anti-violence

We’ve talked a whole lot on the show about the Governor’s troubled anti-violence program, called the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. Ostensibly the effort was designed to help combat the violence problem in Chicago and Cook County, but it more and more appears that it was $55 million in slush fund dollars to help the Governor win re-election...

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois lawmakers have wrapped up a two-day hearing questioning seven former state officials connected to Gov. Pat Quinn's troubled 2010 anti-violence program. Those testifying Thursday included Quinn's former chief operating officer Andrew Ross who says he didn't play a big role...

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network The former head of the agency that oversaw the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative says election-year politics were not the reason the program was created. Barbara Shaw, won ran the now-disbanded Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, says while NRI was the largest program she was asked to implement, and she was asked to get it up and running within a few month

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network Republican state lawmakers believe the troubled Neighborhood Recovery Initiative is alive—and still getting millions in state funds. They’re pointing to $20 million given to the Illinois Department of Labor to provide grants for community support and after-school programs...

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network Gov. Pat Quinn is defending the use of federal disaster aid in Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. Illinois used $3.7 million from the federal funds awarded to the state in the wake of Hurricane Ike to set up a small business loan program under the NRI...

Riley & I had the opportunity this morning to talk with Chicago Tribune editorial board member (and author of a tremendous recent editorial on the Independent Map proposal being tossed off the ballot) Kristen McQueary about the most recent developments in the investigation and hearings into Governor Quinn's troubled anti-violence program. ...

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network There was a lot of talking during Wednesday’s Legislative Audit Commission hearing on the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, but not from witnesses. All declined to speak, citing the ongoing federal investigation of the troubled anti-violence program championed by Gov...

Jim Anderson -- Illinois Radio Network Gov. Pat Quinn says he is not going to testify before the commission examining the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. This is the anti-violence program the governor established in 2010 that the auditor general says was mismanaged...

Rachel Otwell -- Illinois Radio Network On the heels of subpoenas and an investigation launched by the Cook County state’s attorney, Gov. Pat Quinn says he did the right thing with respect to an anti-violence program that he started in 2010...