PeoriaStory

Obama Climate Plan Praised

PEORIA -- From a news release (at least Obama is doing something right): 

Global Warming Solutions Group Hails Obama Climate Action Plan and Asks for Help Transitioning Central Illinois to Renewables

The Global Warming Solutions Group of Central Illinois believes it is imperative to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate disruption and its effect on future generations. We are proud to be a member of the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance, a grassroots group calling for a cleanup or orderly phase-out of the Edwards coal-fired power plant in Bartonville, Illinois. The most recent USEPA figures show the Edwards plant to be responsible for emitting 5.51 million tons of CO2 annually. This is a staggering number, slightly more than the annual emissions of the 942,691 passenger cars in all the counties bordering I-74 as it cuts across Central Illinois—from the Quad Cities in Scott County, Iowa through Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana to Danville (see the attached Behind the Numbers for details).

We applaud President Obama for taking action on this critical issue. His plan announced today calls for tough new rules to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants. Ameren, the Edwards plant’s current owner, and Dynegy, its proposed buyer, have both publicly stated that variances from health-based standards for currently regulated pollutants are essential because they cannot afford to install the necessary pollution controls. Rather than beginning another cycle of challenging new regulations and then petitioning for variances and extensions, Global Warming Solutions Group asks Ameren and Dynegy to look realistically at the future of the Edwards plant and, in light of the forthcoming CO2 regulations, begin planning now for its closure. By working with stakeholders here in the community, we believe it is possible to justly transition the workers to new employment, minimize disruption to the tax base and leave the site in a state suitable for redevelopment.

President Obama’s plan promises to unlock long-term investment in clean energy innovation by increasing funding for clean energy research, development and deployment by 30 percent in the FY14 budget, including a new $8 billion loan guarantee program.  Global Warming Solutions Groups calls on local policymakers to begin positioning the Edwards site, with its wealth of multi-modal transportation links and existing connectivity to the power grid, as the ideal candidate for renewable energy investment. The President’s plan specifically points to methane gas, a more potent greenhouse gas pollutant than CO2, as a key target. Global Warming Solutions Group believes that Central Illinois, with abundant agricultural and food processing wastes and little diversion of organic wastes from local landfills, might have sufficient input stock for a large-scale anaerobic digestion facility. If such a facility were to replace the Edwards coal plant, it could eliminate CO2 emissions from burning coal and reduce area methane emissions at the same time by converting climate-altering methane into gas for electricity generation or liquid fuel.

 

Central Illinois has already demonstrated its strong support for alternatives to dirty coal. With the results from the aggregation ballot initiatives in April 2013, the Committee for Municipal Energy Choice reports that the Central and Southern Illinois buying block, one of the largest aggregation blocks in the U.S., encompasses residential customers in over 600,000 households in 151 communities including Peoria, East Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Normal, Urbana and Danville. The vast majority of these communities have opted to purchase 100% green energy. It’s time to take the necessary steps to leverage the President’s climate plan and begin working to replace coal with renewables right here in our own backyard.

 

For more information on the Global Warming Solutions Group of Central Illinois, visit www.gwsolutionsgroup.org or contact Tracy Meints Fox, 309-369-5331 or [email protected].

PHA reforms Trespass List policy

PEORIA -- The Peoria Housing Authority Board of Commissioners approved a reformed Trespass List policy on June 24 which provides for an appeals process from a committee.

Anyone can file an appeal with the security administrator asking for a name to be removed. If that officer disagrees, the decision then can be appealed to the Security and Resident Relations Committee of the Board of Commissioners, whose decision is final. 

There are now specific reasons for placement on the list, and people must be notified in writing.

The policy also calls for the list to be updated regularly, and at least annually.

Hedy Elliott Gardner raised questions about the list over a year ago.  The governing policy was vague, there was no appeals process, anyone could be placed on the list by any staff member or police officer for any or no reason, and the list of about 1,500 names included deceased people and some incarcerated for lengthy periods.

I joined her in questioning the policy and asking for due process for those placed on the list.

On June 24 we both thanked the board for their work and for listening to the public.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Genetically engineered food -- should it be labeled?

