Missing e-mails included messages from the months preceding the start of the Iraq war and messages sent by Vice President Dick Cheney's office that were later sought by the Justice Department as part of its investigation into the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity as a covert CIA spy.
Click on the following for more details: Report: Warnings about e-mails went unheeded in Bush White House
company plans to build a 130,000-square-foot building at its corporate headquarters in the Sycamore Prairie Business Park to accommodate its purchase of SK Hand Tools, a Chicago-based tool company that makes sockets, ratchets, hammers and wrenches.
Click on the following for more details: Ideal to expand Sycamore facility | Daily Chronicle
Over-expansion in Hampshire may mean that bondholder will receive only 33 cents on a dollar. Could something similar be looming on any Boone County projects?
75 million worth of bonds were sold in 2007 to raise money to build roads, expand wastewater and water treatment plants, and other infrastructure improvements to serve the planned Prairie Ridge, Oakstead and Tamms Farm subdivisions.
Three weeks ago, the village [of Hampshire] submitted a tender offer to the bond holders to buy back the bonds for about $28 million. The $28 million would come from funds still unspent from the original bond sale, plus $3.5 million kicked in by Crown.
He estimated that 40 to 60 employees – down from about 250 jobs at its peak – would remain at 130,000-square-foot plant on 56 acres at 8200 Ridgefield Road [in Crystal Lake]
some production, some warehousing, and some packaging will remain. Crystal Lake is my town. I’ve lived here all my life.”
Click on the following for Mr. Athans’ plans for the Winnebago and McHenry County facilities: Business Journal | Chemtool keeping jobs at Crystal Lake facility
sewage from Victoria [B.C.] and its suburbs meets provincial requirements and will reduce contaminants.
The region discharges about 34 million gallons of raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca each day, and the issue has been a sore point on both sides of the border….
Forty years ago, the community decided not to treat its sewage. Now we're back to where we should have been," said Christianne Wilhelmson, executive director with the British Columbia-based Georgia Strait Alliance, which has pushed for sewage treatment for years.
Click on the following for more details: Local News | Canadian government approves plan to treat sewage | Seattle Times Newspaper
Sherri McGarry, a Food and Drug Administration official, said salmonella was found in feed given to young birds, known as pullets, that were raised by a DeCoster facility for use at both its own farms and at Hillandale Farms. The bacteria was also found in bone meal
[Iowa] is the largest egg producer now, by far. Fifteen billion eggs are expected to come from Iowa this year from 60 million hens.
Karl Gasbarra, owner of the real estate company formerly known as Coldwell Banker Premier, ended his franchise agreement with Coldwell to become an independent company known as American Dwellings…..moving his Rockford office from its 3,500-square-foot building at 6755 Weaver Road to something in the 1,500-square-foot range
restaurants nationwide are keeping a closer eye on egg suppliers and reminding diners of the dangers of undercooked food after a massive recall tied to a salmonella outbreak.
Click on the following to read what the national chains have done so far: Daily Herald | Restaurants scramble after massive egg recall
Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission spokesman James Grogan says state rules mean any attorney who abandons client files is subject to disciplinary action. Grogan did not speak specifically about Blagojevich.
State records show Blagojevich's law license is inactive.
Daily Herald | School: Blago auction boxes contain client files
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has asked Chicago's business leaders to take a chance on veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan….the military is placing a renewed focus on the education, health and career needs of the more than 1 million soldiers returning from war zones.
The chairman of the DeKalb Liquor Commission settled a lawsuit Tuesday filed against him by his townhome association.
……The townhome association claimed Kapustianyk owed almost $1,000 in unpaid assessments, plus fees and late charges….Kapustianyk paid the entire amount in full.
Once[the county administrator] and the department heads agree on a budget that fits the county’s spending limitations, the documents will be forwarded to the appropriate oversight committees and then to the Finance Committee. In the past, department heads would bring their budgets directly to the oversight committees and not meet separately with [the administrator] Mulnix first.
Click on the following for more details: Board tries new approach - Freeport, IL - The Journal-Standard
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board visited NDK in late June to witness the move of the failed vessel away from the building. The independent federal agency is charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents….Before the end of September, the CSB will meet with NDK officials and experts to review results from the testing and examination.
“The current schedule is to complete the final report and submit it to the board for consideration by late December.”
Click on the following for more details: Investigators may wrap up NDK report by December’s end - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
This article by a blogger in Algonquin/Lake in the Hills details what McHenry County is going with its remaining stimulus funding.
County Board gave all three projects the greenlight earlier this year it set a Sept. 30 deadline to issue federally tax-subsidized revenue bonds for the supposedly shovel-ready projects.
Click on the following for the rest of the story: FirstElectricNewspaper: County May Give Sportsplex, Stadium More Time
there was not enough evidence to conclude that vaccinating hens against salmonella would prevent people from getting sick. The Food and Drug Administration decided not to mandate vaccination of hens — a precaution that would cost less than a penny per a dozen eggs.
many industry experts say the absence of mandatory vaccination greatly weakens the F.D.A. rules, depriving them of a crucial step that could prevent future outbreaks.
One-half to two-thirds of American farmers already inoculate their flocks, according to industry estimates, and that number is likely to increase. While the new federal rules do not require vaccination, they do require testing for salmonella.
Click on the following for more details: U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety - NYTimes.com
there was not enough evidence to conclude that vaccinating hens against salmonella would prevent people from getting sick. The Food and Drug Administration decided not to mandate vaccination of hens — a precaution that would cost less than a penny per a dozen eggs.
many industry experts say the absence of mandatory vaccination greatly weakens the F.D.A. rules, depriving them of a crucial step that could prevent future outbreaks.
