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NEWS ALERT- Beloit Road and Orth Road is officially a 4 way stop! Belvidere and Caledonia. Township's were on hand along with the Boone County Sheriff's deputies for traffic control as the new signage was being installed this morning.
Sharon Kelly | September 18, 2016
By Sharon Kelly • Sunday, September 18, 2016 - 03:58
In the city of Richmond, California, Chevron Corp. not only processes up to 250,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the largest refinery on the West Coast — it also writes the news.
The Richmond Standard, an online paper focused on local news for the roughly 100,000 residents of this San Francisco Bay area city (neighboring Berkeley and Oakland), is produced entirely by Chevron's public relations firm.
The Standard mostly prints local-interest stories: announcing library construction, highlighting missing persons, and profiling area businesses.
But unlike a traditional newspaper, the Standard also runs a dedicated section called “Chevron Speaks” — used to introduce friendly Chevron reps, attack investigative reporting projects, and talk electoral politics. And unlike other media outlets, the Standard consistently lacks mention of industrial accidents and problems at the refinery.
Since the Standard was first launched in 2013, the paper has grown dramatically in readership and its successes are now garnering attention from other fossil fuel companies — and alarm from media experts including Noam Chomsky, the prominent political observer, activist, and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Chevron, however, touts the traction the Standard has gained.
“It was widely panned when it was first started, it was called corporate journalism, the Guardian did a whole story on it, I mean, it was highly criticized,” Morgan Crinklaw, a Chevron representative, said at last month's Red State Gathering. “But now it's to the point it gets more traffic than the San Francisco Chronicle.” (The Standard later clarified to DeSmog that its site receives more Richmond-area traffic than the Chronicle).
Chevron's experiment in mixing local news reporting into its public relations output comes at a time when traditional journalism — especially print journalism — continues to face extreme economic pressure. The number of newspaper journalists nationwide has plunged, with newsroom staffs cut by over 40 percent, falling from a 2007 workforce of 55,000 to just 32,900 in 2015.
The troubles faced by the newspaper industry are so bad that the decline of independent watchdog journalism at local newspapers was recently featured by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight.
Like many cities, Richmond lost its long-running local newspapers decades ago.
“The city of Richmond, high crime, news organizations pretty much abandoned it,” Crinklaw, who is best known in the PR world for his work defending Chevron in its ongoing $9.5 billion legal battle over contamination of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, explained at the Red State Gathering.
Chevron stepped in to fill that void. But there's little question that the Standard operates in territory that journalists would find ethically questionable.
Unlike traditional newspapers, there's no firewall between editors and owners at the Richmond Standard or commitment to editorial independence. In fact, the Standard's entire newsroom consists of Mike Aldax — an account executive at Singer Associates, Chevron's PR firm — who serves as both reporter and editor.
“If you’re looking for criticism of Chevron you’re not going to find it in the Richmond Standard,” Aldax told the Guardian in 2014.
Chevron has defended the project, arguing that its funding is transparent and the site serves an important function in Richmond. “Since our launch, we’ve produced thousands of informative, hyper-local news stories that have attracted millions of page views,” Aldax told DeSmog. “We’re successful because we are delivering content that is local and focusing on issues that residents care about. In fact, more people in Richmond read the Standard than the San Francisco Chronicle (SF Gate).”
“We are also fully transparent with respect to Chevron’s sponsorship of the site,” he added. “And we believe the content speaks for itself and invite people to read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions.”
At the Red State Gathering, Chevron's Standard drew praise and admiration from another high-powered PR executive who represents one of the most politically influential conservative companies in the U.S., Koch Industries.
“I think there's a balance, reacting to the right things but also telling our story more, and you just got to be more proactive,” said Steve Lombardo, chief communications and marketing officer for Koch Industries, who sat on the same panel as Chevron's Crinklaw.
“I applaud you for that idea in Richmond, because that's what we need more of,” Lombardo added.
Watch the panel at Red State Gathering (the section on the Richmond Standard begins at roughly 24:00)
In 2013, the Koch brothers had considered purchasing eight newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, but backed away from considering the deal soon after. “Koch continues to have an interest in the media business, and we're exploring a broad range of opportunities where we think we can add value,” the company said in a statement at the time.
The Koch brothers remain extremely active in politics and efforts to mold public opinion. Among the Koch's recent initiatives is a $10 million-a-year campaign, Fueling US Forward, which plans to aggressively promote the “positives” of burning oil and gas.
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While Chevron and its backers tout the Standard as novel and innovative, for others it might seem that history is repeating itself, with Chevron's company-run press harkening back to the days of robber barons and the Industrial Revolution, when single corporations controlled most of the institutions in company towns and ran their own printing presses.
“The lessons are pretty clear,” Prof. Noam Chomsky told DeSmog, when asked whether lessons from the days of company-run towns were worth revisiting now, given the Richmond Standard's successes. “It had better be overcome if we hope to live in a free and democratic society, not as subordinates in a plutocracy.”
Chomsky is not the first to warn of the hazards posed by the Standard.
“To the casual observer who just happens upon this, it looks like a community news website, it says Richmond Standard community-driven news,” Rachele Kanigel, associate professor of journalism at San Francisco State University told Media Matters for America, a press watchdog organization, in 2014. “For the uneducated media consumer, it looks like a news website that people might not realize where it's coming from.”
For journalists, the Standard poses another potential threat. As traditional newsrooms have shrunk, some veteran reporters have found themselves running one-person shops, juggling reporting, editing, publishing, social media, and all the associated administration that goes along with running a local paper. But while technology has allowed individual reporters to get more done in a day, communities not only lose the oversight of a fiercely independent editorial culture, they also lose the chance for new reporters to train alongside experienced reporters — and the capacity for the sorts of investigative reporting that holds the powerful accountable.
As for the Standard, these criticisms have thus far failed to deter the $254 billion oil giant Chevron from continuing to publish its mix of news reporting and public relations. Aldax, a former reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, produces Chevron's site from a laptop in his car, working in coffee shops and even the local Target, wherever the wifi is good.
