Boone County Fair Association to begin fundraising campaign - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

BELVIDERE — The Boone County Fair Association Board of Directors has announced the Boone County Fair Grandstand Rejuvenation Project to raise funds to refurbish the 50-year-old grandstand at the fairgrounds.

The fair association is looking to raise $114,000 to complete the project and will acknowledge donors with a sign to be hung on the back of the grandstand. To participate, donors should call the fair office at 815-544-2900 or can mail a donation to BCF Assn., PO Box 456, Belvidere, IL 61008. The association hopes to have the project completed in time for the 2015 fair.

For information: 815-544-2900.

Boone County Fair Association to begin fundraising campaign - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

Will Exelon Shutter Quad Cities, Clinton Or Byron NPPs In The Land Of Lincoln? - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Plant Portal

 

Nuclear power provides Illinois with 48 percent of its electricity and the three at-risk plants provide the power for three million homes, the Daily-Journal reported Tuesday

But pricing support has deteriorated. Stoermer said prices at times have fallen into negative territory with profit margins in the red. State lawmakers, he said, should support a pricing model that recognizes the discrete benefits of nuclear power, which generates $8.9 billion in annual economic output in Illinois.

Nuclear power employs 5,900 people in the state in carbon emissions-free jobs. The Quad Cities power plant alone generates $1.4 billion in annual economic impact, employs 900 people and paid $7.4 million in property taxes this year, the newspaper said….

Energy Institute Senior Vice President of Policy Development Richard Myers said four primary factors were putting negative pressure on pricing. Demand is stagnant – and has been since 2008, he said. Grid congestion, which decreases distribution efficiencies, is significant. Energy policies are giving alternative power sources unfair advantages. And historically low prices for natural gas are undermining price stability.

The plants are stabilizing, clean and productive, but the public often fails to consider this when they use electricity, which seems effortless and omnipresent.

Closing a plant would be a rude awakening….

Exelon's decision on the fate of three plants is not expected until after June in 2015.

 

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Will Exelon Shutter Quad Cities, Clinton Or Byron NPPs In The Land Of Lincoln? - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Plant Portal

Women's Rights in Ancient Egypt - Women'sHistory.Answers.com

 

Women's Rights in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian women had many legal rights compared to women of other ancient societies. In the city-states of Ancient Greece, for example, a woman had to be represented by her father, brother, or husband in court, and couldn't legally speak for herself. In the Roman Republic, a woman was legally subject to her husband's power as head of household, with her rights subsumed by his. Ancient Egyptian women, however, had a legal status almost equal to men.

Women's Legal Rights

Ancient Egyptian women were legally able to sit on juries and testify in trials. Surviving documents record women speaking in court and show that their testimony is held as equally reliable to men's testimony.
Women could also enter into contracts in their own name, sue others, and be sued. Female criminals were also subject to the same penalties as a man.

Women's Property Rights

Unlike Ancient Greek or Roman women, Ancient Egyptian women could legally own and manage their own property. Surviving documents show that women owned and were responsible for taxes on about 10% of recorded property.
Ancient Egyptian women even retained their property rights when they got married, which wasn't even the case in the United States until laws started to change in the 19th century. In Ancient Egypt, prenuptial contracts were usually used to protect a woman's property in case of divorce.
Joint property was property obtained during a marriage, which was owned jointly by both the husband and wife. While a husband could sell joint property without his wife's permission, he was legally obligated to compensate his wife with something of equal value.

Marriage and Divorce

Although many upper-class marriages were arranged by the wife-to-be's family and her future husband, women did have a say in the matter. A standard literary theme in Ancient Egyptian writings showed women persuading their fathers to let them marry the man they loved, so this was probably not uncommon in practice.
Divorce in Ancient Egypt was easy and routine. Either the husband or the wife could initiate a divorce for any reason. A man who initiated a divorce had to return his wife's dowry and pay a fine. A woman who initiated divorce did not have to pay a fine. This practice was in place to protect women, who were usually financially dependent on their husbands.
Remarriage after divorce was also commonplace. It wasn't considered unusual for men or women to marry three or four times in their lives.
In contrast to many other ancient societies, adultery was considered wrong not just for women but also for men. The guilty party, whether it was the husband or wife, automatically forfeited their rights to any joint property.

