Iroquois County budget in place by a narrow margin…. Update on Super Wal-Mart in Watseka….. Kankakee progresses with strip mall next to new Super Wal-Mart….. WACC seminar on economy….. Fire update in Gibson City…..
A 30% chance of rain today in Illiana, high near 58 with breezy SW winds.
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Iroquois County has a new FY 09 budget. But it didn’t come easy. A narrow 13-11 vote Wednesday finds the county moving into a new fiscal year next month with a projected-$6,000 deficit. It’s a far cry from the $900,000 in red ink the board was first looking at a few months ago, but still too much for the 11 voting NO. That’s because projected revenues aren’t there and they feel the red ink will only get worse. The current budget will come up $550,000 short, even though borrowing to erase the deficit has been paid back. Discussion has focused on more cuts, including eliminating personnel.
The Kankakee County Board OK’d a new budget. Retiring Board Chairman Karl Kruse says it’s a balanced budget that could be a surplus budget, that everyone should feel good about. It was also the final meeting for Kruse, who’s retiring. He did not seek re-election last week. Kruse said he believes new people is a good thing, new people generates new ideas.
Watseka Mayor John Weidert reports a Super Wal-Mart project on Watseka’s east edge is ready to move forward. The Times-Republic reports construction crews are in place to begin demolishing the old Value Village building along Route 24-E. Weather conditions may dictate how quickly work moves along.
A Memphis, TN-based leasing agent reports a now-under construction strip mall in Kankakee is 90% occupied already. Spectra Group Inc. is developing a 22,900-square-foot strip center immediately west of Kankakee’s Super Wal-Mart, on the city’s south side. There’s an anticipated opening in March of 2009. Five-year leases for six of seven units have been signed. Spectra’s John Neff said the company’s retail developments always locate in close proximity to Super Wal-Marts. The company has already constructed about 80 strip centers near Super Wal-Marts across the country. A “Dollar Tree” store will occupy 10,000 square feet in the strip. Best Mattress and a mexican restaurant are also tenants. Neff, according to the Daily-Journal, also said the company has plans for a second phase to the development, but the sluggish national economy has certainly slowed down development.
Counselors and teachers were available as needed yesterday to help Gibson City Middle School students cope with the tragic deaths of two fellow teens. Madisyn Moore, 13, and Shanna Radakovich, 14, were pronounced dead Tuesday, according to Ford County Coroner Doug Wallace. Their cause of death was to be determined, and autopsies were conducted Wednesday in Bloomington. The girls died in a house fire. Shanna was at a sleepover at her friend Madisyn’s house,” the coroner said. Gibson City Middle School Principal Mike Bleich said both girls were honor-roll students and members of the volleyball team. >4 Gibson City Superintendent Chuck Aubry said the district’s crisis-planning team met Tuesday and will meet again to talk about ways to help students cope with the tragedy. Social workers and members of the local ministerial group will be on hand at the middle school, grade school and high school.
A Livingston County judge says he’ll wait until later this month to decide whether to block the state from laying off employees at the Pontiac Prison, which the state is trying to close. Judge Robert Travers says he’ll wait until Nov. 21 to consider the union request for a restraining order blocking layoffs at the Pontiac Correctional Center. Travers was due to consider the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees’ request on Wednesday. The Illinois Attorney General’s office represents the Department of Corrections and asked for the delay. The department plans to close the prison to save money. Officials in Pontiac don’t want to lose the prison’s 570 jobs and say the closure is political.
Another plant expected to turn 18 million bushels of corn a year into 50 million gallons of ethanol is headed to northern Illinois. Illinois River Energy LLC plans to build the $120 million plant in Ogle County, next to an identically sized one the firm already has there. The project will get a state renewable-fuels grant worth $4 million. Gov. Rod Blagojevich says the new plant will create 40 jobs. Construction is expected to be complete by September of next year. (AP)