In many ways, the Standard seems to operate, like the news it reports, with a hyper-local focus, connected with many Bay Area institutions.
Aldax's boss, Sam Singer, president of Singer Associates, lists not only national companies like Ford Motor Co., The Gap, and others among his clients, but also the San Francisco Chronicle (against which the Standard compares its traffic). Singer, described as “one of the most powerful people in the San Francisco Bay Area,” in his company bio, got his start in the media industry in part by working as a newspaper reporter for The Richmond Independent — a Richmond, California-focused newspaper that folded in 1978.
But the implications for the media and PR industries reverberate far beyond Richmond and California. “This is a revolution still in its early stages,” Singer told The Richmond Confidential, speaking about how the Internet has fundamentally altered communication, allowing for sites like the Standard to emerge. “The media, individuals, and corporations have not even begun to realize its power and importance.”
It was 1901 when Standard Oil first arrived at the site of the Richmond refinery, with a company manager finding “the ideal site along a dusty country road that terminated near a tiny railroad settlement,” according to Chevron. As the refinery expanded to 2,900 acres and its workforce grew, so did Richmond, which officially incorporated in 1905. And Richmond rose to its current population of roughly 100,000 while Standard Oil morphed into Chevron, second only to ExxonMobil among America's oil giants.
Today, Richmond's residents are mostly people of color (roughly 40 percent Latinx, 27 percent Black, and 14 percent Asian, as Colorlines, which investigated the refinery's threats to the community, reported last month). Median incomes for some neighborhoods are less than half the average for the rest of the county. Roughly 17 percent of the city lives within a three mile radius of the refinery, many in housing projects.
It was August 6, 2012 when Chevron's Richmond refinery exploded into flames.
Animation of Chevron Richmond refinery fire. Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Workers at the refinery had noticed a leak dripping from an 8 inch insulated pipe carrying light gas oil from a distillation tower, but managers decided to attempt repairs without first shutting down and stopping the flow of the 640°F diesel-like fluid.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board later concluded that damage to a section of the pipe during the repair attempt allowed a massive cloud of flammable vapor to seep out and ignite, sparking a massive blaze from which 19 workers and firefighters narrowly escaped with their lives.
That fire and its toxic fumes ultimately sent 15,000 residents to seek medical treatment for respiratory and other ailments. Financial struggles pushed Richmond's public hospital to close last year, leaving locals facing a 20-mile drive to the nearest large public emergency room if, say, another massive refinery fire strikes.
“It’s interesting to live in a place that’s so beautiful, with the best climate, and to have it so close to a death trap. It’s definitely crazy,” area resident Sherman Dean told Earth Island Journal. “It’s like having a big, I want to say, a bully, standing over you all the time. The refinery is up in the hills, over us.”
There's another deadly threat from the refinery, one that is far less visible — the slow and steady seeping of air pollution from the site. Children in Richmond are hospitalized for asthma at double the rate of the rest of California, and breast cancer rates for the area are among the highest in the region.
The air emissions also have climate-changing implications.
“As a facility, it’s the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in California,” Andreas Soto, an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment, told Vice in 2014.
But if you read the Standard, it can seem there's little to worry about.
“Unlike a half-century ago, when emissions of toxic pollutants were unmonitored, Richmond now has multiple state-of-the-art air monitoring stations around the city assessing air quality 24 hours daily,” Aldax wrote in June 2015.
“The clouds that could be seen above Chevron Richmond refinery Wednesday morning were actually harmless steam clouds,” Aldax reported in a February 2015 article. (DeSmog was unable to locate other media coverage of that incident, but two months later, dark clouds over the refinery, attributed by Chevron to “normal refinery operations” caused county health officials to issue a public health advisory).
This type of coverage worries journalism experts. “[W]e don't know what interests Chevron might have that dictate what gets covered and what doesn't,” Edward Wasserman, dean of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism told The Los Angeles Times in 2014.
“To Wasserman, the Standard's diet of noncontroversial community news creates a deceptive atmosphere of community goodwill — 'and they can draw on that goodwill when something hits the fan,'” The Times added.
To be sure, the First Amendment protects Chevron's right to express its opinions (especially in the wake of Citizens United, a controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling).
The best cure for bad speech, legal scholars often argue, is a vigorous debate. As the Supreme Court Justice Loius Brandeis wrote in Whitney v. California, “If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.”
Fortunately for Richmond, there's been a mini-revival in local news coverage. The Richmond Pulse, launched in 2011, describes itself as “Youth-led, Community News”; La Voz is Richmond's bilingual e-magazine; and the University of California's Berkeley School of Journalism publishes a student-staffed paper, the Richmond Confidential, which has run investigations into Chevron's influence over local politics.
But as Brandeis noted, the danger to the public discourse arises from a lack of time, when people don't spend the time necessary to pay close attention to what they're reading and who is writing it. And compared to citizens in other large democracies, most Americans might find that time is especially scarce. Americans work the longest hours per week (out of the ten largest economies per capita), and take the least vacation time, with roughly 40 percent of workers saying they put in at least 50 hours a week on the job, according to a Gallup poll released last year.
Taken all together, that means the Standard's media coverage is at best a double-edged sword — but one that cuts unequally, providing small public services while simultaneously helping to entrench large powerful interests and keep hazards out of the public eye.
“They've covered some things I haven't seen people cover here before,” Tom Butt, then a member of Richmond City Council, now mayor, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2014. “On the other hand, they know who they work for, and they're not getting involved in anything controversial. They're certainly not doing anything that's adverse to Chevron's interests.”
Above is from: http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/09/18/chevron-pr-firm-s-local-news-site-draws-attention-koch-industries-others-alarming-media-watchdogs
By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer
Posted Sep. 16, 2016 at 8:00 AM
Updated at 1:46 PM
BELVIDERE — A plan to bring wind farms to Boone County has been shelved indefinitely, according to the renewable energy company behind the project.
