Rockford may dissolve department in stimulus audit aftermath - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Items highlighted in yellow are programs also administered by the department for Boone County.

The department provides emergency housing and administers the energy and electricity assistance program better known as LIHEAP. It organizes advocacy groups for the poor and is heavily involved in the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness. The bulk of department is made up of the Head Start program,

Under the proposal, all the housing, energy and community services programs run by Human Services would still be offered, but through the city’s Community Development Department. George Davis, director of Human Services, would stay on as the lead of a new division that would handle the programs.

By merging Human Services into the community development department, the city could consolidate some programs and eliminate some positions, the report said, although how many is unclear.

Davis would work with other department heads to pick the staff of the new division and determine how many employees it would need.

Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/news/x1367237484/Rockford-might-dissolve-department-in-stimulus-audit-aftermath#ixzz2e1XsuFNS

Hyundai and Volkswagen Lose U.S. Auto Race - Yahoo! Finance

By Douglas A. McIntyre

To the amazement of many, U.S. car sales are at an annual run rate of 16 million vehicles. That comes close to matching the record years of 2006 and 2007, before the recession

Kia and Hyundai were among the fastest selling brands in America for three years. But their sales have slowed considerably since about the same time as a scandal that involved its claims about how many MPG several of its vehicles got

VW's lack of success has been blamed on the low grades its cars get for quality and a limited line up of models….sold only 40,342 vehicles in the U.S. last month, which was down 1.6% from the same month a year ago. T

Click on the following to read all of the story:  Hyundai and Volkswagen Lose U.S. Auto Race - Yahoo! Finance

Supervisor, attorney give answers; assessor sees ‘obvious conflict’ | Belvidere Daily Republican

Written by Bob Balgemann

Questions from Belvidere Township Assessor Diann Helnore, about occupants of the township building and the supervisor’s powers, have been answered.

The answers came from both supervisor Pat Murphy and the township’s attorney, Keri-Lyn Krafthefer.

Helnore asked who was occupying the lower-level space of the township building, at 8200 Fairgrounds. Her concern was that her office uses some of that area for storage of records and now, someone has been invited to share that space without her being told about it.

Those same questions applied to the Flaming Monkeys, a 4-H club focusing on robotics, which also uses part of the lower level.

“For security purposes, we have a right to know who has a right to be in this building and who does not,” she wrote in a memorandum to Murphy, dated Aug. 13.

Read more by clicking on the following:  Supervisor, attorney give answers; assessor sees ‘obvious conflict’ | Belvidere Daily Republican

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