Gov. Pat Quinn today named state Rep. Julie Hamos as director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, raising the profile of a woman who unsuccessfully ran for congressional office this year.
"Julie has served our state with professionalism and integrity for many years and is a longtime champion of improving access to healthcare," Quinn said in a statement. "In this new role, she will continue to be a strong advocate for families in need of better, more efficient and patient-centered healthcare."
Hamos, a Wilmette resident who represents the state's 18th District, has served in the Illinois House since 1999. Last year, she announced a run for U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's 10th Congressional District seat, but Dan Seals beat her in the Democratic primary. Read more...
Even by Illinois standards, Scott Lee Cohen was an unlikely candidate.
Before he campaigned to become the state’s lieutenant governor, Cohen had weathered a messy divorce and was arrested in connection with domestic-abuse allegations.
But after a few sit-downs with his political consultant, Cohen started holding job fairs around the state and touting them in his campaign advertisements. Read more...
Many of the Block 37 shops are already open, and others are coming soon. Credit: Geoff Dougherty
For 20 years, Block 37 was an infamous sinkhole in the middle of the Loop. Flanked by Daley Plaza and Marshall Field’s, one of the most prestigious pieces of real estate in Chicago sat barren, swallowing up idea after idea.
Though a pair of glass and steel buildings finally opened on the spot in 2009, Block 37’s demons persist — they’ve merely been pushed underground, where the Chicago Transit Authority has built the shell of a train station without any tracks. Read more...
The state's largest union of public-sector workers declined to endorse a candidate for governor this year, expressing reservations about each of the leading Democratic candidates.
The abstention, by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, is the second such blow to the candidates — and especially Gov. Pat Quinn — in as many weeks, after the Illinois AFL-CIO, the federation of state labor organizations, also did not endorse a candidate in a vote of its delegation.
The restraint is notable because it indicates ambivalence about a sitting Democratic governor's record on labor issues. Despite past membership in two unions, Quinn has lagged in union endorsements versus primary challenger and Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes. Read more...