In a letter sent to residents who agreed to lease farmland for wind turbines, Chicago-based Mainstream Renewable Power says a more-restrictive county ordinance approved last year makes it too difficult to move forward with the six-year project.
Spurred by the concerns of some residents, the Boone County Board in November approved a change in the ordinance, which now requires wind turbines to be located at least 2,640 feet — or 5.5 times the height of the turbine tower — from a property line. Previously, the setback was 1,000 feet from a residence.
The County Board vote came after years of debate about whether wind farms should become a permanent part of the county landscape. Supporters said wind farms would boost the county economy, while expanding its tax base and creating renewable energy. Detractors said turbines would hurt property values, be noisy and be harmful to nearby residents' health.
"This unexpected and disappointing outcome has conversely followed years of positive discussions with the planning department and health board," the company letter said. "Mainstream and landowners alike have invested considerable time, energy and resources into this project and so such an outcome is disappointing. The North Boone Wind Farm project was founded on the basis that the strong winds and open landscapes of the region would serve as the perfect home for the wind farm. Additionally, the jobs, clean energy, and millions in tax payments over the life of the project would have been a boon to the county."
The project leases will be terminated this month, the letter states. About 50 residents signed eight-year leases in 2010, and were being paid each year, even though no wind turbines have been established in Boone County.
Deb Doetch was receiving "a few thousand" dollars each year, she said, to house a 200-foot tower on her property that measured the wind and other aspects that would determine how successful a wind farm in north Boone County could be.
Doetch said it's "really frustrating" to see the project end this way. A 200-megawatt wind farm would have generated about $1.6 million in property taxes per year to the county.
"Boone County really missed on an opportunity for financial benefits and a tax base," she said. "They've done themselves a disservice."
Resident David Cleverdon pushed for the more-restrictive ordinance because he fears the potential negative effects of large wind turbines dotting the rural landscape. He said he's pleased with the company's decision to walk away from the project.
"It's a positive for the county and a positive for people in north Boone County, and a responsible thing for (Mainstream Renewable Power) to do," he said. "I appreciate they realize this is not a good place to construct a wind farm. It's unfortunate it took this long to convince them."William Randall, a Poplar Grove resident and candidate for the Boone County Board District 1 seat, said he is disappointed with the company's decision. His father began leasing family property to Mainstream before he died in 2012 to help generate county tax revenue and ensure the property remained farmland, Randall said."Wind turbines are effective. They're green energy; it's renewable energy," Randall said. "They're all over the country. Here, they determined they were going to be a problem. At this point, it just appears it's a done deal."County Board District 2 member Cathy Ward said the decision "is a sad financial blow for thousands of our Boone County residents," and "a blow to those of us who believe in green energy and want to lessen our dependence on foreign oil."Not only would this project have given our landowners a chance to earn a profit from the wind towers on their land, it would also have brought millions of dollars of tax revenue for our schools, villages, townships and our county. As a county, we are facing a huge deficit this year."She said the County Board's decision to increase the setbacks was designed to stop the project."To deny a business a chance to come to our county and help us be financially stronger is against all our long-term plans," Ward said.Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg said the company is "using (the) ordinance as a scapegoat," and that there likely are additional reasons the project failed, such as a lack of participation by willing landowners."I think they would have gone forward with it if they had the commitment they needed," Walberg said. "My thought is they could never get all the cooperation they needed."Christopher Dorman, the company's development project manager, did not return calls seeking comment.Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344; apoulisse@rrstar.com; @adampoulisse
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160916/company-pulls-plug-on-boone-county-wind-farm-project
Daniel Bice, Jason Stein and Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 7:47 p.m. CDT September 14, 2016
Madison — Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature approved a measure aimed at retroactively shielding paint makers from liability after a billionaire owner of a lead producer contributed $750,000 to a political group that provided crucial support to Walker and Republicans in recall elections, according to a report released Wednesday.
Citing leaked documents gathered during a now-shuttered investigation into the governor's campaign, the Guardian U.S., an arm of the British newspaper, reported that Harold Simmons, owner of NL Industries, a producer of the lead formerly used in paint, made three donations totaling $750,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth between April 2011 and January 2012.
Simmons' donations were made before and after Republicans approved two laws helpful to the industry — one in January 2011 and the other in June 2013. The 2013 measure was inserted in a budget bill in the middle of the night despite warnings about its constitutionality.
The documents confirm earlier reports that Walker solicited millions of dollars for Wisconsin Club for Growth, a group then run by R.J. Johnson, one of his top campaign advisers. The Guardian story says Walker was warned in an email about potential "red flags" with Simmons, who died in 2013, including a magazine story that described him as "Dallas' most evil genius."
Simmons' contributions mirror a $700,000 donation from mining firm Gogebic Taconite to Wisconsin Club for Growth around the same time, a donation that was earlier disclosed in court records. After that contribution, the GOP-controlled Legislature and Walker approved legislation aimed at streamlining regulations for an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin.
The 1,352 pages of leaked John Doe records provide a window into the case that prosecutors were putting together in arguing that Walker's campaign and conservative groups such as Wisconsin Club for Group were illegally coordinating campaign activity. The Wisconsin Supreme Court shut down the probe last year, finding the prosecutors' case was "unsupported in either reason or law."
Walker's campaign said Wednesday that there was no sign that the Republican governor had done anything wrong but did not directly address the donations from Simmons or the legislation touching on lead paint lawsuits.
"As widely reported two years ago, the prosecutor’s attorney stated that Governor Walker was not a target," said Walker campaign spokesman Joe Fadness. "Several courts shut down the baseless investigation on multiple occasions, and there is absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing."
Club For Growth attorney David Rivkin said in an email that prosecutors made up crimes that don’t exist and called their attempt to get the case to the Supreme Court “legally frivolous and just another publicity stunt intended to tarnish their targets’ reputations and salvage their own.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat who launched the investigation in 2012, noted in a statement that it is illegal to leak records from a John Doe investigation. Chisholm has been critical of past leaks to the Wall Street Journal that have been favorable to the John Doe targets.