Click on the following for more details: U.S. Forgoes Salmonella Vaccine for Egg Safety - NYTimes.com
Here are some cost comparisons for our Boone County Jail. Will the Boone County Board use any such comparisons in their upcoming budget meetings?
[this year] That figure includes the $60 per day it [Kane County] pays to Kendall County to hold its inmates and the costs to transport those inmates to and from court appearances.
since July 2, about 25 inmates have been released from the jail on lower bonds or electronic home monitoring, according to the state's attorney's office. Those released inmates freed up valuable bed space and possibly saved the department money. For example, the 29 days that Pierre Harris spent in jail cost the county about $2,088 -- about $72 a day.
fish were found Sunday floating on the surface of the water and collected in booms that had been deployed to contain oil that leaked from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico…, "We don't want to jump to any conclusions because we've had some oxygen issues by the Bayou La Loutre Dam from time to time."
Mayor Fred Brereton called for 26 furlough days — one a week for nonunion city employees — to be taken Fridays beginning Nov. 5…
eliminating two community policing officer positions, cutting the mayor’s assistant for neighborhood development, and consolidating the positions of superintendents of streets and the water department.
city has 119 employees, not including elected officials. Twenty-four of them are nonunion and would be subject to the furlough days, which amount to a 20 percent pay cut.
Belvidere City Hall may close Fridays - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Nearly five years after Katrina and the devastating failures of the levee system, New Orleans is well on its way to getting the protection system Congress ordered: a ring of 350 miles of linked levees, flood walls, gates and pumps that surrounds the city and should defend it against the kind of flooding that in any given year has a 1 percent chance of occurring.
The scale of the nearly $15 billion project,
Still, many experts say that the level of risk reduction will be inadequate for a city that has been devastated by storms twice in living memory, Betsy in 1965 and Katrina.
This year, however, H1N1 likely will be just part of the normal flu season. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved vaccines for the 2010-11 period that include the H1N1 virus.
H1N1 hasn't gone away, but this year it will be thought of as a seasonal flu. The availability of vaccines early will help that.
Click on the following for more details: Is H1N1 still one to watch? :: The Courier News :: Local News
By any historical measure, American egg production is efficient and comparatively safe. The current recall is the largest in memory, but involves only a small fraction of the 70 billion eggs produced annually, mostly by hens who spend their lives with six or seven others in cages the size of an open newspaper, their droppings carried away by one conveyer belt while the eggs are whisked off by another.
Click on the following for more details from the NYTimes: Egg Industry Faces New Scrutiny After Outbreak - NYTimes.com
The solar-powered data reporter was one of 40 installed on monitor wells around the county to see how fast groundwater's being used up by development. They all shoot the data to a communications satellite which beams it back to earth where it's routed through the Internet, eventually to be posted on a County water website.
Click on the following for more details: FirstElectricNewspaper
state now owes $85 billion in bond IOUs -- promises we've made to "pay later with interest." Our credit -- the ability to borrow -- has about maxed out. So we're not paying our bills. Not someday in the future but right now
The Others: Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Stuart Levine, William Cellini, Alonzo "Lon" Monk, John Harris, Ali Ata, Joseph Cari
Click on the following for an update on their fate: Star :: News
Reasons for the surge are complex and varied, experts say. While many Latin American economies are growing fast, Venezuela’s has continued to shrink. The gap between rich and poor remains wide, despite spending on anti-poverty programs, fueling resentment. Adding to that, the nation is awash in millions of illegal firearms.
Click on the following for the details: Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Debates Why - NYTimes.com
In the midst of negotiations with the district teachers’ union (BEA) it is very interesting to see the increase which the Board of Education approved for the Superintendent. His base salary increased from $171,007 to $181,707 (6.25% increase) for the first year of his new five year contract. Plus there is “merit pay” to be set by the Board. Merit pay in the prior contract (2009-2010) was $10,700. The $181,707 (base salary 2010-2011) was obtained by adding the $171,007 and $10,700. Using the 6% annual limit as spelled out on Page 3 [See photocopy below] the following is an estimate of the annual salary and merit pay for the next five school years.
Year Annual Salary Merit Pay Projection
2010-2011 181,707 10.902
2011-2012 192,609 11,557
2012-2013 204,165 12,250
2013-2014 216,416 12,985
2014-2015 229,401 13,764
In summary, salary and merit pay increased by 6.25 first year and 6% each year after that. To see the cost of the other benefits see: http://district100watchdog.blogspot.com/2010/07/supt-looks-forward-to-continued-role-at.html For 2009-2010 the total cost of salary and benefits was $234,704. Thus approximately $50,000 of additional benefit cost should probably occur each year, in 2014-2015 total wages and benefits cost would equal $300,000.
Another interesting fact which came to light by the new contract is on page 9, Section 16. The Board agrees to pay tuition associated with the Superintendent’s requirements for completion of his doctoral degree from Aurora University. Such continuing education costs amounted to $9,200 in 2009-2010.
Click on the photocopy to enlarge:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8
Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12
This posting has received a record 200 hits in just five days.
man who reportedly drove off after a bank teller mistakenly gave him $3,350 that was supposed to go to another customer now faces felony theft charges.
Swedish prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant for the founder of WikiLeaks on Saturday, saying less than a day after the document was issued that it was based on an unfounded accusation of rape.
He was in Sweden last week seeking legal protection for the whistle-blower website, which angered the Obama administration for publishing thousands of leaked documents about U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Click on the following for more details: Nation & World | Sweden withdraws warrant for WikiLeaks founder | Seattle Times Newspaper
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the state of New Jersey Wednesday with lying and withholding information to investors in billions of dollars worth of municipal bond deals.
The allegations involve $26 billion of bond offerings from 2001 to 2007 in which the state obfuscated its underfunding of public employee pension funds, creating a false impression of fiscal stability.
