Illinois House debating death-penalty abolition

Illinois House Votes To Abolish Death Penalty
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois House has approved a plan to abolish Capital Punishment in a whirlwind reversal on a historic vote. The Legislation to halt state-sponsored execution gained the necessary 60 votes Thursday after an earlier vote fell short. The landmark action comes nearly 11 years after then-Gov. George Ryan cleared death row and declared a Moratorium on Capital Punishment in Illinois. The Legislation now moves to the Senate, where President John Cullerton says he support...

Illinois House Passes Death Penalty Ban, Senate Next
Source: Reuters Illinois House passes death penalty ban, Senate next Thu Jan 6, 2011 11:18pm EST Chicago (Reuters) - The Illinois House on Thursday voted to ban the death penalty, moving the measure on to the Senate a decade after a Moratorium on executions was put into place by former Governor George Ryan. Thursday night's vote came after a first vote failed, according to Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat who voted in favor of the ban. The final vote was 60-54 in favor of...

How the death penalty abolition bill passed on the second try
* As you know by now, the House passed a death penalty abolition bill on the second try yesterday. Democratic state Rep. Pat Verschoore voted against the bill the first time, then changed his vote after the bill’s sponsor appealed to him… “I’d been back and forth on this since they started talking about abolishing it,” Verschoore said. State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, the proposal’s sponsor, asked him to reconsider his vote, he said. “She’s helped me o

Illinois House Votes to Abolish Death Penalty
"You can release an innocent man from Prison but not from the grave" said Gordon "Randy" Steidl, who spent 17 years in prison, including 12 on death row, after being wrongfully convicted of a double Murder. Thursday, the Illinois House voted to abolish the death penalty. The bill now goes to the Senate, where passage will be difficult, but not impossible. Thirty-five states now have the death penalty... Three states — New York, New Jersey and New Mexico — have eliminated the death ...

Illinois House passes death penalty ban, Senate next
Chicago | Thu Jan 6, 2011 11:18pm EST Chicago (Reuters) - The Illinois House on Thursday voted to ban the death penalty, moving the measure on to the Senate a decade after a Moratorium on executions was put into place by former Governor George Ryan. Thursday night's vote came after a first vote failed, according to Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat who voted in favor of the ban. The final vote was 60-54 in favor of the ban. "I believe the history of the death penalty in...

Illinois House passes death penalty ban, Senate next
Thursday night's vote came after a first vote failed, according to Illinois State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat who voted in favor of the ban. The final vote was 60-54 in favor of the ban. "I believe the history of the death penalty in Illinois demonstrates that we are not in a position to get it right 100 percent of the time," said Nekritz, explaining her vote. Ryan ordered the Moratorium in January 2000 following a series of revelations that more than a dozen people had been sent ...

Illinois House votes to abolish death penalty
Illinois Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Maywood, discusses Illinois Senate Bill 3539, which she is sponsoring, on the floor of the House of Representatives at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. In a whirlwind reversal, the Illinois House voted to Repeal the state's death penalty hours after an initial attempt failed. The Repeal measure came up one vote short during a 59-58 tally earlier Thursday. But a second vote yielded the required 60 votes. The measure passed 6...

Illinois House Votes to Abolish Death Penalty
Action Comes Nearly 11 Years after then-Gov. George Ryan Cleared Death Row, Declared Moratorium on Ill. Capital Punishment Like this Story? Share it: Learn about the people, economy and geography. (AP) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois House has approved a plan to abolish capital punishment in a whirlwind reversal on a historic vote. The Legislation to halt state-sponsored execution gained the necessary 60 votes Thursday after an earlier vote fell short. The landmark action comes nearly 11 year...

Ill. House OKs abolishing death penalty
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A bill that would abolish the death penalty passed the Illinois House of Representatives and moved to the Senate where, observers say, its fate is uncertain. The vote Thursday came a decade after then-Gov. George Ryan issued a Moratorium on the death penalty after it was learned that several people on death row were Not Guilty, the report said. Observers say the bill's future is unclear in the final days of the Legislature's lame-duck session. Backers say Senat...

Death penalty repeal fails by one vote
Posted by Barton Lorimor 4:53 p.m. Efforts to Repeal Illinois’ death penalty failed in the House by one vote. The issue has been placed on postponed consideration. Pro-repeal Lobbyists said immediately after the vote that Rep. Patrick Verschoore was supposed to vote in favor of the measure. Rep. Rosemary Mulligan was the only representative not to cast a vote. She is reportedly out of town due to an illness, but would have voted, “Yes.”. Video of the vote board… ...

The Amazon Tax
The Amazon Tax It seems the State of Illinois is so desperate for revenue that it is instituting an Internet Sales Tax. Chicago, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Internet Tax Bill (HB 3659) was passed in the Illinois Senate on January 5, by the House of Representatives on January 6 and brought to the Governor, who may sign it into a law as early as Friday, January 7. The tax Legislation relates to out-of-state merchants like Amazon.com and Overstock.com that do not have a physical presence in ...

