WGCY News

Quinn Gives "State of the State" Address

2012-02-01T20:54:00.000-06:00

The governor’s State of the State address focused on a number of reforms and initiatives he would like to see.

Gov. Pat Quinn used his address to call for an end to Illinois' tax on natural gas to help businesses and families alike. He also proposed the creation of a new tax credit for parents with children. He says it will save $100 a year for the average family of four. The Democratic governor also said Illinois should expand an existing tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans.

Quinn had little to say about Illinois' budget problems but did mention that reforms of government pensions and the Medicaid health care program must be undertaken by lawmakers. Details on how that could be accomplished will likely come at his budget presentation later this month.

The governor also called on lawmakers to expand on scholarships like the Monetary Assistance Program, or MAP, in order to help more college bound students. By 2025 Quinn wants at least 60 percent of adults in Illinois to have a college degree, an associate degree or a career certificate. He says providing more MAP grants would help reach that goal.

Wrapping up his speech, Quinn referenced the fiscal status of the state. “We have real challenges to tackle,” Quinn said. “Like all of you, I recognize the severity of our fiscal situation. But cuts alone will not resolve this situation. We must build and grow our economy.” Quinn has been touting job creation as a way to help pull Illinois out of debt.

Nuclear Plant Shutdown Because Of Power Failure

2012-02-01T07:28:00.001-06:00

The investigation of a nuclear power plant shutdown this week in northern Illinois includes the collection of water and vegetation samples. Illinois Emergency Management Agency director Jonathon Monken says the cause of Monday’s shutdown was a power failure ninety miles from the Byron Nuclear Power Plant.

“Each of the nuclear power stations relies, ironically enough, on external power to fund their fundamental systems,” says Monken. The transformer being tripped “automatically caused one of the nuclear reactors to go into automatic shutdown.”

Monken says the situation is being monitored at both Byron and at IEMA headquarters in Springfield. He says there is no evidence of radioactivity anywhere near the maximum considered “safe.” The incident is classified as an Unusual Event, the least severe of four designations; the others are Alert, Site Area Emergency, and General Emergency.

Venture Capital Fund Helps With Start-Ups

2012-02-01T07:28:00.000-06:00

Two start-up businesses are receiving support from Illinois' new venture capital fund and there will be more help on the way for other start-ups.

The first installments of the Invest Illinois Venture Fund will help support Chicago-based Buzz Referrals, which uses social media to help companies create customer referrals, and Evanston-based AuraSense Therapeutics, which is a biopharmaceutical company. “The IIVF’s funding and resources will accelerate out growth and help Buzz Referrals be a leader within this space,” said Jordan Linville CEO and co-founder of the company.

The venture capital fund is part of the $78 million program launched last year called Advantage Illinois, which supports small businesses in the crucial first stages of becoming stable. “We …recognize that there was a real need to provide equity investment financing,” said Warren Ribley, director Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Ribley says the help is technically a loan and the state will see monetary returns that will be reinvested into the fund. Part of the governor’s plan to pull the state out of debt is to grow businesses which in turn will grow the economy.

Older Homes May Still Contain Lead Paint

2012-01-31T19:27:00.000-06:00

Lead paint isn’t any safer than it used to be, and there are new federal rules applying to contractors who deal with places which have it, or which could have it.

The rules have to do with more certification. Professionals who repair or renovate houses, apartments, and “child-occupied facilities” built before 1978 must be aware of how to keep people safe from any paint chips or paint dust.

Areas which have an older housing stock have the biggest lead problems. “Illinois, particularly around the Peoria area and the Chicago area – we have had elevated blood lead levels in a lot of children, compared to the rest of the country,” says Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. In 2010, about 3,000 Illinois children had high levels of lead in their blood.

The state is holding meetings around Illinois in February and March to educate contractors about the changes. For more information, you may call the IDPH lead program at (217) 782-3517.

www.idph.state.il.us/illinoislead/publications.htm#renovate_right

More Money In Campaign Committees

2012-01-31T07:20:00.000-06:00

Campaign committees run by Illinois' legislative leaders haven't suffered much since new campaign contribution laws took effect in January 2011.

The House Republican Organization and Democratic Party of Illinois both received more money than in the previous two non-election years, 2009 and 2007. The Republican state Senate committee received about the same amount in 2011 during the same time periods. The Senate Democratic committee took a significant hit going from $2.6 million in 2009 to $2 million in 2011.

Party leaders will have more power than in previous elections because they are still allowed to contribute unlimited amounts to candidates during general elections while other donors are now limited.

