PeoriaStory

March, petition to save Peoria Lake Oct. 4

PEORIA -- River Rescue, an ad hoc group hoping to save Peoria Lake from islands constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, is planning an Oct. 4 news conference and march, and the public is invited to join in.

From the news release: The event on "Tuesday, Oct. 4, begins at 5:00 p.m. at the Liberty Park Pavilion on the Peoria riverfront. River Rescue activists will march to the Hotel Pere Marquette to present petitions with more than 1,600 signatures to Lt.Gov. Sheila Simon and the US Army Corps of Engineers asking them to stop the island building in Peoria Lake.

Simon and Corps officials are scheduled to attend a 6:30 p.m. public forum of the Illinois River Coordinating Council on Oct. 4, part of the 13th Biennial Governor’s Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System taking place Oct. 4-6 at the Pere Marquette, 501 Main, Peoria.

WHY? Almost $10 million in taxpayer funds have already been spent building one island north of the McClugage Bridge, at a cost of $1 million per job created. Many more, larger islands are being planned which will turn Peoria Lake into a wooded river barge channel, ruining the lake forever. This boondoggle must stop now.

All citizens interested in the future of Peoria Lake are invited to meet with River Rescue activists and march to present the petition."

River Rescue also had planned a hula hoop-a-thon for Oct. 2, but has postponed that until later.  - 30 -

Education panel Oct. 5

From a news release:

PEORIA – The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria invites the public to hear a panel of local speakers talk about their experience with education standards and federal requirements for education funding from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5, in the HvVee Club Room at the HyVee Store, at the  intersection of Sheridan Road and West Lake Avenue, in the Sheridan Village shopping center.

The panelists include:

• Jerry Brookhart, Regional Superintendent of Education, an elected official with years of teaching and educational administration experience.
• John Wetterhauer, Principal of Charter Oak School in Peoria, an experienced teacher and administrator. 
• Tim Sponsler,  a retired school psychologist who has had administrative experience in both public and private schools.
• Hedy Elliott Gardner, who teaches history at Calvin Coolidge School, GED courses at the Peoria County jail and at Procter Center and Harrison Homes, and is a former vice president of the Peoria Federation of Teachers.

The panel will discuss the role of the federal government in public education in determining quality education, accountability including measuring teacher effectiveness through test data and common core standards for all students K – 12, as well as the criteria for federal funding for schools. They will answer questions from the audience.

This panel discussion is part of the Peoria League’s study of educational issues for the national League.  The League encourages the public to participate. Refreshments will be provided.

 -30-

Will Illinois ever have real tax reform? The $8 billion question.

PEORIA -- Economist Ralph Martire of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability crunches the math to reveal the reality behind the finances of the state of Illinois. 

"The state budget is entertaining if you like Steven King" he said, to begin a Sept. 27 talk to the Peoria Area League of Women Voters. 

Martire said that in January 2011, the state's revenue shortfall for the 2012 fiscal year (that began on June 1, 2011) would be $16 billion.  Only $26 billion was expected in revenue, but $42 billion was needed to meet the state's many obligations.

So what can be cut? "You can't solve it by cutting education, and there's not that much waste, fraud and abuse in the state budget," he said.  Illinois is spending 5 percent less than it spent a decade ago.

Illinois is the fifth largest state but 49th in the number of state workers per population, down from 72,000 in 1980 to 55,000 now.

Without enough revenue to meet the needs of a growing population and inflation, the state has a structural deficit, he said, and "revenue won't grow at levels to maintain serices."

Politicians have reacted to the lack of revenue by underfunding pensions for years, he said, made worse when the stock market collapsed in 2008. Now the shortfall is $85 million.

Medicaid cannot and should not be cut, he said, because it generates matching federal dollars, more than the state spends. "This is good fiscal policy," he said.  "If we cut Medicaid we lose the federal match."

