Blagojevich scales back in proposal

CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to revive his proposed statewide construction program Thursday by ratcheting down the price tag and abandoning gambling expansion to pay for it. But the concessions may not be enough to resuscitate the plan stalled by his feuding with lawmakers and legislative infighting. Top lawmakers met with Blagojevich for nearly two hours about the overhaul that shrinks the program to fix Illinois' infrastructure and more to $25 billion from $34 billion. But a surrogate who attended the meeting in place of House Speaker Michael Madigan said the plan still has problems. The proposal relies in part on a partial lease of the state lottery, an idea that Democratic House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie called “a har