NORMAL, IL -- Here's a report on last week's public hearing regarding labeling of genetically engineered food, by Clare Howard.  The hearing was mostly ignored by the corporate media.

Illinois Sen. Sam McCaan lectured and reprimanded  expert witnesses speaking in favor of labeling genetically engineered food during a public hearing at Illinois State University on June 20. Yet, McCaan, R-Jacksonville, left unchallenged the testimony of members of the panel speaking against labeling. 

A farmer opposed to mandated labeling testified that GE food is our “moral obligation” to feed the world and protect health and mandated labeling would lead to food insecurity and hunger. A representative from the Illinois Manufacturers Association testified labeling would force companies to leave the state.

Nearly 250 people attended the hearing, the first of three called by Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, sponsor of Senate Bill 1666 that would require labeling foods containing more than 1 percent of GE ingredients. 

Distinguished emeritus professor of molecular genetics at ISU, Herman Brockman, was met with repeated applause during his testimony in favor of labeling. Brockman said labeling gives people freedom of choice, “a bedrock and precious freedom.” 

He said labeling is “not a radical proposal. By labeling GE foods, we would join 64 other countries that already do so.” 

Brockman said the only reason labeling is not now mandatory is because biotech corporations claim it is “substantially equivalent” to non-GE food, but “as a geneticist, I reject this claim. It is not backed by data and if it is accurate, how can these products be patentable?” 

The process of genetically engineering food produces hundreds of thousands of mutations and poses unforeseen human health risks, he said, noting there is no long-term safety testing on GE food. Testing has been conducted by industry, not independent scientists, he said.

GE food, also referred to as GMOs or genetically-modified organisms, is transgenic meaning genes from one species are transferred to another. By contrast, hybridization involves crossing traits from similar species. Hybridization does not introduce foreign genes and does not create mutations, Brockman told the subcommittee on food labeling, Senate Agriculture and Conservation Committee meeting in the Bone Student Center at ISU. 

McCaan did not challenge or lecture Brockman but asked if he wouldn’t agree the government does a good job of providing a safe food supply and asked Brockman to grade the current system. 

Without hesitation, the retired professor responded “F,” an answer met with sustained applause. He explained that biotech companies like Monsanto develop new GE seed and are not required to submit to FDA testing. The company does its own testing and is not forced to release all the data.

The European Union has a better system than the United States, Brockman said. He also challenged the contention farmers get better yields, pointing out that peer reviewed research found no higher yields with GE crops.

In its opposition to labeling, Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer with the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said consumers will bear higher costs with labeling. However, in her remarks supporting labeling, Hailey Golds, field director for Illinois Public Interest Research Group, said failure to label costs farmers and the U.S. economy hundreds of millions of dollars in lost exports to countries that require labeling.  Just recently, the discovery of unapproved GE wheat in a field in Oregon resulted in Japan’s cancellation of U.S. wheat orders. 

Opponents of labeling told the committee that mandated labeling would imply to the public that genetically engineered food is unsafe. Koehler challenged that notion, pointing out that pharmaceutical companies are now forced to disclose possible side effects and food is labeled for ingredients and calories, yet consumers still use drugs and processed foods. 

Speaking in opposition to labeling, Michael Miller, a microbiologist from the University of Illinois, said GE crops have brought benefits to Illinois citizens. He said corn genetically engineered with the Bt organism reduces pesticide use, increases yields, decreases aflatoxins and is safe for farmers.  Bt, Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring soil bacterium.

Ron Moore, a farmer from Roseville, told the panel labeling GE food would lead to food insecurity and hunger, especially in low-income communities.

“Safeguards are already in place for GE foods, and labeling is unnecessary and implies GE food is unsafe,” he said.

In response to the challenge that GE labeling should be dealt with at the federal level, not the state level, Koehler said that while he may agree, he doesn’t control the Congressional agenda in Washington and we should do what we can in Illinois. He argued labeling could create a value-added product for Illinois and be an economic advantage for the state. 

Two additional public hearings are scheduled for later this summer: noon to 2 p.m. Aug. 7, Southern  Illinois University, Carbondale and tentatively for 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 17 in Chicago. 

 -- Clare Howard

 

Here's a link to a story showing how GE foods are banned in England.