So in the spring, the General Assembly increased taxes, he said. "I drafted the bill. It was modified" but "did generate more revenue."

Was it a 'job killing' tax bill? he asked.  No, he said. Illinois still a low tax state compared with its Midwestern neighbors and the other states, such as New Jersey, that tried to lure Illinois businesses shortly after the tax increase.

 "If you raise taxes progressively (taxing the higher earners) there's no negative impacts on the economy," he said, because it relies on consumer spending.  The well off go right on spending, though they may save or invest less, he said.

Raising taxes does not kill jobs, he said. "It just doesn't fly with the data."

"Our low tax states have not produced any economic growth," he said.

"We just do the math," he said which is peer reviewed by independent economists.

"To tax and spend is neither liberal or conservative.  To borrow is irresponsible," he said.

So now, thanks to the tax increase, Illinois has an $8 billion deficit.  Human services are taking the brunt of the cuts, but public education needs more, not fewer, dollars.   It really needs $3 billion more to adequately fund all the schools, he said.

"When you have a problem do you solve it by taking resources away?" he asked.  Educational levels impact wages, he said. "Without a (strong) foundation (from school) you are destined to have a low pay, little or no benefit job." 

Tax polices are the key, he said. Illinois is a "low tax but high property tax" state, but there are limits to property taxes.

So what should Illinois do?  Martire suggested raising revenue by taxing services, as other states do. "All neighboring states tax services" including Iowa and Wisconsin.

"We can't solve our problems without thoughtful reform of tax policy for a modern economy."

Within three years, Illinois could have a surplus with enough money to properly fund education, he said. "People are looking for quality schools. Business looks for skilled workers."

"We need new revenue raised the right way."  Illinois is one of only five or six states with a flat income tax. Most states have progressive income taxes, where the rich pay more. 

Will state officials reform tax policies in Illinois?

Unfortunately politics is "a sound bite game," he said, and people are busy and lack adequate information on the complexities of taxation.But people do change their minds when exposed to facts, he said.

A video of Martire's talk was made by the Peoria Citizens Committee for Economic Opportunity, and will play on cable TV in October.  His slides will be available on the League of Women Voters website.

  -- Elaine Hopkins

Martire's speech will be televised on Comcast cable channel 22 on Sunday Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. and on Wed. Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. and midnight. The telecasts will be available in Peoria County, East Peoria, Washington and Creve Coeur, Il.  It will be on YouTube and FaceBook by Oct. 19.

To Peoria District 150 School Board: You're wasting money

PEORIA -- Wasted money was a major theme of comments from the public to the Peoria School District Board at its Sept. 26 meeting. It took place at the former Woodruff High School, newly reopened as a career and technical center after being closed for a year.

The high school remains its old self, trophies and photos and slogans on the walls intact. Activist critic Terry Knapp congratuated the board on reopening Woodruff.  He has argued for years that the district needs to offer career and technical training to its students.

But another issue from Knapp drew a standing ovation from some in the audience. He complained about the situation at last week's Peoria Central vs. Manual football game where the two high schools were separated by yellow police tape, and Central students and fans were confined to a side of the field with only portable toilets and no running water, while the other students had access to full services.

A long tradition of allowing spectators, especially former coaches and teachers, to stand by the fence to watch the game also was forbidden, he said. "There were 15 barricades" and "crime scene tape."

He termed the situation ridiculous and embarassing, and said no other schools have been subjected to this treatment. If a few students act up, punish them and ban them from all games, he said, but don't punish everyone.

Peoria Teachers Federation president Bobby Darling refuted Knapp's comments, saying people felt safe at the game. "Do something positive if you want to help," he said.

The public comments, as usual, are posted here.

D150 Sept 26

Activist Sharon Crews presented research showing District 150 spent $85,000 on materials when similar materials are available free on the internet.  See her full written report below. Her research suggests favoritism or worse on the part of Supt. Grenita Lathan toward her former North Carolina colleagues.

