Thursday, March 12, 2015

CeaseFire warns loss of state funding could result in more shootings | Chicago

CeaseFire warns loss of state funding could result in more shootings

Posted: 03/10/2015, 05:35pm | Frank Main

Dr. Gary Slutkin (pictured in 2012), the founder of CeaseFire Illinois, warned Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday of the possibility of a flare-up of shootings in Chicago unless state funding for the antiviolence program is restored. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times

The founder of CeaseFire Illinois warned Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday of the possibility of a flare-up of shootings in Chicago unless state funding for the antiviolence program is restored.

CeaseFire, whose efforts to prevent retaliatory shootings received international attention in the documentary “The Interrupters,” was notified on March 4 that its state grant was suspended as part of Rauner’s budget cuts.

On Tuesday, CeaseFire founder Dr. Gary Slutkin wrote to Rauner that the $4.5 million grant represents most of the funding for CeaseFire Illinois, which he said serves 18 communities in Chicago and six outside of the city.

“The state of Illinois cannot afford to interrupt the CeaseFire program,” Slutkin said in his letter. “Lives depend on this program.”

Slutkin said the governor should consider CeaseFire an essential state program not subject to budget cuts.

“People’s health and safety should not be relegated to ‘non-essential’ service status and treated like property leases, office space and energy consumption savings measures,” he said.

An interruption in CeaseFire’s funding in 2007 under Gov. Rod Blagojevich had coincided with a steep rise in shootings in Chicago, Slutkin said.

CeaseFire also held a $1 million contract with the city of Chicago to combat gun violence in the Grand Crossing and Ogden police districts between mid-2012 and mid-2013, but the contract was not renewed.

CeaseFire warns loss of state funding could result in more shootings | Chicago

What Rauner’s budget cuts could mean for families who depend on respite care | WGN-TV

 

CHICAGO — One of the social service programs on Gov Rauner’s chopping block is the respite care program.

Families already pushed to the limit could soon have an even tougher time.

Under the governor’s proposed budget, funding for developmental disabilities respite care would be discontinued.

More than 3,000 Illinois families currently depend on the program.

WGN’s Monica Schneider spent time with a a family that depends on the program for help.

What Rauner’s budget cuts could mean for families who depend on respite care | WGN-TV

(1) Mainstream: New setbacks would prohibit wind... - Belvidere Daily Republican

 

March 6 at 5:12pm ·

Mainstream: New setbacks would prohibit wind farms here
By Bob Balgemann
Reporter

BOONE COUNTY - As public hearings continue on new setback requirements for wind turbines, Mainstream Renewable Power is continuing its opposition, saying the proposed rules would keep such projects out of Boone County.

The second hearing will be held March 24, with the possibility of a third in April.

The zoning board of appeals' (ZBA) recommendation will be considered by the planning, zoning and building committee meeting, which is held the first Wednesday of each month. That is a standing committee of the county board consisting of five board members.

Last stop for the proposed text amendment to the Boone County Zoning Ordinance will be the county board, which meets the third Wednesday of each month.

The Chicago law firm of Schain, Banks, Kenny and Schwartz Ltd. has written letters to the ZBA, concerning the text amendment.

Here are some excerpts from the second letter, dated Feb. 20, which addressed the revised application submitted by David Cleverdon of Caledonia and Karen Kenney of Capron.

"The new language in the proposed text amendment does not cure the constitutional invalidity of the prior language, and the new provisions will prohibit development of wind energy projects in Boone County. Accordingly, the objections previously raised in my Jan. 27, 2015, correspondence applies to the new proposal, and Mainstream therefore opposes the new amendment for the same reasons.

"The new text amendment again includes a minimum property line setback of one-half mile, or 2,640 feet. As Mainstream previously demonstrated, this setback precludes development of wind energy projects in Boone County, since the setback from the property line alone requires the host parcel to be more than one mile by one mile in size."

Attorney John R. Griffin, who wrote the letter, included a map showing that if a 2,640-foot setback was applied from every property boundary in the county, no land area would be eligible for a wind turbine.

While the revised text amendment includes a provision allowing a "participating landowner" to partially waive the setback requirement, Griffin wrote that it would not make any difference.

"Land use rights cannot be contingent upon receiving special permission from a neighboring property owner," he stated. "...therefore, the county's ordinances must allow for wind energy projects without making the use contingent upon special permission."

STAFF RECOMMENDATION

The city-county planning staff does not support increasing the existing setback, which is 1,000 feet, or 1.1 times the height of the tower, from the property line.

Planners agreed with Mainstream that a 2,640-foot setback or 5.5 times the height of the tower, whichever is greater, "would not allow towers to be constructed in Boone County."

