Capron Elementary School to have first county soup kitchen | Belvidere Daily Republican

 

A point in time survey on Feb. 23 showed 177 homeless people in the county, with the biggest percentage in Capron.

The plan is to have the first soup kitchen in operation at Capron Elementary the first Tuesday after the 2012-13 school year ends. It would be open from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays to start, with the possibility of adding Saturdays at some point in the future.

After learning about the availability of Capron Elementary, Loveridge checked with Linda Clark, executive director of the Belvidere/Boone County Food Pantry, about providing some of the groceries. She immediately agreed to help.

Click on the following for more details:  Capron Elementary School to have first county soup kitchen | Belvidere Daily Republican

Health Department’s fees for non-profits generate more debate | Belvidere Daily Republican

 

Cox went on by saying, “Bill Pysson, I don’t understand him at all.” He was referring to the county board member who was in the audience and who has said he, too, opposes the increase.

Then Cox turned to health board member Ron Wait, who’s also on the county board, and said, “I hope you will vote for it.”

Click on the following for more details:  Health Department’s fees for non-profits generate more debate | Belvidere Daily Republican

S.B. 1738 hides video gambling information from the public | The Rock River Times

S.B. 1738 hides video gambling information from the public

For many years, organized crime profited from illegal video gambling machine operations in Illinois. The chairman of the Gaming Board said it was “almost impossible” to keep the mob out of video gambling. That is why transparency is needed now that the video gambling machines are legal.

Currently, monthly video gambling reports are issued and posted on the Illinois Gaming Board’s website. The reports list the names of each establishment, amount of money gambled, amount won, net wagering activity, state and municipality’s share of taxes.

S.B. 1738 prohibits the board from disseminating information relating to video gambling that is specific to individual licensed locations, and only allows information that is aggregated based on the municipality or county.

It is important for the public to see how much money is being gambled and lost at each establishment. For example, gamblers have lost more than $400,000 in five months on five video gambling machines in the Road Ranger truck stop near Camp Butler in Springfield, Ill.

Why would video gambling interests want to hide this information from the public? Without this transparency, we are concerned that money laundering and organized crime will gain a foothold in video gambling. Riverboat casinos must reveal monthly financial information, and so should video gambling establishments.

Establishments are getting 35 percent of the revenue from video gambling (municipalities get 5 percent), and these funds could pay for security measures. Video gambling establishments need to take responsibility to safeguard the funds in their establishments, such as making daily or twice-a-day deposits, contracting with an armored car for delivery to banks, installing surveillance equipment, or hiring security staff.

Lawmakers should not change the law to prevent the public from knowing how much money is LOST and how much profit video gambling interests are making at each location. We call upon the governor, attorney general and legislators to safeguard the public and oppose S.B. 1738 to suppress video gambling information.

Anita Bedell, Executive Director
Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems
Springfield, Ill.

From the April 24-30, 2013, issue

The above is taken from:  S.B. 1738 hides video gambling information from the public | The Rock River Times

Justice Department appeals morning-after case - Yahoo! News

 

The Obama administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's order to lift all age limits on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription.

In appealing the ruling, the administration recommitted itself to a position Obama took during his re-election campaign that younger teens shouldn't have unabated access to emergency contraceptives, despite the insistence by physicians groups and much of his Democratic base that the pill should be readily available.

Click on the following for more details;  Justice Department appeals morning-after case - Yahoo! News

FirstElectricNewspaper: Inner Burbs Sign On For Congestion Pricing For I-90

The above is taken from:  FirstElectricNewspaper: Inner Burbs Sign On For Congestion Pricing For I-90#links#links#links#links#links#links

Boone County’s PZB subcommittee spends 40 minutes discussing approval of minutes

Quite unbelievable, but perhaps it is the nature of last month’s subcommittee discussion.  Much of it is about planning department procedures (or lack of reasonable procedures) and Chairman Walberg’s role with the planning department.

Take a look at it yourself, it is (or at least was) in the open section of board docs.  Go to:  http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/Public

The unapproved minutes are also shown below.  Mr. Larson requested that numerous statements be removed beginning on page 11 of the 19 pages of minutes, with the paragraph, “Bob Walberg reprimanded Gina Del Rose for trying to provide clarification”

The April 3, 2013 meeting was very contentious. Ken Freeman, who initiated the question of proper handling of the Flora Neighborhood project, was not present at tonight’s meeting.  In the end most of the statements were allowed to remain in the minutes.  The “approved” minutes will be available soon.

For your convenience here are the original minutes presented by the planning department. Pages 11-19 are the larger photocopies.  See what you think of the whole mess.  The Belvidere Daily Republican also reported the April 3, 2013 subcommittee meeting and its article is available at:  http://www.belvideredailyrepublican.net/news/countys-flora-neighborhood-plan-dead-issue-for-now/

Click on the photocopy to enlarge.

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Closing Johnson Road bridge over I-90 concerns fire officials | Belvidere Daily Republican

Closing the Johnson Road bridge would cause emergency vehicles to detour to the Spring Center Road bridge, 1.33 miles to the east, or the Genoa Road bridge, about 1.52 miles to the west. That, he said, equates to between 4 and 4 ½ minutes of additional travel time for vehicles.

Ambulance service, which is run out of the District 2 station in that area, would be affected the same way, Chief Johnson said.

….“I don’t think it’s a done deal”

Click on the following for more details:  Closing Johnson Road bridge over I-90 concerns fire officials | Belvidere Daily Republican

Below are the original documents regarding this story.

Here is this notification letter from the Toll Way.