[Does this sound like Illinois?]
Click on the following for more details: Illinois Policy Institute - Blog - SEC Charges NJ -- is IL Next?
John Daley says he supports 10 percent across-the-board cuts to help balance the budget.
He says the biggest reason for the shortfall is the loss of tax revenue, in part due to the county's sales tax cut. Daley says he doesn't recall any elected county officials opposing the tax cut.
City Room™ - News In Brief - Reported Cook County Budget Deficit Could Lead to Big Cuts
This is just a legal technicality—AMCORE’s holding company will be gone.
In the Aug. 19 Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, Rockford-based Amcore Financial Inc., whose bank unit was acquired from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. by Chicago-based Harris N.A. in April, listed assets of $7.2 million and liabilities of $75.4 million.
The biggest creditors were holders of subordinated debt totaling $57 million and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co., Amcore's lender, which listed a claim of $11.9 million, according to the filing.
Amcore Financial files for Chapter 11 | Finance | Crain's Chicago Business
ShoreBank, the South Side lender that carved out a national reputation by successfully lending in low-income urban neighborhoods for three decades, was seized by regulators Friday after an extraordinary rescue effort featuring the nation’s largest financial firms fell short.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. For the FDIC, the estimated hit to its insurance fund from the failure will be $367.7 million.
In the past 20 years, according to the public record, the DeCoster family operation, one of the 10 largest egg producers in the country, has withstood a string of reprimands, penalties and complaints about its performance in several states.
-- In 1996, DeCoster was fined $3.6 million for health and safety violations at the family's Turner egg farm, which then-Labor Secretary Robert Reich termed "as dangerous and oppressive as any sweatshop we have seen." Regulators found that workers had been forced to handle manure and dead chickens with their bare hands and to live in filthy trailers.
-- In 1999, the company paid $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving unpaid overtime for 3,000 workers.
-- In 2001, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that DeCoster was a "repeat violator" of state environmental laws, citing violations involving the family's hog-farming operations. The family was forbidden to expand its hog-farming interests in the state.
-- Also in 2001, DeCoster Farms of Iowa settled, for $1.5 million, a complaint brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the company had subjected 11 undocumented female workers from Mexico to a "sexually hostile work environment," including sexual assault and rape by supervisors.
-- In 2002, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the family's Maine Contract Farming branch $345,810 for an array of violations. The same year, DeCoster Egg Farms of Maine paid $3.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 1998 by Mexican workers alleging discrimination in housing and working conditions.
-- In 2003, Jack DeCoster paid the federal government $2.1 million as part of a plea agreement after federal agents found more than 100 undocumented workers at his Iowa egg farms. It was the largest penalty ever against an Iowa employer. Three years later, agents found 30 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants at a DeCoster farm in Iowa. And in 2007, raids at other DeCoster Iowa farms uncovered 51 more suspected undocumented workers.
-- In 2006, Ohio's Agriculture Department revoked the permits of Ohio Fresh Eggs because its new co-owners, including Hillandale founder Orland Bethel, had failed to disclose that DeCoster had put up $126 million for the purchase, far more than their $10,000, and was heavily involved in managing the company. By playing down DeCoster's role, the owners had avoided a background check into DeCoster's "habitual violator" status in Iowa. An appeals panel overturned the revocation, saying the disclosure was adequate.
-- In 2008, OSHA cited DeCoster's Maine Contract Farming for violations that included forcing workers to retrieve eggs the previous winter from inside a building that had collapsed under ice and snow.
Click on the following for more of this Washington Post story: Before salmonella outbreak, egg firm had long record of violations
McHenry County court records show former director Steve Cherveny and former superintendent of recreation Susan Mayer were cited in July on disorderly conduct charges alleging they engaged in "obscene/sexual conduct in public."
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Cary Park District officials resign following 'obscene conduct' citation
Estimates about the total cost of the just concluded trial of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich range wildly from several million to $30 million
jury cost for nearly two months of trial and 14 days of deliberation. The bill? $67,463.32.
. The jurors' bill includes costs for food and travel. And it includes pay. Jurors got $40 a day the first month, then $50 after that
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, was instead at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, campaign officials said
Kirk's opponent, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, was among about a dozen candidates who took part in the closed-door meetings.
Working through Human Rights First, the group of 40 retired military leaders made a name for itself during the 2008 primary as members held private meetings with candidates to discuss prisoner treatment and interrogation policies. The group claims that as a direct result of their effort, President Obama signed executive orders ending torture and secret prisons and promising to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Daily Herald | Retired generals disappointed over Kirk's no-show at meeting
The city has 119 employees, not including elected officials. Of that number, 95 are union employees.
What bailed us out was the utility tax, but that can’t bail us out again,” Racz, who voted for the tax’s use, said. “We can still reduce spending.”
Click on the following for more details: Belvidere faces $1.1 million deficit in new budget - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
220 million price represents the average of the three appraisals … the state can accept no less than $219,932,218 for the facility.
higher than the $170 million the Obama administration requested of Congress in its 2011 budget proposal to cover both the purchase price and security upgrades.
state built the prison for $140 million in 2001, but it has remained largely unused. It costs $2 million a year to operate.
Click on the following for more details: Thomson prison appraisal, fed's offer differ
Illinois House Bill 6241 that should eliminate the confusion.
The bill creates the Manufactured Home Installation Act, which requires a manufactured home that's installed on private property and not located in a mobile home park, to be assessed and taxed as real property. And mobile homes located inside mobile home parks will continue to be taxed according to the Mobile Home Local Services Tax Act. But mobile, or manufactured, homes that are located outside mobile-home parks and not classified, assessed and taxed as real property prior to the new law taking effect will remain that way unless the home is sold, transferred or relocated.
