The Blog Peoria Project

Peoria County Highway Department to host students

Press release:

Peoria - On Friday, April 13, the Peoria County Highway Department will host Illinois Central College’s Highway Construction Careers Training Program from 8:30 a.m. – noon at the County’s Maxwell Road facility, 6915 W. Plank Road in Peoria. During their visit, at approximately 9:15 a.m., students in the program will tour the highway department’s materials lab. This will be followed by a tour of the maintenance yard, where the students will have an opportunity to speak to operators and laborers about road maintenance. The students will then do a mock inspection of a county bridge at approximately 11:00 a.m.

Administered by the Illinois Community College Board, the Highway Construction Careers Training Program is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. ICC is one of only 10 community colleges in the state that offers this program. The program targets minority and disadvantaged individuals and teaches the basics of highway construction, math for the trades, and soft skills. Participants must have a high school diploma or equivalent, a valid driver’s license, and be at least 18 years of age.

 

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Walker’s Springfield visit coincides with Quinn’s pension report

SPRINGFIELD — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s appearance in Springfield on Tuesday falls on the same day Illinois’ governor will release recommendations for dealing with the state’s pension crisis

The Illinois Chamber of Commerce invited Walker, a controversial Republican, to speak during its business lobby day because of Walker’s experience addressing Wisconsin’s fiscal problems.

“We did pick Walker partially, because he was controversial,” said Illinois Chamber of Commerce presidentDoug Whitley. “But mainly we picked him because he inherited a multi-billion-dollar budget problem and fixed it. Gov. (Pat) Quinn inherits a multi-billion-dollar budget problem, and we still have it.”

Read the complete report HERE.

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Cook County health dept. waging a silent battle against cottage food, critics say

SPRINGFIELD — A new state law makes it easier for home cooks to sell their breads, pies, jellies and other goods at farmers markets, as long as they register with the local government and label their food uncertified.

But the Cook County Department of Public Health isn’t taking registrations, citing an ambiguity in theIllinois Local Food Entrepreneur and Cottage Food Operation Act, which requires  “a unit of local government” to take registrations, not necessarily the local health department.

“It’s not our responsibility to take on additional work unnecessarily,” said Sean McDermott, spokesman for the health department and a county alderman.

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Chicago GOP committeemen races see 4 Upsets, 27 new faces

(Chicago, IL) – April 11, 2012. The March 20 GOP primary races for Chicago Republican Ward Committeemen witnessed four incumbent upsets out of 13 contested seats where incumbents were running, and saw a total of 27 new faces enter the GOP committeemen ranks, plus a jump in GOP voters going to the voting booths in Chicago

The GOP committeemen race outcomes witnessed significantly more turnover and change than was seen in the Chicago Democratic Ward Committeemen races, which THE iLLINOIS OBSERVER reported last month.

There were 23 open seats up for grabs, 26 uncontested seats and 1 seat (22^nd) with no candidate.

Read the complete post HERE.

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State Sen. Darin LaHood comes out for term limkits

Press release:

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) has signed on as Chief Co-Sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 41, (SJRCA 41) a piece of legislation that would impose term limits on Illinois legislators.

Senator LaHood, who did not initially support term limits legislation, says witnessing how much control the current leadership has over the process in Springfield during the past year has changed his mind about the need for term limits. He also points to Illinois’ bleak fiscal outlook, highlighted by all three major credit ratings agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings, as further evidence that term limits are necessary to encourage turnover in state leadership.

“Over the last year I’ve watched as state debt has grown to more than $9 billion with millions more in unpaid bills. On top of this, Illinois has the most unsustainable public pension system in the nation. These problems are not new, they’re a long time coming and the result of allowing the same stale leadership to continue to hold this state in a death grip,” says LaHood.

SJRCA 41, which was introduced by State Senator Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), would amend the Illinois Constitution to limit an individual to ten years of service in the General Assembly. Term limits are not a new idea. Florida, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio have all recently enacted term limits on legislators. According to LaHood, greater turnover in the legislature gives more citizens the opportunity to become engaged in the process, have a greater appreciation for, and become more invested in state government. “The longer a legislator stays in office, the more power they gain, and the harder it gets to elect someone new. A large majority of legislators who are elected will continue to be re-elected indefinitely regardless of their effectiveness as a representative of the people,” says LaHood. “Term limits promote the values of democratic representation and equality, and make it easier for the electorate to bring in legislators with new ideas and a fresh perspective on state issues.”

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Peoria Push Derby Dames roll their show into the Peoria Civic Center

Press release:

Olivia Newton-John, eat your heart out. When it comes to “getting physical,” nobody can top a rollergirl.

The Peoria Push Derby Dames, the Peoria-area’s all-woman roller derby league, will host their third bout of the season at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21, at the Peoria Civic Center in Exhibition Hall A.  The theme of the ‘80s-style bout is “Let’s Get Physical.” Proceeds will benefit Easter Seals, in keeping with the Push tradition of bouting to benefit local charities.

Fans will be treated to two bouts. The doors open at at 5:30 p.m. Tickets in advance are $10 from any rollergirl or on peoriarollerderby.org. Tickets at the door can be purchased for $13.  Children age 6 and younger are free. The bout will be family friendly, and all ages are welcome.  Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance and arrive early; bouts often sell out.

