By Diane S.W. Lee (Illinois Statehouse News) - 3/28/11 - All of those public notices printed in the newspaper will stay put, at least for now.
House Bill 1869 proposed to move public notices printed in newspapers to local government and school district websites. The plan is stuck in House Rules Committee, traditionally known as a death sentence for legislation.
As chief sponsor, state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, said his proposal was meant to spark discussion.
“It gave both parties, both sides of the argument, a reason to come and talk and see how they could make the notice requirements better,“ Mautino said, “while still requiring, and allowing for transparency, but possibly saving some money in the process for those that are required by the laws to report.”
Local governments and school districts must print public notices in local newspapers to announce any action using tax dollars, such as upcoming public meetings or bids for government contracts. Under the proposal, the notices would still have to publish a note in a newspaper to refer readers to a website where the public notice is posted.
But the shift could mean less money for newspapers, which have been struggling financially in recent years. Local governments only would have to buy and print a small reference, not the larger and more expensive full public notice.
The Illinois Press Association, which represents roughly 480 newspapers statewide, opposed the measure. Josh Sharp, the association’s director of government relations, disagrees with the idea to move notices from newspapers to government websites.
“That theory of how this process will work is dead,” he said. “We seem to be moving on now towards somehow finding some middle ground in terms of reformatting some notices and maybe combining notices.”
Sharp said he hopes the plan will turn into a “cleanup effort” to change the consistency in size and formatting of public notices.
State Rep. Michael Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, agreed the plan needs to be worked on “at length” to address some concerns of the media and public interest groups.
“There are lots of different types of notices that could be reshaped, reformatted and provide better information,” he said.
Tryon, a co-sponsor of the plan, said more people are turning to the Internet for news and information.
“It shouldn’t be considered as an attack on the freedom of information at all,” Tryon said. “I think that the people that are working on it are trying to make it easier to access information.”
David Morrison, deputy director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said the information about what local school boards and local governments are planning would not disappear under the proposed law. He points out that a lot of people are looking to their computer for information, and the public information would be included.
"There would still be a notice in the newspaper," Morrison said. "But getting it onto the Internet where Google or any Web crawler that could get a hold of it might make it more accessible to the public."
Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News (originally posted 3/25/2011).
High Gas Prices Destroy Consumer Confidence
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropped to minus 48.9 in the period to March 20 from minus 48.5 the prior week. The measure of the current state of the economy slumped to a 15-month low.
The highest gasoline prices in more than two years weighed on families already dealing with rising grocery bills. The report showed confidence among households with annual incomes exceeding $50,000 fell to the lowest level since March 2010, representing a risk to consumer spending, the biggest part of the U.S. economy.
For full CCI results, see: http://www.bloomberg.com/cci
“Given the rise in fuel and food costs, households are clearly indicating frustration over the need to reduce discretionary spending to meet demand for basic necessities,” said Joseph Brusuelas, a senior economist at Bloomberg LP in New York. “Even better-off households are feeling the pinch of rising prices, primarily at the pump.”
A report from the Labor Department March 24 showed the number of Americans applying for unemployment insurance fell last week. Orders for U.S. durable goods, meant to last at least three years, decreased in February, according to figures released by the Commerce Department.
Stocks rose on optimism European leaders will be able to find a solution to the region’s debt crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 0.3 percent to 1,301.5 at 9:40 a.m. in New York.
The Bloomberg Comfort Index, with records dating back to December 1985, fell to a record low of minus 54 in November 2008, while the peak of 38 was reached in January 2000. Readings averaged minus 45.7 last year.
The latest results for the comfort index reflected worsening results for one of the three components.
A gauge of Americans’ views of the economy fell to minus 86 last week, the lowest level since December 2009, from minus 80.3 the prior week. The share of households with a positive view of the economy dropped to 7 percent from 10 percent.
The measure of personal finances improved to minus 5.5 last week from minus 7.7, the report showed. Forty-seven percent of those polled held positive views on their financial situation, up from 46 percent the previous week.
