QUOTE OF THE DAY
AP: Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Repealing Common Core
Gov. Mary Fallin has signed legislation making Oklahoma the third state to repeal the Common Core education standards, saying the federal government’s attempt to influence state education policy is reason enough to abolish the math and English guidelines that had been scheduled to take effect in the upcoming school year.
The bill, overwhelmingly passed in the House and Senate on the final day of the 2014 Legislature, requires the state to return to old standards in place before 2010 and calls for new ones to be developed by 2016. It requires all new standards and revisions to be subject to legislative review.
“We are very capable as Oklahomans of developing our own Oklahoma standards to make sure that our children receive the highest quality education possible in our state,” Fallin said after signing the bill Thursday.
Chicago Sun Times: Quinn signs bill authorizing 56 percent hike in Chicago phone tax
Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday signed legislation authorizing a 56 percent increase in Chicago’s telephone tax that could avert the need for a pre-election property tax hike.Emanuel refused to tip his hand after the governor signed the bill. He would only issued a statement that said, “I appreciate the governor’s signature, which allows the City to more fully fund 911 services and will provide another tool to address our long term fiscal obligations.”
The bill also provides a political out-clause for Quinn.
He could sign a Chicago pension reform bill that increases employee contributions by 29 percent and reduces employee benefits to save the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds without setting the stage for a property tax increase.
The Telegraph: Young people give up privacy on Google and Facebook ‘because they haven’t read 1984’
Young people willingly give-up their privacy on Google and Facebook because they have not read George Orwell’s ‘1984’ unlike previous generations, a leading academic has warned.
Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at Sheffield University, said that large corporations were hovering up private information and modern generations did not realize it was wrong.
He said that older people who had grown up reading George Orwell’s 1984 about ‘Big Brother technology and ‘ authoritarianism’, were in a better position to resist the creeping erosion of privacy.
Dealbook: Uber Attains Eye-Popping New Levels of Funding
Only a few months ago, Silicon Valley start-ups were celebrated for drawing investors into paying for multibillion-dollar valuations.
But on Friday Uber, the car ride service, climbed to an entirely new level.
The company announced on Friday that it had raised $1.2 billion from investors at an eye-popping $17 billion valuation.
NPR: Illinois Declares Truce In Cupcake War
No one really thinks 12-year-old Chloe Stirling presents a menace to public health.
The Illinois girl has a knack for baking cupcakes and has done pretty well selling them. So well, in fact, that her local newspaper published a about her earlier this year. That drew the attention of the county health department — which shut her down for selling baked goods without a license or a state-certified kitchen.
Last week, the Illinois Legislature passed a “cupcake bill” that would overturn the health department’s policy and allow amateur bakers to sell a limited amount of bread and pastries without a license.
Journal Star: Caterpillar closing three Illinois production facilities
Caterpillar, Inc. plans to shutter three component production facilities in Illinois, moving the work to a similar facility in Michigan and affecting about 170 jobs in Sterling and Dixon.
The sites, all Anchor Coupling facilities — a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar — make or distribute hydraulic hose assemblies for both Caterpillar and other equipment manufacturers in Sterling and Dixon. They’ll be joined with an existing site in Menominee, Mich.
Production at the Illinois plants will be slowed during the fourth quarter this year, and complete the consolidation in the first quarter of 2015, the company said in a news release.
Bloomberg: Why Obamacare Can’t Be ‘Fixed’
Monica Wehby, the Republican Senate candidate in Oregon, has fallen prey to a common delusion: that Obamacare can be “fixed.”
On her campaign website, Wehby, a surgeon, runs through a list of changes she wants made to the president’s health-care overhaul. She would, among other things, get rid of the individual mandate to buy health insurance, offer more catastrophic insurance options on the exchanges and make it easier for people to buy insurance across state lines.
But she also wants to keep several Affordable Care Act provisions, including the one that bans insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing health conditions.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