That has David Morrison of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform worried. “Our concern there is that parties and caucuses themselves may become conduits for groups who want to funnel money to a candidate and they can't give any more than they've given so they'll give it to the party or the caucus and then they'll pass it through. It's certainly the most glaring risk and weakness in the current law,” Morrison says.

Morrison says the caucuses may be raising similar amounts as they did in years past because the base of contributors is broadening. “President Obama, for example, when he ran federally (he) ran under limits but raised more money than anybody because he broadened his base of donors. It's very possible to run under limits you just can't take it all from one person or a small group of people,” Morrison says.

However, despite the lack of change in overall contributions, the law is still historic for Illinois, which was once considered the “Wild West” of campaign finance, Morrison says.

“Limits in Illinois are much higher than they are in other states. But we went without having limits at all much longer than other states went without having limits. Our culture of politics is much different than cultures in other states,” Morrison says.

Gibson City Police Report

2012-01-30T16:26:00.002-06:00

Due to changes in rules 3.6 and 3.8 trial publicity handed down from the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association and the Illinois Supreme Court this department will release only the following information with this disclaimer. The following information of charges are merely an accusation and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

01-24-12 - KRISTINE K. ARMSTRONG, 45 COUNTRY CLUB PL, BLOOMINGTON, IL 61701 - SPEEDING - AGE 38

01-24-12 - MELISSA R. SMITH-STREENZ, 116 N PINE ST, GIBSON CITY, IL 60936 - DOMESTIC BATTERY - AGE 41

01-26-12 - TESA L. OHMAN-WHITE, 603 N SANGAMON AVE, GIBSON CITY, IL 60936 - EXPIRED REGISTRATION STICKER - AGE 29

01-26-12 - ALFREDO L. MATEO, 908 N BROADWAY, APT 402, URBANA, IL 61801 - NO VALID DRIVERS LICENSE, DISPLAY OF REGISTRATION PLATES/STICKERS, OPERATING UNINSURED MOTOR VEHICLE - AGE 27

Civic Federation Report Warns Of Higher Medicaid Bills

2012-01-30T16:25:00.000-06:00

Pensions and unpaid bills aren’t the only problems facing the state budget, and a new report highlights dire consequences if all the problems are not addressed.

A Civic Federation report says Medicaid costs are increasing 6 percent a year, and unpaid Medicaid bills could increase to $23 billion by 2017.

Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for the governor’s budget office, says the governor wants to address the problem but lawmakers so far haven’t. “We did last year call for a reimbursement rate reduction, but there’s not an appetite to do that,” she says. “We’re going to continue to have our efforts become a reality. As I’ve mentioned, we need an aggressive restructuring of the Medicaid system."

Kraft couldn’t say what specific changes the Office of Management and Budget is seeking to the Medicaid system, but says the governor last year proposed a 6 percent cut in the Medicaid reimbursement rate.

The Civic Federation found the state could face $35 billion in unpaid bills by 2017, years after the temporary tax increase expires.

Gas Price Up From Last January

2012-01-30T16:24:00.000-06:00

The Illinois average price for gasoline this month is $3.51.

That’s according to the monthly survey released today (Monday) by the Triple-A Chicago Motor Club, where spokesman Beth Mosher says the price has never before been this high in January.

“Right, which is a little bit foreboding I guess because last January we were saying the same thing, and prices are way up over even last January, so it doesn’t spell good news for the consumer, unfortunately,” she said.

The price is up 16 cents from December ($3.35) and 29 cents from January of last year ($3.22).

Mosher says it’s hard to say why, since demand is down, other than the price of oil is volatile. Crude oil is now around $100 a barrel.

Mosher says there’s no magic solution. Just drive efficiently and try to use less gas.

Durbin Helps Get Small Business Funds

2012-01-30T07:05:00.000-06:00

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has secured federal funds to help small businesses.

Durbin was able to hold the line on an annual sum of $25 million that is used to provide small loans to small businesses. In addition to the money for micro-lending, an additional $20 million was secured for technical assistance grants to support micro-borrowers.

“Small businesses are the engine of this economy and the key to recovery,” Durbin said. The program, he says, is especially important in an economy in which banks aren’t as easily persuaded to lend.

Durbin says the amount of money secured for small business loans equates to a drop in a bucket when you look at the nation’s overall budget. Despite that, he says it’s these types of programs that Republicans look to scale back or kill.