Click on the following for more details: Bill proposed to close property-tax loophole | News-Gazette.com
Illinois Department of Transportation chose the Canadian National line, which runs through Genoa, in its application to the federal government for stimulus funds.
The project was not picked for federal funding, so Gov. Pat Quinn appropriated $60 million from the state’s capital budget for it. In late March, Quinn announced the route would go through Belvidere on a Union Pacific route. A few days later, IDOT officials confirmed to the Daily Chronicle that the Chicago-to-Dubuque service would stop in Belvidere – noting that the route was decided by Quinn and not transportation officials.Genoa Chamber Executive Director Bonnie Hanson said that a final decision has yet to be made.
“According to the last time we spoke to Amtrak, which was last week, no contracts had been signed, no construction had begun,” Hanson said Monday.
State Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Rochelle, said the money for the project hasn’t been released by the state, which is why contracts haven’t been signed
Click on the following for more details: Genoa Chamber to hold forum on Chicago-Dubuque Amtrak route | Daily Chronicle
Fairness? Can you offer this benefit to one employee and not to another with similar age and seniority? You can’t just offer it to employees whose slot is eliminated or who is replaced with a lower priced worker. It may work at counties with large number of workers but Boone County is too small. Look at the numbers -- I question if there will be any real savings, no less one that which help the deficit.
Boone County may offer early-retirement incentives to employees to help erase a projected $1.5 million budget shortfall in 2011.
Click on following for more of the story: County looks at early retirement to save money - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
County Clerk John Cunningham talked about cutting down his management staff by 25 percent,
Take a look at the interact chart to see how the Democratic versus Republican tax cut proposal will affect your taxes.
Click on the following for the chart. How the fight over tax breaks affects your bottom line | The Washington Post
3,880.
That is the number of home foreclosures filed so far this year in the county.
Scholes told the panel that last year, the recorder's office had registered 2,976 foreclosures from Jan. 1 through Aug. 15. In the same time frame this year, he said, it has recorded 3,880 foreclosures.
Foreclosure numbers stun Kane committee :: The Courier News :: Local News
The graph below shows just how hot the new home construct was for Huntley and how cold it is for the area today. Huntley’s 1990 population was 2,453 and the 2000 number was 5,730. A Special Census in 2008 revealed the population to be 23,229.
Huntley remains one of the few bright spots in Northern Illinois. "Through July we've issued permits for 60 new homes," Huntley Village Manager Dave Johnson told FEN Friday.
"We issued 12 permits in July," said Johnson. "We're in the top three in the Chicago area." Elgin leads the pack so far this year with 95 starts followed by Shorewood with 76, according to Johnson's figures.
Everything is relative, of course. While Huntley housing bodes to beat last year's depressed figure of only 75 permits all year
Click on the following for the rest of the story: FirstElectricNewspaper: Huntley Holds Local Lead In Slack New Home Permits
A large hog slaughter operation proposed for the Quad Cities may cause pollution not only on the river but start mega-hog confinement operations across the region.
Click on the following for the story: Waterkeeper News: Triumph hog plant rears its head again in East Moline | The Rock River Times
as fast as the private sector is creating jobs, the government is shedding them. And the cuts are far from over.
Despite all the gloom and doom about the US economy, the private sector actually created 620,000 jobs over the past seven months, far faster than in the previous two recessions.
Between 2009-2011, these governments are expected to slash 8.6 percent of their workers, according to a July outlook by three government associations.
"It's very likely they're going to continue to shed jobs well in 2011
Click on the following for more details: If Private Sector Is Hiring, Why Is Jobs Market So Bad? - Yahoo! Finance
BLOOMINGTON -- Officials in McLean County are considering a plan that could bring a more than 200-turbine wind farm to central Illinois
Click on the following for more details: McLean County board to consider wind farm plan - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
Miller, the Democratic candidate for state comptroller, has his way, you'll soon be able to easily access an online database for salaries of all state employees and elected officials through the Illinois comptroller's Web site.
Miller's opponent in the November election, Republican Judy Baar Topinka, has also advocated for making these taxpayer-funded salaries more transparent,
Just found this search tool available at the Rockford Register Star.
The Rockford Register Star collects the area's most complete set of building permits and real estate transactions for Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties in Illinois. You can search back to Jan. 1, 2005, to find out how much your neighbor's house sold for, what vacant land in Loves Park is worth or who bought a high-profile business.
The Register Star gives you the most up-to-date records available. Because many municipalities release transactions and permits days or even weeks after they occurred, some lag time will be reflected in the database.Real Estate
Search real estate transactions
Use any combination of the boxes below to narrow down your search. You can also just click submit to get all records in our database.Address:
City:
County:
Price: All Ranges 0-24,999 25,000 - 49,999 50,000 - 99,0000 100,000 - 149,999 150,000 - 199,999 200,000 - 299,999 300,000-399,999 400,000 and up
Seller:
Buyer:
Type:
Date Range: 7 Days 30 Days 6 Months 1 Year All Records
Click to export last 30 days to Excel
Building Permits
Search building permit transactions
Use any combination of the boxes below to narrow down your search. You can also just click submit to get all records in our database.Building Dept.:
Address:
City or County:
Valuation: All Ranges 0-999 1000 - 1999 2000-2999 10000-24999 25000 and up
Owner:
Date Range: 7 Days 30 Days 6 Months 1 Year All Records
Click to export last 30 days to Excel
The government has lost eight of 15 cases [3] in which Guantánamo inmates have said they or witnesses against them were forcibly interrogated, according to ProPublica's review of 31 published decisions that resolve lawsuits filed by 52 captives who said they've been wrongfully detained [4]. Because some of the judges' opinions are heavily redacted, it's impossible to be sure there aren't more cases in which the government offered interrogation evidence collected under questionable
Obama administration has already said that at least 48 of the remaining 176 prisoners at Guantánamo will be held indefinitely because they're too dangerous to release but can't be prosecuted successfully in military or civilian court. They've said that coercion-tainted evidence is one obstacle.
