Posts Tagged ‘ Dick Durbin ’

Senate committee passes shield law that includes citizen journalists

December 11, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Via Daily Kos: By a 14-5 vote yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved S. 448, Free Flow of Information Act of 2009, and has sent it on to the full Senate for consideration.  The bill, introduced by Senators Specter, Schumer, Graham and Klobuchar in Committee, for the first time extends press shield protections to matters...
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Firing statehouse reporter is a ’stupid, stupid move’

December 4, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Rich Miller is no fan of the Journal Star’s political reporting … But you’ve never once seen me complain about Adriana Colindres, the PJ Star’s Statehouse bureau reporter. Colindres is top notch all the way. She’s one of those real reporters who gets down to the nitty gritty. She’s not flashy, a bit on the...
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Daily Kos: Senators Durbin and Feinstein have no love for citizen journalsists

December 2, 2009
By Billy Dennis

There’s talk of providing federal shield laws to protect journalists. But Sen. Diane Feinstein and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) have taken steps, apparently TWICE, to make sure citizen journalists and bloggers aren’t protected: Basically, Feinstein and Durbin want to restrict shield law protections for those who are either salaried employees or contractors of big media. If...
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Sen. Durbin blacklists Quincy radio station

October 17, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Via QuincyNews.org: Mike Moyers, general manager/vice president of STARadio Corporation, which owns WTAD-AM (930), said Christina Angarola of Durbin’s Chicago office called WTAD on Monday to inform them they would no longer be included on the list of those receiving news releases from the senator when he plans to visit West-Central Illinois. Moyers said Angarola was...
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A double first in the Peoria Journal Star

June 19, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Check out today’s column by Terry Bibo. There are two firsts. 1. Gary Sandberg and Merle Widmer are on the same side. They’ve been sniping at each over recently, mainly because they differed on the library vote. 2. Not only DOESN’T the column take potshots at either of them, the column is actually pretty much on...
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Today’s News: Assigning blame

January 12, 2008
By Billy Dennis

Today’s news links are via the Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own: If Bank of America is so damn sure that WTVP cannot possibly pay off its $6.9 million debt (even though the station never missed a payment), when why would it NOT accept a $4 million cash payment now? They could have...
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Posted in Misc | 5 Comments »

Relax, Mr. Zell … da fix is in

June 15, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Sam Zell, the uber-rich developer/slum lord who wants to buy the Chicago Tribune using the employees’ money, was in Washington pleading with the feds to relax the rules prohibiting broadcasters from owning print in the same market. He needs the waiver for the deal to do through. Naturally, there’s a ton of groups opposing...
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I found this one mildly amusing too

December 14, 2006
By Billy Dennis
I found this one mildly amusing too

I’ve consistently given Illinois senior and lesser known senator grief over his having compared U.S. servicemen to Nazis. Not that I condone any mistreatment of prisoners. But the level of abuse at Camp Gitmo doesn’t compare to that happened under Nazism or Communism. It’s unfair to the troops and it’s a disservice to those...
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Posted in Misc | 8 Comments »

Roberts decision: Durbin hurt, abortion battle to the states

September 29, 2005
By Billy Dennis

Really? What happened to the last one? Was this in the papers? Well, I hope there wasn’t any controversy over the decision. Heh. Illinois senators Barrak Obama and Dick Durbin were among the 22 voting against him. Obama, who won’t face re-election for about five years, gets a walk. Moderates like the way he talks about...
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Posted in Politics | 4 Comments »

Illinois isn’t safe for Democrats

August 21, 2005
By Billy Dennis

Remember, it wasn’t all that long ago that Republicans held the governor’s mansion and about half of the top state jobs. Today, the top of the Democratic ticket is weak. Consider the following from Doug Finke:
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Illinois National Guard woes are part of a trend

August 7, 2005
By Billy Dennis

The Chicago Tribune is reporting on the contents of a non-classified memo that shows some problems facing the Illinois National Guard: The memo raised concerns about a leadership climate in which it is often felt that officers are more concerned about their own advancement than the well-being of their troops. Soldiers in interviews said they...
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Obama refuses to back Daley

August 5, 2005
By Billy Dennis

There was a time in Illinois when a mayor of Chicago wouldn’t put up with some uppity senator showing such lack of loyalty: Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that the investigation into corruption at Chicago’s City Hall has raised serious concerns, and he brushed off questions about whether he would support Mayor Richard Daley for...
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Durbin is vulnerable, but could former foe take his U.S. Senate seat?

July 31, 2005
By Billy Dennis

Tom Roeser of the Chicago Sun-Times has an idea about who could beat Dick Durbin, now that the once-popular senator embarrassed himself by comparing U.S. Soldiers to Nazi, Soviet gulag guards and members of the Khmer Rouge: Some say the best challenger would be Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville, a Republican incumbent since 1997. Of Lithuanian...
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Posted in Politics | 4 Comments »