Posts Tagged ‘ Rich Miller ’

That vibration you feel this morning is due to the administrators at Peoria’s big three hospitals quaking in their boots in fear

March 19, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Via Rich Miller: A new opinion by the Illinois Supreme Court is very bad news for not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois who want to qualify for local tax exemptions. Yes. It seems that it IS legal for cities to make nominally not-for-profit hospitals pay property taxes. Miller links to lots and lots of articles about it. Apparently,...
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Posted in Local, Politics | 7 Comments »

Here’s another reason to read Capitol Fax Blog

February 5, 2010
By Billy Dennis

Rich Miller has great taste in music.
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Posted in Media | Comments Off

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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Posted in Media | 1 Comment »

Capitol Fax catches Washington Post error

November 5, 2009
By Billy Dennis

You know how moderate U.S. Senate  candidate Mark Kirk supposedly asked Sarah Palin for an endorsement. Rick Miller discovered it never happened: I probably should’ve known better than to believe the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza yesterday when he wrote… Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk penned a memo to Republican poobah Fred Malek hoping to secure an endorsement...
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Posted in Media | 2 Comments »

Proft says McKenna is Blago’s hair apparent

October 30, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Dan Proft, Merle Widmer’s favorite  GOP candidate for governor, doesn’t think much of primary foe Andy McKenna’s new ad (referenced here). Proft says the ad is short on specifics and shows shows McKenna’s Blago-like tendencies: And that brings me to the subject of Andy McKenna, the latest candidate to enter the Republican primary for governor....
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Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »

Snickering at the Chicago Tribune

August 25, 2009
By Billy Dennis

Think I’m tough on the Peoria Journal Star’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page? Today, Rich Miller expresses some irritation with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial video poker legalization: Today’s editorial is a long, strident, breathless slam on legalized, limited and taxed video gaming. It’s chock full of phrases that would make nutballs like Alan Keyes smile with...
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Posted in Media | 1 Comment »

The next governor may be a guy named Clayborne

August 3, 2009
By Billy Dennis
The next governor may be a guy named Clayborne

Since local news organizations pretty much ignore state politics — except trials and budget crises — most Peorians probably have never heard of State Sen. James Clayborne. He’s the Illinois Senate majority leader. And he’s mulling over a run for governor. Rich Miller predicts that Clayborn would make interesting candidate: Sen. Clayborne is not the sort...
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Posted in Politics | 1 Comment »

Rich Miller slaps the reformers with reality and numbers

May 25, 2009
By Billy Dennis

I’ve always said that you can’t reform Illinois with new laws. Illinois has plenty of laws. We also have plenty of crooked politicians, cops, bureaucrats and corporations. These people were not foisted upon an unsuspecting citizenry. This is the government we want. This is the government we demand to have. Every election, we go...
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Posted in Local | 2 Comments »

Politics: A memo about talking points

August 7, 2008
By Billy Dennis

As noted in IlliniPundit and Capitol Fax Blog, the McCain campaign web site is posting talking points and is asking supporters to get the word out. Many are taking this as instructions to copy and paste the talking points into blogs, either as posts or comments. This is nothing new, albeit a but more blunt...
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Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »

Media: More nonsense about the Intertubes from the PJS

May 5, 2008
By Billy Dennis

Attention newspaper editors and reporters: When you are doing a story about political bloggers, it might — just might — be a good idea to pick up the phone and, you know, talk to a political blogger. Sunday’s Journal Star includes an article about how technology is shaping politics. There’s even a segment on how...
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Posted in Media, Misc | 8 Comments »

Blogs: Meeting an old friend for the first time

April 5, 2008
By Billy Dennis

The always entertaining Rich Miller is in Peoria today to address a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union. We got together last night for dinner and conversation on the state of Illinois politics and the sad condition of the mainstream media, as well as a lively exploration of free speech issues. I’ve known Rich...
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Posted in CitJo | 1 Comment »

Politics: A free pass for Obama? Hardly …

January 23, 2008
By Billy Dennis

The pundits have been claiming that Barack Obama hasn’t been fully “vetted” by the press. Rich Miller looks at the facts and found that Obama’s home-state press has looked very deeply into his background, and so far they haven’t found much. No doubt that the Clinton crowd and right-wing radio will still spread this...
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Posted in Politics | 7 Comments »

Media: Kudos to Capitol Fax

January 2, 2008
By Billy Dennis

Rich Miller gets a mention in the Washington Post’s blog The Fix.
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Media: Peoria’s bloggers are kicking ass, taking names

November 19, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Rich Miller has some kind words to say about Peoria Pundit (and less kind words for the Journal Star) in his most recent syndicated newspaper column. I liked this line: Peoria probably has more political bloggers per capita than anywhere in the state. Finally, there’s something about Peoria that isn’t lagging 10-20 years behind the rest of...
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Posted in CitJo, Politics | 6 Comments »

Media: Journal Star ‘a joke’ throughout the state

November 9, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Ouch. Rich Miller picked up on the fact that the Journal Star didn’t even use its own reporters to cover Jim McConoughey’s press conference yesterday. This is his lede paragraph: The Peoria Journal-Star’s fawning coverage of state Rep. Aaron Schock has long been a running joke in Springfield. I don’t blame Schock in the least. If...
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Politics: Blogger/journalist keeps commuters commuting in Chicago

November 2, 2007
By Billy Dennis

If you depend on public transportation in the Chicago area, you might want to send Rich Miller a thank-you note. Apparently, he’s the only thing stopping the entire system from shutting down due to lack of money. Seriously.
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Posted in CitJo | 1 Comment »

Politics: Job performance ratings

October 24, 2007
By Billy Dennis

The indispensable Rich Miller is asking readers to rate the performance of their state and federal legislators. Ray LaHood got a 7. I’d like to see the Peoria area represented a bit more in this poll, so go over there and vote.
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Politics: Taking the pledge

October 19, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Speaking of Rich Miller, he’s running a contest I find amusing. Illinois, unlike some states, doesn’t have its own pledge of allegiance. Frankly, it doesn’t worry me all that much that the state that gave the world Abraham Lincoln doesn’t wallow in the concept of state sovereignty. Anyway, Rich asked his readers to get creative....
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Media: GateHouse trying to eliminate 149 newspaper jobs in Springfield

October 16, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Wow. Just this morning, I left a comment at Rich Miller’s site about how I was worried that by not replacing workers who leave, GateHouse Media was making it harder to practice newspaper journalism at the Peoria Journal Star. Now comes this news at one of the Journal Star’s sister papers: SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Springfield’s...
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Posted in Misc | 20 Comments »

Hastert’s foe has no class … but at least he’s actually campainging

August 15, 2006
By Billy Dennis
Hastert’s foe has no class … but at least he’s actually campainging

The diligent Rich Miller has the details about how Speaker of House Denny Hastert’s opponent is waging war on a anonymous blogger — who himself loathes Hastert. What sin did this blogger commit that has John Laesch wasting the time of his staff trying to “out” the blogger’s identity? Well, he allowed a commenter...
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Posted in CitJo | 11 Comments »