Click on the following for more details: Judges Reject Interrogation Evidence in Gitmo Cases - ProPublica
for now, the financial markets seem to fear recession and deflation much more than they fear deficit spending.
Will there be even more “mystery companies” across the Winnebago/Boone County Area. Do citizens have any rights in the process when their representatives refuse to demand details such as the name of the applicant?
Winnebago County Board voted unanimously to approve a 10-year property tax abatement to a confidential company known only to officials as “Project Eagle.”…$6.25 million, 125,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facilities
the county has tentatively agreed to a similar abatement for another undisclosed company known only as “Project Phoenix,” which is to reveal its identity prior to a final vote, Bob Hastings (D-13) noted this was the first time board members were being asked to formalize an abatement before a firm’s identity was made known. Chairman Scott Christiansen (R) granted Democrats a 10-minute caucus to discuss the pending vote.
With the possibility of a layover for more information now exhausted, and after more than 30 minutes of discussion on the floor, board members voted unanimously to approve the resolution. Aurand said his “yes” vote was based on trust in Ekberg, while Gorski indicated his “yes” was cast so he’d be on the prevailing side, thus giving him the ability to move for reconsideration at a later date.
Click on the following for more details: County Board: Tax break approved for company that won’t reveal identity | The Rock River Times
The McHenry office [of orthodontist Daryl Ashbeck] was closed early Friday afternoon, with the lights out and the shades half-drawn.
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation show that Ashbeck’s dental license was suspended March 9, because Ashbeck failed an alcohol test he agreed to take as a condition of getting his license back in November 2008.
Ashbeck also is facing a felony forgery charge in McHenry County for allegedly forging a prescription for Tussionex, which includes an antihistamine and hydrocodone. He allegedly presented the fake prescription on a Rockford dentist’s pad at a Crystal Lake drug store in February, local court records show.
A failure to notify patients could be viewed as patient abandonment and could cause a new case to be brought against a dentist, Hofer said. That new case ultimately could lead to a fine or losing the license altogether.
Click on the following for more details: Northwest Herald | Dentist shutters office
Democrats have been taking the offensive, apparently hoping to use Social Security to their advantage as they fight to maintain control of Congress.
They’re emphasizing the program’s popularity among Americans, their commitment to protecting it, and their contention that Republicans want to change Social Security to its detriment.
coalition of 60 liberal groups and advocates for the elderly…will “buttonhole” lawmakers who are campaigning for reelection this fall, calling for them to sign a pledge that commits them to opposing cuts to Social Security entitlements.
Social Security heats up as an issue for midterm elections - CSMonitor.com
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Filings in McHenry County grew 11.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010 over the same period a year ago. The two months with the most foreclosure filings in the past 10 years were March (366) and July (316) of this year, and 3,600 new filings are expected locally through 2010.
Click on the following for more details: Northwest Herald | Foreclosure filings keep piling up
Washington, New Mexico and Utah — allow illegal immigrants to get licenses because their laws do not require proof of citizenship or legal residency.
supporters say make financial sense because unlicensed drivers typically do not carry car insurance. Opponents insist the laws attract illegal immigrants and criminals.
Click on the following for more details: AP Enterprise: More immigrants getting licenses - Yahoo! News
How things are worded does matter.
The ability to spin facts and figures long has been part of the campaign process, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. But while it’s one thing to use spin to try and influence an election, it’s quite another to use an election to plant, grow and harvest spin.
That is what’s being done in DeKalb, where a referendum question is being placed on the ballot for the sole purpose of creating bullet points for a lobbyist group’s literature.
This should be an issue for this November’s election—will it actually happen?
The proposal would gradually phase out the county’s use of public safety tax dollars by 2018, with jail bonds paid off and money no longer being used for jail expenses.
[County Budget…] Departments have an Aug. 27 deadline to submit spending plans for the budget, with hearings beginning Aug. 30.
Click on the following for more details: Plan would phase out use of Boone safety tax for jail - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Jan Noble, Chief of Police, Belvidere (IL) Police Dept. is First Vice-President, the second highest executive for this non-profit. See:http://airsupport.org/. Overall, this RR Star article appears critical of LEAC’s especially regarding its openness and transparency. Does anyone remember what happened to the surplus U.S.Defense Department helicopter which Boone County obtained through a grant?
Tax returns show that LEAC’s expenses outweighed its revenues in 2007 and 2009. It ended last year in the red by more than $46,000. In 2009 alone, the nonprofit spent $17,752.43 for fuel, $28,473 for insurance and $113,082.34 for repairs. LEAC officials declined to give the Register Star a complete list of its public and private donors and an accounting of all the law enforcement agencies it serves.
Winnebago County is one of the largest contributors to a nonprofit agency that provides helicopters on demand to law enforcement agencies in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
But the Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition has lost money two of the past three years, and Winnebago County officials say they don’t require the agency to document — nor do they know — how it has spent $370,000 in taxpayer dollars directed to it since October 2007
Click on the following for more details on this story: Helicopter agency ‘valuable’ for police, expensive for county - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Palos Bank and Trust Co., based in Palos Heights, Ill., with $493.4 million in assets and $467.8 million in deposits. First Midwest Bank, based in Itasca, Ill., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of the failed bank.
The pace has accelerated as banks' losses mount on loans made for commercial property and development. Many companies have shut down in the recession, vacating shopping malls and office buildings financed by the loans. That has brought delinquent loan payments and defaults by commercial developers.
