Lifeline was running hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red by operating two ambulances out of Belvidere. The plan was to pull a second ambulance out of town and gift one to the city to be staffed by the Belvidere Fire Department to alleviate the problem
Firefighters ambulance dies in committee - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Batavia has gotten wage concessions from two more of its employee unions, in exchange for agreeing not to lay off workers in 2010.
The city council recently signed a one-year contract with Teamsters Local 673, which represents police department records technicians and community service officers. It also signed a one-year contract with International Association of Firefighters Local 3436, which represents Batavia's full-time firefighters.
The council also cut pay for other city employees. Some hourly employees will have their hours cut 5 percent.
Several water department employees lost four paid holidays - Thanksgiving and the day after, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Other workers in the water and sewer departments will not be paid for eight hours of standby time for their first four on-call assignments of 2010.
The Emergency Services and Disaster Agency director's pay was cut 4.5 percent
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Pay freeze, some cuts - but no layoffs - for Batavia firefighters, police clerks
FDIC employment to increase 23.4%. Unfortunately this is a new growth industry.
staffing level of 8,653 employees, up from 7,010 in 2009. Almost all the additional staff will be hired on a temporary basis. They will be hired primarily to assist with bank closings; to perform follow-on work related to the management and sale of failed bank assets; and to conduct bank examinations and perform other bank supervisory activities.
Click on the following for more details: FDIC: Press Releases - PR-228-2009 12/15/2009
The pending layoffs, which will cut the number of deputies to 57, are to go into effect next month. County officials say they are trying to plug a $420,000 deficit in the sheriff’s budget.
The overall county budget approved by the county board in November called for pay raises for county employees of only one-half of 1 percent, a response to sharply lower county revenues caused by the economic slowdown.
However, the county’s contract with the deputies’ union requires a 3 1/2 percent increase, and union officials have refused to accept the smaller raise.
Click on the following for the rest of the story: County hopes to cut deputy layoffs with expedited retirements - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
The following is taken from NDK’s website: http://www.ndk.com/en/about/philosophy/index.html
Contributing to the prosperity of society and world peace through our service to customers.
The H1N1 flu pandemic may not be conquered until 2011 and continued vigilance is required against the virus which can still mutate, the head of the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday….appropriate to continue to monitor the evolution of this pandemic for the next six to 12 months
Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States have passed peaks of a second wave of H1N1, but outbreaks are intensifying in India, Egypt and elsewhere…H1N1 has now spread to more than 200 countries, with nearly 12 000 deaths confirmed in laboratory, but it will probably take two years to establish the true death toll,
Click on the following for more details: News - Medical: Flu virus can still mutate, warns WHO
The newly amended FOIA law should increase the effectiveness of our media watchdogs. If it also awakens slumbering Illinois citizens and entices them to assume their proper role in a democracy, we may yet have government servants who act in our best interest and not in theirs.
Will citizens take up the newly amended FOIA and use it to shine light on the actions of our elected and appointed officials? If yes, improved leadership can be expected. If not, the ethical climate in Illinois will not improve.
Click on the following to read the entire opinion of the Journal-Register: Citizens need to make good use of amended FOIA - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
Attracting wind power component manufacturers is a key part of the economic development strategy of the Northwest Illinois Development Alliance’s Targeted Marketing and Recruitment Committee, and the project could be very beneficial to the area, organizers say….TMR Committee has developed a database for all wind power component manufacturers and is reaching out to more than 300 such companies to invite them to this region.
Adam Holder, chairman of the TMR Committee, said committee members have made initial contact with all of the companies in the database. The goal is to reach out to company officials on a quarterly basis, and ask them to keep Stephenson County in mind for any future expansion or relocation projects, Holder said
Renewable energy key part of development strategy - Freeport, IL - The Journal-Standard
The scanners coming to O'Hare will be set up initially in terminals served by United Airlines and American Airlines as well as in the international terminal, federal security officials have said in the past.Screeners will view images of both male and female passengers. But only screeners of the same sex conduct physical pat-downs, officials said.
O'Hare may get body scanners by end of March - Chicago Breaking News
The MIG/DeWane landfill is located in Boone County approximately one-quarter mile east of the City of Belvidere and one-half mile north of U.S. Business Route 20.
Between 1969 and 1988, the 47-acre landfill received general refuse and industrial wastes including paint sludge, volatile organic chemicals, asbestos and liquids containing heavy metals. The site was not properly closed and capped, resulting in a 5 to 10-acre depression in the middle of the landfill. This depression collected water, which drained into the landfill, resulting in over one hundred leachate seeps.
In 1989 and 1990, the Illinois EPA and U.S Environmental Protection Agency (U.S EPA), in two separate actions, removed approximately 155,000 gallons of leachate. * In 1991, parties responding to a U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA Administrative Order on Consent conducted a number of interim actions including the installation of an interim cap over the landfill. The landfill was placed on the National Priorities List (sometimes called the Superfund List) in 1990.
In April 1999, elevated levels of landfill gas were detected in the soil and in a few homes in Wycliffe Estates directly west of the landfill. The parties responding to the 1991 Administrative Order on Consent installed an active landfill-gas interception system along the western boundary of the landfill. The system significantly reduced landfill gas within a month. No landfill gas has been detected in the subdivision during the past six years.
*Leachate is water that has passed through landfill waste and picked up contaminants present in the waste.
On January 4, 2006, the State of Illinois lodged a proposed consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District in Illinois regarding the MIG/DeWane Landfill in Belvidere.