Moon shot

PEORIA -- Here's a great moon shot by photographer Al Harkrader in Peoria, IL. 

He writes: "it was taken with a digital SLR camera and a 300mm lens, camera's auto-exposure exposure was set to under-expose by 3 stops, to prevent over-exposure of the moon. The resulting image was then enlarged by another 5-times."

 

Moon shot

PEORIA --  Here's a great moon shot taken by photographer Al Harkrader in Peoria, IL.

He used "a digital SLR camera and a 300mm lens, camera's auto-exposure exposure was set to under-expose by 3 stops, to prevent over-exposure of the moon. The resulting image was then enlarged by another 5-times."

 

 

 -- Al Harkrder

Park District Meeting on June 26 to discuss Stadium Park situation

PEORIA --  The Peoria Park District Trustees will discuss the Stadium Park issue at a meeting at 6 p.m. on Wed., June 26, to be held at the Gateway Building on the Peoria Riverfront.

They seem to be expecting a crowd!

Here's the agenda.

See details on the Stadium Park issue in a blog post below.  It's highly controversial.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

When the cat's asleep....

MACOMB, IL -- They were warned, several times.

Three independent audits in 2009, 2010 and 2012, of the finances of the McDonough County Health Department, stated that county officials should "...implement procedures regarding segregation of duties to prevent employees from having access to financial records and or assets of the county which could allow (them) to perpetrate fraud for their personal financial benefit."

The audits stated "that the same individual records transactions, … prepares checks, has access to a stamp of the required signature, mails checks and reconciles the bank statements.”

But the Republican-dominated County Board, which oversees the Health Department, ignored the advice. Scott Schwerer chairs both the County Board and the Board of Health. Other Republican county officials also received the audits, which are public records, and apparently didn't read them. Neither did the local news media.

Talk about unlocking the barn door so thieves could enter....

On June 19, the Health Department's chief financial officer entered a negotiated plea to stealing $67,000 from the organization, from 2010-2012. 

Penny Thompson, 49, of Bushnell, wrote checks on the Health Department's account to "false vendors," to pay her credit card bills, a prosecutor said at the court hearing.

Thompson was then sentenced to 24 months probation which includes 180 days in jail, plus fines, fees and court costs and $17,000 in restitution.  Insurance is supposed to pay the rest, according to the court hearing. She pleaded guilty to a felony count of theft and to official misconduct which places her retirement benefits in jeopardy.

Her share of her retirement benefits, which she can get refunded to her, is supposed to pay the restitution she owes, along with the bail posted for her release which the county has seized towards the debt.

She made no statement, and the prosecutor, an assistant state's attorney, also refused to comment afterwards.

But that's not the end of this story.

This theft occurred at a time when the health department closed down its family planning program and in home services program for the elderly.   That meant job losses for many employees but also, oddly, unprecedented pay raises for the employees who remained, including Thompson.

The Health Department claimed these programs had to be eliminated due to a lack of funds, even though its tax levy was increased, and it was receiving additional county funds.  Apparently nobody was watching where the money was going.

The shut down of these  long time programs forced the elderly to seek services elsewhere at additional expense if they could afford it, or leave their homes and enter nursing care facilities, likely paid for by Medicaid tax dollars. 

At the time of her arrest Penny Thompson’s annual salary was $41,917, a $15,538 increase between 2006 and 2012. 

Her boss, the Health Department Administrator Lynette Cale, saw her pay increase to $68,000 for 2012, from $49,500 in 2007.  All remaining employees of the Health Department have seen similar increases in pay,  including a 4 percent annual cost of living increase, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.    

Cale remains in her job, and apparently will not be held accountable for any of this.

Meanwhile McDonough County's poor are reeling from the recent shut down of a federal clinic, Eagleview Health Center, which provided dental care and family planning, services the health department ditched a few years ago.

Eagleview, a satellite of a clinic on Oquawaka, said it could no longer afford to  operate its Macomb site, an odd decision in light of the Affordable Care Act which is starting up.

Now no one is providing dental and family plannning services to the indigent in Macomb and the county. Cale recently sent an email saying meetings on providing dental services to the indigent have been put off until August. She's referring those who call for help to the local providers.

