Untitled Document For a long time, Pat Arbuthnot avoided the Sangamon County Animal Control Center. But after hearing the story of a pit bull, named Spencer, who’d been abused by his owner, she decided to make the trip to check on the dog’s condition. When she visited the center, Arbuthnot — who organizes […]
R. L. Nave
Posted inNews
Picking up the pieces
Untitled Document Three months after a suspension of operations and the layoff of four employees, including executive director Roy Williams, things are slowly returning to normal at the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government. Members will receive a complete update on “key issues” facing the organization when its annual business meeting reconvenes in […]
Posted inNews
True grit
Untitled Document Fascinated by the arcane world of federal farm subsidies? Want to know who’s getting what from the good ol’ U.S. Department of Agriculture? Here’s the good news: You don’t have to be a fast-moving investigative reporter or an Ivy League grad to get the scoop. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit pro-environment, anti-subsidy […]
Posted inNews
Rank and foul
Untitled Document Be bored, be frustrated, and be angry — that’s about the only thing that rank-and-file lawmakers can do while Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the four legislative leaders work to nail down a budget agreement. “Basically, we’re done,” says Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg. “[Blagojevich] keeps calling us in, but there’s nothing to do.” Brauer […]
Posted inNews
It’s a wrap
Untitled Document A group of residents in the small town of Lodge secured a win this week in their fight against plans for new corn mill when the Piatt County zoning board approved a different location. The residents feared that the 45,000-square-foot facility and a lagoon for wastewater storage might cause air, noise, and light […]
Posted inNews
Capitol cops get contract
Untitled Document After more than 10 months of contract negotiations and with assistance from a mediator, the secretary of state’s office and the union representing Capitol police officers reached a tentative agreement last week. Their first since joining the Policemen’s Benevolent Labor Committee last August [see R.L. Nave, “Capitol police unionize,” Sept. 7], the contract […]
Posted inNews
Staying alive
Untitled Document Four years after its inception, the Illinois Medical District at Springfield is like many new businesses: It has big plans and the potential to succeed. All it needs to succeed is some start-up money and effective marketing. A couple of pieces of legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Raymond Poe, R- Springfield, and pending […]
Posted inNews
House settling
Untitled Document A year-and-a-half after a settlement was reached in a class-action suit against Ameriquest Mortgage Company, Illinoisans can now get their share. Under the terms of the settlement, reached in January 2006, Ameriquest must pay $325 million in restitution to customers who accused the Orange, Calif.-based company of employing illegal lending practices, including pressuring […]
Posted inNews
Tortilla flap
Untitled Document A hawk screeching overhead and an occasional breeze rustling tall stalks of corn are about the only sounds Jeff and Angie Wrench hear on their farm in Lodge, a small bedroom community in the heart of Piatt County. For almost two decades the Wrenches have hosted family reunions at the farm, which is a […]
Posted inNews
Writ large
Untitled Document You probably have nothing to worry about when it comes to your right to file a writ of habeas corpus — that is, until someone in the White House decides that he doesn’t like your friends. A Peoria man, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, found that out the hard way in July 2003, when […]
Posted inNews
iNsurable
Untitled Document Jeff Bricker’s got a few calls to make. Until this week, the local State Farm agent was turning away clients who wanted insurance on their spiffy new— and expensive — Apple iPhones. That changed this week, Bricker learned. Because the iPhones are so expensive — retailing for $500 or $600, depending on the […]
Posted inNews
Dirty pretty things
Untitled Document Enough coal sits under Illinois, the nation’s largest producer of bituminous coal, to power all of the households in Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, and Finland until the year 2508. That’s a lot of potential power, and therefore — the Sierra Club concludes in a report released late last month — it comes with […]