"The public release of this John Doe evidence without court authorization is not merely a violation of the John Doe secrecy order; it is a crime under Wisconsin law," Chisholm said. "As Special Prosecutor Fran Schmitz has done in the past when other secret materials have been publicly disclosed, we support any effort that may be undertaken to determine the source of these newest leaks."
Such an investigation appears possible.
GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel "is currently reviewing the available options to address the serious legal questions raised by the leak and publication of these sealed documents," Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos said in a statement.
State Rep. David Craig (R-Town of Vernon) said he wants to form a special legislative committee with subpoena power to look into how the investigation was conducted and the leak of documents. Craig, who is running for state Senate without opposition, helped lead the effort to end the ability of prosecutors to use John Doe investigations to investigate campaign finance matters.
This leak of John Doe documents comes just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is to meet in closed session on a petition from prosecutors to revive the investigation.
Prosecutors argue that former state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and current Justice Michael Gableman should not have been allowed to hear the case because their campaigns benefited from work by some of the groups being investigated.
The Guardian story quotes a Walker email to Karl Rove, a former top aide to President George W. Bush who oversaw a major political action committee, in which the Republican governor credits Johnson and Wisconsin for Growth in the election of Gableman and Prosser. Both justices voted to shut down the John Doe investigation.
"RJ was the chief adviser to my campaign," Walker wrote on May 4, 2011. "He put together the team to flip the Senate three times and the Assembly two times.
"He ran the effort that defeated the first incumbent Supreme Court Justice in decades back in 2008, and Club for Growth-Wisconsin was the key to retaining Justice Prosser."
Since the recalls, Walker and Republicans in the state have sought to shield paint makers from liability in lawsuits involving lead paint, although federal courts have in turn blocked some of those actions from standing.
For instance, in an overnight meeting in June 2013, Republicans on the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee inserted a provision into the budget long sought by the paint industry that was meant to block lawsuits pending against them by 171 children sickened by lead paint.
But in July 2014 a federal appeals court ruled that a lawsuit by one of those children could continue despite the 2013 state law. The boy who suffered lead poisoning can sue a half-dozen major manufacturers of paint used on the Milwaukee house where he lived, based on a theory approved in a controversial 2005 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled.
In an interview Wednesday, the boy's attorney, Peter Earle, said he was "trembling with rage" at the news of the contributions by the industry, saying that they were meant to block claims by "the most vulnerable among us." He said Republican leaders in Wisconsin had benefited from industry money and then acted to try to retroactively block lawsuits by children harmed by lead paint.
"What I see is a corrupt morass of government in Wisconsin that has been fueled by corporate money," Earle said. "How can people have faith in a system like that?"
State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said he was shocked by the lead paint company's donations.
"He answers first and foremost to large donors and that's kind of underscored in the lead paint (example)," Erpenbach said of Walker.
He said it was frustrating that the state Supreme Court had concluded prosecutors weren't allowed to look into whether there was a connection between the money from
the lead paint industry and legislation helping it. He said conservatives on the state court benefited from their own decision to shut down the investigation into these contributions.
"A majority of the Supreme Court benefited directly from the dark money that flowed into this state," he said.
Walker won his recall election in June 2012, becoming the first governor in U.S. history to do so, and GOP senators faced recalls in both 2011 and 2012.
Three GOP senators faced recalls and then voted on the Joint Finance Committee budget motion in June 2013 that sought to retroactively shield the lead paint industry from lawsuits. Those senators were Alberta Darling of River Hills, the panel's co-chairwoman, Luther Olsen of Ripon, and Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls. None responded to requests for comment.
That controversial motion came at the end of the panel's budget-writing work and, as is common, came in the middle of the night and included a grab bag of special interest moves, including a failed attempt to allow bounty hunters to start work in Wisconsin. The lead paint provision was added to the bill despite a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Council that warned that the retroactive change would "raise significant constitutional concerns."
Erpenbach said he didn't know if Republicans in the state Senate were aware of the donations to the Wisconsin Club for Growth that helped them in their recall elections, but he expects them to face tough questions about it now.
"Republicans bent over backward to get this (lead paint) legislation through," Erpenbach said.
A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) had no immediate comment.
A controversial 2005 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision intensified legal and political fight in the state over who is responsible for paying for those sickened by lead
paint in cities like Milwaukee.
The decision in the case Thomas vs. Mallett was written by then-Justice Louis Butler, who was later defeated for re-election, based partly on a backlash by business interests against the ruling.
In 2010, then-U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa in Milwaukee threw out a young plaintiff's lawsuit on the grounds that the "risk contribution theory" advanced in the 2005 state Supreme Court decision violated the substantive due process rights of the defendants — the makers of lead carbonate pigment. In its 2014 ruling, the U.S. 7th Circuit reversed Randa and let the lawsuit continue.
In December 2011 and January 2012, GOP state Sen. Glenn Grothman was drafting legislation to make immunity from liability lawsuits retroactive. The drafting file for the bill shows that Grothman, now a congressman, and his aides gave drafting attorneys an unsigned memo on the issue that appears to have been written by an outside attorney.
Grothman declined to comment. The proposal failed to pass in 2012, but Grothman was on the Joint Finance Committee when it ended up passing a similar measure in 2013.
The leaked documents were gathered during the secret probe launched by Chisholm.
The investigation focused on whether Walker's campaign had illegally coordinated with the Wisconsin Club for Growth and other conservative groups. The documents
released Wednesday once again made clear that the GOP governor was active in raising money for the group.
One donor gave the group $10,000 in 2011, writing on the check's memo line that he made the contribution "because Scott Walker asked."
It was not clear who leaked the documents to the Guardian. Some of them have been already disclosed during various court cases and reported by the Journal Sentinel, among other media outlets, while others have never been released before because they were filed under seal or never showed up in court documents at all.
