News and Features from Illinois Public Radio - WILL-AM-FM-TV-Online, University of Illinois http://will.illinois.edu/news/rss/ http://will.illinois.edu/themes/site_themes/images/IPM_i.png http://will.illinois.edu/news/rss/ http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/champaign-southwest-mtd-board-votes-to-seek-dissolution A transit district formed to challenge the expansion of Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit into Southwest Champaign is throwing in the towel. On Tuesday evening, the board of the Champaign Southwest Mass Transit District approved plans for its dissolution. Backers of the Champaign Southwest MTD believed southwest Champaign didn’t need bus service or the property taxes that paid for it. But a legal fluke left the two transit districts with overlapping territory. Requests to remove one district or the other were rejected by the courts. Jack Dempsey, the Champaign Southwest MTD’s newest board member, said that sealed their fate. “Once the court had ruled, the purpose of the district was no longer valid”, Dempsey explained. “And I think the right thing happened tonight, which was to dissolve and find a civic use for the taxpayers of the money as it related to transportation.” Champaign Southwest Board Chairman Ed Vaughan says that despite their failure to achieve their main goal of stopping the Champaign-Urbana MTD from expansion, he believes they got their message across. "We brought a lot of awareness to the fact that they run empty buses …  whether they’re needed or not’, said Vaughan. “But at the same time, out here, I’m seeing that some of the buses are smaller buses … Did we accomplish something by doing that? You better believe it." At its quarterly meeting in Champaign Tuesday night, Champaign Southwest MTD Board members voted 5-0 to convert leftover funds of about $75, 000 into an endowment to help needy residents of the district pay for transportation services. Once the money is transferred to the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, Champaign Southwest Transit Board Chairman Ed Vaughan will formally ask the Champaign County Board to dissolve the district. That may not happen for a few months. But for now, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District Board has no further scheduled meetings, and has already dropped its property tax levy down to zero. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/champaign-southwest-mtd-board-votes-to-seek-dissolution Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:03:28 -0500 champaign-urbana mass transit district, champaign southwest mass transit district -- GovernmentPoliticsTransportation http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-supreme-court-grants-madigan-more-time-on-guns The U.S. Supreme Court is granting the Illinois attorney general more time to decide on an appeal over the carrying of concealed weapons. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan says the court decided Tuesday to extend the deadline to July 22. The Democrat is weighing whether to take to the high court a challenge to the December ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that declared the Illinois ban on concealed carry unconstitutional. The appellate court ordered the ban be lifted by June 9. The Legislature adopted a plan that Gov. Pat Quinn is reviewing and the court extended that deadline until July 9. One thing Madigan's staff wants to consider is the governor's action. If he signs the bill, an appeal would be moot. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-supreme-court-grants-madigan-more-time-on-guns Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:47:02 -0500 concealed carry, gun violence, gun rights, law, government, u.s. supreme court, illinois News GovernmentLaw http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/boehner-seeks-to-reassure-house-gop-on-immigration Faced with the threat of mutiny for what seems like the umpteenth time during his speakership, John Boehner moved to mollify fellow Republicans Tuesday, saying immigration legislation would need the support of a majority of the House GOP before it could be brought to a floor vote. After emerging from a meeting with House Republicans, following days of warnings by conservatives that the Ohio Republican had better not try to pass an immigration bill with mostly Democratic votes, Boehner sought to calm the roiling Republican waters. "I also suggested to our members today that any immigration reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties' support if we're really serious about making that happen," he told reporters waiting outside the meeting room. "And so I don't see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn't have majority support of Republicans." The practice of bringing to a floor vote only legislation supported by a majority of the party is known as the Hastert Rule. Denny Hastert, the Illinois Republican who was speaker from 1999 to 2007, mostly stuck to the practice of bringing to a vote only those bills with a "majority of the majority" supporting them. It was a good way to keep his political base in the House contented. Boehner's words to the House GOP were meant to reassure Republicans opposed to provisions in the legislation the Senate is now considering - provisions that would create a citizenship pathway for people in the U.S. illegally. In a clear shot across the bow of Boehner's speakership, on Monday Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California said in an interview that if the speaker let legislation reach the floor that a majority of House Republicans found objectionable, Boehner should be evicted from the speaker's office. Rohrabacher said: "I would consider that a betrayal of the Republican members of the House and a betrayal of Republicans throughout the country. If Speaker Boehner moves forward and permits this to come to a vote even though a majority of Republicans in the House oppose whatever is coming to a vote, he should be removed as speaker." That statement would be virtually impossible to spin, even in Washington, into anything less than a bald-faced threat. In the past, Boehner has passed legislation most fellow House Republicans found odious, like the bill that averted the fiscal-cliff. It passed in January with just 85 of 241 Republicans voting for it, causing the speaker to rely on nearly unified Democratic support for passage. Comments he made in a recent ABC News interview caused the latest bout of concern among Republicans. The speaker described revising the nation's immigration laws as his "top priority." That led some in the GOP to surmise that he would do