Lifeline was running hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red by operating two ambulances out of Belvidere. The plan was to pull a second ambulance out of town and gift one to the city to be staffed by the Belvidere Fire Department to alleviate the problem
Firefighters ambulance dies in committee - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
Batavia has gotten wage concessions from two more of its employee unions, in exchange for agreeing not to lay off workers in 2010.
The city council recently signed a one-year contract with Teamsters Local 673, which represents police department records technicians and community service officers. It also signed a one-year contract with International Association of Firefighters Local 3436, which represents Batavia's full-time firefighters.
The council also cut pay for other city employees. Some hourly employees will have their hours cut 5 percent.
Several water department employees lost four paid holidays - Thanksgiving and the day after, plus Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Other workers in the water and sewer departments will not be paid for eight hours of standby time for their first four on-call assignments of 2010.
The Emergency Services and Disaster Agency director's pay was cut 4.5 percent
Click on the following for more details: Daily Herald | Pay freeze, some cuts - but no layoffs - for Batavia firefighters, police clerks
FDIC employment to increase 23.4%. Unfortunately this is a new growth industry.
staffing level of 8,653 employees, up from 7,010 in 2009. Almost all the additional staff will be hired on a temporary basis. They will be hired primarily to assist with bank closings; to perform follow-on work related to the management and sale of failed bank assets; and to conduct bank examinations and perform other bank supervisory activities.
Click on the following for more details: FDIC: Press Releases - PR-228-2009 12/15/2009
The pending layoffs, which will cut the number of deputies to 57, are to go into effect next month. County officials say they are trying to plug a $420,000 deficit in the sheriff’s budget.
The overall county budget approved by the county board in November called for pay raises for county employees of only one-half of 1 percent, a response to sharply lower county revenues caused by the economic slowdown.
However, the county’s contract with the deputies’ union requires a 3 1/2 percent increase, and union officials have refused to accept the smaller raise.
Click on the following for the rest of the story: County hopes to cut deputy layoffs with expedited retirements - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
The following is taken from NDK’s website: http://www.ndk.com/en/about/philosophy/index.html
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Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States have passed peaks of a second wave of H1N1, but outbreaks are intensifying in India, Egypt and elsewhere…H1N1 has now spread to more than 200 countries, with nearly 12 000 deaths confirmed in laboratory, but it will probably take two years to establish the true death toll,
Click on the following for more details: News - Medical: Flu virus can still mutate, warns WHO
The newly amended FOIA law should increase the effectiveness of our media watchdogs. If it also awakens slumbering Illinois citizens and entices them to assume their proper role in a democracy, we may yet have government servants who act in our best interest and not in theirs.
Will citizens take up the newly amended FOIA and use it to shine light on the actions of our elected and appointed officials? If yes, improved leadership can be expected. If not, the ethical climate in Illinois will not improve.
Click on the following to read the entire opinion of the Journal-Register: Citizens need to make good use of amended FOIA - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register