See this unrelated story from the New York Times on financial corruption in education to imagine what could happen in District 150.

The meeting audience was filled with dozens of school bus drivers, whose representatives complained about the district outsourcing their work and bad management practices by the transportation boss, an Arizona transplant Lathan hired. "

"We want to know if you plan to disband transportation.  Sit down and discuss it. Stop allowing management to ruin our work histories by vindicative acts," one said, adding that busses are overcrowded, lack monitors, and drivers hours have been cut back so they cannot earn a living. They're bargaining with the district.

Lathan replied that bargaining will resume soon and the district does not want to privatize the bus service, though it has just hired a service to help transport students.  She blamed the drivers for late busses.

During a separate public hearing on the district's budget, Knapp commented the district should stop wasting money on outsourcing services and excessive legal fees. "Attorneys are sucking the life out of this district. Getting rid of attorneys will help balance the budget," he said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 Comments of Sharon Crews:

In past years, teachers were part of the textbook selection process.  Several publishers submitted samples of their texts for the grade level and subject matter needed.  Teacher committees were then given a check list of desired contents and asked to rate texts accordingly.  By following such a procedure last year, the District would probably have saved considerable money—and isn’t saving money one of the highest priorities of the District?  

At least, 552 Thinking Map notebooks were purchased from a North Carolina company—apparently one for every primary teacher and every Peoria High teacher at a cost of about $65,000.  Shipping costs for orders of 24 to 84 books to 14 schools cost $3976.   In addition, $1200 each was paid to eleven North Carolinians, each to conduct a half day session of a two-day Thinking Map seminar.  Including $4500 more for travel expenses, the cost of materials and speakers was $85,000.

I am assuming that these speakers teach or work for schools in North Carolina.  Were they given two paid days off to come to Peoria?  Also, it is my understanding that two District 150 administrators were trained in North Carolina to conduct Thinking Map seminars.  Why couldn’t they have trained District 150 personnel and saved the District $18,000?

In response to my FOIA request I did not receive copies of any invoices for Thinking Maps for middle schools, Manual, or Richwoods.  However, I did receive copies of duplicate invoices for seven primary schools—I didn’t add that $28,000 because I believe I was just given duplicates--but maybe not.  Do middle school and high school teachers have Thinking Map books?  If so, I was not given information as to that added cost. If I FOIA for clarification, would that be considered a violation of the FOIA regulations for frequent requesters asking for the same information?  I would hope not.

If you had asked teachers to look over the Thinking Map materials, I do not think you would have bought the materials at all.  A Richwoods junior told me that her teachers have been using graphic organizers since she was in the 5^th grade.

Also, the middle school teacher’s guide to the District 150 Pearson Prentice Hall history text has great transparencies for various types of graphic organizers—very similar to the eight thinking maps you just purchased.   I hope you all understand that these graphic organizers aren’t rocket science.  Any teacher is smart enough to adapt any graphic organizer to his/her particular subject and grade level.

Just Google “graphic organizers” and you will find sites that offer many impressive graphic organizers (all very similar to the Thinking Maps)—usually some combination of circles and/or rectangles and straight lines.  One site of 35 organizers states, “You have permission to print and copy these pages for classroom use.”  If continuity is needed, the District could have chosen a few types of organizers; and in a couple of sessions, teachers who haven’t already used graphic organizers could have been well informed.  And $85,000 would have been saved.

Besides money spent on Thinking Maps, the District paid over $58,000 to the 95% group—about $36,000 was for consultants.   Are teachers ever asked for feedback about the value of these often very repetitive workshops?  I was told by one teacher that one session was exactly like the one presented weeks before, and the presenter was embarrassed to learn that she had repeated an earlier session.

In my FOIA I requested data about all textbook purchases from September, 2010, to August 31, 2011.  Why didn’t I receive any data about the purchase of the new social studies books and the new science books?  Also, why was money wasted to replace science books that are only five years old?  The district cannot afford upgrades that often.