Wind Power Up In Illinois

2012-01-30T07:02:00.000-06:00

Last year was a big year for wind energy in Illinois.

Illinois led the nation in the number of wind turbines installed in 2011, and was No. 2 in increasing its wind capacity, with 692 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Illinois now stands at No. 4 in the nation with 3,000 megawatts of wind generating capacity in use.

Spokesman Peter Kelley explains why wind is on the rise here. “You’ve got strong winds, close to major metropolitan cities, good power lines that can get the wind power to the cities, and you’ve got interconnections here to two major regional grids, so you can feed power out across the Midwest; you can also feed the Northeastern grid. So that makes Illinois a hot spot for wind development,” he said.

Wind produces only 2.2 percent of the electricity in Illinois, but that’s expected to grow as state law requires more of the state’s electricity consumption to come from sources other than coal and nuclear.

Also, the association says Illinois has 1,000 jobs at 13 manufacturing firms making the equipment and components used in wind generation.

Lack Of Tax Incentives Sends Companies Out Of State

2012-01-30T07:01:00.000-06:00

One of the ongoing stories of 2011 stands to continue into 2012: Illinois’ success – or lack thereof – at attracting and retaining its top employers. For the most part, the talk of companies leaving because of tax burdens was just talk.

An online coupon company, Fat Wallet, did move to Wisconsin, but not because of the January 2011 lame-duck vote to raise income taxes; the move came after the state enacted the so-called “Amazon tax.”

And Chicago-based Aon Corp. recently announced it’s moving its headquarters – leaving the entire country, for the United Kingdom, for business reasons, but there is expected to be no loss of jobs in Illinois.

Warren Ribley, director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, says the General Assembly has made his job easier by passing a number of tax incentives which can be used. He also says while other states’ governors and economic development officers at times put Illinois on the defensive, Gov. Pat Quinn has “never been bashful to pick up the phone … and really listen to them. That’s a big part of it: you have to listen and be able to respond to their concerns.”

The state recently passed some tax incentives designed to keep Sears Holdings and CME Group in the state, and Caterpillar’s suggestion that other states would love to lure its corporate headquarters also got the governor’s attention in 2011.

State Has Budget Shortfall For Prisons

2012-01-28T10:14:00.000-06:00

A new study finds Illinois spends more on its prison system than it budgets.

The New York based Vera Institute of Justice found the state budgeted 1.2 billion dollars for the Department of Corrections. But Chris Henrichson, the study’s author, says not included are healthcare and pension costs for prison workers and debt. Once included, the total spent goes up to $1.7 billion.

“32.5 percent of the costs are outside of the corrections budget,” says Henrichson. “This is going to the fact that Illinois is one of several states whose budgeting convention has it that expenses for employee benefits are budgeted in a central account.”

Henrichson says Illinois doesn’t necessarily have to change the way it budgets. The study is only meant to point out what prison really costs. Illinois has among the highest annual cost per inmate in the country… it cost roughly $38,000 to house one inmate in fiscal year 2010.

http://www.vera.org/pubs/price-prisons

Tracking Medicine Purchases Helps Prevent Drug Abuse

2012-01-28T10:13:00.000-06:00

Tracking cold-medicine purchases – as set out in a new Illinois law – is a good idea, according to a drug prevention advocate. But that should go along with investing more in treatment programs, says Sara Moscato Howe, head of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association.

The law continues a pilot program which tracks the purchase of pseudoephedrine, an over-the-counter cold medicine used to make methamphetamine. “State funding has declined 30 percent since 2007,” says Howe. “If you do not treat the addition, it doesn’t go away. It actually multiplies in other, more costly areas, like our hospital emergency departments (and) like our criminal justice system.”

BUG Winners Announced At GCMS Elementary

2012-01-27T18:49:00.003-06:00

GCMS Elementary principal Justin Kean announces this week's BUG (Being Unbelieveably Good) winners:

5th Grade
Emily Walton
Alan Thompson
Megan Moody
Emma Stroh

4th Grade
Devyn Cox
Ethan Duke
Leah Martin
Dennise Matuskewski

3rd Grade
Michaela Dykes
Skylar May
Ian Miller
Ainsley Lindsey

2nd Grade
Emma Reynolds
Ava Kurtenbach
Melanie Zook
Ashley Hyatt

1st Grade
Ethan Hoke
Alivia Trautman
Kyra Lockhart
Seth Barnes

Kindergarten
Dakota Hall
Emma Freehill
Kyah Lee
Kailyn Maynard