Labor in Illinois

Weekly Labor Report
Week of Sept 13, 2007

Tougher Penalties for Motorists in School/Construction Zones

Governor Rod Blagojevich signed legislation increasing penalties against drivers who kill school personnel, construction workers or students while driving through construction and school zones. If motorists drive faster than ten miles over the posted speed limit in these marked zones and kill someone, their sentence can be judged as “reckless homicide.” According to Blagojevich, 181 Illinois Department of Transportation employees have been killed since 1951. – Occupational Safety and Health (6 Sept 2007): 779-80.

Federal Funding for Predominantly Black Institutions in Illinois

Illinois Senator Barack Obama and Representative Danny Davis sponsored and passed a bill in the senate to provide increased funding to “predominantly black institutions.” The College Cost Reduction and Access Act will set aside $15 million for institutions that are not categorized as Historically Black Colleges and Universities but have a predominant number of African American students. The funding is expected to apply to 75 institutions in 17 states, including four year and two year schools. In Illinois, the institutions that could benefit from these include: City Colleges of Chicago– Kennedy-King College ; Chicago State University; South Suburban College; City Colleges of Chicago – Harold Washington College; City Colleges of Chicago – Malcolm X College; City Colleges of Chicago – Olive-Harvey College; East-West University ; and Robert Morris College. Lobbyists who had pushed for the bill hail from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), the United Negro College Fund and the American Association of Community Colleges. – Baltimore Sun (7 Sept 2007) http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/09/obama_davis_boost_a_new_type_o.html

New Polytechnic High School Opens in Chicago

Sponsored by Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, a federation of business, labor, government, education and community leaders, Austin Polytechnical Academy has opened as a new public high school under the approval of the Chicago Public Schools’ Board of Education. Dan Swinney, executive director of the Council, is also executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Labor and Community Research. Requiring uniforms for all 130 freshmen, the experimental Renaissance 2010 public high school cooperates with local businesses to prepare students for the high tech industry. It shares space with the Austin Business and Entrepreneurship High School, a two year pre-engineering academy. – Chicago Tribune (5 Sept 2007) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-schoolday_05sep05,1,3252974,full.story