The Kane County Board can sue elected officials who blow their budget, and may choose to do so after three years of trying to address cost overruns with little success.
While the county is obligated to reasonably fund every department, no one really knows what reasonable funding is for sure.
President Obama on Friday forcefully joined the national debate over construction of an Islamic complex near New York's Ground Zero, telling guests at a White House dinner marking the holy month of Ramadan that opposing the project is at odds with American values.
Also see a video of the President’s comments at this site
Click on the following: At Ramadan dinner, Obama defends plans for Ground Zero mosque
first event will feature Kathy Kelly, a prominent social activist and co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago. Kelly, who has spoken at previous SPAN events, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. She also is facing a trial in Las Vegas next month stemming from civil disobedience at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada in 2009, organizers said.
Recently back from a fact-finding mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kelly plans to speak about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones. Her presentation is called “Drones on Trial: A firsthand account from Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Kelly will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 1 in the MCC Conference Center
Click on the following for more details about these programs: Northwest Herald | Peace group lines up lectures
For more than a century, St. Stanislaus has enjoyed a rare role within the archdiocese. A lay board of directors governs the parish, and church property and financial assets are owned by the congregation. That relationship began to shift in 2003, when the archdiocese proposed that St. Stanislaus’s property and assets — then estimated at $8 million — be brought under an archdiocese-managed trust.
last year Pope Benedict XVI formally laicized Mr. Bozek [a Polish ordained priest], prohibiting him from functioning as a Roman Catholic priest.
. In 2008 he [Bozek] presented parishioners with what he called his “vision,” which included the right of priests to marry, and that of women and homosexuals to become priests.
draft settlement put forth by the new archbishop of St. Louis, Robert J. Carlson, that would have allowed the congregation to maintain control of the church’s property and financial assets. The settlement provided no guarantee, however, that the parish would remain open. The archbishop would have final say in the appointment of new board members, and, significantly, Mr. Bozek would leave the church.
Click on the following for more details: A Renegade Priest, Marek Bozek, Leads a Divided St. Louis Parish - NYTimes.com
OSHA inspected the center, 1230 S. Appleton Road, on June 15 and cited it for several violations, including missing cover plates for electrical boxes, no documentation of annual inspections for fire extinguishers and an electrical outlet held in place with duct tape.
improper drainage in the kennel area and damage to walls, ceilings and other spaces — about $35,000 worth of immediate repairs
meantime, purchase offers will be accepted for the Appleton Road property, even though it’s not officially on the market, after an interested buyer approached the county.
Click on the following for more details:
Boone County Animal Control to close for cleanup - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
The Boone County Board did not pass the enabling legislation for such funds until December 2009. Such funds are available to for private firms and government units. The allocation for Boone County is in the process of being returned to the state.
proposed sale of Build America Bonds for much-needed street improvements.
The city is looking to sell $550,000 of the bonds for roadway improvement
Build America Bond program was implemented under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide funding for state and local government public works projects at lower-than-market-rate borrowing costs. The U.S. Department of the Treasury makes a direct payment to the state or local governmental issuer in an amount equal to 35 percent of the required interest payment on the bond
Genoa eyes bond sale to fund street work :: The Courier News :: Local News
Hampshire is good example of how overextended the housing market was before the crash. Unfortunately this is not the only problem across the Greater Chicago Area.
[Developer]Crown officials have indicated that unless they can get out from under the $4.5 million a year in bond repayment taxes, "They may just walk away and let the bond holders have the property."
So the village board voted last week to make an offer to the bond holders. If they agree, they can sell their bonds back to the village for about 37 percent of what the bonds originally sold for. That money, totaling about $28 million, would come from money left over from the bond sale plus $3.5 million chipped in by Crown. In return, Crown has agreed to pay for the sewer and water systems expansion and road improvements
If all 2,833 of these projects' approved lots eventually do have houses built on them, they will hold twice as many people as now live in all of Hampshire
Click on the following for more details: Crown wants to refund SSA bonds :: The Courier News :: Local News
The community development committee [of the Batavia City Council]ordered work on the details of changing city law, using research presented Tuesday by advocates of backyard cluckers
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Batavia backyard chicken request passes first test
Having had a presence in DeKalb for 25 years, the company is expanding its regional distribution center by building a new $20 million facility
DeKalb’s central location in the United States allows the company to reach a large customer base, Long added.
Another part of the company’s decision to stay was a tax incentive approved by local taxing districts to abate a percentage of property taxes for five years.
Click on the following for more details: New 3M warehouse continues a 25-year partnership in DeKalb | Daily Chronicle
advisory question urging state leaders to take steps toward pension reform….at least 20 other municipalities across the state – many in the Chicago region – that will place the pension-reform question before voters
state changes stop short at police officers, firefighters and sheriffs, and attempts to make reforms in the public safety arena stalled during the last legislative session.
Click on the following for more details:
Pensions for public safety employees to be on ballot | Daily Chronicle
Recorded July 27
917 W. Boone St., Belvidere, $77,900, US Bank to Christopher and Maegen Wruck.
Recorded July 28
406 Applewood Lane, Belvidere, $129,500, Ronald A. and Shelley J. Dippel to Anthony F. Delmore.
110 W. Boone St., Belvidere, $65,500, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to Michael J. Tinberg.
4140 Brookstone Lane, Belvidere, $110,000, Federal National Mortgage Assoc. to Effie M. Shaver.
419 Whitman St., Belvidere, $90,000, Judith E. Effler, Estate Administrator, to Pauline H. Gray.
1810 9th Ave., $41,000, Federal National Mortgage Assoc. to Chester Partyka.
