Editorial

News September 2001

Casey's settles
Casey’s General Store Inc. has agreed to give the state $30,000 and make refunds to consumers who paid inflated gas prices in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack, Attorney General Jim Ryan says. The settlement, a response to Ryan’s suit accusing the chain of price gouging, requires the Iowa-based company to pay $25,000 of the $30,000 to the American Red Cross.

Illinois Issues, September 27, 2001

Panel OKs Dem map
The Legislative Redistricting Commission voted 5-4 along party lines for a map that will likely make it easier for Democrats to wrest control of the Senate from the GOP. Eight Republican senators were put into districts with other incumbents. The map, set to replace one that gave the edge to the GOP in the 1990s, also likely will help Democrats extend their control of the House.

Illinois Issues, September 27, 2001

Dems draft their map
Illinois Democrats exercised their lottery-won control of legislative redistricting in crafting a map that extends some city-based districts into suburbia to take advantage of African American population growth there, doubles the number of Hispanic-majority districts, cuts up Republican-held downstate strongholds and lumps many Republican incumbents into the same districts. Democratic analysts say the Senate map creates 23 Democratic districts, 20 Republican districts and 16 swing districts, which would shift the balance of power out of GOP hands come election time next November.

http://www.housedem.state.il.us/constituents/ilredistrict.htm

Illinois Issues, September 20, 2001

Wild gas prices decried
Thirteen downstate Illinois convenience stores preyed on consumers' fears, charges Attorney General Jim Ryan, when they hiked gas prices to as much as $5 a gallon following terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a civil suit filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court against the Iowa-based Casey's General Store Inc., Ryan seeks $50,000 in penalties and restitution. He may cite other retailers for price gouging.

Illinois Issues, September 13, 2001

Dems to pick map
Democrats won the edge in the design of the state’s legislative districts for the next decade. Secretary of State Jesse White pulled from a stovepipe hat the name of retired Illinois Supreme Court Justice Michael Bilandic, a Democrat, to cast the tie-breaking vote on a map.

Illinois Issues, September 6, 2001

Gaming board shifts
The Illinois Gaming Board named Thomas Swoik, its deputy administrator of finance and administration, as its interim director to replace Sergio Acosta, who resigned in August. Meanwhile, board member Stuart P. Levine, a Chicago philanthropist and private investor, resigned.

Gov race
Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood announced she will run in the Republican gubernatorial primary, while John Schmidt, a former U.S. justice department official, and Richard Devine, Cook County states attorney, opted not to join the Democratic field.

William Daley put to rest speculation he would run in the Democratic primary, while Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood stopped short joining the GOP field, saying she would make an announcement.

Redistricting challenge
Attorney General Jim Ryan asked that a federal court, rather than the state Supreme Court, rule on a lawsuit challenging the state’s random method for determining which party crafts the new legislative district map.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald
The new U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is on the job.