Special prosecutor Francis Schmitz led the probe, which was conducted under the John Doe law. That law allowed prosecutors to force people to testify and turn over documents, while barring them from talking about the investigation with others.
The probe was effectively halted in January 2014 when the state judge overseeing the investigation found the activities in question were not illegal. Schmitz sought to overturn that finding, while the Wisconsin Club for Growth and two of its advisers brought legal challenges to stop the investigation for good.
Johnson worked for Walker and the Wisconsin Club for Growth at the same time.
The state Supreme Court last year ruled 4-2 against the prosecutors. The court initially determined all evidence prosecutors had gathered had to be destroyed but later told prosecutors they should instead turn it over to the justices. The high court has allowed prosecutors to hang onto it while they pursue their appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Chisholm has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision by Wisconsin's high court to shut down the investigation.
They also want the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether the Wisconsin court got it right when it ruled that candidates have free speech rights to work closely with advocacy groups during their campaigns, according to sources.
Dave Umhoefer, John Diedrich and Bruce Vielmetti of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
Above is from: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/14/report-lead-paint-makers-helped-gov-walker/90349256/
By Adam Poulisse
Staff writer
Posted Sep. 14, 2016 at 10:33 PM
BELVIDERE — Multiple arrests were made after four massage parlors were raided today, according to Register Star media partner WREX.
C'est La Vie, The Executive Relaxation Station, Royal Oriental Massage and Spa Tui-Na, all located along State Street in Belvidere, were raided with assistance from the Boone County Sheriff's Office and Illinois State Police.
It was not immediately known how many arrests were made or what charges those arrested will face.
Check back at rrstar.com for more information.Adam Poulisse: 815-987-1344
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160914/police-raid-4-belvidere-massage-parlors
Published 09/14 2016 06:28PM
Updated 09/15 2016 07:12PM
BELVIDERE
UPDATE: Police have released the full list of people arrested during Wednesdays raid of four massage parlors. They are:
Cynthia L. Wolfram, 57 years old of Beloit, WI, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Angela N. Ehmen, 32 years old of Rockford, IL, was charged with one count of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor) and one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Mary E. Laidig, 67 years old of South Beloit, IL, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Brandon L. Herringer, 29 years old of Rockton, IL, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor), and a Failure to Appear Warrant.
Michael E. Cain, 48 years old of Beloit, WI, was charged with three counts of Promoting Prostitution (Class 4 Felony), and three counts of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Rade Vazic, 33 years old of Loves Park, IL, was charged with one count of Solicitation of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor).
Jazmine A. Martinez, 29 years old of Rockford, IL, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Tina M. Parrish, 39 years old of Beloit, WI, was charged with one count of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor) and one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Nina M. Evans, 31 years old of Rockford, IL, was charged with one count of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor) and one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Wang Yue Ping, 29 years old was charged with one count of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor) and one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Qiuna Martin, 37 years old of Gilberts, IL, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Suhua Zhang, 49 years old of Belvidere, IL, was charged with one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Jie Liu, 32 years old of Flushing, New York, was charged with one count of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor) and one count of Massage Licensing Act Violation (Class A Misdemeanor).
Danny B. Stovall, 73 years old of Sycamore, IL, was charged with one count of Solicitation of Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor).
_____________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE (9/15/16, 8:30 a.m.): Police say 14 people were arrested following raids on four massage parlors in downtown Belvidere on Wednesday.
All face a variety of soliciatation charges.
_________________________________________________
Police cars could be seen in front of four separate businesses on State Street in downtown Belvidere early Wednesday evening.
Belvidere Police Chief Jan Noble says it was a multi jurisdictional investigation between Belvidere Police, the Boone County Sheriff's Office, Illinois State Police and several other Stateline agencies.
Just two weeks ago, police in Loves Park busted two massage parlors - Radient Spa, which had just opened in August, and Majestic Massage - where 3 women were arrested on prostitution charges.
Police at the time hinted that this could all be a part of a larger human trafficking operation.
At the Rockford City Council meeting on August 22, Rockford Aldermen expressed concern with a lack of control over the distinction of spa businesses, stemming from a 2005 state law put into place that placed control at the hands of the state.
Above is from: http://www.mystateline.com/news/police-make-raids-at-massage-parlors-in-belvidere
Above is from: http://rockfordscanner.com/2016/09/many-arrested-at-massage-parlors-in-loves-park-and-belvidere/
For more information on the Trump Foundation see earlier posting: http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity.html
AARON KATERSKY and TOM LIDDY,Good Morning America 1 hour 16 minutes ago
The New York State attorney general's office has opened a broad inquiry into the Trump Foundation, the office confirms.
The inquiry concerns, among other things, Donald Trump buying a portrait of himself and a donation to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump supporter, according to a source in the office.
The question is whether Trump Foundation made accurate disclosures, a source said. Further details about the portrait and other donations were not immediately available.
The contribution to Bondi's fundraising committee has drawn scrutiny because her office declined to join a lawsuit against Trump regarding his now-shuttered school, Trump University.
The Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, a Hillary Clinton supporter, is pursuing litigation against Trump over Trump University, accusing him of “mis[leading] consumers into paying for a series of expensive courses that did not deliver on their promises.”
Trump has denied the allegations and both he and Bondi have denied any impropriety over the contribution. But Trump did pay a $2,500 penalty to the IRS this year because charities are not allowed to give to political causes.
In a statement Tuesday night, the Trump campaign blasted the inquiry.
"Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President," Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, said in a statement. "This is nothing more than another left-wing hit job designed to distract from Crooked Hillary Clinton’s disastrous week.”
According to a June 9 letter from the AG's office to Trump, the office requested information about a $25,000 contribution to And Justice for All made in 2013, a political organization affiliated with Bondi.
