 Topic: BlogThe new items published under this topic are as follows.
Feb 17, 2008 - 03:03 AM
Blog
It's one thing to watch the scene of campus shooting in a distant state, like last year at Virginia Tech. It's a very different feeling when the scene is not just in my state, but at the school I've been a part of for the last 20 years.
Even though I was in Springfield at the time of the shooting, I could imagine the horror felt in that classroom. I've walked by Cole Hall countless times, but in the future I'll pass it with knowledge of the tragic loss of life. I've taught in other lecture halls at NIU, but in the future I'll teach with heightened knowledge that my students are faced with concerns for safety as well as learning.
For now, my thoughts and prayers go to my colleagues at NIU, the staff, students, and community, and most of all for the victims and their families. It will take time and effort to heal and restore NIU to its proud mission of education. It was my privilege to do a small part by leading a moment of silence on Friday in the Illinois House of Representative.
May 30, 2007 - 08:48 AM
Blog
The regular legislative session ends on May 31, and one big project is the budget. It's a hectic process with lots of meetings of top leaders and smaller discussions among regular members. If the Democrats fail to pass a budget by Thursday night, a buget will require a 3/5 majority vote, which means that House Republicans will be needed to pass a budget. House Republican Leader Tom Cross put forward a plan to balance the budget with limited growth using no new taxes yet pay the pension obligation and modestly increase school spending. I've joined two other new DuPage representatives Franco Coladipietro and Dennis Reboletti to support that plan. Here's our statement.
Read full article: 'A Budget with No Tax Increase'
May 20, 2007 - 08:53 AM
Blog
Some of you may have noticed that there was a strange image of an eye on this site on Friday and Saturday. Some hacker got into my site and planted the image there. It turns out this was a hack on the the whole server that hosts my site, and many other web sites were also affected. Everything has been restored, and the vulnerability should be closed as well. My thanks to Merle Burleigh for giving me the heads up on the hack so I could get it fixed,
Mar 18, 2007 - 10:01 PM
Blog
This week is the final week for House bills to be acted on by committees of the House. I've added updates on my bills posted earlier and added articles on a couple more bills that are now out of committee. To view my bills and their status check the Legislation link in the left-hand menu bar.
Jan 04, 2007 - 06:41 PM
Blog
My campaign started with conversations almost two years ago. I went through an announcement, petition drive, primary election, and a general election. Normally I would have to wait until next week to officially take the office, but events in Washington allowed me to take office a bit earlier.
Read full article: 'Mike Fortner Takes the Oath'
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