Gov. Pat Quinn (D, IL) about to destroy IL Amazon affliliates?
It’s certainly looking that way: the Democrat-run (Democrat-dominated) State Legislature has just passed a bill to tax online purchases (via Points and Figures, via Instapundit): the bill is just waiting for Governor Pat Quinn’s (D) signature, which is almost certainly inevitable.  In fact, the state of Illinois is going to raise taxes across the board - because that’s what Democrats do .  Business is good; raise taxes.  Business is bad; raise taxes.  Business is in a

Amazon threatens to dump Illinois associates over unconstitutional bill - Tenaska threatens to abandon project
* The so-called Amazon Tax also passed the House yesterday… Now, some large Internet Retailers such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com don’t collect Illinois sales taxes because they don’t have a physical Illinois presence. Shoppers technically still owe the taxes, but the vast majority don’t pay because they’re unaware. The Legislation would force Amazon to collect the taxes because they have certain kinds of contracts with Illinois companies. It was approved by a 88-29 vote. I

Illinois about to institute massive tax hikes
There's no question that Illinois is in an economic basket case. It might be in the worst fiscal shape of any state in the union. So how does Illinois plan to dig itself out of the hole it's in? Taxes, taxes and more taxes: Springfield sources are confirming that Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Pat Quinn have struck a deal to almost double the state Income Tax, boosting the individual levy from 3% now to 5.25% and hiking the corporate rate to 8.4% -- the highest of any state in the unio...

Illinois businesses, come to Indiana; we won't tax you to death!
Dear Chicagoans and Illinois residents, how much longer are you going to stand for the insane taxes that Illinois imposes upon you for the privilege of living in the Land of Lincoln?  What don't these politicians understand?  Did they not hear the uproar of the last election?  People are fed up with Big Government.  Instead of asking us to pay more to fund your corrupt and inefficient practices, maybe you can downsize the bureaucracies that don't contribute at all to the econ...

Plan to kill death penalty in Illinois fails by single vote
A move to abolish the death penalty in Illinois failed by a single vote in the House today. The vote came 10 years after then-Gov. George Ryan first placed a Moratorium on the death penalty following revelations that several people sent to Death Row were later exonerated. Read more in Clout Street. ...

Convicted killer to decide whether to testify at his death-penalty hearing
By midmorning Friday, Gerald Drummond must make what could be a life-changing decision: Should he take the stand and ask a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury to spare him from Lethal Injection? He could try to explain himself, to beg for mercy from jurors who in December found him Guilty of first-degree Murder in a 2007 double killing in Tacony. But if he does, Drummond must submit to cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega - a Veteran prosecutor known for subtle but rigor...

Man charged with killing Sabina O'Donnell could face death penalty
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the 19-year-old man charged in the Murder of Northern Liberties waitress Sabina Rose O'Donnell last June, lawyers in the case said Wednesday. Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax cited the "horrific" Sexual Assault on the 20-year-old O'Donnell as a reason to pursue capital charges against alleged killer Donte Johnson, as well as charges of Robbery and Burglary that Johnson faces in the case. Sax has filed a notice of aggravating circumstan...

Wife, two others to face death penalty in airman's slaying
Clark County prosecutors decided Wednesday to seek the death penalty for three of four defendants charged in the slaying of Air Force Staff Sgt. Nathan Paet in a plot authorities said was devised by the airman's wife and her lover. Prosecutors will seek Capital Punishment against Michelle Paet, 29; Michael Rodriguez, 31; and Corry Hawkins, 33. All were indicted by a Grand Jury last month on charges of Murder, Conspiracy to commit murder and Burglary. Rodriguez and Hawkins also face a fourth char...

House leaves town and the Taxpayers Federation posts the rates
* As you’re probably aware of by now, the House has left town without acting on the proposed tax hike… “The votes aren’t here in the House yet,” said Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, a House Budget expert. “There’s not 60 votes.” House Speaker Michael Madigan has not commented on the proposal yet, but was expected to meet with Gov. Pat Quinn behind closed doors today to fine-tune the plan. The Governor also has been asking individual lawmakers into his o

Illinois Dems Push Plan To Boost Income Tax By 75%, Double Cigarette Taxes...
SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Top Illinois Democrats have agreed to push a plan that would temporarily boost income taxes by 75 percent and double Cigarette taxes, Senate President John Cullerton said Thursday. Illinois’ Personal Income Tax Rate, now 3 percent, would climb to 5.25 percent for four years under the plan Cullerton outlined. After that, it would drop to 3.75 percent. That means someone who now owes $1,000 in state income taxes would owe $1,750 at the new rate, then $1,250 after fou...

The most overlooked story of the week
* I told subscribers about this bill after it passed the House Wednesday. It was approved by the Senate yesterday and has received zero media coverage outside of myself and the Champaign News-Gazette. Here is the paper’s story… A Budget reform process that proponents say will help bring fiscal discipline to Illinois cleared the House Wednesday, 85-26. It would generally limit spending to revenue projections, require the Governor to set annual Budget priorities and would require reg...

Capital punishment and Big Pharma's ethics | Clive Stafford Smith
An investigation by Reprieve has exposed the fact that several drugs used for Lethal Injection in US executions were sourced from UK pharmaceutical manufacturers or exporters. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/Getty Images On Thursday, the BBC's Today programme ran a story on Reprieve's investigation into the British execution drug export bonanza. While, originally, it seemed that only sodium thiopental was being sourced in the UK, we recently learned that all three chemicals used in lethal injectio...

Video: Flip Flop Claire Talks about Senate Hypocrisy
The same day she backtracks on her support for the ObamaCare mandates, Claire has the audacity to talk about hypocrisy on the Senate floor! The senator must think we all have stupid written across our foreheads. Reboot Congress: Sarah Steelman meets the St. Louis Tea Party There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below. Visit the archives for more! Freshmeat (Rep. Jolie Justus) JMO4Rep (Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford) Kinder Speaks (Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder) Political Punch (S...

5 For Friday: Senator Jim DeMint Sits Down with David Brody
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) was a Five 4 Friday guest this week with David Brody at RightNetwork. As some of you know, I met Jim DeMint this week. St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis Globe-Democrat FOX 2 St. Louis...