In a response on July 25, the Trump Foundation said that the contribution was "mistakenly made from the Foundation" and instead came from Trump's personal funds. The foundation said that it incorrectly believed the organization receiving the money was a 501(c)(3) charity.
"Once Mr. Trump learned of the mistake from the news media, he publicly acknowledged the mistake and promptly took corrective action," the letter reads, including reimbursing the foundation $25,000. (p. 20)
The foundation said that it would train its staff and officers "to ensure that it will not use any of its funds for political purposes in the future," according to a July 15 letter from the AG's office to the foundation. (Last letter)
Schneiderman announced his lawsuit against Trump University on Aug. 25, 2013. The next month, Bondi's office announced that it was reviewing the litigation. But shortly after that announcement, And Justice for All received the contribution.
Bondi's office decided not to go forward with the complaint.
"I never, nor was my office, investigating him. Never. I would never lie. I would never take money. I've been obviously devastated over this," she said in a voice mail message to a Tampa Bay Times reporter this past June.
Trump recently said he never discussed the suit with Bondi's office.
This is a developing story. Please check back in for updates.
Above is from: https://www.yahoo.com/gma/ny-attorney-general-opens-inquiry-trump-foundation-230704958--abc-news-topstories.html
Here is NBC’s Coverage on the same issue
The office of New York state's top prosecutor has made inquiries into Donald Trump's nonprofit foundation after questions about impropriety.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman revealed the inquiry on Tuesday, telling CNN that "we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety," although he did not go into detail.
"We've inquired into it and we've had correspondence with them," Schneiderman said. "I didn't make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."
The Attorney General's Office later told NBC News that correspondence with the foundation began on June 9.
In response to the news, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller released a statement calling Schneiderman "a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President."
He also called the inquiry a "left-wing hit job."
The New York Attorney General's Charities Bureau, which oversees regulating nonprofits in the state, has asked about a $25,000 donation the Trump Foundation made in September 2013 to "And Justice for All" — a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.
All nonprofits are barred from making politically-related contributions.
The Trump Foundation had 20 days to answer the Charities Bureau's letter. While the Trump campaign has previously declined to comment about the case, Trump during a campaign stop Monday in Ohio dismissed questions about the contribution, according to The Washington Post.
Trump paid a $2,500 penalty for failing to disclose the gift to the Internal Revenue Service, and representatives for the Trump Organization said he also paid back $25,000 to the foundation after the media began asking questions, the newspaper reported.
Trump Foundation treasurer Allen Weisselberg wrote in a June 28 letter to the attorney general that the error was first realized in March and was a "case of mistaken identity involving organizations with the same name."
Other questions by the attorney general had to do with the Trump Foundation supposedly paying $20,000 for a six-foot-tall portrait of Trump and four separate charities claiming they never received donations that the foundation said it gifted them.
The amounts that the foundation said it donated included a $10,000 contribution in 2008, $5,000 in 2010 and $10,000 in 2012, according to The Post, which reported about the discrepancies last week.
The portrait was referenced by President Barack Obama on Tuesday while he stumped for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia.
"One candidate's family foundation has saved countless lives around the world," Obama said, referring to the Democratic presidential nominee's own charitable foundation run with former President Bill Clinton.
"The other candidate's foundation took money other people gave to his charity and then bought a 6-foot-tall painting of himself. I mean, he had the taste not to go for the 10-foot version," Obama quipped.
Schneiderman, a Democrat who has endorsed Hillary Clinton and raised money for her campaign, has previously gone after one of Trump's ventures.
In 2013, he filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against Trump University claiming the online school had fleeced would-be real estate investors.
That trial is going forward, and another fraud trial against Trump University in a San Diego court is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.
Above is from: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ny-attorney-general-reveals-inquiry-into-trump-foundation/ar-BBw7XHK?ocid=spartandhp
UPDATED 9-15-2016 with RR Star’s article
This article is from the Facebook account of The Rhubarb.
Thanks Lisa
NEWS ALERT
Late this afternoon The Rhubarb received a phone call from Caledonia Township Road Commissioner Norm Pierce informing The Rhubarb that an agreement between Caledonia Township Commissioner Norm Pierce, Belvidere Township Highway Commissioner Richard Lee and Boone County Engineer Richard Lundin has been reached in regards to the intersection of Beloit Road and Orth Road. This will now become a 4 way stop. Details as to when signs will go up are pending upon the arrival of supplies.
The Rhubarb delayed the following article as it is still waiting on additional statistical information from the Boone County Sherriff’s office. The Rhubarb will also be posting this information.
Car vs School Bus on Beloit Road and Orth Road intersection
By Lisa Rodgers
Publisher/Editor The Rhubarb
BOONE COUNTY-“On Wednesday, September 07, 2016 at approximately 3:30 pm, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office responded to a two vehicle accident at the intersection of Beloit Road and Orth Road, Belvidere.
Preliminary investigation shows that a First Student School Bus carrying approximately 32 Belvidere District 100 students was traveling north on Beloit Road. A passenger vehicle traveling west on Orth Road failed to yield, striking the bus. The bus continued north, tipping on its side.
Boone County District #2 Fire and twelve ambulances from Boone County, McHenry County, DeKalb County, Winnebago County and Rock County (Wisconsin) responded to the scene. The drivers of both vehicles and ten students were transported to four area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. Most students were treated at the scene and released to their parents.
A quick response and assistance by first responders, school personnel, bus personnel, residents and parents are credited for making the incident manageable. The accident is still under investigation by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office…,” posted September 7 by Boone County Sherriff’s office on their Facebook page.
…“The Sheriff's Office says the driver, 23-year-old Marisol Talavera, was cited for not having a valid driver's license, not having insurance, and for failure to yield at a stop sign. She is still being treated at St. Anthony’s Hospital.
A total of 12 people were taken to area hospitals: 10 children, the bus driver and Talavera. Boone County District #2 Fire and twelve ambulances from Boone, McHenry, DeKalb, Winnebago and Rock (Wisconsin) counties responded to the scene.
