nri

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...

Today, it continues.  The investigation into the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, a 2010 anti-violence program suspected of being a political slush fund for the governor.  It so happens the gubernatorial election is within a month of the hearing...

Dave Dahl -- Illinois Radio Network Illinois Senate Republicans suggest the governor is putting on NRI redux.  They are calling attention to $5 million which they say was defunded from social service programs around the state and given instead to programs tied to providers tainted in the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, an anti-crime program Quinn introduced late in his first campaign... Read Mor

CHICAGO (AP) — Federal authorities in Chicago issued a new subpoena over records involving Gov. Pat Quinn's troubled anti-violence program, state officials confirmed Tuesday. The 2010 Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, the subject of a scathing state auditor general's report for mismanagement and misspending, already has been under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in Springfield, the Cook County sta

Here we go again. That's the main message from Illinois Republican leaders, who say $20 million in a new allocation to the Illinois Department of Labor for social programs could be a reprisal of the troubled Neighborhood Recovery Initiative program...

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...

It's a cliche because it's true: Illinois is one of the most corrupt state in the country. With two of the last three Governors spending time behind bars it's not tough to figure out. And it's not as if voter are unaware. Fully 89 percent of Illinoisans believe corruption in the state is common...

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. ...