Recorded July 29
1218 Willow St., Belvidere, $135,000, Jerry and Linda Rosecke to Lyndon E. Britto.
These transactions were originally printed in the Daily Republican:
This has not been discussed since 2009—it appears that many original benefituaries are no more. This experiment will use oxy-combustion to burn coal with a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide to produce a carbon-dioxide waste that can be stored.
Carbon dioxide emissions from the plant in western Illinois would be pumped through a 175-mile subterranean pipeline through Decatur and then down to Mattoon, where they would be sequestered deep underground in the same basin that the original FutureGen plant would have used to store emission
Click on the following for more details: ILLINOIZE: FutureGen moves on without Mattoon plant
Just 24 hours after saying he likely would vote for it, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park, voted against a state jobs bill pushed by the White House, sparking a bitter exchange in his race for the U.S. Senate.
Click on the following for more details: Blogs | Crain's Chicago Business
There is only $75,000 left in the $2.8 million kitty and his defense team hasn't yet billed for the month of July….
Blagojevich are more than $200,000 in debt, according to prosecutors.
The former governor lives in a Ravenswood Manor home and owns a condo in Washington D.C. -- both are subject to government seizure should jurors convict him of racketeering.
That likely means public money could be used to pay any remaining defense bills.
Click on the following for more details: You might have to help Blagojevich pay legal bills :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Gov. Blagojevich
Kane county stop accepting grant agreements with the state of Illinois for services provided to Kane County residents because the county cannot depend on the state to reimburse it for services rendered….Fifty percent of the health department's budget comes from grants and, of that, 60 percent are state grants, Kuehnert said. Not only does Illinois already owe the health department $1.3 million, it is cutting funding to some of those programs
restructure itself to focus on core, mandated services such as emergency preparedness and programs for high-risk infants
Click on the following for more details: Kane County Board OKs health department cuts :: The Courier News :: Local News
Illinois joins California and Florida
-- Samsung Electronics Co., Toshiba Corp., Sharp Corp. and five other liquid-crystal display makers were sued by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan over claims they conspired to fix prices.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/08/10/bloomberg1376-L6YFUF6LUTXD01-14KLIQ9IP29EGJFJ91D02VTSCM.DTL#ixzz0wGIf04SE
Click on the following for more details: Samsung, LCD-Panel Makers Sued by Illinois's Madigan
Congress budgeted $14.7 billion for this year's headcount, which began in 1999 with early planning meetings. More than half of the money was spent this year,
The Census Bureau managed to return $305 million from a $7 billion total budget in 2000.
72 percent response rate matched the 2000 Census and helped control costs on the labor-intensive follow up process.
Click on the following for more details: 2010 Census was $1.6 billion under budget - Federal Eye -
The following is taken from a website advocating keeping the locks open. I was contacted by Emily McGann [emily@unlockourjobs.org] regarding this organization. Feel free to contact her if you have any questions about the Asian carp issue.
Un-Lock Our Jobs was founded to protect the uninterrupted operation of the “Avenue of the America’s” – the essential waterway connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River corridor. A project of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, Un-Lock Our Jobs is a coalition of agriculture, business, labor, river communities, and concerned citizens working towards a comprehensive solution to stop the spread of Asian Carp, while leaving the Chicago locks open to commerce.
Click on the following for more information: Unlock Our Jobs -
No decision should be made based on panic, fear and political pressure. Surely there are other viable options that would not jeopardize our already fragile economy.
Click on the following for more details on this opinion piece: In the Spotlight: Great Lakes link too vital to Illinois to be closed to halt Asian carp advance - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com
-- Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk says he's inclined to vote for a $26 billion jobs bill that Democrats are pushing.
called the measure deficit neutral and said it would keep teachers in the classroom.
He says he still needs to read the fine print but expects to support the bill.
[The protest forms] estimated to be about 11 typed pages in length, is protected – meaning it may contain proprietary and/or confidential information. Both the companies involved in the decision will have a chance to review the decision and request that certain material be redacted before the decision is available to the public. The GAO will consider each company’s request before making the decision public. Bid protest decisions can be read at the GAO’s website, www.gao.gov. The file number for this case is 401860.2 and Morrow said he anticipates this decision will be posted Aug. 13, if not sooner.
Click on the following for more details: Explanation of IDT protest denial to be made public
Ravenswood Bank on Friday became the 23rd Chicago-area bank to fail since the financial crisis began claiming local banks at the start of 2009.
As of June 30, 40% of its loans were to commercial and residential developers or to investors in commercial real estate.
Ravenswood Bank fails, Wintrust unit is the buyer | Finance | Crain's Chicago Business
Village Board meets Monday to consider a referendum to establish a new tax — 60 cents per $100 of assessed property value — to pay for public safety services. That’s the maximum tax rate the village could levy.
A public meeting on the matter will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Garden Prairie United Church of Christ,
Garden Prairie Street Light District plans to have a referendum Nov. 2 on increasing the tax that primarily is used to rent 33 street lights and two flashing lights and to pay for their electric usage.
Click on the following for more details: Street Light District pushing for referendum on November ballot
Interesting article for several reasons. I never knew that a county board could not really stop overspending of elected officials.
state budget experts will speak to the board in what McConnaughay [County Board Chairwoman] described as an effort to get members to understand the state's dire financial situation. The experts also will explain what that situation means for the county.
Members again cited the fact that the board has no authority to prevent offices from overspending.
"We end up overspending at the end of the year because we can't control the management decisions made in other offices," McConnaughay said
Kane to hear from financial experts :: Beacon News :: Local News
Most of Chrysler's gains this year came from sales to rental car companies, governments and other businesses, according to confidential data obtained by The Associated Press. Everyday drivers have shunned its dated lineup of cars and trucks.
Chrysler lost $197 million in the first quarter, and it's expected to post a net loss when it releases second-quarter results on Monday.