The District’s new strategic plan includes more software updates and more professional development.  How many more superfluous trips, speakers, and materials will be purchased at the expense of larger classes and fewer teachers—and time wasted with five weeks without textbooks? -30-

 

Tonight -- for the elephants...

PEORIA -- from a news release:

Protest of Ringling Bros. "Cruelest Show on Earth" - Friday September 23rd, 5:45-6:45 pm, Peoria Civic Center

Please join us this Friday as we urge the public to boycott Ringling Bros. and all circuses that exploit, enslave, and abuse animals.  If you plan to attend the protest, if would be helpful, if you are a Facebook user, if you could mark that you will be attending on the following Facebook event page: 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=280564301970657

 Signs, leaflets, and tiger masks will be provided.  Anyone wanting to get creative with costumes (elephants, tigers, sad clowns, etc.) feel free!  In addition, in order to try to keep circuses that abuse animals out of town in the future, one of our members plans to work with our local humane society to urge them to take a public position against circuses that abuse animals.  If you'd like to help with that endeavor, please contact me.
 
Animals abused and exploited by circuses are constantly carted from city to city and kept in tiny enclosures or chained by their legs for most of their lives.  They endure deprivation of all that is natural to them and also endure brutal beatings to force them to perform idiotic tricks that can be physically dangerous to the animals.  Circus animals perform out of fear and have been beaten into submission during their "training" sessions.  They know that the beatings will resume whenever they fail to perform as expected.  There is no positive reinforcement in the circus.  2 ton animals do not stand on pedestals in nature and they don't stand on pedestals to earn a food reward.  The only way to control massive elephants is through brute force, pain, and fear.  For more information about the routine abuse and cruelty inherent in circuses that exploit animals, visit www.Circuses.com.  To see appalling undercover footage of elephant "training", visit http://www.peta.org/tv/videos/investigations-animals-in-entertainment/110871250001.aspx

World Affairs Council events

 PEORIA -- Two interesting talks, from the Peoria Area World Affairs Council -- from news releases:

The Science of Climate Change: What it means to Illinois is the topic of Dr. Don Wuebbles’ presentation on Monday, September 26 at 7:30 pm in the Marty Theatre in the Student Center at Bradley.

Many of you may remember Dr. Wuebbles from the World Affairs Conference on Climate Change a few years ago.  He is a highly knowledgeable and engaging speaker.  This event is being co-sponsored by PAWAC and various entities at Bradley University.  It is free and open to the public.  Join us for an update on climate change!

 

On Oct. 20: The Pathology of Russia: Opportunities and Challenges for a U.S. Prescription

 Melvin A. Goodman, Senior Fellow, Center for International PolicyWashington, DC

 

Twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we are entering a new period for Russian governance.  The first decade was largely devoted to the economic chaos created by Boris Yeltsin.  The second decade was dominated by the economic recovery and stabilization afforded by Vladimir Putin. 

Russia would like to devote its third decade to regaining its great power status, but serious shortcomings will probably get in the way.  Russia will always matter because of its nuclear weapons, its UN veto, and its geographic location.  But its demographic problems, its lack of conventional power projection, and its corrupt economic system will block progress.  The huge profits from their oil and natural gas holdings will allow the Russians to muddle through and, in the process, the United States has an excellent opportunity to advance bilateral relations.

 

    Thursday, October 20, 2011

Barrack’s Cater Inn

1224 W. Pioneer Parkway, Peoria

 Reception begins at 5:00 p.m.

Dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m.

Presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Please RSVP by Monday, October 17, for the “early bird special”!

 Tickets for the dinner and presentation are $30.00 for Peoria Area World Affairs Council Members and students;

$35.00 for non-members/general public

 A $5.00 late fee will be applied to reservations made after October 17. 