Further, that would be in contradiction with Section 4.8.1.3 of the county zoning ordinance, whose purpose is "to promote the supply of wind energy in support of Illinois' statutory goal of increasing energy production from renewable energy sources."

"There is no submitted evidence to support the need for the greater setback," planners stated. "If the Illinois Tollway Authority, the Illinois Department of Transportation, local municipalities or other utility providers felt that such a setback was required, it would currently be written in their guidelines."

While the county health department and highway department has no comments on the text amendment, there were mixed responses from North Boone Fire District 4 and from Bonus Township.

The 8,000-acre wind farm being proposed by Mainstream is in Manchester and Leroy townships. Bonus Township voted 4-0 against the text amendment, viewing it as "excessive," with no facts "to substantiate the safety and health concerns specifically referred to in the application."

Planners inform each of the nine townships about cases before the ZBA. Bonus was the only one to respond.

Manchester earlier wanted to establish its own setback requirements, but ultimately was told it could not contradict what was in the county zoning ordinance.

Fire District 4 voted 2-0 with one abstention to recommend accepting the amendment.

"The biggest problem with wind turbine fires is that, because of the turbine height, the fire department can do little but rope off the area and watch the fire burn itself out," wrote the board president, Kerry B. Kenney, in an undated letter.

"While this may be acceptable in reasonably still conditions, in a storm setting it means burning debris being scattered over a wide area, with obvious consequences. From a first responder's viewpoint, with further setbacks from roads, houses and property lines, we feel this gives greater safety to the community we serve."

(1) Mainstream: New setbacks would prohibit wind... - Belvidere Daily Republican

BCJ: The VAC Returns to the County Board

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The story shown below is from the March 13, 2015 Boone County Journal which is available free of cost at many Boone County merchants or on line at:  http://www.boonecountyjournal.com/news/2015/Boone-County-News-03-13-15.pdf#page=1

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Fiat Chrysler CEO Says Combination With GM, Ford ‘Feasible’ - Bloomberg Business

 

(Bloomberg) -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is open to a combination with General Motors Co. or Ford Motor Co., and said a deal with one of its larger U.S. counterparts would be “technically feasible.”

“We don’t have any restrictions,” Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said Thursday in an interview in Geneva. The condition for any deal is “saving the highest amount of capital” on developing new vehicles.

“There’s bantering that goes on all the time” he said, when asked about talks with GM and Ford. Still, there is “nothing substantive.”

Marchionne, the architect behind the merger that created Fiat Chrysler, has been a vocal proponent of consolidation in the auto industry. High costs for developing cleaner cars and adding self-driving features put pressure on traditional automakers, which also face the threat of new competition from the likes of Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

Marchionne sounded less enthusiastic about the potential of tying up with PSA Peugeot Citroen, doubting that the French manufacturer would solve London-based Fiat Chrysler’s problems. He also said he never had talks with Volkswagen AG executives about a combination.

Representatives of Ford and GM said they are focused on their own businesses.

“We have no other plan or interest other than continuing to accelerate our own One Ford plan,” said Susan Krusel, a spokeswoman for the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker.

Said GM’s Tony Cervone: “We have our strategy and we are working on it. This is not worthy of a comment

Fiat Chrysler CEO Says Combination With GM, Ford ‘Feasible’ - Bloomberg Business

This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One of the Best in the Country | Carl Gibson

Carl Gibson Become a fan

Co-Founder of US Uncut

The next time your right-wing family member or former high school classmate posts a status update or tweet about how taxing the rich or increasing workers' wages kills jobs and makes businesses leave the state, I want you to send them this article.

When he took office in January of 2011, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton inherited a $6.2 billion budget deficit and a 7 percent unemployment rate from his predecessor, Tim Pawlenty, the soon-forgotten Republican candidate for the presidency who called himself Minnesota's first true fiscally-conservative governor in modern history. Pawlenty prided himself on never raising state taxes -- the most he ever did to generate new revenue was increase the tax on cigarettes by 75 cents a pack. Between 2003 and late 2010, when Pawlenty was at the head of Minnesota's state government, he managed to add only 6,200 more jobs.

During his first four years in office, Gov. Dayton raised the state income tax from 7.85 to 9.85 percent on individuals earning over $150,000, and on couples earning over $250,000 when filing jointly -- a tax increase of $2.1 billion. He's also agreed to raise Minnesota's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2018, and passed a state law guaranteeing equal pay for women. Republicans like state representative Mark Uglem warned against Gov. Dayton's tax increases, saying, "The job creators, the big corporations, the small corporations, they will leave. It's all dollars and sense to them." The conservative friend or family member you shared this article with would probably say the same if their governor tried something like this. But like Uglem, they would be proven wrong.

