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Early Prisoner Release Set to Begin Tuesday
Story date: Friday, November 06, 2009
The State of Illinois plans to start its early release of inmates Tuesday. It’s part of an effort to save money in the prison system. The move comes about four months after the state first announced the plan. As many as one thousand prisoners could eventually be let go before their sentences are complete.
Sixty two prisoners will be freed in this first group. Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith says most of them currently live at the department’s adult transition centers, “basically meaning that these are people who are already living and working in the community.”
Smith says inmates housed in transition centers work or go to school in the day, but must return to the dorm-like facility at night.
Illinois has eight of them ... one each in Carbondale, Decatur and Peoria. The rest are in and around Chicago. Smith couldn’t say from which of these the inmates will be released, but she expects it will be spread out over several locations.
Nor could Smith say where the newly-freed prisoners will go to. But she says local authorities have been notified.
Smith says the Department of Corrections is continuing evaluations to choose other eligible inmates. The department must deem them non-violent and low-level offenders, and they must have less than a year of their sentence left to serve.
Story categories:
crime • government • IllinoisFormer Iroquois County Clerk Sentenced for Defrauding Taxpayers
Story date: Friday, November 06, 2009
Former Iroquois County Clerk Mark Henrichs has been sentenced to 60 days’ jail time and 30 months probation for what’s been described as a trailer swap scheme. Henrichs was removed from the clerk’s post in September, upon his conviction
on two counts of theft, two counts of forgery, and four counts of official misconduct for defrauding Iroquois County taxpayers out of $17,500. He also has to pay that amount in restitution. Investigators say the 53-year old Henrichs sold a trailer to the county for use as a polling place without disclosing that he owned it, and then used that money to buy a newer trailer for his family – while also paying off credit card debt.
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crime2010 Champaign County Budget Plan Due for County Bd Vote This Month After Committee Passage
Story date: Friday, November 06, 2009
A $123,454,993 county budget plan for the fiscal year starting December 1st passed through the Champaign County Board’s Finance Committee Thursday night—- and comes up for a full county board vote November 19th.
The budget cuts spending from the county’s General Corporate Fund by 7-point-2 percent from original 2009 budget plan. Unlike the 4-point-5 percent cuts made partway through FY 2009, these new cuts are targeted and permanent. County Adminstrator Deb Busey says they initially planned for cuts of 6 percent—- but had to go back and cut more as sales and income tax revenue continued to decline.
“We had to cut everything we could from Commodities, Services and Capital at that point”, says Busey. “So we went back and focused on recently added positions, or offices where staffing levels are high than in offices in comparable counties. And we added additional personnel cuts to achieve the total 7.2% cut in General Corporate.”
Busey says the cuts assume that county tax revenue has bottomed out, and won’t fall any further in 2010. Meanwhile, the new budget plan raises spending by nearly ten million dollars at the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, which handles everything from long-range urban planning to Head Start programs. Busey says the increase is due to new federal grants—- much of it courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “The growth in the entire budget is almost entirely attributable to the Regional Planning Commission”, says Busey.
The Finance Committee also approved a county property tax levy of $26,601,528—- an increase of roughly 600-thousand dollars from the year before. Busey says that levy will produce an estimated property tax rate of 73.64 cents per $100 assessed valuation, down from the previous tax rate of 74.26 cents.
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government • Champaign County • taxationUrbana Women’s Shelter Faces Funding Shortage, Possible Closure
Story date: Thursday, November 05, 2009
A shelter for women escaping domestic violence says slow state funding may force it to close before long.
The human resources manager of A Woman’s Place in Urbana says there’s no set date at which the shelter would need to close without funding. But Tara Bossert says she’s had to lay off about a dozen employees. Services have been curtailed to little more than emergency housing for victims and their children as well as a 24 hour hotline, and the shelter may not meet payroll for a second straight pay period.
Bossert says the facility is getting little from the state Department of Human Services, other than sympathy.
“We talked to the comptroller’s office because they ultimately release the payment to us, and they’ve basically given us the same answer—they understand our situation, they sympathize. But they can’t expedite anything because they don’t have any money to release,” Bossert said.
Carol Knowles is with the state comptroller’s office, which funnels state money to A Woman’s Place and other agencies. She says a lack of revenue is causing fund emergencies for many agencies, and it’s hard to tell when payments will catch up.
Bossert says state officials have told her that A Woman’s Place is near the top of the priority list for funding when it becomes available. In the meantime, she says volunteers have stepped up to help, but many of the services require specially-trained people.
Story categories:
economy • government • IllinoisDegorski Sentenced to Life in 1993 Killings
Story date: Thursday, November 05, 2009
A former handyman convicted of killing seven people at a suburban Chicago fast food restaurant has been sentenced to life in prison.
37-year-old James Degorski was sentenced Wednesday during an appearance before Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan.
A jury convicted Degorski last month of shooting and stabbing seven people at the Brown’s Chicken and Pasta Restaurant in Palatine in 1993.
The same jury recommended that Degorski be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ten jurors had wanted to sentence him to death, but two refused. A death penalty verdict must be unanimous.
Degorski’s high school friend and co-defendant, Juan Luna, was convicted in 2007. He’s serving a life sentence at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.
