Here is a letter regarding the project from Illinois EPA
Go to Facebook to see the project progress: https://www.facebook.com/MIGDeWaneLandfill?fref=photo
6 hrs ·
As part of the planned improvements to the site’s final top cover, a top layer of soil has been applied to the west side of the landfill and seed will be applied later to control erosion.
We are thickening the top cover on the south side and readying the area to apply grass seed.
If you want a cleaner state government, what about PA?
HARRISBURG, Pa. —Facing criminal charges, relieved of her law license and threatened with removal by the Legislature, Pennsylvania's attorney general seems to have decided that if she has to go, she's going to take others down with her.
Since all three branches of state government began moving against her over the past year, Kathleen Kane has released hundreds of sexually explicit or otherwise crude emails that had been sent or received by current or former public officials on their government accounts.
The tangled scandal has led to the downfall of a state environmental secretary and shamed a state police commissioner, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice and several former top officials in the attorney general's office. Another high-court justice resigned after newspapers disclosed his involvement.
Kane has threatened to release more, and the state Capitol is ablaze with speculation about whose emails may be next in the drip-drip-drip of disclosures.
"It's a mess. It's just a freaking mess," said John Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney and a Democrat who at one time supported Kane. "Accusations and counter-accusations. And it gets worse every day. It's like going into a war zone."
Timeline: Major developments in the Kathleen Kane investigationLast week, Kane's hometown newspaper, the Times-Tribune of Scranton, ran a Halloween-theme cartoon of her as a witch saying: "I'll get you my pretties ... and your filthy emails too."
Kane finds herself increasingly isolated as she awaits trial on what she says are trumped-up misconduct charges. She has rejected calls to resign from members of both parties, including Gov. Tom Wolf, a fellow Democrat, and said it is important for the public to know about the emails.
"They raise the specter of impropriety, even if none exists, and that in itself is a problem for the judicial system," said her office spokesman Chuck Ardo.
Kane, 49, was a little-known former assistant county prosecutor when she was elected attorney general in a landslide in 2012, becoming the first woman and first Democrat to win the office. Democrats embraced her as a rising star.
On the campaign trail, she promised to investigate why it took her Republican predecessors three years to charge Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach convicted of sexually abusing boys, and whether politics played a role.
After Kane took office, a special appointee concluded that the Sandusky case had not been dragged out for political reasons. But the inquiry unearthed a trove of office emails containing porn and jokes about women and minorities that many found offensive.
Kane's criticism of the Sandusky prosecution also triggered a bitter feud with investigators who handled the case, and in 2014, authorities say, she leaked confidential grand jury information to the Philadelphia Daily News in an attempt to show that two of them had bungled a corruption investigation.
Kane was charged in August with obstruction, perjury and other offenses. No trial date has been set.
As authorities began building the leak case against her, Kane started releasing chains of emails, saying the misconduct allegations against her were concocted by a corrupt old-boy network inside law enforcement to stop her from exposing their raunchy email ring.
Her argument has gained traction with some.
"I think she's being railroaded," said Lora Verbonitz, a 63-year-old Harrisburg suburbanite.
Others contend she has violated people's privacy, overstepped her authority or crossed the line of decency. Critics also accuse her of selectively releasing emails to embarrass her perceived enemies and protect loyalists - allegations she says are unfounded.
On Oct. 1, as she left court in the leak case, she dropped another bombshell: The email scandal also involved U.S. attorneys, attorneys general and a Supreme Court justice who had voted along with the rest of the court just days earlier to suspend Kane's law license. That justice is now being investigated for possible judicial misconduct.
Also last month, the state Senate launched an inquiry that could result in Kane's removal.
Meanwhile, Kane has yet to release all the emails and the names of the participants, as she promised to do, and is fighting a courtroom attempt by The Philadelphia Inquirer to force her to make all the material public.
"I don't believe the citizens of the commonwealth need to see more pornography, but I think they need to see who the players are," said Terry Mutchler, former director of Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records and a lawyer who is representing the Inquirer.
"I think there will be an avalanche if this is all released, and I think there will be a housecleaning unlike any we have ever seen."
Above is from: Porn scandal: Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane keeps releasing raunchy emails | Local News - WTAE Home
MORE COVERAGE
SPRINGFIELD | Illinois lawmakers offered some hope Tuesday to fans of the Illinois State Museum and its satellite facilities, but a final decision on reopening the shuttered institution remains in Gov. Bruce Rauner's hands.
In a rare show of bipartisan support, the Illinois House voted 82-32 in favor of legislation that would require the state to keep the museum open.
That came after the Senate approved the proposal in August on a 40-9 vote.
Rauner, who announced the closure of the facilities in June after he and the General Assembly failed to agree on a spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1, still has the final say.
"The bill is under review," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said Wednesday.
At issue is Rauner's decision to shutter the 136-year-old museum in Springfield and its satellite facilities like the southern Illinois artisan shop in Whittington, a gallery in Lockport and the Dickson Mounds burial ground in Lewistown in reaction to the lack of a budget.
Even if Rauner signs the measure, his office contends he still would have to decide how to manage the state's programs and spending without a spending blueprint from the Legislature.
State Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat, introduced the proposal in July after Rauner announced the closure, along with plans to close the Hardin County prison work camp and up to two juvenile prisons.
“The state museum is a vital educational and cultural institution and should remain open. The success of this legislation is a credit to the work of every ISM supporter who made the case and showed how important this institution truly is," Manar said Wednesday.
The situation has left the museum doors locked to the public since Oct. 1, but more than 40 employees continue to show up for work pending the outcome of grievances and lawsuits filed by state worker unions.
In Tuesday's action, a handful of Republicans showed their opposition to their governor's decision when they sided with majority Democrats in supporting the legislation.
The legislation is Senate Bill 317.
Illinois State Museum opening measure in Rauner's hands : Politics
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is standing by his decision to backtrack on cuts to a low-income daycare program.
Child-care advocates confront Rep. Ken Dunkin over his decision to go back on a promise to support legislation they favored.
Credit Amanda Vinicky / WUIS
That comes even as Democrats in the Illinois House failed to pass legislation that would have forced Rauner to undo his changes to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program.
The program is meant to help parents out of poverty by subsidizing daycare, so they can work or go to school.
Rauner unilaterally slashed eligibility this summer. After months of outcry and a Democratic threat to pass legislation undoing his changes, Rauner announced on Monday he'd back off most of the cuts.
But Democrats, like Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, still wanted the legislation. She says parents and daycare owners need certainty Rauner won't change his mind again.
"We have already seen over 70,000 children either rejected or kicked out of this program," Gordon-Booth said in debate.
Democrats fell one vote short of forcing Rauner's hand. In a statement, the governor indicated he'd still reverse most of his reductions to the program.
Democrats Fail To Undo Rauner's Child Care Cuts; Governor Backs Off Anyway | WNIJ and WNIU
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ Gov. Bruce Rauner has announced changes to state business tax-credit programs after he suspended them earlier this year.
Rauner announced late Tuesday he is restarting the credits known as Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, and the Film Tax Credit.
The first-year Republican says changes he’s made include eliminating agreements that favor companies with money to attract deals. The change also eliminates credits for job retention in favor of granting them only for new job creation.
The plan also restricts the way jobs are counted, prohibits multiples credits for the same facility, and would market the state’s benefits, not just offer incentives.
The state will not offer any new tax credits until there’s a budget agreement
Rauner announces changes to EDGE tax-credit program | FOX2now.com
Some Republican presidential contenders are probably disappointed.
The Koch Brothers are arguably the most important donors in the Republican Party, and they won’t be backing any of the current candidates in the primaries, reports USA Today.
Charles Koch, who leads Koch Industries with his brother David, told the paper that he “has no plans” to pick a candidate to back financially in the primaries, perhaps signalling that he isn’t happy with the current state of his party.
The brothers have been on a bit of a media tour this fall, and this isn’t the first time they have expressed disappointment about how the primary has been going.
“If they start saying things we think are beneficial overall and will change the trajectory of the country, then that would be good, but we have to believe also they’ll follow through on it, and by and large, candidates don’t do that,” Charles Koch said to the paper.
Koch did concede that he will likely help the eventual Republican nominee in the general election.
Charles Koch and his brother David aren't picking a Republican horse.
The Koch Brothers Aren't Supporting Anyone in Republican Primary
By Kathryn Menue
Editor
BOONE COUNTY – On Monday, Nov. 9, Enbridge Energy Company Inc. traveled to the Rock Valley College (RVC) Woodward Technology Center (WTC) at 9 a.m. to “dedicate a new scholarship at Rock Valley Community College.”
“The new scholarship, known as the Enbridge Energy Company Pipeline Industry Awareness Scholarship, will award five $1,000 scholarships to students in Boone County,” Enbridge Energy stated in their press release. “Enbridge has established similar scholarships at several other two-year schools throughout Illinois. This scholarship at Rock Valley Community College will now mark an Enbridge scholarship established at every community college along its Illinois system.”
Rep. Joe Sosnowski (Ill.-69), Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain, and Enbridge Energy created the scholarship alliance to support students from Belvidere and Boone County who want to enter into an engineering or trade program at Rock Valley College.
“The reason we call it the ‘Pipeline Industry Awareness Scholarship,’ is because for too long, our industry was ‘out-of-sight and out-of-mind’ in our communities,” John Gauderman, Enbridge Director for Chicago Region Operations said. “By building great partnerships like the ones we have with Rock Valley College, we’re hoping to change that.”
At the scholarship presentation, Gauderman stated that the newly founded scholarship was a “great opportunity for Enbridge to show how we operate in the communities. We are very happy to have five $1,000 scholarships at Rock Valley.”
Rock Valley College was very appreciative of their support as well.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” RVC President Mike Mastroianni said. He explained that this scholarship will be a great start for the engineering program RVC plans to establish in the upcoming years in the WTC. The new engineering program will allow students to receive a four-year engineering degree from RVC at a more affordable rate than at state universities.
“This is wonderful news for the community and it exemplifies how the Belvidere/Boone County area is positively impacted by Enbridge Energy,” Neeley Erickson, legislative aide to Rep. Sosnowski, said.
