(Paxton--jc)  -- Some new apartments will be open soon in a historic building in downtown Paxton. Local businessman Royce Baier says his group has worked on the apartments for around 2 years. The former Remembrance Hall in the downtown area now hosts the Edward Jones company, Kief Realty and the Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce offices on the first floor. The apartments will be available on the second floor of the three story structure says Baier…

 

 

Paxton Businessman Royce Baier.

A ribbon cutting ceremony is set for Thursday morning at 11 and members of the local chamber will get a look at the building. An open house for the public will be held later this month.

 

(Springfield--ab) There are some new and some very familiar faces among Illinois’ constitutional officers. Secretary of State Jesse White continues in the office he’s held since 1999…while two former lawmakers are now taking on a statewide role. they are Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton and Attorney General Kwame Raoul…who says he will work to fight crime in Illinois.

 

 

Returning constitutional officers also include Comptroller susana Mendoza and Treasurer Mike Frerichs.

 

(Champaign--ab) Although Parkland College's full-semester classes are now in session, another range of classes is available to students who still wish to enroll. Registration is now open for Parkland's Late-Start Class Session, which begins the week of Feb. 4.Residents can earn full-semester college credit in just 13 weeks, in classes taught at a slightly more accelerated pace than full-semester classes. Students can select from a wide variety of classes ranging from math and biology to aviation and  computer science. Registration for the 13-week session ends Feb. 3. More information is found by contacting Parkland College at 217/351-2482 or

Admissions-at-parkland-dot-e-d-u.

 

(Paxton--jc)  -- The Ford County board has set aside two more meetings to talk about wind farms. A 9 a m meeting tomorrow at the Ford County courthouse in Paxton is the first meeting. The second meeting will take place at 7pm on Thursday January 24th in the large courtroom, also at the Ford County courthouse in Paxton. Several wind farms are in operation in Ford County and a couple are in the process to operate within county borders. Its a zoning meeting on Thursday and the full county board on the second wind meeting. The public is urged to attend.

 

 

(Rantoul--jc)  -- A documentary dealing with suicide will be shown at one local school tonight. The film will be shown at Rantoul Township High School at 6-30 tonight.  The public is invited to attend the film. A question and answer session follows the presentation. The same event also takes place on Friday at Parkland College  and Saturday at the Mahomet Public Library.

 

 

(Paxton--jc)  -- What to do about three distressed properties in the city of Paxton. Paxton leaders spent just under 22 thousand dollars to demolish two houses in the city. A third property is in the bankrupt stage with the potential of demolition in the near future. The consensus of Paxton council members is to sell the two properties to build new homes in the city of Paxton. The mayor’s office and city council continue to weigh their options on the distressed properties.

 

(springfield--jc)  -- Sworn in for his second term, Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, formerly of Gifford, is touting his record on investing. Frerichs says his office has increase returns with huge rewards for the state of Illinois and its taxpayers…

 

 

State Treasurer Mike Frerichs

 

 

CHICAGO (AP) — A report by the American Civil Liberties Union says African-American motorists in Illinois are more likely than others to be stopped and searched for routine traffic violations.The report says police asked to conduct searches of vehicles driven by black motorists nearly twice as often as those driven by whites in 2017. Police asked to search cars driven by Latinos 1.4 times more often those driven by whites.The study examined data collected by the Illinois Department of Transportation between 2015 and 2017 from more than 900 law enforcement agencies statewide. Police made about 6.5 million traffic stops and performed more than 283,000 searches in that time.The study found that in certain cities, such as Aurora and Champaign, African-American drivers were stopped at rates more than twice that of the African-American population.

In Chicago, African-American drivers accounted for 61 percent of all traffic stops in 2017 while making up 31 percent of the city's population.

 

 

(Springfield--jc)  -- Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says his administration is moving to make government more transparent. The newly sworn in governor, used his first day in the job to to sign an executive order directing the Illinois Department of Labor to quickly address claims of wage theft…

 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

 

(Springfield--ab) Governor J-B Pritzker is getting right to work on his first full day in office. Governor Pritzker is signing an executive order to help make state government more transparent. Another aims to help close the gender pay gap.

 

 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker

The order also makes fighting wage theft in Illinois a priority. Additionally, Pritzker says his administration is moving to restore step increases for many state union workers.

 

State Senator Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) will once again take on extra responsibilities as a part of the Senate Republican leadership team. He was appointed to the role of Assistant Republican Leader. Barickman has served in the Illinois Senate since 2013, after serving one term in the House. Barickman has also served in a number of leadership roles on committees, including as Republican Spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as the Co-Chair of the bicameral, bipartisan Legislative Audit Commission.

 

(Springfield--jc)  -- Snow is on the ground and more snow is projected on its way this weekend. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is offering some snowmobile safety tips. I-D-N-R spokesperson Tim Schweizer says not to drink and drive on snowmobiles..

 

 

Illinois Department of Natural Resources Spokesperson Tim Schweizer

 

URBANA, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge in central Illinois has denied defense motions to suppress evidence in the case of a 28-year-old man charged in the kidnapping and killing of a University of Illinois scholar from China. The judge accepted FBI assertions that agents obtained the voluntary consent of Brendt Christensen's wife to search their apartment.

 

 

(undated--jc)  When politicians make decisions to shift public money in one direction or another, a new report says it’s rarely effective and usually means lost value, costing taxpayers in the long run.The report from Virginia-based Institute for Pension Fund Integrity estimates that politically-charged investing such as pension fund managers pulling money from tobacco companies, for example, costs public retirement pensions billions of dollars.Cited in the report is the now-infamous decision of the California Public Employees' Retirement System to divest from tobacco corporations costing the fund nearly $3 billion over a 14-year period. As of February 2018, the fund had 68 percent of what it would need to fund retirements.Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs found the national spotlight last fall when he joined other treasurers in calling for Facebook to force founder Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish his dual role as board chairman and CEO of the social media giant, threatening the company with the divestment of the funds he controlled.

 

(Cullom--jc)  The annual scholarship auction for F-F-A members at Tri Point High School in Cullom is set for today. A silent auction and meal start the event at 5 this afternoon at Kempton American Legion Hall. The live auction portion of the fundraiser begins at 6-30 tonight.

 

 

(Ford County--jc)  --The trials for 3 Ford County men charged with several crimes as part of a terrorist group will continue in early February. 47 year old Michael Hari, 29 year old Michael McWhorter and 23 year old Joe Morris, all from Clarence, face charges including the bombing of a Champaign women’s clinic and bombing a mosque in Minnesota. They all appeared in various courts in November.  More court appearances are expected as trials could begin on February 5th.

 

 

(Mahomet--jc)  -- Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker pledged to deliver a balanced budget, a promise that one Republican state senator said could make it difficult for the governor to keep the spending promises he made during his campaign. The governor says a balanced budget won’t be easy, but he wants to confront the challenge. Local State Senator Chapin Rose, Republican from Mahomet, says with the current fiscal year already out of balance, and sectors like higher education asking for an additional $314 million, plus $814 million more for pensions, the majority party and the governor will have to tighten their belts. Rose says the democrat super majorities  have a problem to keep all they have promised during the campaign. But Rose said Pritzker won the right to deliver a budget and he’ll wait to see what is proposed.Pritzker is expected to give his budget address next month.

 

(Buckley--jc)  They are in need of donations and your appetite for an event on Sunday February 17th. The annual fundraiser for St Johns Lutheran school and carnival is set and organizers are looking for donation items for the silent auction . A chicken dinner and carnival also hi-lite the day’s events. To donate items, you may call the school in Buckley. All donations are tax deductible.