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Capitol Fax posts for today

• Rep. Smith says he shall return
• Relative morality

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Delivery men robbed at the point of a shotgun

Two pizza delivery drivers were robbed with a shotgun, Peoria Police reported at about 12:31 p.m. Thursday.

The two man were attempting to make a delivery from Bacci Pizza to a residence at 805 S. Shelly. When they approached the porch, a suspect came around a fence and pointed a shotgun at them and said “Want your money, I don’t want to shot anyone. Empty your pockets.” They did. Then another robber came up from behind them holding a handgun. One suspect had a cell phone stolen as well.

Police tried to locate the stolen cellphone but were unable to do so. Police K-9 units searched the area, but were unable to find the suspects.

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Man takes money out of ex-girlfriend’s bra

A woman was robbed Monday by the boyfriend she just broke up with.

Joanhn M. Holbrook told police she was breaking up with her boyfriend outside Methodist Medical Center when the man, Jordan R. Murray became upset with her, and grabbed her by her shirt and took $260 she kept in her bra.

The incident happened in front of their young child. She also told police he took her Associated Bank card from her in the same manner in March, and made $200 in purchases. She didn’t report the incident because she was afraid of him.

Police are looking for Murray.

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Domestic battery arrests

• Tevin D. Bell, 17, of 1217 W. Third, was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic battery. The listed victim was Rekenya S. Woodard, 17, of 2915 W. Nevada Avenue. The incident happened at 2800 W. Siebold.
• Deborah K. Breuer, 35, of 443 W. Chestnut, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery on Thursday. The listed victim is Scott E. Vaughn, 38, of Bartonville. The incident happened at 629 Main Street.
• Julio E. Esparza, 20, of 815 N. Cooper, was arrested and charged with domestic violence on Thursday. The listed victimn is Jenniver Anguianiom, 21, of 912 N. Frank. The incident happened at 815 N. Cooper.

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Warm winter allows roadwork to start earlier in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — It’s a typical scene: Winter ends and orange cones begin to line Illinois streets, highways and bridges. Officials at Illinois’ Department of Transportation say this year they have benefited from the warm temperatures.

“We were able to start smaller projects like patchwork, and filling potholes much earlier,” said Josh Kauffman IDOT spokesman.

“Larger projects rely on the schedule of the contractor, but if they wanted to start earlier because of the nice weather, they could,” he said.

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Peoria Station: Some thoughts on recent air service developments

Call me biased, but I can’t help but wonder if Allegiant will regret its decision to offer Bloomington, not Peoria, nonstops to Orlando. Less than six weeks after this service was announced, Allegiant learned that it would be getting competition from Frontier Airlines. Frontier will start thrice-weekly flights on May 25.

[snip]

I predict one airline – Allegiant or Frontier – will blink. Perhaps Frontier will be first – that carrier is for sale by owner Republic Airways Holdings. A buyer could dump their new strategy of offering cheap, low-frequency flights to secondary markets out of Denver and Orlando.

Allegiant Air might see the error of its ways and shift its CIRA-Orlando flights to Peoria where they belong. Or better yet, not serve CIRA at all. Service won’t begin for another month so there is still time to change their mind.

I expect both carriers to fight it out for while. But if jet fuel prices skyrocket this summer, expect cutbacks. CIRA, as last November’s announcement by AirTran demonstrated, is not invincible.

Read the complete post HERE.

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Peoria Illinoisan: Future engineers and a PJStar fail

Oh the irony.  How do you follow up a press conference, which included the mayor, asking the big wigs at Gatehouse to get their sh*t together regarding the flailing Journal Star?  Report on something that took place a month ago, thereby reinforcing the fact that our once proud newspaper has fallen into the crapper.

Read the complete post HERE.

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Weather

Today

Clear. High of 61F. Winds from the SSE at 5 to 10 mph shifting to the North in the afternoon.

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening, then mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Low of 46F. Winds from the SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

Tomorrow

Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and a chance of rain. High of 64F. Winds from the SSE at 15 to 20 mph. Breezy. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow night

Overcast with thunderstorms and rain showers. Low of 54F. Winds from the South at 15 to 20 mph shifting to the North after midnight. Breezy. Chance of rain 60% with rainfall amounts near 0.4 in. possible.

Saturday

Overcast with thunderstorms and rain showers. High of 75F. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Breezy. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 0.4 in. possible.

Saturday Night

Overcast with thunderstorms and rain showers, then thunderstorms after midnight. Low of 63F. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Breezy. Chance of rain 50% with rainfall amounts near 0.5 in. possible.

Sunday

Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain, then a chance of rain in the afternoon. High of 77F. Winds from the SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Sunday Night

Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain. Low of 57F. Winds from the South at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70% with rainfall amounts near 0.8 in. possible.

Monday

Overcast with a chance of a thunderstorm and rain. High of 70F. Winds from the SSW at 15 to 20 mph. Breezy. Chance of rain 40%.

Monday Night

Partly cloudy. Low of 45F. Winds from the WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

Tuesday

Overcast. High of 66F. Winds from the WNW at 10 to 15 mph.

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy. Low of 36F. Winds from the NW at 5 to 10 mph.

Wednesday

Clear. High of 63F. Winds less than 5 mph.

Wednesday Night

Partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Low of 46F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

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Dinosaur Comics

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