When Kevin Long showed up at the Daley Center last month, the results could have been disasterous.
Officials caught Long, 48, with four large, steel hunting knives, leading investigators to uncover a cache of 1,600 knives at his home. Long, on parole for harassing a witness, was charged with 51 counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon.
Many of the knives were made of a hardened polymer that would render metal detectors, such as those at the Daley Center and airports, ineffective. Read more...
Sorry, seers. If a county proposal goes forward, some of you might have to find a new line of work.
County commissioners today referred to the County Board's law enforcement committee a proposed law that would ban people from committing fraud under the guise of performing spiritual acts for money.
The proposal, from Commissioners Edwin Reyes, Bridget Gainer and Gregg Goslin, includes a swath of spirituality. Read more...
Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin is meeting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., today, discussing a number of issues affecting the county. Goslin, a board member of the National Association of County Officials says he and other NACO leaders are working to secure more federal funding for local projects.
"It's always good to hear form the local communities. It's a good use of time," says Goslin, a former state lawmaker. "There's a lot of federal money coming in to the county. A lot of people don't know that."
He's hoping meetings with Illinois delegates, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, Jan Schakowsky, John Shimkos, Peter Roskam and Mark Kirk, result in more support for the county. Read more...
It’s unlikely we’ve heard the last of the sales tax debate. But for now, the sales tax is staying right where it is.
Commissioner Tony Peraica’s bid to axe the remaining half-percent of the 2008 sales tax hike was defeated by county commissioners at Tuesday’s board meeting. Commissioners in the finance committee voted 11-6 against the measure.
Voting nay were Commissioners William Beavers, Jerry Butler, John Daley, Bridget Gainer, Joseph Mario Moreno, Joan Patricia Murphy, Edwin Reyes, Deborah Sims, Robert Steele and Larry Suffredin. Read more...
Using a successful Washington, D.C. program as a model, the Cook County Board of Commissioners is banking on an electronic monitoring system to make its management of the county’s 2,000 vehicle fleet more efficient.
Commissioners are expected to refer to the County Board’s vehicle committee a resolution requesting a study to explore how an electronic fleet management system would work in Cook County.
The hope, says Commissioner Gregg Goslin, is for the study to find it possible to get results similar to D.C.’s – where the fleet dramatically shrank, from 360 to 58. The electronic system would be similar to private car-sharing ventures; the D.C. program is administered by Zipcar. Read more...