No dinner reservations will be accepted after Wednesday, October 19.

 Tickets for the presentation only are $10.00 for PAWAC members and college students if purchased in advance by August 17.  Non-members and all tickets purchased at the door are $15.00.

High school students are invited to attend at no cost.  Reservations are recommended.

On-line registration for this event is available at http://artstix.artspartners.net ($2 processing fee applies), or you may tear off the registration portion below and return with your payment.  Please note that PAWAC must assess a $4 processing fee for accepting credit cards through the office. 

For more information about this and other programs offered by the Peoria Area World Affairs Council,

please visit our web site at www.pawac.org or call (309) 677-2454.

“Pathology of Russia”, Thursday, October 20, 2011, Barrack’s Cater Inn, Peoria

 

NAME: __________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

ADDRESS: _______________________________________________________________________________________________

                                                Street                                                                                                   City                                                         Zip

 

PHONE: _______________________________  E-MAIL: _________________________________________________________

 

Dinner and Presentation:                    _____ PAWAC Members/Students  @ $30        _____ Non-Members @ $35

Check here for vegetarian entrée________

 

Presentation only (pre-registered):      _____ PAWAC Members/Students @ $10         _____ Non-Members @ $15

 

Please enclose a check made payable to PAWAC or provide your credit card information below.   Note: A processing fee of $4 will be added to your credit card charge,

 

VISA/MASTERCARD#:___________________________________________________________  Exp. Date: ______________

 

Signature: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Mail to: PAWAC, 1501 West Bradley Avenue, Peoria, IL 61625.  Questions?  (309) 677-2454.

A don't-miss-it film

PEORIA -- Here's a film that is terrific -- a do-not-miss event.

From the news release: 

Friday, September 23rd, 7:00 PM, ICC North.

Join Reel to Real: Focus on Film for the award-winning documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" about world renowned artist -- Banksy.

Banksy's work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. He fiercely guards his anonymity to avoid prosecution. The film is about an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker who attempts to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. Includes footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, "It's basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed." 

The film debuted at Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary, and has won 15 international film awards.

Kristan McKinsey, Vice President of Collections and Exhibitions at Peoria's Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, will moderate the discussion following the film.

The event starts at 7:00 PM in the Arbor Auditorium on the ICC North Campus (5407 North University Avenue).  The film is rated R and has a run time of 87 minutes.  There will be refreshments for the social hour following the discussion.  Admission is $6.00 for adults and $5.00 for students.

For further questions, call Mary Beth Mahoney at 339-3001.

Here's an event not to be missed: Robert McChesney Oct. 4

PEORIA -- A news release: 

Dr. Robert McChesney Lecture: “Will the Last Reporter Turn Out the Light?”

McChesney speaks at 8 p.m. on  Tues., October 4, 2011 in the Horowitz Auditorium, CGCC 126.
  

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of
Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2002 he was the cofounder of Free Press, a national media reform organization –and served as its President until April 2008, and remains on its Board of Directors.

McChesney also hosts the “Media Matters” weekly radio program every
Sunday afternoon on NPR-affiliate WILL-AM radio,  the top-rated program in its time slot in the Champaign-Urbana area.

From 1988 to 1998 he was on the Journalism and Mass Communication faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While teaching at Wisconsin, he was selected as one of the top 100 classroom teachers on the Madison campus.

McChesney earned his Ph.D. in communications at the University of Washington in 1989; he was inducted into the UW Department of Communication’s Alumni
Hall of Fame in 2010. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and
capitalist societies.

McChesney co-edits, with John Nerone, the History of Communication Series for the University of Illinois Press. From 2000 to 2004 he served as co-editor of Monthly Review, the independent socialist magazine founded by Paul
Sweezy and Leo Huberman in 1949.

McChesney has written or edited eighteen books. His most recent book, written with John Nichols, is the multiple award-winning The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again (Nation Books, 2011).