The buying-climate index rose to minus 55.1 from minus 57.4. Those saying it was a good time to buy needed items climbed to 23 percent from 21 percent.
Today’s report showed the strengthening labor market is doing little to lift consumers’ moods. The confidence index for Americans with full-time jobs fell to minus 38.4 last week, the lowest level since August, while it improved for those who were unemployed.
Jobless claims declined by 5,000 to 382,000 in the week ended March 19, Labor Department figures showed today, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The total number of people receiving benefits dropped to the lowest level in almost three years.
Sentiment among women dropped last week to the lowest level since October 2009, the comfort report also showed.
Although elevated, little change in fuel costs last week may have prevented the comfort index from dropping even more.
The average price of regular gasoline at the pump was $3.55 a gallon on March 20, compared with $3.56 a week earlier, the highest since October 2008, according to AAA, the nation’s biggest motoring organization. The price jumped 39 cents in the three weeks ended March 13.
“Consumer confidence paused this week after a two-week rout, continuing to march in time with the price of a gallon of gasoline,” Gary Langer, president of Langer Research Associates LLC in New York, which compiles the index for Bloomberg, said in a statement. At the same time, the index is “uncomfortably near its historic low” of minus 54, he said.
Gasoline prices and the comfort index have shown a strong inverse correlation since 2004, according to calculations by Bloomberg economist Brusuelas. Additionally, changes in the four-week average of claims for jobless benefits have been in sync with the comfort gauge about 72 percent of the time.
Americans are paying more for staple food items like cereal, and costs may climb further in the next few months.
“In recent months we have announced a variety of pricing actions across our businesses,” Ken Powell, chief executive officer of General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios, said yesterday on a conference call. “Food manufacturers are managing through a period of rising and volatile costs for food ingredients and energy.”
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index is based on responses to telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,000 consumers aged 18 and over. Each week, 250 respondents are asked for their views on the economy, personal finances and buying climate; the percentage of negative responses is subtracted from the share of positive views and divided by three. The most recent reading is based on the average of responses over the previous four weeks.
The comfort index can range from 100, indicating every participant in the survey had a positive response to all three components, to minus 100, signaling all views were negative. The margin of error for the headline reading is 3 percentage points.
The responses are broken down by participants’ sex, age, income level, race, region of residence, political affiliation, marital and employment status.
Former Bank President, Loan Officer Indicted
ATLANTA – 3/21/2011 – An indictment unsealed on March 21 charges two former top officers of FirstCity Bank of Stockbridge, Ga., Mark A. Conner, 44, formerly of Canton, Ga., and Clayton A. Coe, 44, of McDonough, Ga., with a variety of offenses including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud in connection with misconduct at FirstCity Bank in the years before the bank’s seizure by state and federal authorities on March 20, 2009.
In addition to the conspiracy and bank fraud charges, the indictment charges Conner with conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise at the bank between February 2006 and February 2008, during which Conner’s and his co-conspirators’ crimes allegedly generated over $5 million in unlawful gross proceeds.
A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned the sealed indictment against Conner and Coe on March 16, 2011. Conner was arrested on the charges and taken into custody by federal agents at Miami International Airport yesterday morning, the two-year anniversary of FirstCity Bank’s failure, upon his arrival in Miami from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies. Conner made his initial appearance today before a federal magistrate judge in Miami, who ordered Conner to be detained as a flight risk pending his transfer by Deputy U.S. Marshals from Miami to Atlanta for trial. A formal detention hearing will take place in Miami on Thursday, March 24, 2011, at 1:30 p.m. Coe’s initial appearance on the indictment in the Northern District of Georgia has not yet been scheduled.