Women's Employment

Upper-class women in Ancient Egypt could make and sell perfume and retain the profit they made. They could also respectably work in courts or temples, or perform as acrobats, dancers, singers, or musicians.
Some women worked as priestesses, practicing doctors, or even independent business owners. It was also common for women of any class to work as professional mourners or musicians.
In government, women could be employed as high officials or scribes. There were even several female pharaohs, though they took on all the masculine trappings of the role. Because of this practice, historians have doubts about whether some pharaohs in history are male or female.

Though Ancient Egyptian women were equal to men in many legal respects, they weren't socially equal. Many of their legal rights weren't often put into practice. For example, while women could legally serve on juries, surviving records show that they rarely did in reality. Though wives were able to own their own property and run their own businesses, they were still considered dependent on their husbands and identified by his name and title.
Still, Ancient Egypt is remarkable among other ancient societies for all the legal rights women had that were unheard of in other cultures until the modern era.

Women's Rights in Ancient Egypt - Women'sHistory.Answers.com

News and Investigations Poshard, The Prince Of Pensions

 

 

Poshard, The Prince Of Pensions

Former Congressman Glenn Poshard, who lost the governor's race in 1998, is collecting more than $200,000 a year, in total, from four taxpayer-funded pensions – one of the largest takes among retired Illinois politicians.

By Chuck Neubauer, Patrick Rehkamp and Sandy Bergo

November 18, 2014 10:15 PM

 

Former Congressman Glenn Poshard / YouTube

Glenn Poshard lost the governor's race in 1998, but these days he's a pension winner – collecting more than $200,000 in taxpayer-subsidized retirement benefits a year, more than the current governor makes in salary

See the video:  News and Investigations Poshard, The Prince Of Pensions

Illinois universities asked to explore budget cuts - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

Executive Director James Applegate sent an email to the presidents, obtained by the Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers (http://bit.ly/1xMfv03 ), saying the schools should be prepared for possible funding cuts of up to 30 percent over the next 18 months. He described it as “bad budget news.”

“They have asked us to prepare a budget recommendation for (fiscal year 2016) involving a 20 percent reduction. We may also be asked to create spending reserves of 5 percent or 10 percent out of our existing budget for the remainder of (fiscal year 2015),” Applegate wrote.

Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf told The Associated Press on Monday that the Republican’s transition team was not ordering budget cuts but seeking information on how a rollback of the state’s temporary income tax would affect state agencies.

Schrimpf said the team met with officials from many agencies — not just the universities — as part of Rauner’s own budget preparing process. He said the agencies were asked to “be prepared to talk about” budgets without the extra spending “as a starting point.”….

Read more:  Illinois universities asked to explore budget cuts - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

WASHINGTON: Other Ferguson probes continue in Washington | National | NewsObserver.com

 

“There, I think the federal government is going to act,” Peter A. Joy, a professor at Washington University School of Law, predicted several weeks ago at a school panel discussion.

Attorney General Eric Holder initiated the broader Ferguson investigation in early September. Undertaken by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section, the investigation is focusing on the Ferguson Police Department’s use of force; stops, searches and arrests; discriminatory policing; and treatment of detainees inside the Ferguson city jail.

The federal investigators, for instance, are digging into data concerning Ferguson traffic stops.

Last year, African-Americans drove 86 percent of the 5,384 cars stopped by Ferguson police officers, according to the state’s annual racial profiling report. African-American drivers were twice as likely to be searched and twice as likely to be arrested as white drivers, according to the report.

Similar investigations have targeted the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico, the Miami Police Department in Florida and the Newark Police Department in New Jersey, among others.

The investigations can take a long time.