His other recent books include: Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights (The New Press, 2011), with Victor Pickard; Communication Revolution: Critical Junctures and the Future of Media (New Press, 2007); and The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century (Monthly Review Press, 2004). Some of McChesney’s other books include: the award-winning
Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928-1935 (Oxford University Press, 1993) and the multiple award-winning Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times (New Press, 2000).

In 2008, Rich Media, Poor Democracy was awarded the ICA Fellows Book Award, which recognizes books that "have made a substantial contribution to the scholarship of the communication field, as well as the broader rubric of the social sciences, and have stood some test of time."

McChesney has also written some 100 journal articles, 135 book chapters and another 300 newspaper pieces, magazine articles and book reviews. His work has been professionally translated into 28 languages.

Since launching his academic career in the late 1980s, McChesney has made some 800 conference presentations and visiting guest lectures as well as more than 1,000 radio and television guest appearances. He has been the subject of more than 130 published profiles and interviews. In 2008 the Utne Reader listed McChesney among their “50 visionaries who are changing the world.” In 2001 Adbusters Magazine named him one of the “Nine Pioneers of Mental Environmentalism.” In 2006 right-winger David Horowitz included McChesney on his list of the “101 most dangerous professors in America.” In 2010, McChesney received the Dallas Smythe Award, “the highest honor given by the Union for Democratic Communications. It is awarded to researchers and activists who, through their research and/or production work, have made significant contributions to the study and practice of democratic communication.”

Along with John Nichols, McChesney was awarded the U.S. Newspaper Guild’s 2010 Herbert Block Freedom Award; according to the Guild’s Executive Council, “the two of you have done more for press freedom than anyone. Your body of work is second to none. This is a transformative year for journalism. If we're able to chart a course that will preserve what matters, it will be in
large part due to both of you.”

In 2011 McChesney was given the “Communication Research as an Agent of Change ” lifetime achievement award from the International Communication Assn.

Prior to entering graduate school in 1983, McChesney was a sports stringer for UPI, he published a weekly newspaper, and in 1979 was the founding publisher of The Rocket, a Seattlebased rock magazine.

At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in McChesney's hometown of
Cleveland, the founding of The Rocket is credited as the birth of the Seattle rock scene of the late 1980s and 1990s. In his spare time, McChesney writes about professional basketball for a number of websites. -30--

Newest Peoria magazine published today, but no frowns, please

PEORIA -- Peoria's newest magazine, The Peorian, won't be doing investigative reporting, its editor, former Peoria Journal Star business editor Paul Gordon said.

It will run poetry and fiction, but it won't be the New Yorker of Peoria, Gordon said. "I just want to have fun," he added. 

The Peorian made its debut on Sept. 15, at a news conference where many of the creators were introduced. 

"We're not looking for bad news, but "upbeat news," Gordon said.

"We're going to become the voice of the community.  We're going to ask hard questions," publisher Julie Russell, said, perhaps unaware that she had just contradicted her editor.

But let's not be fooled, here.  This is an advertising vehicle.  "We're an ad agency. We already publish three magazines, 90 websites," plus do TV shows and events, Russell said.  She's the principal in AdCo Advertising Agency, Inc.

The 66-page, slick, colorful magazine has a cover photo of Mayor Jim Ardis and others in a rowboat on the Illinois river.

"Photo-shopped?"  sniffed a PJS staffer at the news conference, as the audience began to mingle.  (For the non technical: that's asking whether the five people in the boat were actually on the river for the photo, or whether their photo was imposed on a photo of the river.)

And yes it was photo-shopped.  See this link.

One thing's for sure:  nobody wants to rock the local boat, the magazine staffers said. At least not intentionally.

It will contain feature stories, book reviews, spotlights on not-for-profits, even a serialized novel by local mystery writer Norm Kelly. It will be "heavy on the arts."  (Take that, PJS, which has laid off most of its arts staff.)

