Oct. 2 is the deadline for Union Pacific and Illinois Department of Transportation to submit their request for $2.3 billion of federal stimulus funds, which will allow UP to construct an additional rail line to service their new freight distribution center in Joliet, as well as increase the number of passenger trains between St. Louis and Chicago.

Alderman Debbie Cimarossa, working in conjunction with the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association (MBBA), last fall introduced an ordinance to the city council that would have required payday lend