That means minimal or no dental care for the poor.  Medicaid now pays only to pull teeth, and those not eligible for Medicaid are just out of luck without plenty of money to pay the dentist. 

This is what happens in rural Illinois counties dominated by Republicans who don't believe in government provided services.

As for family planning, Medicaid already pays for half the births in Illinois.  So just as in-home services keep the elderly from nursing homes, family planning prevents unwanted births  Without these services people suffer and/or the taxpayers pay more, much more.

What a disgrace, in Illinois, 2013.  A crime, really. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Public to school board: keep the green space

PEORIA -- The Peoria District 150 School on June 17 heard more than a dozen  different eloquent speakers contend that turing the 82-acre Peoria Stadium site into a Walmart or other big box store is a terrible idea.  No one supported the project.

It recently surfaced in the press, prompting the board to schedule a discussion on the agenda of the regular board meeting.  Controller Dave Kenny also gave a presentation on the project, with these facts:

• Upgrading the football stadium would cost up to $2.3 million. 

• Attendance at the games has been declining, and will continue to drop as Notre Dame High School completes its own stadium.

• The property to be sold and developed would not include Stadium Park or the Ricketts Center along Lake Ave.

• The school district must auction any property, but this project is too complicated for that process, so it also can be sold to another governmental agency, namely the city of Peoria, which can then sell it to a developer.

• Commercial development at the site would (in theory) generate more tax revenue for the school district.

Audience comments questioned that, saying the resulting traffic problems, storm water runoff, and loss of green space would diminish property values and encourage more residents to move out of the city. 

Here are the public comments, in two sections.

Dist 150 June 17 1

Dist 150 June 17 2

If the buyer is Walmart, its present location on University might remain empty, like CUB foods on Knoxville. Its presence as an inner city super store would likely drive nearby small businesses out of business.  The net result would be a loss in tax revenue for the school district, they argued.

"A big box store is inappropriate as infill in this area," said Rebecca Carey, citing a book on urban planning by a former consultant to Peoria. That site "should not be taking its character from University or Allen Road," but from Peoria Heights, she said.

Kathy Stevenson said the loss of the stadium and adjacent ball fields would devastate small businesses nearby.

The presidents of two homeowners associations spoke against the development.  Entertainer Edith Bernard sang a Joni Mitchell song, "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone," and "they paved paradise," with the large audience joining in.

Other highlights of the public comments included the new Peoria Federation of Teachers president Jeff Atkins Dutro, who said the strategic communications committee is being revived, the union has sent an effective discipline policy developed by the American Federation of Teachers to the board members, and the teacher evaluation system will be looked at, as teachers feel it's being used to get rid of teachers instead of help them improve. He also supported those against the stadium project. 

Activist Sharon Crews opposed the stadium project, but focused on the district's waste of money in buying a $400,000 bar coding system to keep track of textbooks, a duty once done free by individual classroom teachers. Her remarks will be published below, later.

Activist Terry Knapp reminded the board that he asked about the stadium project and Walmart months ago, and board members said they didn't know anything about it, but emails published in the Peoria Journal Star revealed it has been under discussion for many months before his question. "The emails prove the back door politics. It should be kept green," he said.

The public comments were interrupted by a public hearing on the amended budget, which Kenny said has a $3 million deficit. He and board members  blamed city awarded TIF (tax increment financing) districts, which deprive the schools of increased tax revenue from development, along with other factors such as declining property values.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

If you want to sign a petition against the stadium project, click here.

Here is the statement from Sharon Crews: 

 

It is true.  I do keep asking questions through FOIAs until I get the answers—the answers that tell the whole story.  As it turns out the original contract with the Follett Company is not the whole story.  The original contract totaled about $295,000, which includes the licensing and maintenance fees for year one and year two.  It is much too easy to be deceptive when it comes to spending taxpayer money since only larger sums require public disclosure. 

 

As it turns out, thus far (and it may not be the end of the story), the amount of money spent on the barcoding and inventory process is about $100,000 higher than the amount of the original contract.

 

According to FOIA’d data, there have been other added costs.  In addition to the 29 scanners included in the original cost, an additional 6 scanners were purchased at a cost of $236 each, adding $1,416 to the barcoding expense.  In addition, a server that handles both the textbook and library software had to be purchased from a second company at a cost of about $9700.