“The entire country has felt the deep economic impact of failed banks. At the heart of this indictment is an abuse of power by key insiders, who are charged with tricking their own colleagues into approving millions of dollars in commercial loans to fund the defendants’ own personal business activities, and to enrich themselves at the bank’s expense,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Along the way, these defendants also allegedly defrauded state and federal bank regulators and examiners, and at least ten other federally-insured banks in Florida and Georgia that invested in the fraudulent multi-million dollar loans.”
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Reginael McDaniel said of the case, “Honest and law abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money. Those individuals who engage in this type of financial fraud should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable.”
According to the charges and other information presented in court: Conner served in a variety of top positions at FirstCity Bank between 2004 and 2009, including as vice chairman of the board of directors, as a member of the banks’s loan committee, as president, and later as acting chairman and chief executive officer.
Coe served as a vice president and as FirstCity Bank’s senior commercial loan officer. While serving in these positions, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly conspired to defraud FirstCity Bank’s loan committee and board of directors into approving multiple multi-million dollar commercial loans to borrowers who, unbeknownst to FirstCity Bank, were actually purchasing property owned by Conner or Coe personally.
The indictment charges that Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators misrepresented the essential nature, terms and underlying purpose of the loans and falsified documents and information presented to the loan committee and the Board of Directors. Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators then allegedly caused at least 10 other federally-insured banks to invest in, or “participate in” the fraudulent loans based on these and other fraudulent misrepresentations, shifting all or part of the risk of default to the other banks. Coe’s bonus compensation was tied to the origination of FirstCity Bank loans, including the fraudulent loans with which he and Conner allegedly assisted each other.
In the process of defrauding FirstCity Bank and the “participating” banks, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly routinely misled federal and state bank regulators and examiners to conceal their unlawful scheme. They also unsuccessfully sought federal government assistance through TARP and engaged in other misconduct in an attempt to avoid seizure by regulators and prevent the discovery of their fraud.
The charge against Conner for conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a potential fine of up to $10 million. The conspiracy and bank fraud charges against Conner and Coe, and a remaining charge against Coe for fraudulently influencing the actions of a federally-insured bank, carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a potential fine of up to $1 million on each count. In determining the actual sentences for each defendant, the Court will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
“Today’s indictment marks yet another occasion where bank executives are alleged to have turned to criminal fraud in the midst of the financial crisis, including an attempt to obtain millions of dollars from the American taxpayer through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),” said Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). “SIGTARP will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring those who engage in such crimes to justice.”
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government's burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the FDIC, Office of Inspector General; the Office of the SIGTARP; the FBI; and the IRS – Criminal Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas W. Gilfillan and David M. Chaiken are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice release.
In addition to the conspiracy and bank fraud charges, the indictment charges Conner with conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise at the bank between February 2006 and February 2008, during which Conner’s and his co-conspirators’ crimes allegedly generated over $5 million in unlawful gross proceeds.
A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned the sealed indictment against Conner and Coe on March 16, 2011. Conner was arrested on the charges and taken into custody by federal agents at Miami International Airport yesterday morning, the two-year anniversary of FirstCity Bank’s failure, upon his arrival in Miami from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies. Conner made his initial appearance today before a federal magistrate judge in Miami, who ordered Conner to be detained as a flight risk pending his transfer by Deputy U.S. Marshals from Miami to Atlanta for trial. A formal detention hearing will take place in Miami on Thursday, March 24, 2011, at 1:30 p.m. Coe’s initial appearance on the indictment in the Northern District of Georgia has not yet been scheduled.
“The entire country has felt the deep economic impact of failed banks. At the heart of this indictment is an abuse of power by key insiders, who are charged with tricking their own colleagues into approving millions of dollars in commercial loans to fund the defendants’ own personal business activities, and to enrich themselves at the bank’s expense,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Along the way, these defendants also allegedly defrauded state and federal bank regulators and examiners, and at least ten other federally-insured banks in Florida and Georgia that invested in the fraudulent multi-million dollar loans.”
