Rauner promises return of government workers to Springfield

 

….Calling for an end to the exodus of government jobs from Springfield that began in 2003 under now-imprisoned Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner said he and his wife, Diana, will live in the Executive Mansion.

"Diana and I are honored to make Springfield our new home," the wealthy venture capitalist told a crowd gathered at a downtown restaurant as part of a statewide fly-around to thank supporters.

Although the Winnetka businessman's pronouncement wasn't new, it carried more weight Friday in the wake of his victory Tuesday over Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who only stayed at the mansion when the legislature was in session.

Quinn's sparse use of the mansion, which mostly mirrored Blagojevich's behavior, rankled longtime capital city denizens, who decried the mansion's disuse and the transfer of state jobs from Springfield to the Chicago area.

A 2011 report showed that the central core of Springfield suffered a drop in population and commercial activity after more than 2,600 workers from the government and commercial sector left during the era of executive branch control by Chicago Democrats.

"We want the government headquartered here and located here again. That is one of my priorities," Rauner said.

He received his heartiest applause when he said his administration would bring state workers back to Sangamon County….

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Bionic body parts: what's already here (eyes!) and what's coming soon

 

In June of 2014, the FDA approved the first exoskeleton for medical use: ReWalk. The system consists of motorized leg braces that someone tells to walk, stand up, or sit down using a remote control. The person also wears a backpack housing ReWalk's power supply and computer. The device is specifically approved for people with lower-body paralysis.

Other notable medical exoskeletons include the Ekso Bionics' Ekso, which is approved for use in physical therapy and rehab, and the HAL series by Japanese company Cyberdyne.

The military has also been a big player in this field. Ekso Bionics previously developed the hydraulic powered HULC (Human Universal Load Carrier), which Lockheed Martin is now developing for military and industrial uses. Lockheed's website describes the HULC as something that could help military personnel carry up to 200 pounds of heavy combat gear for extended periods of time without fatigue. And Raytheon also has a suit: the XOS.

Several other programs having also been developing strength suits for military use, including US Special Operations Command's TALOS (Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit), which seeks "an advanced infantry uniform that promises to provide superhuman strength with greater ballistic protection," according to a US Army statement, and Darpa's Warrior Web program, with the goal of a soft, pliable supersuit.

2) Bionic eyes that give sight to the blind

© Provided by Vox.com Second Sight Argus.

There are many researchers working on bionic eyes, but Second Sight's Argus II implant became the first FDA-approved bionic eye in 2013. And it actually does give sight to the blind — it's approved for people with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that affects more than 2 million people around the world.

The Argus II involves a 60-electrode array that gets implanted in the eye in order to restore its function. A camera mounted on a pair of glasses records visual information about the world. This info then gets parsed by a small video-processing unit. Then this information gets wirelessly transferred to the electrode-array implant, which activates neurons in the back of the eye and sends messages to the brain.

So far, the resolution is limited, and it definitely doesn't bring people anywhere near 20/20 vision. But it provides enough grayscale resolution to let people see the outline of a doorway, the movement of a person or large object, or the lines on a crosswalk. Some have even been able to identify letters of the alphabet that are a few centimeters tall.

Second Sight is currently working to bring the technology to even more people. They announced in September that they'll be starting trials for blind patients with age-related macular degeneration, which affects 20 to 25 million people worldwide.

And if this seems totally nuts to you, keep in mind that bionic ears — cochlear implants — are already worn by some 300,000 people.

3) Robot limbs that can be controlled by the mind

© Provided by Vox.com Braingate 2.

One of the most impressive pieces of bionics research has been the BrainGate project, which uses brain implants in people with paralysis to allow them to physically interact with the world.

The implant has 96 electrodes that read signals from the brain. And with intensive and long training, some patients have been able to use the system to do some impressive things.

In a study published in Nature in 2006, researchers showed that a patient could use the system to move a computer cursor, open simulated email, and operate a television. And in 2012, they followed up with another paper and showed that two people used the system to instruct a robot hand to pick things up. One patient who had the implant for five years was even able to use the robotic hand to drink coffee. The project still continues today, and researchers are currently recruiting for even more trials.

4) Prosthetic limbs that feel like part of your body

© Provided by Vox.com

Touch Bionics i-limb ultra revolution.

Prosthetic limbs have existed for some time — but now they're getting smarter.

For example, Touch Bionics' i-Limb Ultra, a prosthetic hand with motorized joints, can smartly shape itself to an object someone is trying to grasp or read muscle signals from the skin of someone's upper arm to take on a pre-programmed configuration.

More promising still, researchers are now working on experimental bionic limbs that can communicate more intuitively with people's bodies. This can involve sensors on the skin or even sensors implanted into the body, such as the IMES muscle sensors being used with experimental prosthetics on real people. "I still close what I think is my hand," James Sides told Popular Science. "I open my hand, and rotate it up and down; I close my fingers and the hand closes. It’s exactly as if I still had a hand."

Another possibility is to interface with implants that attach directly to people's nerves and brains.

The next step beyond that is getting feedback from the limb back to the person so that people can feel these prosthetics. This research is still in early stages, but people have seen that having a feel for what's actually going on can improve dexterity.

5) Deep-brain stimulation to treat brain ailments

© Provided by Vox.com Deep brain stimulation DBS Medtronic.

The brain sends signals using both chemicals and electricity. And for decades the main way to intervene and fix brain problems was through the chemical side — through drugs.