Officials say Talavera pulled her into the intersection of Beloit and Orth roads in Belvidere and collided with the bus around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday…”Posted: WREX Sep 08, 2016 3:41 PM CDT School bus crash update on Facebook.
Concerned comments from the public have raised questions as to who is responsible for this intersection and what else can be done to improve the safety of the Beloit Road and Orth Road intersection?
The following information is located at Boone County Highway Department online information.
http://www.boonecountyil.org/…/whos-responsibility-it-maint…
“Who's responsibility is it to maintain* a given road?
There are basically four different highway authorities who have maintenance responsibilities with in Boone County which are listed, along with the general jurisdictional responsibly:
State: Responsible for all marked and unmarked state routes and interstates. State roads can exist within the corporate limits of a city or village.
County: Responsible for all county roads which, in general, consist of main collector routes. County roads can also exist within the corporate limits of a city of village.
Township (Road District): Responsible for all township roads within a given township. Roads on township lines may be the responsibility of either of the adjacent townships and it may change from one section to another.
Township roads cannot exist within the corporate limits of a city or village. Therefore, if the corporate limits of a road is adjacent to or included within any part of the right-of-way that road is the maintenance responsibility of the city or village.
City or Village: Responsible for all public streets within the corporate limits except any State or county roads within the corporate limits.
*Maintenance responsibilities include all activities necessary to keep the road to an acceptable level of service including, but not limited to, snow plowing, repairing roads, and reconstruction.”
Many years ago a map was created giving jurisdiction to either Boone County or the townships for specific roads. At the time the map was created Beloit Road was considered a more rural road and therefore jurisdiction was given to the townships. Due to the boundary lines between Caledonia Township and Belvidere Township each has a responsibility to the intersection. Caledonia Township is responsible for three corners. Orth Road and the north/west corner of Beloit Road. The same corner where the school bus came to rest. Belvidere Township is responsible for only the south/east corner of Beloit Road.
It should be noted that at the time the map was created and jurisdiction allocated, there were no schools on Beloit Road. There is now Seth Whitman Elementary, Belvidere Central Middle School and Belvidere North High School. Belvidere North opened the fall of 2007.
The following crash statistics were provided to The Rhubarb by the Boone County Highway Department for the Orth Road and Beloit Road intersection. More detailed statics from the Boone County Sheriff’s office is pending.
2002 - 5
2003 - 4
2004 - 4
2005 - 5
2006 - 10
2007 - 6
2008 - 9
2009 - 2
2010 - 11
2012 - 12
2013 - 6
2014 - 5
2015 - 16
Total from 2002-2015: 95 Crashes
Average from 2002-2015: 7.3 crashes per year.
Average from 2002-2006: 5.6 crashes per year.
Average from 2007-2015: 8.3 crashes per year. Belvidere North High School opened in 2007.
“I’m in full support of making this intersection a 4 way stop,” said Caledonia Township Road Commissioner Norm Pierce.
“I have been the Road Commission for 14 years and take my job very seriously. My job as Road Commissioner is to keep the public safe. I have done everything possible under the current law that is permissible to improve the safety of this intersection. Flashing lights have been installed, cross-traffic signs posted ahead of the intersection as well as on the stop signs, reflective strips on both the cross-traffic signs as well as the stops signs. The stop signs are now 30” as required by law and were installed within the first year of the requirement. A speed trailer was also recently placed at this intersection.
I spoke with the homeowner a while back who had the video recording of the accident between the car and school bus. He agreed to remove his lilac bushes to help improve visibility. He did so voluntarily,” said Mr. Pierce.
“Life is not replaceable, cars are. I would be in support of the Orth Road and Beloit Road intersection becoming a 4 way stop,” concluded Mr. Pierce.
“For over the past year, the Boone County Sherriff’s office has been working with both townships to improve the intersection of Beloit Road and Orth Road. Patrol cars have been placed in driveways and a speed trailer was recently placed on Beloit Road.
In 2015 alone there were 19 accidents at this intersection. It is one of the worst intersections in Boone County. It should not be one of the worst intersections based on its location in the county compared to other higher traffic roads. It’s obvious there is a larger problem here. One fact is the intersection does not sit at a 90 degree angle.
Putting up stop signs at every intersection is not feasible as we need to continue the flow of traffic or no one will get anywhere. However the number of accidents occurring at Beloit Road and Orth Road with the statistical information cannot be ignored,” said Boone County Sheriff David Ernest.
Traffic information obtained directly from IDOT or Illinois Department of Transportation.
2013 AADT or Annual Average Daily Traffic for Beloit Road and Orth Road.
Orth Road
Traveling west 3200
Traveling east 1900
Beloit Road
Traveling north 3350
Traveling south. 4850
The next scheduled review will be 2018.
According to information provided by the Boone County Highway Department, in order for any changes to occur at this intersection both townships must be in agreement and submit a request to the highway department. Boone County Board has no authority over this intersection. Change would only occur by Boone County Engineer Richard Lundin signing off on the request. If one township would request a 4 way stop and the other be not in agreement, the request will fail and no change will occur at the intersection. It should be noted Boone County Engineer Mr. Richard Lundin retires at the end of September.
The Rhubarb wishes to thank Boone County Sheriff David Ernest, Caledonia Township Commissioner Norm Pierce, Belvidere Township Highway Commissioner Richard Lee and Boone County Engineer Richard Lundin for all their assistance in this article.
Getting Around Illinois is a web-based interactive mapping site that provides the ability to search and display several sources of transportation data. You can find information on winter road conditions, annual average daily traffic, road construction, trucking routes, and planned road projects.
http://www.gettingaroundillinois.com/
As background here is the newspaper story on the accident.
| Purchase this Photo
Ambulances swarmed to Beloit and Orth roads after a car collided with a school bus causing it to roll Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, in Belvidere. MAX GERSH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER/RRSTAR.COM
By Kevin Haas
Staff writer
Posted Sep. 8, 2016 at 5:08 PM
Updated Sep 8, 2016 at 7:12 PM
BELVIDERE — The driver of a vehicle that crashed into a Belvidere school bus on Wednesday was cited for several traffic violations.