State pension officials are re-examining the retirement of a west suburban village administrator who the Chicago Tribune revealed was paid $472,255 last year under 10 different job titles, spiking his pension by tens of thousands of dollars.
1999 audit of state governments by The Associated Press found that more than two-thirds of them did not comply with FOIA. A 2006 investigation by the Better Government Association yielded a 60 percent noncompliance rate – almost 40 percent of the Illinois governments tested never even responded to the FOIA request.
vast majority of FOIA requests filed in Illinois come from the public, not the news media. Just under 75 percent of the 1,298 requests for FOIA assistance received by the Attorney General’s Office last year, before the new law took effect, came from the public.
Click on the following for more details: Northwest Herald | Frequent filers weigh in on FOIA
Fitch Ratings on Thursday reduced Chicago's $6.8 billion in outstanding general obligation bonds from AA-plus to AA, which means millions of dollars will be added to the cost of borrowing by the city.
Click on the following for more details: Chicago's bond rating cut; adds millions to borrowing costs | Government | Crain's Chicago Business
Proposed ballot question
“Shall there be created a Citizens’ Efficiency Commission which shall have as its purpose improving local government effectiveness by identifying opportunities for improved cooperation, coordination, and reduction of duplication of services among local governments in Sangamon County?”
Recent governmental mergers in Sangamon County
* 1989 – Buffalo and Mechanicsburg merge their police departments. Officials in both communities cited the growing cost of complying with new state training mandates.
* 1997 – Emergency dispatchers for police, fire and medical services in Springfield and Sangamon County are consolidated. Prior to the merger, dispatchers worked for the Springfield Fire Department, the Springfield Police Department or Sangamon County.
* 2002 – The Springfield Park District takes over the Springfield Recreation Department. Merger was designed to save taxpayers an estimated $300,000 annually.
* March 2006 – Springfield Health Department is merged into the Sangamon County Health Department, at an estimated savings of $1.4 million annually.
A 3-foot-long Asian carp discovered in a Chicago waterway near Lake Michigan appears to have spent most of its life there and may have been planted by humans who didn't know what type of fish it was or the environmental risk it posed, researchers said Thursday.
Click on the following for more details: Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press
On Dec. 16, 2009, local [Freeport] business owner Steve Chesney submitted a $1,000 bid to purchase the Carnegie, after the library board voted to put the building up for auction. That bid was 25 times larger than the amount submitted by the city[of Freeport] to buy the Carnegie. City Council members later authorized matching the $1,000 bid, but a formal purchase of the property has not happened.
The taxpayers for the city and the library district have spent $26,000, [on legal fees] and we still don’t have a definitive answer on who owns the building. Who are the legal trustees?,”
City of Freeport believes that the title lawsuit is no longer necessary. We believe that recent interest shown in the property indicates that there is no hindrance to achieving the ultimate goal of putting the property back into productive reuse, while preserving the historical nature of the building
Its 2010 budget is more than $3.1 million in the red as of June 30, in large part because of late payments from the state. And early budget estimates indicate that McHenry County could have a $3 million shortfall in 2011, as well.
McHenry County uses “zero-based” budgeting, which means that every department’s budget is comprehensively reviewed each year, and all expenditures must be justified.
RAM Talks Art: Area museums offer free days
This includes: Ethnic Heritage Museum, Burpee Museum of Natural History, Khlem Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Rockford Art Museum,Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens, Midway Village Museum, Discovery Center Museum, and Anderson Japanese Gardens
Click on the following for the individual details: RAM Talks Art: Area museums offer free days | The Rock River Times
More than 780,000 Illinois families got food stamps in June
April elimination of an asset test people used to have to pass before becoming eligible.
"People didn't have to spend down their savings all the way in order to applynumber of Illinois food stamp recipients to increase again when July figures are available
Click on the following for more details: Record number of Illinois families on food stamps - chicagotribune.com
if the jurors at his corruption trial who ended a sixth day of deliberation Wednesday convict him, authorities could end up seizing his home - valued by the county assessor at around $700,000.
property would be in jeopardy only if Blagojevich is convicted of racketeering - one of 24 counts jurors are considering,
Click on the following for more details: Pantagraph.com | News from Associated Press
A $26 billion plan to prevent the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers, firefighters and other state and local workers cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday
give states $10 billion for education programs and $16 billion to help cover their Medicaid budgets in the first six months of next year.
Many legal outsourcing firms have offices around the world to interact with clients, but keep the majority of their employees in India; some also have a stable of lawyers in the Philippines….basic legal support work can successfully be done offshore very cost effectively with no quality problems
Now, to win new clients and take on more sophisticated work, legal outsourcing firms in India are actively recruiting experienced lawyers from the West.
Employees at legal outsourcing companies in India are not allowed by Indian law to give legal advice to clients in the West, no matter their qualifications. Instead, legal outsourcing companies perform a lot of the functions that a junior lawyer might do in a U.S. law firm
Pay cuts are appearing most frequently among state and local governments, which are under extraordinary budget pressures and have often already tried furloughs,… Warning that they will have to lay off people otherwise, many governors and mayors are pressing public employee unions to accept a reduction in salary of a few percentage points, without getting days off in exchange.
new wage rollbacks feed worries that the economy has weakened and could even be at risk of deflation
Click on the following to read all of this NY Times story: As Finances Tighten, Furloughs Give Way to Pay Cuts - NYTimes.com
A government report finds that about 26 percent of the oil released from BP’s runaway well is still in the water or onshore in a form that could, in principle, cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the ocean surface or in a dispersed form below the surface, and federal scientists believe that it is breaking down rapidly in both places.
Click on the following for more details: Oil in Gulf Poses Only Slight Risk, New U.S. Report Says - NYTimes.com