 

An additional $87,000 was spent on what I would call an expensive error in judgment.  Common sense would seem to dictate that the best time to do an inventory of textbooks would be at the end of the school year—the time when both teachers and students expect books to be collected.  As it turns out, a possible lack of common sense cost District 150 about $87,000.

 

Evidently, the Follett Company had not anticipated that there would be a phase two of the ill-timed phase one attempt at an inventory in February and March.  The first attempt at an inventory was cut short possibly because somebody realized that students and teachers might need the textbooks to prepare students for the ISAT test. 

 

Therefore, District 150 recollected the texts in April to complete the inventory, which turned out to be a costly, unanticipated expense that is difficult to justify.  Follett apparently did not pay for the second phase of the inventory.

 

The FOIA’d data seems to indicate that the Follett Company is now out of the picture in that all schools, except Jamieson, have at least one textbook coordinator and, therefore, in the future an end-of-year inventory will be their responsibility.  The FOIA response states, “All responsibilities for future inventories will be at the school level and no involvement or charges from Follett will be incurred to handle further inventories.”  Of course, the Follett company is still being paid licensing and maintenance fees at the end of each year (I am not sure for how many years). 

 

I hope you all understand that prior to this expensive contract with Follett, inventories were handled at each school at the end of each year—and now it seems the same will occur from now on.  In the past instead of scanning barcodes, employees simply stacked all texts and counted them and filled out inventory forms—the results were the same.  As done in the past, new books will be catalogued at the warehouse—and now, of course, barcoded.  Please, please tell me what has been gained by spending almost $400,000.  Certainly, no money is being saved—just spent.  It is true that the central office now has access to computer-generated inventory reports from each school—however, this one benefit is not worth $400.000.

 

FOIA’d data, which I will save for another day, indicates that the District is doing very little, in fact, nothing to collect unpaid textbook fees and to hold students financially responsible for lost or damaged textbooks.  The Peoria stadium issue is proving to be one that is capturing the attention of heretofore disinterested taxpayers.  Maybe now is a good time to bring other issues to the public’s attention.

 

Clare Howard's dynamite investigative story on Atrazine, the weed killer.

PEORIA -- Former Peoria Journal Star reporter Clare Howard, now a free lance investigative reporter, has published a great piece on the sleezy attempts by Syngenta, the manufacturer of the weed killer Atrazine to discredit scientists critical of Atrazine, and buy off others, secretly.Its goal was to win a lawsuit, which was finally settled, with payouts for the plaintiffs.

Among those involved in the plot:  former Illinois First Lady Jayne Thompson, now a high powered  lawyer.  Shame on her.

Read it in Environmental Health News.  It shows the tactics big agribusiness is capable of.  Frightening.

But what is to be expected from a corporation that profits from a substance, already banned in Europe, that is an endocrine disrupter and may cause birth defects in humans!

Where is the Environmental Protection Agency on this stuff?  Bought off?

And where is the attorney organization that polices lawyer ethics?  Asleep?

Meanwhile are we still drinking this stuff in our public water supplies?

Illinois American Water Co. which supplies water to Peoria and other communities reportedly shared in the lawsuit settlement as did Springfield, and other municipal water supplies.

 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Here's an event to boycott

PEORIA -- Strange but true:  the Peoria Mayor's Prayer Luncheon, on Sept. 26, will feature a Walmart executive, Gary Maxwell, senior vice president at Walmart.

Yes, Walmart, the anti-union, anti-worker retailer. 

Walmart pays such low wages that taxpayers subsidize its operations by giving food stamps and health care to its workers, who don't make a living wage.  Estimates are that each store soaks up almost $2 million annually in such payments.

The final insult:  it costs $25 to eat lunch with the mayor and his speaker. That's way too expensive for many people.  

Maybe those who can afford to attend will pray that Maxwell and his company will start paying living wages. But don't bet on it.

Meanwhile those outside can pray that Walmart doesn't drive more small businesses out of business. Or that Peoria's low wage economy, that results in more than 68 percent of the school district's students considered low income, doesn't get any worse thanks to anti-union activities of Walmart and its corporate pals.

 -- Elaine Hopkins