Mark Kirk's campaign Friday confirmed that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will be committing major funds toward his Senate bid.

The committee plans to give Kirk, of Highland Park, $3.4 million in the race against Chicago Democrat Alexi Giannoulias - double the amount usually allowed. The Politico website reported that the committee indicated it would take advantage of a technical ruling in order to commit that much money to the race.

U.S. Judge John Grady has ordered two separate elections on the November ballot for the Senate seat, formerly President Barack Obama's.

JOLIET -- Environmental groups contend the water around Midwest Generation's Joliet station is being contaminated and state regulators aren't doing anything about it.

The local groups and Sierra Club held a rally Thursday in Joliet as part of a national campaign calling for tighter regulations over the disposal of coal ash from power plants.

While the groups contend the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is ignoring its own findings of groundwater contamination, an IEPA official said the agency has not found any significant threats to water supplies from the Midwest Generation operations.

JOLIET -- Early next year, there will be three new associate judges serving Will County.

On Aug. 3, Will County Associate Judge James Garrison announced that he will retire Dec. 30. And two other associate judges -- Bobbi Petrungaro and Robert Livas -- are running unopposed in the November election for positions as subcircuit judges.

In Will County, the circuit and subcircuit judges are elected by voters. The associate judges are then chosen by the circuits and subcircuit judges.

As the economy continues to struggle, so too do many Naperville area residents who never thought they'd find themselves turning to a community pantry to meet their basic needs.

But the number of first-time users of the Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry is climbing, said Jody Bender, community relations director for the facility. From July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2010, Loaves & Fishes saw a 220 percent increase in first-time users. Last month, 141 new families signed up, the largest new enrollment since September 2009. During July, groceries were distributed to 5,243 people including 440 single moms, 537 senior citizens and 2,174 children.

Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias have agreed to participate in two debates and could hold more.

Representatives say the U.S. Senate candidates will face off on Oct. 10 on NBC's "Meet the Press." They've also agreed to participate in the Oct. 19 League of Women Voters' debate on Chicago's WLS-TV.

Naperville's longest-serving mayor hasn't decided yet, but he has made hints that it might be time to turn in his gavel.

"I'm not really announcing that I'm going to run for the mayor yet, but I am intending to pull a packet today or tomorrow," said Mayor A. George Pradel on Tuesday.

Petitions for candidacy for the mayor's office and four seats on the City Council were made available in the clerk's office Tuesday morning. The terms of Pradel and council members James Boyajian, Robert Fieseler, Richard Furstenau and Grant Wehrli expire in 2011.

 Allow me to state the obvious:  despite the fact that Democrats control the House and Senate, conservatives control what gets sent to the President’s desk.

Legislation that starts off strong is watered down by conservative Democrats in the House and Senate. It’s then whittled down to ineffectiveness in order to try and get a handful of Republican votes on board.

My solution: I’m going to create a robust Senate Progressive Caucus that will hold the line and fight for progressive policies that help all Americans.

 By Bill Bianchi, PDA Chicago Chapter Leader
After just six years, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) has established itself as the predominant grassroots organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party. It has done this by advocating and …

 Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo.

If Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) thought he could move beyond stories of his exaggerated record by

 attacking Alexi Giannoulias (D), his rival's tough new ad proves otherwise. 

The U.S. Senate race in Illinois has the potential to be one of the nastiest in years.

Here's the ad.

 Yesterday, we found out Mark Kirk's exaggeration problem extended beyond his military record to another element of his resume he draws upon frequently in public statements, his experience as a teacher. The NYT reported that his experience was more limited than Kirk's public statements would suggest--he had worked part-time during one year of college in a church nursery school, and had a year teaching in a college prep school in London.

 In yet another embarrassing revelation for GOP Senate candidate Mark Kirk, a document from the Department of Defense has surfaced showing military officials expressed “concerns arising from his partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty.”