Vaccines on horizon for AIDS, Alzheimer’s, herpes

drug sales are forecast to rise by a third in five years, vaccine sales should double, from $19 billion last year to $39 billion in 2013, according to market research firm Kalorama Information. That’s five times the $8 billion in vaccine sales in 2004.

– Malaria. Tuberculosis. Alzheimer’s disease. AIDS. Pandemic flu. Genital herpes. Urinary tract infections. Grass allergies. Traveler’s diarrhea.

You name it, the pharmaceutical industry is working on a vaccine to prevent it.

Click on the following for more details:  Business Journal | Vaccines on horizon for AIDS, Alzheimer’s, herpes

Property-tax-less towns not ready to follow Schaumburg's lead

From Carol Stream to Oak Brook, to Gurnee, Vernon Hills, Campton Hills and Lily Lake, officials are facing the challenge of sustaining services as revenues drop, but so far have been able to weather the current economic storm without resorting to the property tax.

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | Property-tax-less towns not ready to follow Schaumburg's lead

Where are we as far as employment?

With all the statistics available,  it is often difficult to determine just where local jobs are and where are they are no longer.   The following information is from the Rockford Area Economic Development Council and gives a good overview of the largest employers in the Winnebago/Boone County Area and how the numbers have changed.  The information is taken from:  http://www.rockfordil.com/demographics/employment-data

The largest 83 employers (over 100 employee size) have lost 14,942 jobs or a lost of 22% from the company’s peak employment over the last five years.  (See the last photocopy for these figures)

No blue Christmas for some workers (Fox Valley/Algonquin)

Retailers such as JCPenney, Toys R Us, Macy's and Sears around the Fox Valley are hiring seasonal help, as are Kohl's in South Elgin and Algonquin. Target and JCPenney, both in West Dundee, had ads recently on SnagAJob.com.

This year's job seasonal job market is better than last year….While hiring increases this season, the competition for those jobs are tougher this year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there are 6.1 job seekers per available job, according to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank.

Click on the following for more details:  No blue Christmas for some workers :: The Courier News :: Local News

Plank Road Panther(s) still a mystery.

  A strange story about sightings in Elgin.

Nielsen admits similar reports have come in from many parts of the country. But why, the professor asks, has no one ever found one dead? "A variety of cougar called the Florida panther is the most endangered mammal in North America. Yet people find 15 of those dead every year in Florida."

What we need above all, Petersen notes, is a better photo or tissue sample. Or, best of all, would be the corpse, like the genuine cougar shot by a cop April 14 in a residential neighborhood in Chicago. Until we get that new evidence, as Petersen says sadly, "It remains a mystery."

Click on the following for more details:  Plank Road Panther(s) still a mystery :: The Courier News :: Local News

GM wants governments to help pay for Opel restructuring

on Monday asked European governments to help pay most of the €3.3 billion ($4.9 billion) it needs to restructure its struggling European operations.

refused to give details of the plan to cut some 20 to 25 percent of the company's car making capacity — that will likely shed thousands of jobs. He said he first wanted to talk to workers' representatives.

Germany appears reluctant to offer GM the €4.5 billion loan it had promised Magna — and has yet to pledge the company any more money.

Click on the following to read where other governments stand on the bailout:  Business Journal | GM wants governments to help pay for Opel restructuring

DeKalb County should be prepared

And even more so,  should Boone County. 

The decline in sales tax and income tax revenue is a result of unemployment, which reached 11 percent in Illinois last month. And many economists feel job recovery will lag behind as the broader economy recovers.
There's no doubt the economy will recover from the doldrums it's been in. Will it reach the same level as it did earlier this decade? Probably not. The reality is economic recovery will put us somewhere in the middle.
That's why the county board needs to be proactive in examining its expenses and searching for cuts. Revenues likely will not reach the same level they once were. Not anytime soon, anyway, and the board only has two years of "rainy day" money available to it.

Click on the following for more of this editorial:  Our View: County should be prepared | Daily Chronicle

Options for tax levy explored

Look what happens in cities with home-rule, such as DeKalb—six rates of tax levy are possible.

Eight tax scenarios have been laid out by city officials that range from keeping the status quo to nearly doubling last year’s tax levy.

first scenario – keeping the tax rate at $0.60 per $100 of owned property – the city would levy $3,924,000, a 1-percent increase over 2008.

The highest levy being considered is for $6,254,823, which would hike the tax rate to $0.96 per $100 EAV.
Under this scenario, the cost to the average homeowner of a $200,000 home is projected to be $640, or $240 more than at the $0.60 rate.

 

Click on the following for more details:  Options for tax levy explored | Daily Chronicle