But recently that has begun to change. Some people now receive implants in their brains that gave off electrical currents to simulate their brain cells. Think of it like a brain pacemaker.

This technique is called deep-brain stimulation. And it's already FDA-approved for treating Parkinson's disease and a movement disorder called dystonia. Medtronic's deep-brain stimulation system, for example, has been implanted in some 110,000 people. The technique has also been tested in people for psychiatric illnesses, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe depression.

 

Above is from MCN:  Bionic body parts: what's already here (eyes!) and what's coming soon

Election 2014: Gov-elect Bruce Rauner says he called legislative leaders - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

….Rauner said he’d already taken steps in that direction.

“Just a few minutes ago, I placed two very important phone calls,” he said. “I called Speaker Madigan. I called President Cullerton and I said to them this is an opportunity for us to work together. This is an opportunity to work together on a bipartisan basis to solve the problems, the challenges, facing families in Illinois.”

However, Cullerton and Madigan said through spokesmen that those comments weren’t made directly to them. A Cullerton spokesman said a Rauner campaign staffer contacted a member of Cullerton’s staff, but Rauner and Cullerton did not speak directly to each other.

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown went further. Not only did Madigan and Rauner not speak to each other, he said, but there’s not “any indication that any phone associated with Mike Madigan got a call. So that never happened from our end of it.”

Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf stuck by Rauner’s statements.

“He left the speaker a voicemail and called the Senate president,” Schrimpf said.

Schrimpf added that he was in the room when the call was placed to Madigan.

He did not address why Rauner indicated in his remarks that he had spoken to both Cullerton and Madigan when he had not.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Election 2014: Gov-elect Bruce Rauner says he called legislative leaders - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Area business leaders named to Governor-elect Bruce Rauner’s transition team - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

naming a transition team of advisers that includes Rockford native Rob Funderburg, chairman and owner of Alpine Bank; Gloria Cardenas Cudia, president and founder of the Salsa Business Network in Rockford; and former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, a Democrat.

“In a nutshell, its basically outreach,” Cudia said of the transition team members’ role. “His priority is to stay connected to the people. He wants to listen, and we are going to be his ears.”

Cudia, a Republican and precinct committeeman, was first introduced to Rauner by former U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo in February 2013. She talked to Rauner on behalf of small-business owners and soon became active in his campaign.

“I’m very pleased to see some of the local members that will be part of his transition team,” Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey said. “That’s going to be good for our community and I think we have a real opportunity to take advantage of that.”

Rauner’s transition team also includes former Gov. Jim Edgar, Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock and former Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard, another Democrat.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Area business leaders named to Governor-elect Bruce Rauner’s transition team - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

FirstElectricNewspaper: Huntley Weber-Stephen Job Fair Saturday For Big Expansion

 

Huntley Weber-Stephen Job Fair Saturday For Big Expansion

Huntley's Weber-Stephen Products will hold a job fair Saturday to take job applications and conduct interviews to staff up for the company's manufacturing facility expansion in Huntley next year.  The grill company plans to add 500 new employees when work is finished on its expanded Huntley manufacturing and global distribution facilities.
Recruiters will be looking for assemblers, packers, inspectors, machine operators, material handlers, punch press setup operators, certified forklift operators and maintenance techs for various shifts.  A detailed list is located here: http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001UGTqkZcjFEZjLZWpKN_MSegx64CM26Ni-eVu8RYugAm6o5XNDNNnjIZiGgzIDoRp-5h0ZhN15ffCjTxLOCwjwQy_w3njXmHotOJaBNC1CL2PLRRLNI5_2JRkYzq3LU5s8Wz-Pfcv9Ld8WheOJ701MwY9UCKtcTY68UUbpTl7pl4MiXuDBQKBhQEe8OBiVArGav_co27Wyk43YY4FVzl1Lz_4OzMtH4Hubr5j2IRH8OQ=&c=2eZ4qVfx6SzdAXi0pbIUZuKdQljN7Ybw3XbpGxiOTpNMB1L5ppWHdw==&ch=WCNCJakxqIiKavPH6doqvpMegt3sQt0fJRF_5YHnye0dlh2iusiLQw==
Saturday's Weber-Stephen Products Job Fair will be from 8 am to 3 pm at Huntley's Weber plant at the end of Oak Creek Parkway.

FirstElectricNewspaper

FirstElectricNewspaper: Huntley Amtrak Station Vote Set For Thursday

 

The village of Huntley will have at least an Amtrak passenger platform and parking area by the end of next November, maybe even a full Amtrak station, if trustees approve an agreement between the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Village Thursday.
In April IDOT promised to kick in $2.9 million to build an Amtrak stop in Huntley.  The measure up for consideration Thursday calls for the Village to put $625,000 of its own money into the kitty to build the station.  The agreement only calls for the platform and parking to be completed by next Nov. 30, however, Village Manager Dave Johnson told FEN Monday the Village Board might shoot to finish the station then, too.  "It fits with a lot of other things we're planning on engineering [Downtown]," he said.
The station's planned as part of Amtrak's restoration of rail service from Chicago to Rockford, eventually all the way to Dubuque.  IDOT plans a similar stop, similarly funded, in Belvidere.
In the pic:  Huntley's planned Amtrak station would sited in the area bounded by Union Pacific Railroad on the west, Main Street on the north, Church Street on the east and Mill Street to the south.

Above is from:  FirstElectricNewspaper

Boone County Conservation District—1st two Saturday’s of November