The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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ILLINOIS ROUNDUP News from across the state
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Quinn says Illinois budget still needs work
CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn said the nearly $36 billion budget state lawmakers sent him still needs work and vowed Tuesday to comb through it before signing off. The spending plan doesn’t include an extension of the state’s 2011 temporary income tax increase, which Quinn had said was necessary to avoid massive cuts to education and other areas. When the tax rolls back in January, it’ll create roughly a $1.8 billion revenue hole. Legislators, who rejected an election-year tax extension, have said they’ll return after the November election to address the revenue question. The move creates a sticky situation for Quinn. Quinn, who has called the budget “incomplete,” defended his intentions Tuesday in his first comments to reporters on the budget since lawmakers approved it early Saturday. He said he proposed an honest and detailed budget in March that addressed the state’s serious financial issues, while his opponent hasn’t yet presented a spending plan. “The other person is too timid, too fearful to lay out a plan for the people of Illinois,” Quinn told reporters at an elementary school on Chicago’s south side.
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Moody’s: Lost Illinois tax revenue could hurt rating
SPRINGFIELD – A bond rating agency has announced that Illinois’ financial rating could take a hit if lawmakers don’t extend an income tax increase scheduled to roll back in January. Moody’s Investors Service
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OBITUARIES PHYLLIS J. PUNTNEY Born: Jan. 30, 1938; Joliet, IL Died: June 2, 2014; Plainfield, IL
released a statement Tuesday that says allowing the tax rate to drop might force more borrowing and continued overdue bills. The state’s income tax is set to decrease from 5 percent to 3.75 percent this winter, leaving a $1.8 billion revenue hole. State lawmakers failed to pass a tax extension before finishing their spring session last week. The report also says it would reverse much of the financial progress made in the state with the nation’s worst credit rating. Since 2011, the state has used a $26 billion increase in revenues to address pension payments and unpaid bills.
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City of Chicago sues over painkiller marketing
CHICAGO – The city of Chicago is seeking damages in a lawsuit accusing five drugmakers of deceptively marketing a class of prescription painkiller that can be highly addictive. The lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court states the city has paid nearly $9.5 million for filling opioid prescriptions since 2007. It alleges the pharmaceutical companies’ marketing of opioids for long-term use to treat non-cancer pain was false, misleading and “unsupported by science.” The suit also claims drugmakers attempted to expand the long-term use of opioids beyond the treatment of cancer pain to reap bigger profits. The damages would be determined at trial if the city were successful in its case. “In order to expand the market for opioids and realize blockbuster profits, [the five companies] needed to create a sea-change in medical and public perception that would permit the use of opioids for long periods of time to treat more common aches and pains, like lower back pain, arthritis, and headaches,” the lawsuit states. The companies, the suit
alleges, “set out to, and did, reverse the popular and medical understanding of opioids.” Chicago’s state lawsuit is strikingly similar to one filed by two California counties last month. Both lawsuits name Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, Actavis, Endo Health Solutions Inc., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ Cephalon Inc. Mayor Emanuel released a statement criticizing drugmakers for deceiving the public about the “true risks and benefits of highly potent and highly addictive painkillers in order to expand their customer base and increase their bottom line.” “This has led to a dramatic rise in drug addiction, overdose and diversion in communities across the nation, and Chicago is not immune to this epidemic,” Emanuel said. “Today, we’re saying enough is enough – it’s time for these companies to end these irresponsible practices and be held accountable for their deceptive actions.”
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Springfield’s Lincoln Home wants to build archives
SPRINGFIELD – The Lincoln Home Historic Site Room is running out of storage space for thousands of artifacts and documents and administrators say they want the federal government to build an archives center at the Springfield site. “It’s very crowded,” Lincoln Home curator Susan Haake told The State Journal-Register. “We are packed to the gills as far as paper documents.” Administrators said they’ll ask for $4.5 million to build a territorial archives center that would house more than 324,000 documents and artifacts, including 7,000 pieces from the Lincoln era. Those items include paperwork, but also furniture, quilts and other items. Another 100,000 documents
from the Lincoln home and Phyllis J. Puntney, other pieces are housed at the nee Nonnie, age 76, Midwest Archeological Center of Plainfield, passed in Lincoln, Nebraska. away Monday, June s. “It would be a climate-con2, 2014 at her home. trolled, up-to-date storage Born and raised in am Joliet on January 30, facility,” said site superinten1938 to the late Atillio and dent Dale Phillips. He said the Josephine (nee Mantia) Nonnie. A park is out of space after more Plainfield resident for many years than four decades of storing since 1961. U.S. Park Service documents She is survived by her son, Steven (Julie Lynn) Puntney of Naperville, and Lincoln artifacts. IL; daughter, Julie Ann (Timothy) Phillips said the facility would Smith of Barrington, IL and son, also house materials from James (Donna) Puntney of Aurora, other national parks. He said IL. Grandmother of Kevin, Tyler and this is the first time the Lincoln Alex Puntney, Andrew, Paige, and Home has asked to become a Julia Smith, Megan and Matthew Puntney of Aurora, IL. territorial archive facility. He She is also survived by her dear said there is strong competisister, Inez Nonnie of Shorewood, IL. tion with other national park Four brothers, Lawrence Nonnie of system projects for limited Naperville, IL, Eugene (Dorothy) funds. Nonnie of Shorewood, IL, Charles A 2012 long-term manageNonnie of Shorewood, IL and Robert Nonnie of Naperville, IL. Numerous ment plan for the park included nieces, nephews, cousins and many a recommendation for a territoloving devoted friends. rial archives center.
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University of Illinois plans a party for the Alma Mater
URBANA – The Alma Mater statue beloved by University of Illinois students and graduates has been back on campus almost two months but the university plans to officially mark her return and her 85th birthday with a party Friday morning. Christa Deacy-Quinn is collections manager for the Spurlock Museum on the Urbana-Champaign campus. She told The News-Gazette that the statue will turn 85 on June 11. The party will be in the central-campus plaza where the statue stands. The first 250 people to show up will receive commemorative T-shirts. The Alma Mater was created by Loredo Taft and dedicated in 1929. The statue was removed in 2012 for restoration and returned in early April. Students and others regularly take pictures of themselves and friends and family with the Alma Mater.
– Wire reports
Phyllis was a graduate of Joliet Central High School, class of 1957. She was employed at Industrial Color, Inc. since 1970, retiring in 2006. Industrial Color was a family owned business founded by Phyllis' father, Atillio in 1948. Her whole life revolved around her children and grandchildren. She lived her life everyday through them. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her. Her kindness, sympathy, and generosity will always be remembered. . Memorial Mass of Christian Burial, Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 10:30 AM at St. Mary Immaculate Church, 15619 S. Rt. 59, Plainfield, IL 60544. Cremation rites were held in accordance with Phyllis' wishes. Arrangements were entrusted to Overman-Jones Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 15219 S. Joliet Rd., Plainfield, IL 60544. (Corners of Rt. 30 & Rt. 59) For more information, please call 815-436-9221 or www.overman-jones.com