Headlines
1. Study: ‘aggressive increases’ likely with private Penn turnpike
2. AL: DYS statistics not kept on contract facilities
3. It’s official: water deal is history
4. Niles’ bus privatization up for vote
5. Chicago: Glitch takes its toll on rush
News Summaries
1. Study: ‘aggressive increases’ likely with private turnpike
A Pennsylvania House Democratic study says leasing the Pennsylvania
Turnpike poses major risks, reports WGAL.com. The study stated that "aggressive toll increases" are likely to result
from a turnpike lease and recommends that instead the state continue to
pursue the plan to add tolls to Interstate 80.
2. AL: DYS statistics not kept on contract facilities
Call up Alabama’s Department of Youth Services and staff members can tell you fairly quickly how many claims of assault, sexual abuse and other violations have been made by young people housed in the six youth facilities run by the state. But the same information is not so readily available for the 26 privately run facilities that the state agency pays to house youthful offenders. Private detention centers hold about half of the agency’s juvenile wards, but DYS says it doesn’t routinely keep statistics to show what is going on in those lockups, according to the AP and reported in the Montgomery Advertiser. The Associated Press contacted the state agency as part of a national project that found a lack of oversight and standards makes it hard to determine how many youngsters have been assaulted or neglected while in youth centers around the country.
3. It’s official: water deal is history
The Stockton Record reports on the city’s take-back of its water and sewer utilities from water giant OMI-Thames Water, which operated the plant since 2003. The management, for the most part, had moved out. The rank and file stayed on, returned to the payroll of the city, for whom most had worked before. The turnover was forced by a San Joaquin County Superior Court judge, who ruled in 2006 that the contract was illegal. The city failed in its approval of the deal to conduct an adequate environmental review, the court ruled. The council last year abandoned its appeal of the ruling.
4. IN: Niles’ bus privatization up for vote
The question of whether or not to privatize bus transportation next school year will likely be decided by Niles Community Schools officials Monday, reports the South Bend Tribune. The 28-member bus drivers union had attempted to deflect the outsourcing question by offering a concessions package containing about $150,000 in savings, Pat Furner, the union’s Michigan Education Association UniServ director, said. The package included insurance rollbacks and hourly wage cuts totaling about $100,000, he said.
5. Chicago: Glitch takes its toll on rush
Motorists who use the Chicago Skyway were stuck in traffic Friday after a tollbooth computer glitch — the first of its kind since the roadway was privatized — during the morning rush. It was the first major problem since the $1.83 billion deal that privatized the Skyway in October 2004, according to the Chicago Sun Times.