And here's a new twist:  restaurant reviews won't be surprise reviews. Instead restaurants will be warned in advance, and asked to prepare their best for the "reviewers." 

Well -- that's fine for them, but what about ordinary customers?  Isn't the purpose of a restaurant review a story about its usual fare, so that customers can decide whether to try it?

Restaurant and arts critic Kevin Kizer said he plans to review local writers -- a good idea.  The first issue has a review of The Pale King by David Foster Wallace, a big name writer who once taught at Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal. It has scenes set in Peoria. 

"One character describes (Peoria) as being 'remarkably flat' as if 'stamped on with some cosmic boot.' "  (Did Wallace really ever visit Peoria?)

Wallace committed suicide before it was published and it likely was not completely finished. It has been panned by some critics, and Kizer doesn't much like it either, though he concludes "it's not to be missed."  So much for upbeat stories.

Gordon said The Peorian won't compete with the PJS or InterBusiness Issues, but of course that's not true:  it competes for the advertising dollars. 

It also has a website,    with some very interesting stories and commentary -- maybe some boats will be rocked after all -- and a TV show on WHOI-TV at 8 a.m. on Sunday, where it will compete with Meet the Press.  (Set your VCRs and DVRs).

No doubt this publication will continue to evolve.  Gordon is a skilled editor. Stay tuned.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

Free computer classes

PEORIA -- Here's a great opportunity. From a news release:

Peoria Public Library to Offer Variety of Free Computer Classes

Beginning September 26

 The public is invited to attend free computer classes at Peoria Public Library Main Library in the new computer lab on Lower Level Two. The classes run for twelve weeks and start the week of September 26, running through the week of December 12. Each class is four hours per week. To be offered are Photo/Video Editing, Computer Basics, GEDi, and Job Search classes. Each series is offered free of charge, but registration is strongly encouraged by calling 309-497-2120 or emailing [email protected].

 

Basic Computer Skills using Microsoft Office 2007 is Tuesday and Thursday from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday from 10:30 to 12:30. The emphasis is on using Word 2010 but all areas of Office will be covered. This is hands on, interactive instruction taught by Marcus Washington. In Microsoft Word the class will cover: basic features - open document; type, save and format a document; copy and paste; formatting a paragraph; add bullets. In PowerPoint the class will cover: starting a PowerPoint; creating a presentation; save and delete a presentation; Add clip art to PowerPoint; choosing a theme for your presentation. In Excel the class will cover: opening a spreadsheet; create a spreadsheet; add worksheet to spreadsheet; enter data; wrap text.

 

Basic Video and Photo Editing Skills, will be taught by Mike Vujovich. The class is scheduled for Monday through Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. and uses Photoshop Elements. It will also cover some video editing as well. Handouts will be provided, but please bring a notebook and pencil to class.

 

GED Preparation using GED-I will be offered Monday through Thursday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. This hands on, interactive class helps students prepare to take the GED.

 

Job Searches will be offered Monday through Thursday from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. This class will use Microsoft Windows 7 as well as Illinois WorkNet to prepare students to perform effective job searches online as well as improve their computer skills and find further education and training opportunities. In addition, this class will also include an introduction to Illinois Legal Aid Online and Talking Book and Braille Service.

            These classes are funded by the Illinois State Library Digital Divide Grant Program. The goal of the Digital Divide Grant Program is to increase access to computers, telecommunications technologies, and related training for populations residing in low-income communities.  Under this program, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is authorized to make grants to plan, establish, administer, and expand Community Technology Centers (CTCs) and to support technology access programs.  CTC programs provide computer access and educational services using information technology to individuals, communities, and populations that typically would not otherwise have opportunities to use computer and telecommunications technologies. 

 

http://www.commerce.state.il.us/NR/rdonlyres/6673D8AF-BF1E-4B2B-9056-62E4727A45AA/0/FY10BDDbrochure.pdf

-30-