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Reginael McDaniel said of the case, “Honest and law abiding citizens are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets with other people’s money. Those individuals who engage in this type of financial fraud should know they will not go undetected and will be held accountable.”
According to the charges and other information presented in court: Conner served in a variety of top positions at FirstCity Bank between 2004 and 2009, including as vice chairman of the board of directors, as a member of the banks’s loan committee, as president, and later as acting chairman and chief executive officer.
Coe served as a vice president and as FirstCity Bank’s senior commercial loan officer. While serving in these positions, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly conspired to defraud FirstCity Bank’s loan committee and board of directors into approving multiple multi-million dollar commercial loans to borrowers who, unbeknownst to FirstCity Bank, were actually purchasing property owned by Conner or Coe personally.
The indictment charges that Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators misrepresented the essential nature, terms and underlying purpose of the loans and falsified documents and information presented to the loan committee and the Board of Directors. Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators then allegedly caused at least 10 other federally-insured banks to invest in, or “participate in” the fraudulent loans based on these and other fraudulent misrepresentations, shifting all or part of the risk of default to the other banks. Coe’s bonus compensation was tied to the origination of FirstCity Bank loans, including the fraudulent loans with which he and Conner allegedly assisted each other.
In the process of defrauding FirstCity Bank and the “participating” banks, Conner, Coe and their co-conspirators allegedly routinely misled federal and state bank regulators and examiners to conceal their unlawful scheme. They also unsuccessfully sought federal government assistance through TARP and engaged in other misconduct in an attempt to avoid seizure by regulators and prevent the discovery of their fraud.
The charge against Conner for conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a potential fine of up to $10 million. The conspiracy and bank fraud charges against Conner and Coe, and a remaining charge against Coe for fraudulently influencing the actions of a federally-insured bank, carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a potential fine of up to $1 million on each count. In determining the actual sentences for each defendant, the Court will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
“Today’s indictment marks yet another occasion where bank executives are alleged to have turned to criminal fraud in the midst of the financial crisis, including an attempt to obtain millions of dollars from the American taxpayer through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),” said Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). “SIGTARP will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring those who engage in such crimes to justice.”
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government's burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the FDIC, Office of Inspector General; the Office of the SIGTARP; the FBI; and the IRS – Criminal Investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas W. Gilfillan and David M. Chaiken are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice release.
State board reports 2,000 teacher layoffs in 2010
By Diane S.W. Lee (Illinois Statehouse News) — 3/21/2011 — More than 2,000 Illinois public school teachers got pink slips last year, and superintendents claim state budget cuts and late state aid payments are to blame.
The Illinois State Board of Education last week released its annual report of school districts statewide, showing public schools in 2010 laid off a total of 2,102 tenured and non-tenured teachers. That was 664 more layoffs than in 2009.
However, 42 other school districts did not submit data last year, including the Chicago School District, meaning the number of teacher layoffs are likely higher than reported, according to ISBE spokeswoman Mary Fergus.
“We know that it can mean a little less attention in the classroom,” said Fergus. “It can mean students aren’t getting access to some really great instruction that can enhance their education.”
The report also shows that since 2008, tenured and non-tenured teaching positions that were eliminated had increased from 39 percent to 66 percent in 2010. More non-tenured teachers were shown the door than tenured ones last year than in previous years.
Schools are getting less money and are having to lay off teachers as a result of budget cuts, Fergus said.
“General state aid has gone out on a timely basis, but a lot of the mandated categorical payments have been delayed,” Fergus said. “We’ve been running about a billion dollars behind in some of those payments at the state level, because of this very national recession that we’re in.”
General state aid is the state’s largest education funding program, and categorical aid is state and federal money given to local school districts for special education programs.
Crystal Lake School District lost more than $5 million in state funding in the past few years, said chief financial officer Susan Harkin.
“We certainly don’t have other avenues to really go out and raise more money, and certainly we aren’t in an environment to raise taxes, specifically, because that seems to be the only place we can go to,” Harkin said. “And for our situation, when we are 75 percent of budget in salaries and benefits, you really have to look at that line item to find some significant reductions to offset that larger loss in revenue.”