In May 2011, for instance, federal officials opened the Newark investigation. The final report was issued in July 2014. The Albuquerque investigation that opened in November 2012 also lasted until this year.

The Ferguson inquiry is one of about 20 similar investigations begun during Holder’s tenure

Read the entire article:  WASHINGTON: Other Ferguson probes continue in Washington | National | NewsObserver.com

Boone County Numbers

People QuickFacts	Boone County	Illinois
Population, 2013 estimate	53,957	12,882,135
Population, 2010 (April 1) estimates base	54,167	12,830,632
Population, percent change, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013	-0.4%	0.4%
Population, 2010	54,165	12,830,632
Persons under 5 years, percent, 2013	5.9%	6.2%
Persons under 18 years, percent, 2013	26.8%	23.5%
Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2013	13.5%	13.5%
Female persons, percent, 2013	50.2%	50.9%
White alone, percent, 2013 (a)	93.2%	77.7%
Black or African American alone, percent, 2013 (a)	2.6%	14.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, 2013 (a)	0.6%	0.6%
Asian alone, percent, 2013 (a)	1.4%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, 2013 (a)	0.1%	0.1%
Two or More Races, percent, 2013	2.1%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2013 (b)	20.3%	16.5%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2013	74.8%	62.7%
Living in same house 1 year & over, percent, 2008-2012	90.0%	86.8%
Foreign born persons, percent, 2008-2012	10.9%	13.8%
Language other than English spoken at home, pct age 5+, 2008-2012	19.4%	22.2%
High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2008-2012	85.5%	87.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2008-2012	19.9%	31.1%
Veterans, 2008-2012	3,567	755,256
Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16+, 2008-2012	31.9	28.1
Housing units, 2013	19,906	5,289,423
Homeownership rate, 2008-2012	84.1%	68.0%
Housing units in multi-unit structures, percent, 2008-2012	12.2%	32.9%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2008-2012	$164,700	$190,800
Households, 2008-2012	17,864	4,774,275
Persons per household, 2008-2012	3.01	2.62
Per capita money income in past 12 months (2012 dollars), 2008-2012	$26,559	$29,519
Median household income, 2008-2012	$63,670	$56,853
Persons below poverty level, percent, 2008-2012	10.1%	13.7%
Business QuickFacts	Boone County	Illinois
Private nonfarm establishments, 2012	865	314,199
Private nonfarm employment, 2012	13,307	5,119,826
Private nonfarm employment, percent change, 2011-2012	8.6%	1.6%
Nonemployer establishments, 2012	3,019	921,272
Total number of firms, 2007	3,425	1,123,817
Black-owned firms, percent, 2007	1.3%	9.5%
American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned firms, percent, 2007	F	0.5%
Asian-owned firms, percent, 2007	S	5.3%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander-owned firms, percent, 2007	F	0.1%
Hispanic-owned firms, percent, 2007	S	5.0%
Women-owned firms, percent, 2007	27.8%	30.5%
Manufacturers shipments, 2007 ($1000)	5,553,679	257,760,713
Merchant wholesaler sales, 2007 ($1000)	146,167	231,082,768
Retail sales, 2007 ($1000)	454,857	165,450,520
Retail sales per capita, 2007	$8,556	$12,947
Accommodation and food services sales, 2007 ($1000)	40,186	25,469,026
Building permits, 2012	49	13,797
Geography QuickFacts	Boone County	Illinois
Land area in square miles, 2010	280.72	55,518.93
Persons per square mile, 2010	193	231.1
FIPS Code	7	17
Metropolitan or Micropolitan Statistical Area	Rockford, IL Metro Area
(a) Includes persons reporting only one race.
(b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.
FN: Footnote on this item for this area in place of data
NA: Not available
D: Suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information
X: Not applicable
S: Suppressed; does not meet publication standards
Z: Value greater than zero but less than half unit of measure shown
F: Fewer than 100 firms
Source: US Census Bureau State & County QuickFacts

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/17007.html