Blogs
No optimism for "Dark Knight" ride
First things first: If you haven't read Marni Pyke's great story about Field Museum archaeologist Ryan Williams, please do. It's a fun, informative read, and has more than few tips of the fedora to "Indiana Jones" fans.
Now, onto Gurnee, and Six Flags Great America, which hosted a media preview of its new Dark Knight ride today. The Dark Knight Coaster (hereafter TDK) is an indoor ride of the "wild mouse" variety, which means riders don't board a train, like on traditional steel and wooden coasters, but instead board a single car that typically holds 2-4 people. Early pictures and video suggest TDK's cars hold four people. Wild mouse rides are typically tame, depending on sudden small dips and turns for thrills. Theme Park Insider reports the ride will serve 600 guests an hour.
Body by Anderson
Cheaper gas or pork projects -- the choice for House GOP members
On Tuesday morning, House Republican lawmakers gathered in a Capitol news conference room to demand the state's sales tax on gasoline be removed to help working families cope with $4-a-gallon gas.
On Tuesday afternoon, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Plano Republican, appeared in the same news conference room to announce a proposal that would finance $31 billion worth of road construction that numerous lawmakers on both sides of the Illinois Capitol aisle have been clamoring for.
The catch?
Hastert's plan uses that gasoline sales tax money as the financial backing for the borrowing needed for such a massive undertaking.
Progress or purgatory?
This Marmol is good, the best reliever in baseball
Playing politics with the pump
House Republicans had a news conference this morning to tell reporters about their idea to get rid of the state’s sales tax on gasoline. The move could save motorists upward of a quarter per gallon IF the station operators pass along all the savings.
Illinois imposes a sales tax on the total price per gallon. That tax is atop other gasoline taxes. The gasoline taxes, in theory, pay for road construction. The added sales tax can pay for anything in state government.
Spielberg is still one of the greats
In recent years, it has become almost fashionable to use the words "overrated," "sentimental" and even "terrible" when talking about Steven Spielberg. The Internet geek community has been particularly harsh to the most successful director of all time, and more specifically to the way he ends his movies.
No loss for adjectives
Obama declared "fittest"
Men’s Fitness Magazine has named Barack Obama as one of its 25 Fittest Guys In America.
Big picture, Local focus
Last week, we – Amber Krosel, Nick Shields and myself – set out to talk to every lawmaker from the Daily Herald’s circulation area. By week’s end we’d touched base with almost everyone. More than 40 interviews later, they’d painted a fairly, but not completely, gloomy picture of getting done on time with a balanced spending plan for the next state budget year, which begins July 1.
A tally of the lawmakers’ quotes can be found here.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=193073&src=109
But if you want to know what those representing your specific part of the suburbs said, below is a lengthy list broken down by those representing Cook, Lake and DuPage counties along with the Fox Valley.