As a result, the school district had to reduce staff by offering early retirement to teachers and leaving those positions unfilled, Harkin said. Fifteen teachers took early retirement last year, and 22 more positions will be left unfilled this year, she said. The district’s school board worked closely with the teachers’ union to freeze pay this year to prevent future reductions, she said.
“Had they not worked with us to negotiate what we felt was a fair contract,” Harkin said, “we would have had to get into the layoff mode that a lot of school districts are in right now.”
Kaneland Community School District had to work hard to prevent layoffs last year, because six non-tenured support positions were cut in 2009, said Superintendent Jeff Schuler.
“Last year, we did reduce a number of folks, but then we worked with our teachers’ union to restructure the salary agreement,” Schuler said. “And, so that wound up preserving the jobs last year.”
The school district can withstand late payments, he said, but budget cuts are more harmful because it is harder to replace lost revenue.
“Quite honestly we already run on a pretty lean and a pretty efficient budget,” Schuler said. “And so anytime that we learn that we are going to get less revenue in the next year, that’s not going to be good for us, there’s no doubt about it.”
Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News. Originally published 3/18/2011
The Illinois State Board of Education last week released its annual report of school districts statewide, showing public schools in 2010 laid off a total of 2,102 tenured and non-tenured teachers. That was 664 more layoffs than in 2009.
However, 42 other school districts did not submit data last year, including the Chicago School District, meaning the number of teacher layoffs are likely higher than reported, according to ISBE spokeswoman Mary Fergus.
“We know that it can mean a little less attention in the classroom,” said Fergus. “It can mean students aren’t getting access to some really great instruction that can enhance their education.”
The report also shows that since 2008, tenured and non-tenured teaching positions that were eliminated had increased from 39 percent to 66 percent in 2010. More non-tenured teachers were shown the door than tenured ones last year than in previous years.
Schools are getting less money and are having to lay off teachers as a result of budget cuts, Fergus said.
“General state aid has gone out on a timely basis, but a lot of the mandated categorical payments have been delayed,” Fergus said. “We’ve been running about a billion dollars behind in some of those payments at the state level, because of this very national recession that we’re in.”
General state aid is the state’s largest education funding program, and categorical aid is state and federal money given to local school districts for special education programs.
Crystal Lake School District lost more than $5 million in state funding in the past few years, said chief financial officer Susan Harkin.
“We certainly don’t have other avenues to really go out and raise more money, and certainly we aren’t in an environment to raise taxes, specifically, because that seems to be the only place we can go to,” Harkin said. “And for our situation, when we are 75 percent of budget in salaries and benefits, you really have to look at that line item to find some significant reductions to offset that larger loss in revenue.”
As a result, the school district had to reduce staff by offering early retirement to teachers and leaving those positions unfilled, Harkin said. Fifteen teachers took early retirement last year, and 22 more positions will be left unfilled this year, she said. The district’s school board worked closely with the teachers’ union to freeze pay this year to prevent future reductions, she said.
“Had they not worked with us to negotiate what we felt was a fair contract,” Harkin said, “we would have had to get into the layoff mode that a lot of school districts are in right now.”
Kaneland Community School District had to work hard to prevent layoffs last year, because six non-tenured support positions were cut in 2009, said Superintendent Jeff Schuler.
“Last year, we did reduce a number of folks, but then we worked with our teachers’ union to restructure the salary agreement,” Schuler said. “And, so that wound up preserving the jobs last year.”
The school district can withstand late payments, he said, but budget cuts are more harmful because it is harder to replace lost revenue.
“Quite honestly we already run on a pretty lean and a pretty efficient budget,” Schuler said. “And so anytime that we learn that we are going to get less revenue in the next year, that’s not going to be good for us, there’s no doubt about it.”
Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News. Originally published 3/18/2011
