Federal funds could benefit state military projects
Senator Dick Durbin says the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved close to $58.5 million in federal funding for military construction projects in Illinois. The Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations Bill for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs includes funding for aquiring land and constructing an Army Reserve Center in Rockford, costing $13.2 million, another $12 million to construct a separate training facility in Quincy, and close to $17 million to convert existing facilities at the Capital Municipal Airport in Springfield.
Senator Durbin says it is essential to keep Army Reserve training centers up to date, as well as keeping the equipment used by citizen solders up to date and in good repair because of the limits to which equipment and personnel are being pushed with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mitchell still plans to push Arizona-style immigration bill
The court ruling that gutted much of Arizona's tough immigration law isn't stopping State Representative Bill Mitchell from proposing a similar bill in Illinois. The Republican from Forsyth says he will introduce his immigration bill in November, unless the Supreme Court upholds the lower court ruling - and he doesn't expect that to happen. Mitchell says the ruling is a case of judicial activism.
OSHA: 2 Illinois grain bin deaths were preventable
MOUNT CARROLL, Ill. (AP) - The condition of a hospitalized grain bin worker who was injured in an accident that left two other employees dead has improved. A spokeswoman for St. Anthony's Hospital in Rockford said Thursday that 20-year-old William Piper was in fair condition. Authorities were called Wednesday to a bin owned by Haasbach LLC in Mount Carroll in northwestern Illinois. Rescue workers cut holes in the bin and drained thousands of pounds of corn to free the trapped workers. Federal officials say one worker was underage and employees lacked safety equipment.
Haasbach did not return telephone messages Thursday seeking comment. OSHA says the three employees were working inside the bin when the accident happened. A fourth worker outside the bin was not injured.
Judge allows some to see critical Tribune report
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A bankruptcy judge in Wilmington is allowing limited access to a confidential report that criticizes the debt-laden buyout of newspaper publisher Tribune. The judge says parties in the case may look at the full version of the report filed by a court-appointed examiner. The report concludes that talks leading up to the buyout of Tribune Co. had bordered on fraud.
Whether the public can see it will be discussed at a court hearing Tuesday. The version now available is missing hundreds of pages of information because some lenders objected to the release of confidential information.
A leveraged buyout of Tribune in 2007 saddled the company with debt. The company sought Chapter 11 protection in 2008. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
Quinn to sign nursing home reform legislation
CHICAGO (AP) - Governor Quinn is signing legislation aimed at improving the care at Illinois' nearly 800 nursing homes. The legislation will require many nursing homes to hire more staff members to care for residents. The state's health department would also double the ranks of inspectors by 2013 to increase oversight.
The reforms are aimed at a pattern of violence in Illinois nursing homes stemming from the state's long reliance on the facilities to house younger adults with serious mental illness. Hospitals would have to initiate criminal background checks before transferring some patients into nursing homes.
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