Without admitting liability, the defendants have agreed:
The defendants are BFI Waste Systems of North America, Inc. , five past and present owners and 88 former customers of the landfill including municipalities and manufacturers.
Yes. The public may send written comments on the proposed consent decree to Gerald T. Karr, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, Environmental Bureau, 188 West Randolph Street, 20th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60601. Comments must be postmarked by February 21, 2006 and should refer to The State of Illinois v. BFI Waste Systems of North America, Inc. , et. al.
The proposed consent decree may be viewed at (1) the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) headquarters in Springfield, Illinois (2) the Ida Public Library in Belvidere or (3) the Illinois EPA website. The locations of these sites are listed on the bottom of page two.
During 2006, the defendants will conduct a predesign investigation to collect information needed to design the remedy designated in the 2000 ROD. This information will include an evaluation of present landfill, leachate, landfill gas and groundwater conditions. Actual construction of the remedy probably will not begin until 2007.
The pipes and wells are an aboveground landfill-gas extraction system. The main extraction system is buried to the east, closer to the landfill. As a precautionary measure, the aboveground system will remain in place to ensure protection against landfill gas moving into the Wycliffe Estates Subdivision. The 2000 ROD requires that a fence be constructed around the landfill and the soil borrow pit area.
Gerald T. Karr, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Environmental Bureau, Office of the Illinois Attorney General, 188 West Randolph Street, 20th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60601.
Stan Black
Community Relations Coord.
Illinois EPA
1021 N. Grand Ave. E.
Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
Phone: 217-785-1427
Rick Lanham
Project Manager
Illinois EPA
1021 N. Grand Ave. E.
Box 19276
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9276
Phone: 217-782-9881
The proposed consent decree and other project documents are available at the project repository located at the Ida Public Library, 320 North State St. , Belvidere, IL 61008.
This file contains all the documents that are the basis for Illinois EPA and U.S. EPA decisions for this project. It is located at the Illinois EPA headquarters in Springfield, Illinois. Call 217/782-9878 for more information.
The 2000 Record of Decision (ROD) for the MIG/DeWane Landfill documents the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) decision on the final remedy for this site. The agencies made this decision after carefully considering public comments received during a public comment period held from June 11, 1999 to August 27, 1999. The Illinois EPA signed the ROD on March 30, 2000 and the U.S. EPA signed a letter of concurrence on March 31, 2000. THE ROD includes the following requirements:
As garbage decays in a landfill, it generates methane gas. The ROD requires that up to 15 additional passive gas vents be installed within the interior of the landfill to supplement the existing landfill-gas interception system installed in 1999. These vents can be upgraded to an active system if necessary. The active landfill-gas extraction system will be enhanced if necessary.
A multi-component landfill cap and cover system will be constructed and maintained to meet required landfill standards. The purpose of the cap is to minimize the infiltration of rain or other precipitation into the landfill, thus reducing the generation of leachate* and landfill gases and the movement of contaminants into groundwater, soil and air. The cap will cover the entire landfill. The landfill vegetative cover will be maintained to the maximum extent possible before, during and after construction. Unless the Illinois EPA approves alternate layers, the landfill cover/cap from top to bottom will consist of:
* Leachate is water that has passed through landfill waste and picked up contaminants present in the waste.
A runoff diversion and drainage system will be constructed so that the cap is not eroded. This system will include a drainage ditch around the toe of the landfill and a storm water retention pond.
All ponded water and leachate plus a minimum of two feet of sediments will be removed from the leachate surface impoundment. The liquids will be treated and disposed of in an approved manner, and the sediment will be disposed of on-site or in an otherwise approved manner. The empty surface impoundment will then be filled with clean soil. A leachate collection and management system will be installed to replace the leachate surface impoundment.
The chosen remedy for groundwater treatment is monitored natural attenuation. Natural attenuation occurs when any of several natural processes takes place in the soil or groundwater to reduce the mass, toxicity, mobility, volume or concentration of contaminants. One example of natural attenuation is when naturally occurring microbes in the soil or groundwater break down contaminants into harmless components. Another example is when contaminants become adsorbed (attached) to soil particles, thus preventing the contaminants from moving into the groundwater. Natural attenuation was chosen for several reasons including:
A restriction will be placed on the landfill and the adjacent soil borrow pit area and will be recorded with the Boone County Recorder of Deeds. This restriction will prohibit the following activities on the landfill and soil borrow pit area: construction of buildings, on-site groundwater use, drilling, excavation and any other soil intrusive activities.
The ROD requires an Operation and Maintenance Plan that will cover all aspects of the remedial action including the landfill cap, landfill gas monitoring and groundwater monitoring. The plan must be approved by the Illinois EPA.
DeKalb County has made final distributions of its 2008 tax levy, has Boone County distributed all of 2008? What about 2007 levy and the $1,000,000 which the Boone County Treasurer was unable to determine which taxing agency it belongs? To read more about the “lost $1,000,000” go to: http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2009/10/management-letter-to-boone-county.html
The final distribution of DeKalb County property taxes has been made. In 2009, the treasurer’s office collected and distributed $181,933,964.51 to DeKalb County taxing bodies, according to a written statement from DeKalb County Treasurer Christine Johnson. The total is about $1 million less than the anticipated $183,118,029.17.
Illinois EPA requests that NDK be required, among other things, to conduct a thorough analysis of the cause of the explosion and release a written report of those findings and recommendations for corrective or preventive actions to minimize the potential for another similar incident. The state EPA is also asking that NDK provide the agency with detailed diagrams of the locations of the floor drains at its facility and a description of what process chemicals may have entered water sources via surface runoff.
State seeks NDK data on pollution from blast - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