Between 2011 and 2015, Gov. Dayton added 172,000 new jobs to Minnesota's economy -- that's 165,800 more jobs in Dayton's first term than Pawlenty added in both of his terms combined. Even though Minnesota's top income tax rate is the 4th-highest in the country, it has the 5th-lowest unemployment rate in the country at 3.6 percent. According to 2012-2013 U.S. census figures, Minnesotans had a median income that was $10,000 larger than the U.S. average, and their median income is still $8,000 more than the U.S. average today.

By late 2013, Minnesota's private sector job growth exceeded pre-recession levels, and the state's economy was the 5th fastest-growing in the United States. Forbes even ranked Minnesota the 9th-best state for business (Scott Walker's "Open For Business" Wisconsin came in at a distant #32 on the same list). Despite the fearmongering over businesses fleeing from Dayton's tax cuts, 6,230 more Minnesotans filed in the top income tax bracket in 2013, just one year after Dayton's tax increases went through. As of January 2015, Minnesota has a $1 billion budget surplus, and Gov. Dayton has pledged to reinvest more than one third of that money into public schools. And according to Gallup, Minnesota's economic confidence is higher than any other state.

Gov. Dayton didn't accomplish all of these reforms by shrewdly manipulating people -- this article describes Dayton's astonishing lack of charisma and articulateness. He isn't a class warrior driven by a desire to get back at the 1 percent -- Dayton is a billionaire heir to the Target fortune. It wasn't just a majority in the legislature that forced him to do it -- Dayton had to work with a Republican-controlled legislature for his first two years in office. And unlike his Republican neighbor to the east, Gov. Dayton didn't assert his will over an unwilling populace by creating obstacles between the people and the vote -- Dayton actually created an online voter registration system, making it easier than ever for people to register to vote.

The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay.

It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong.

ABOVE IS FROM:  This Billionaire Governor Taxed the Rich and Increased the Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One of the Best in the Country | Carl Gibson

Manley's Belvidere Ford Lincoln to hold groundbreaking ceremony - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — Manley's Belvidere Ford Lincoln will hold a public groundbreaking ceremony at 1 p.m. March 12 at their new location, 1800 N. State St.
Work on the new building is expected to be completed by the summer.
For information: 815-544-2138.

Manley's Belvidere Ford Lincoln to hold groundbreaking ceremony - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Vacant 10-story NDK tower in Belvidere, site of 2009 explosion, is coming down - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — More than five years after a fatal pressure vessel explosion at NDK Crystal along Interstate 90 in Belvidere, the building's gutted 10-story production tower is finally coming down.
Rockford-based Cord Construction Co. began dismantling the tower at 701 Crystal Parkway on Feb. 16. The $950,000 demolition project is expected to be completed by June 15.
"The whole tower is coming down," said Randy Fago, Cord Construction project manager and on-site superintendent. "It's such a tall structure we have to dismantle it in sections with a crane."
Fago said that in addition to the tower, Cord will demolish 8,000 square feet of office and production space.
NDK President Ken Hennessy would not go into detail about the company's decision to get rid of its production plant this year.
"The timing is appropriate to do it now," Hennessy said.
On Dec. 7, 2009, superheated liquid escaped from inside a pressure vessel at the NDK plant, causing an explosion that sent thousands of pounds of debris soaring hundreds of feet from the building. An 8-by-4-foot, 8,600-pound vessel fragment flew 435 feet through two concrete ….

Read the entire story by clicking on the following: Vacant 10-story NDK tower in Belvidere, site of 2009 explosion, is coming down - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

ComEd spokesman Paul Callighan set to retire, former Freeport mayor filling job - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

Gaulrapp came to ComEd following a two-term stint as Freeport's mayor from 2005-2013. He previously served two terms as the city's first ward alderman while also working in the sales department for Erickson Dental Laboratory and Supply.
Gaulrapp said he experienced a smooth transition to ComEd from city government, relying on his experiences as a northern Illinois native. He also is excited for the new challenge he'll encounter as the public face of the area's electrical supplier.
"I've been fortunate because the shift to ComEd kept me in contact with some of my friends who are mayors and aldermen in other communities," Gaulrapp said. "Having municipality experience has been great for working with the different city officials.
"When there are large events, it's important to get information out to the public as quickly as possible. I hope to do a great job like Paul did so that people throughout the area

Read the entire artic le by clicking on the following:  ComEd spokesman Paul Callighan set to retire, former Freeport mayor filling job - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL