This week was eventful one for us over at Progress Illinois. On Wednesday, we were honored to receive a 2010 Studs Terkel Award (pic 8).  Again, thanks to the Community Media Workshop for the recognition.

In Springfield...

Hopes that Gov. Pat Quinn's budget address would provide a clear plan to dig Illinois out of a $13 billion hole were dashed on Wednesday when he tweaked, re-framed, and scaled back plans to raise the state income tax rate. By calling for a 1 percent bump in the income tax rate and tying it directly to education, Quinn (pic 1) is grasping for a legislative compromise to the budget stalemate. But in doing so, he's both dropping his push for fundamental tax reform and proposing a plan that won't even generate enough revenue to pay the state's bills. Where will we go from here? We're all left guessing.

Progressive groups' reactions to Quinn's budget were not kind. Faculty and students at the state's public colleges and universities keeping the heat on lawmakers to raise adequate revenue, too. Check out our video from a demonstration in Chicago this week put on by folks from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

One revenue option that Quinn failed to put on the table is expanding the Illinois sales tax to include more services. Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan -- who has advocated for service taxes in the past -- is making the media rounds reminding folks of the possibility.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley jumped into the budget debate after Quinn made it known that municipalities would have to share the budget pain. Daley wants cuts the budget balanced without a tax hike ... so long as his budget isn't trimmed.

Democrats weren't the only ones giving Quinn a hard time. State Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) responded to Quinn's proposal, which relied heavily on borrowing, by telling the Sun-Times that the Democrats "want to borrow their way past the election so they can pass the tax increase without risk of retribution from the voters." Capitol Fax's Rich Miller aptly pointed out that, not so long ago, Murphy himself was advocating the use of borrowing. We dug out the transcript.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady (pic 5) was talking to reporters this week, as well. Unfortunately, his budget math doesn't add up. We called on the press to demand he put his fantasyland proposal on paper.

In other Statehouse news, Sen. William Delgado's efforts to make it easier for workers to fight back against wage theft gained some momentum. Over in the Senate Energy Committee, Chairman Mike Jacobs (D-Moline) and State Sen. James Clayborne Jr. (D-East St. Louis) were busy trying to scuttle some green legislation by pulling the old bait-and-switch on environmental advocates. We took a closer look at their shenanigans.

In Chicago and Cook Co. ...

Chicago Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) and a handful of colleagues decided to push the Daley administration to require that 20 percent of all new tax increment financing (TIF) revenue is set aside for affordable housing projects. We looked at how such an investment would buoy the city's housing market and create jobs.

On the jobs front, Chicago Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th Ward) will carry the torch on creating a living-wage law, agreeing to sponsor a bill that would require stores with 50 or more employees to pay those workers $11.03 an hour if they benefit from TIF or other public subsidies. The bill wasn't introduced as expected on Wednesday. But Rev. Booker Vance of the Good Jobs Chicago Coalition said "We've come too far to go back now. We won't be denied." We caught his remarks on camera.

Speaking of TIF, we suggested that the state ought to adopt transparency and accountability standards following revelations that a lawyer stole between $1 million and $3 million from a district in south suburban Calumet Park.

Meanwhile, Chicago Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th Ward) (pic 2) traveled to Pittsburgh this week to spread her "privatizer beware" message among her Steel City peers. We also discovered that the City of Chicago will provide equipment this summer allowing five Chicago-run farmers markets (pic 3) to accept food stamp benefits this summer. It's a small step, but one taken in the right direction.

In Washington..

With a vote to overhaul health care just days away, we explored the political schisms over the public option and coverage for the undocumented. Illinois lawmakers factor prominently in both disputes.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez' (pic 7) support for immigrants is yet another example of how Illinois' immigrant rights advocates are keeping the pressure on Congress and the White House to take up comprehensive reforms this year. This week, youth activists and Chicago aldermen called on Illinois' own Sen. Dick Durbin to flex his political muscle to move forthcoming legislation quickly through the Senate. It appears that their efforts are making inroads. On Thursday, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Josh Hoyt (pic 4) landed a meeting with the White House, where the president himself pledged to lobby for a bill.

Also on the docket in D.C. is the Local Jobs for America Act, which Illinois' own U.S. Rep. Phil Hare (pic 6) is co-sponsoring. We caught up with Hare to discuss the legislation, which would help municipalities and school districts save or add 1 million jobs over the next two years. Republicans, on the other hand, showed their lack of empathy for the jobless as they spent the last week attempting to characterize an unemployment extension as a new and costly "welfare" program.

With legislation for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency also shaping up, payday lenders are lobbying aggressively at the Capitol to thwart regulation over the predatory loans they hand out.  Among them is Check Into Cash CEO W. Allan Jones, who operates hundreds of payday loan outlets in and around Illinois. Consumer advocates are pushing back though. And among them is Decatur Rev. Robert Bushey who met with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week to pursue financial reform and "take a hard line" against big banks who are financing the payday loan industry.

On The Campaign Trail...

During an interview on Fox Chicago this past weekend, GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady touted his experience as "the first legislator, I'm told, to run for governor in over 100 years." We wondered if that was really noteworthy. After all, each of the three governors to precede Quinn all served in the General Assembly at some point.

After Gov. Quinn called out Brady's record as "extreme," Tribune columnist Eric Zorn asked the Quinn camp to provide a bit more detail. They obliged with a laundry list. Not surprisingly, Brady isn't making inroads with some consumer advocates or progressive women. Planned Parenthood's Beth Kanter, for one, said she "literally shuddered at the notion of him in the governor's office."

Did we miss something?  Let us and your fellow readers know in the comments section below.