Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Belvidere preparing to cut funds to several local organizations

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  • budgetary cuts will affect the Boone County Council on Aging, Growth Dimensions, the Ida Public Library, Mural Mile and Heritage Days, and the Sister Cities program.
  • . Williams said that a 20 percent drop in funding would require a serious look at the budget
  • Ida Public Library responded to the prospect of a 20 percent reduction to that institution…limiting the hours that a library is open is not an appealing notion, but she isn’t sure what else to do.

Click on the following for more details;  Belvidere preparing to cut funds to several local organizations

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Rockford development agency works quietly to lure companies - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

In 2010, 19 companies did.
In RAEDC-speak, it was 19 wins.
They were projects valued at $21.3 million and involved 1,509 jobs that were retained or are intended to be created by companies here.

Collaboration is key
The head salesperson is Janyce Fadden, 55, who was hired in 2004 after 26 years working in sales, marketing, customer service and operations jobs for different companies. She became president a year later, and in 2009 earned a base salary of $115,000, part of a compensation package totaling $171,888, according to IRS documents filed by RAEDC.

Click on the following for more details:  Rockford development agency works quietly to lure companies - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Dreamliner's woes pile up | Seattle Times Newspaper

I suggest this Seattle Times article for a broader view of Boeing’s current issues.  According to the Rock Register  Star two local manufacturers are subcontractors.

… an electrical panel designed and produced by Hamilton Sundstrand, and Boeing engineers pointed to the fire[on this panel] as an example of why the Chicago-based company should stop outsourcing design work for the airplane. The 787 is nearly three years behind schedule, with many of the delays blamed on issues with parts from suppliers.

The wing mold, which took three months to complete, was made by Ingersoll Machine Tools in Rockford for Mitsubishi.

the cascade of systems failures caused by that fire, as well as two major problems since summer with the 787's Rolls-Royce engine, have raised red flags with aviation regulators.

A top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official 10 days ago warned Boeing that without further proof of the plane's reliability, it won't be certified to fly the long intercontinental routes that airlines expect it to serve

senior engineer who expects the 787 will ultimately prove successful. "But the amount of stuff we are finding is horrible. We shouldn't be dealing with this many issues this late in the program."

Boeing has bet its future on the 787, which made its maiden flight one year ago. The company aimed to reduce the cost and risk by outsourcing an unprecedented share of manufacturing and design work to partners around the globe.

company's original internal target for its own development costs was $5 billion. But with yet another delay, several Wall Street analysts estimate that fixing the litany of manufacturing problems, plus paying penalties to suppliers and airlines, has piled on an additional $12 billion to $18 billion.

Read more by clicking on the following:  Business & Technology | Dreamliner's woes pile up | Seattle Times Newspaper

Saturday, December 18, 2010

DREAM Act put on indefinite hold - DailyHerald.com

 

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk was one of the 41 Senators to vote to prevent the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act from moving forward.

Click on the following for more details:  DREAM Act put on indefinite hold - DailyHerald.com

State police make early retirement offer to senior troopers - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

 

The deal allows troopers who retire before the end of this month to receive their full 6 percent raise scheduled for 2011 on their last day of work….

Agency officials believe the program will save $500,000 and that 70 to 90 officers will take advantage of it. A total of 114 officers are eligible to take the offer.

Requirements to participate in early retirement:

An officer has to be 50 years old or older with 25 years of service or 55 years old or older with a minimum of 20 years service.

Click on the following for more details:  State police make early retirement offer to senior troopers - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal

Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal

Site Content

The Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal web site provides information about state employees’ pay, state expenditures, and state contracts. The text below explains general information about the Portal. For specific information about the available data, please refer to the Transparency & Illinois Accountability Portal Employees FAQ or the Expenditures FAQ.

Public Act 096-0225 is effective January 1, 2010, and requires the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) to have the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP) established within 12 months of this effective date. The ITAP project was initiated with employee pay and state expenditure data from the agencies that fall under the jurisdiction of the Governor. The process of publishing data to this site is ongoing and CMS shall update ITAP as additional information becomes available in a format that can be compiled and published on ITAP.

Public Information

While all of the information contained on this site is an open record in accordance with Illinois law, there may be additional public records available regarding this data. Additional records can be obtained by making a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the appropriate records custodian(s) in the agency that possesses the documents in accordance with the law.

Site Availability

This site will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week except during necessary site maintenance. Employee data will be updated nightly with the prior business day’s transactions; the site will be closed between 12:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. during this maintenance window. Expenditures data will be updated nightly with the prior business day’s transactions; the site will be closed between 12:00 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. during this maintenance window. The information published will contain the most-current data available at the time.

Click on the following to connect to this state site:  Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal

Friday, December 17, 2010

Belvidere council entertains possibilities for former Leath property

  • Building Size:156,219 SF
  • Property Type:Industrial
  • Property Sub-type:Warehouse
  • Additional Sub-types:Manufacturing
  • Property Use Type:Vacant/Owner-User
  • No. Stories:4
  • Year Built:1900
  • Clear Ceiling Height:12 ft.
  • Lot Size:3.34 A
  • Regional distribution center for a furniture retailer. Single story warehouse has 40,500 square feet with 26'-28' clear. Reminder of building is multi-story warehouse. Former sewing machine factory constructed of brick around 1900.

    Brereton gave an overview of the types of plans Dean is considering, saying one plan is to locate a freezer section of the facility to the west and then using the large warehouse to the east of the Leath building for storage and space for research and development

    Click on the following for more details:  Belvidere council entertains possibilities for former Leath property