U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said under oath
before a Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday what he has said for well
over a year – that the dormant prison in Thomson, Illinois the federal Justice
Department wants to buy would never hold detainees currently at
Guantanamo Bay.
Instead, the facility, built by the state
government in 2002 only to languish, will house federal inmates. According to the claims by Illinois Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration, and village of Thomson, use of the prison in such a capacity would revive a downbeat
local economy.
Yet one lawmaker has evidently stopped the
conversion of Thomson Correctional Center to a Federal Bureau of Prisons operated facility: U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (pictured), a Republican from Virginia. “The matter has
been discussed and debated for over a year,” said U.S. Senator Dick
Durbin, an Illinois Democrat at the Senate committee meeting. “It was
held up by one Republican Congressman.” Read more »
Thursday marked the one-year anniversary for the repeal of the U.S.
military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy for gay, lesbian and bisexual
service members, an occasion gay rights advocates said should serve as a
reminder of the work still needed to be done to ensure full equal
rights for LGBT military personnel and their families. 
It appears that U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-Colona) is taking his cues from Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney when it comes to the public outcry surrounding Sensata Technologies' plan to close down the plant and ship 170 jobs to China — just 
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s selection of
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) as his running mate has propelled the popular
Medicare program into the center of the 
As we mentioned earlier, low turnout today
has the potential to destabilize competitive races across the state. Yet
even with the increased level of uncertainty, some candidates still
seem close to a sure thing. 