Marisol Talavera, 23, was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign, no valid driver's license and operating an uninsured motor vehicle, according to the Boone County Sheriff's Office.
Talavera was driving west on Orth Road at about 3:30 p.m. when she failed to yield and struck a school bus headed north on Beloit Road, police said. The bus continued north and tipped on its side.
The bus was carrying 32 Belvidere Central Middle School students. Ten students were taken to the hospital, as well as the driver of the bus and Talavera. Their injuries were not believed to be serious. Talavera remains at a Rockford hospital, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The Belvidere School District contracts with First Student Inc. for transportation.
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160908/driver-cited-in-crash-with-belvidere-school-bus
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************
By Kevin Haas
Staff writer
Posted Sep. 15, 2016 at 7:00 am Updated at 8:49 PM
BELVIDERE — When Brandon Pedroza approaches the intersection of Orth and Beloit roads he has a foot on the brakes, and his eyes scan his surroundings for oncoming cars.
He's never sure if drivers on Orth will obey the stop sign.
"The speed limit is 45 ... I go through there going 30-35 to make sure that those people are going to stop," said Pedroza, 19, of Roscoe. "You don't know if someone's coming and if they're going to blow through it until you're going through the intersection. There's a lot of blind spots over there."
The crossroads of Orth and Beloit is considered the county's most dangerous intersection by Boone County Sheriff Dave Ernest. A collision last week between a school bus and car, which sent 10 Belvidere Central Middle School students to the hospital, brought renewed attention to the intersection and calls from some for changes to be made to make the route safer.
Township road officials decided to install a four-way stop sign.
"It should go up Monday," said Belvidere Township Highway Commissioner Rich Lee.
Lee said the four-way stop had been considered for about three to four months but it took time to get everyone together from different jurisdictions. The intersection is under the jurisdiction of Caledonia and Belvidere township road districts, with three legs of the crossroads belonging to Caledonia Township.
"They should at least put a four-way stop," Pedroza said. "Give the people a chance going north and south on Beloit Road to be able to stop and look and check that people are going to stop."
A year ago, on March 5, 2015, Pedroza was in a three-car collision at the intersection. A car headed east on Orth failed to yield at the stop sign and hit a vehicle going south on Beloit. That vehicle spun and struck Pedroza, who was headed north on Beloit, according to a Boone County sheriff's traffic report. There were 18 other collisions at the intersection that year.
"Once in a while when I go through there I look around and I see more pieces of cars, and I go, 'Uh oh, there was another accident here,'" Pedroza said.
There have been 64 crashes at the intersection of Orth and Beloit roads since 2011, according to statistics provided by the Boone County Sheriff's Office after a Freedom of Information Act request. The number of crashes peaked at 19 in 2015.
"Last year, we had 19 accidents at that intersection, which was alarming," Ernest said. "As far as I was concerned that was the worst intersection we had in the county."
Lee and Caledonia Township Highway Commissioner Norm Pierce have actively been trying to make the intersection safer, Ernest said.
"They've cut back bushes and trees, they've put reflective tape," Ernest said. The Sheriff's Office has tried to improve safety, too.
"We've had a lot of patrols there. We sat in that driveway on the corner. We put our speed trailer up there because we just felt that 19 accidents was ridiculous," Ernest said.
There have been seven crashes at the intersection so far this year, which includes last week's bus crash. "It's still too many, but that's a huge improvement," Ernest said. He said a roundabout would be ideal for the intersection.
More than 6,600 vehicles pass through the intersection on average each day, according to estimates based on Illinois Department of Transportation traffic counts.
"That roadway wasn't built for the type of traffic we have there these days," Ernest said. "We have a new high school on that side of town. We have Sportscore and the YMCA and all these things that are right there in that area. It's starting to be more of a throughway. And obviously we have heavy Chrysler traffic going north and south."
The county can only expect more traffic going forward, especially with the Mercyhealth hospital being built less than 5 miles away on the corner of East Riverside Boulevard and Interstate 90, said Boone County Board Chairman Bob Walberg. "Boone County needs to have a plan for how to provide access to people," Walberg said. "This is the time where we really need to come up with plans and come up with how we want to prepare for future growth and future traffic demands on our county."
The speed limit is 45 mph to the east, west and south of the intersection and 55 mph to the north. There are flashing signs alerting drivers of an upcoming stop sign to the east and west of Orth Road. Patrick Luetkenhaus of Belvidere said the speed limit should be reduced to 45 mph from Orth Road north to the stop sign in Argyle on Beloit Road.
"Many people that live in Roscoe, Rockton and Beloit travel that road to Belvidere. And a lot of those people work at Chrysler," Luetkenhaus said. "I travel Beloit Road once a week to do some volunteer work in Rockton. I have been doing that for many years, I can tell you that many people are going down Beloit Road traveling 10 or more miles over the speed limit."
Lee said he and Pierce both want to see the speed limit on Beloit on the north side of the intersection reduced from 55 mph to 45 mph. He said they're working with the county highway department to make that change. Federal requirements and county policy call for a speed study to be conducted before a speed limit is changed, said County Engineer Rich Lundin. The study uses a formula to determine a safe speed. Then the Boone County Board must approve the change.
Ernest said driver error — often failing to yield at the stop sign — is the cause of most crashes at the intersection.
"It's mainly people being inpatient and in a hurry," Ernest said of the cause of crashes. "We put a four-way stop there we're still going to have accidents."
Kevin Haas: 815-987-1410; khaas@rrstar.com; @KevinMHaas
Crashes per year
There have been 64 crashes at the intersection of Orth and Beloit roads since 2011
Above is from: http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160915/four-way-stop-sign-going-up-at-orth-and-beloit-roads-in-boone-county-site-of-64-crashes-since-2011
