Harvey’ production to Chicago,” said Barry Wallach, president, NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution. "Chicago is an outstanding, multicultural city that offers access to talented production crews, the best audiences in the country and is the perfect home for ‘Steve Harvey’."

With many unique locations, talented crews and ample sound stages, the Illinois Film Office (IFO) actively pursues film projects by promoting Illinois as an ideal location to film. In addition, the IFO administers the Illinois’ Film Tax Credit, which has been instrumental in spurring growth of Illinois’ film industry. Illinois offers a 30 percent tax credit to filmmakers for money spent on Illinois goods and services, including wages paid to Illinois residents. Since its inception, the Film Tax Credit has helped bring over half a billion dollars in revenue to the state and over 10,000 full time equivalent jobs.



“NBCUniversal and Endemol USA’s investment in the state is the most recent example of the Governor's success in fostering a thriving film and television industry in Illinois,” said Betsy Steinberg, managing director of the Illinois Film Office. “Our incentives for film production, access to world-class infrastructure and great crews combine to make Illinois a winning destination for production companies.”



Illinois’ film industry saw a record $161 million in spending in 2010, which topped the $155 million in spending in 2007 and represents a 54 percent increase from 2009. In 2011, the state hosted another blockbuster, Man of Steel, TV series Boss and Playboy Club, as well as numerous independent films and television shows, and a thriving commercial production industry.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the IFO are dedicated to advancing Illinois’ reputation as a world-class film destination. The IFO also promotes and encourages the training and hiring of Illinois residents who represent the diversity of the state’s population.

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