* Governor calls VA ordeal an ‘unbelievable thing’
* Lawmakers say politics is behind anti-violence program
* Coalition tells Stroger: Skip this sales tax hike
* Stroger at the heart of tax debate
* Foes organize against sales-tax hike; more here
* CPR: Cook Co. deficit tops $300 million
* McNulty: Reporters stay above fray in museum fight
* Ald. Reilly uses foe’s book to sway colleagues; more here
* Field museum asks for more green
* City plan takes aim at resident’s’ illegal hotels
Burke gets a lot of legislative ideas from New York City, and the crackdown he introduced at Thursday’s City Council meeting was no exception. The Big Apple has launched its own crackdown against “illegal hotel conversions” after residents complained.
Burke’s ordinance would require short-term renters to buy $400-a-year city licenses and secure $300,000 worth of general liability insurance. Violators would face fines as high as $100 a day.
* U of I’s alumni group’s conservative curriculum plans are blasted
Conservative commentator Robert Novak said Thursday that his Washington colleagues were stunned to learn that a University of Illinois alumni group was setting up an organization to encourage and finance conservative studies on campus.
They asked, “Capitalism and limited government at a public university? How can that be?” Novak, an Illinois graduate, told about 250 people gathered for the launch of the Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Fund.
Some U of I faculty members fear that the group’s plans to raise money to pay for classes and research on free-market capitalism and limited government would create an undue conservative political influence on campus. They also complain that the new group was formed without faculty input.
* Friday Beer Blogging: Return to Schwelmer edition