anything to get a bill passed, even one most of them didn't like. There were at least two other things worth noting about Boehner's Tuesday comments. One, he prepared the ground for the argument that Democrats would be to blame if immigration legislation should fail in the House. Some Senate and House Republicans have argued that for any legislation to pass, it will have to have strong border enforcement measures whose positive results can be measured before any individuals now in the country illegally get the chance at citizenship. Democrats have generally balked at going as far on border-enforcement features. Boehner said: "... I just think the White House and Senate Democrats ought to get very serious. We know that border security is absolutely essential, that — if we're going to give people confidence that we can do the rest of what's being suggested. And I frankly think that the Senate bill is weak on border security. I think the internal enforcement mechanisms are weak and the triggers are almost laughable. "And so if they're serious about getting an immigration bill finished, I think the president and Senate Democrats ought to reach out to their Democrat — Republican colleagues to build broad bipartisan support for the bill." Secondly, Boehner didn't rule out the possibility that he could break the Hastert rule on a later immigration vote. If the House does actually somehow pass an immigration bill and the Senate does too, he seemed to say, who knows? "We'll see when we get there," Boehner said. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/boehner-seeks-to-reassure-house-gop-on-immigration Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:58:11 -0500 immigration, government, politics News GovernmentImmigration http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/illinois-senate-debates-university-pensions A pension reform proposal developed by a group of education experts has been debated in an Illinois senate committee. The six-step plan was developed by officials from the University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University. Senate President John Cullerton supports it. Legislation sponsors say it achieves cost savings and is constitutionally sound. According to the plan debated Tuesday, the State University Retirement System would be fully funded by 2044. It gradually phases in employer funding of pensions, and phases in an increase in contributions for workers. Southern Illinois University President Glen Poshard says the plan could serve as a template for fixing problems in the state's other retirement system. Illinois has the largest unfunded pension obligation of any state in the nation. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/illinois-senate-debates-university-pensions Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:08:59 -0500 pension crisis News EconomicsGovernment http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-rep.-davis-defends-house-farm-bill Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) says President Obama is premature in threatening to veto the House’s version of the farm bill. The White House said $2 billion in annual cuts to the food stamp program in the House’s plan goes too far, and will leave some Americans hungry.  Meanwhile, the Senate bill looks at cutting the food stamp program, known as SNAP, by about $400 million a year. Davis said before the White House has any say, both measures should go to a conference committee, where lawmakers can hammer out a final plan. “You’ve got to remember that the SNAP program has grown immensely since 2008 and 2009, and a lot of that’s attributable to the fact that we haven’t had a good economy,” Davis said. “People can’t get jobs, and we need to make sure that we are able to get the benefits to those who need them the most.” The White House also said the House’s plan should make deeper cuts to farm subsidies like crop insurance. Davis said farmers are more than paying their share, since the $40 billion is split evenly although SNAP makes up 80 percent of the spending. "Both sides are taking equal cuts, so our farmers and our ag industry have taken $20 billion in cuts too just like the SNAP side and they're only 20 percent of the bill,” Davis said. “Our farmers have paid the price. Our farmers have given up direct payments to attack our national debt and that's why this bill is so crucial to passing." The Senate has already approved its version of the farm bill, and the House is expected to vote on its plan this week. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-rep.-davis-defends-house-farm-bill Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:53:53 -0500 rodney davis, government, politics, farm bill News AgricultureGovernmentPolitics http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/cub-illinoisans-waste-more-than-1-billion-on-data-plans A consumer group says Illinois’ smartphone owners are collectively paying $1.4 billion a year on the wrong data plans. An analysis by the Citizens Utility Board said many people are ‘oversubscribing’, using plans giving them more data than they will ever use. CUB Director of Governmental Affairs Bryan McDaniel said a website launched by the agency and research firm Validas shows what savings many smartphone owners can gain from their current carrier. "For some people, yes, you're going to need five gigs (gigabytes), or 50 gigs," he said.  "But for the average user, we know they're using about 800 megabites.  So that's what we're trying to do, is to get them to innovate and help people save money.  And it's going to be people walking into cell phone stores being educated, and saying 'you know what? I know I don't use a gigabite.  Why don't you offer me something that's a smaller plan." The CUB analysis applies to customers of AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. The analysis showed smartphone owners in Champaign overpaid $9 mllion per year, while those in Decatur spent $8.2 million for excessive data packages they didn’t need. Research released this month by the Pew Internet & American Life project shows 91 percent of Americans own a cellphone and for the first time, more than half have a smartphone. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/cub-illinoisans-waste-more-than-1-billion-on-data-plans Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:45:01 -0500 citizens utility board, smartphones, sprint, verizon, at & t News Consumer issuesTechnology http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/georgetown-council-agrees-to-sell-water-for-coal-mine The Indiana-based company, Sunrise Coal, has entered into an agreement with the city of Georgetown to purchase raw water at the Bulldog Mine in Vermilion County that can be used to wash the coal. The Georgetown City Council unanimously approved the plan Monday night. Sunrise Coal says it will nvest roughly a million dollars in infrastructure improvements to the city's water system, and create about 300 long-term jobs. Georgetown Mayor Kay Sanders said she has been assured by engineers that the process won’t harm residents. “They have told us it is safe, and we have got all the legal authority’s working on it to make sure it’s damn sure it’s safe," she said. The coal mine expects to use up to 300,000 gallons of water per day in the early phase of the project, and then up to 500,000 gallons per day during peak production. "Sunrise Coal strives to be a good neighbor in the community, working to support local charities, recycling, and education," said Sunrise spokeswoman Suzanne Jaworowski, in a press release.  "Safety is a priority at Sunrise Coal." This spring, the Homer Village Board approved a contract to provide up to 20,000 gallons of treated water to Sunrise Coal, despite opposition from a number of residents.  But a month later, the board rejected the company’s request for raw water. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/georgetown-council-agrees-to-sell-water-for-coal-mine Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:23:42 -0500 georgetown, sunrise coal company, homer village board News EconomicsEnvironmentGovernment http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/lawmakers-quinn-plan-pension-talks-into-july Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers are working on a new plan to solve the state's $97 billion pension crisis that involves forming a bipartisan committee and reconvening the Legislature again in July. Lawmakers will meet in Springfield Wednesday for a special session called by Quinn to deal with pensions. But Quinn's spokeswoman told The Associated Press Tuesday that the governor will call an additional session in "early July'' for lawmakers to keep working on the problem. The House and Senate are split over rival plans on how to solve the crisis. Quinn's proposal for a committee to overcome the stalemate was initially rejected by House Speaker Michael Madigan. But his spokesman said Tuesday that he has warmed to the idea. Lawmakers are scheduled to consider pension legislation at hearings Tuesday. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/lawmakers-quinn-plan-pension-talks-into-july Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:53:03 -0500 pension crisis, governor pat quinn, house speaker michael madigan News EconomicsGovernment http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/white-house-threatens-veto-of-house-farm-bill The White House is threatening to veto the House version of a massive, five-year farm bill, saying food stamp cuts included in the legislation could leave some Americans hungry. The House is preparing to consider the bill this week. The legislation would cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and make it harder for some people to qualify for the program. That is around 3 percent of current spending. The Obama administration said in a statement that food stamps are "a cornerstone of our nation's food assistance safety net.'' The White House argued that the House should make deeper cuts to farm subsidies like crop insurance instead. The bill, which costs nearly $100 billion a year, would save a total of about $4 billion annually, including the food stamp cuts. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/white-house-threatens-veto-of-house-farm-bill Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:44:54 -0500 farm bill, food stamps, government, politics, business and economy, agriculture News AgricultureEconomicsGovernmentPolitics http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/libyan-radio-station-promotes-democracy-one-rap-at-a-time Many of the militia fighters who rose up and ousted former dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 have refused to lay down their arms and are still challenging the post-revolutionary government. Yet the militias are facing a challenge of their own. They now come under verbal attack on one of Libya's newest radio stations, Radio Zone. Bassem Arady, a presenter at the station, says pretty much whatever's on his mind. He's unafraid of militiamen, government officials or his boss, who sits nearby on a recent day, quietly laughing as Arady makes fun of members of congress, who were caught with whiskey and women the night before. It's quite a scandal in this conservative Arab nation. Arady uses the colloquial Libyan dialect instead of the formal Arabic typically used in television and radio newscasts. It's as if he's talking to a friend, and he invites his listeners to call in and voice their opinions. But his work is about more than informing the public, he says. "I'm doing this for Libya, for my people," he says. "So if anybody have any problems with me, please, he's more than welcome." Arady says he wants people to know that there's no reason to be afraid to speak out about the problems in Libya and against violence. He names names and doesn't worry about the fallout. The owners of Radio Zone are no strangers to threats. One of them, Nabil al-Shebani, has been kidnapped twice for criticizing the armed groups. Shebani says it's incidents such as his kidnappings that give this new station a cause: to make sure his kid's generation doesn't think that guns are the answer. Radio Zone is only about a year old; the studios are still being built. The staff members, mostly 20-somethings, broadcast in one room while construction goes on in the other. A young, tattooed composer sits in the offices downstairs putting together tracks. He goes by the stage name Pixie, and he's working on a new song that uses gangster rap to rap against what he sees as the gangster behavior of Libya's militias. The lyrics were written for his musical partner, Yousef al-Shebani, whose father is Nabil, the Radio Zone co-owner. The 13-year-old Yousef shot to fame during Libya's revolution with the song "We Want to Live in Freedom." "We want the darkness to go away and justice to prevail," he sings. Yousef's father wrote the lyrics, which the older Shebani says still hold true today. "We need a life as a human being," Nabil al-Shebani says. Ali al-Abbar, the co-owner of Radio Zone, is in charge of the music side of things. He's working on bringing Libyan artists with a social message to the station. It's music, he says, that will lure young people, rather than lectures about gun control and violence. "We present ... Libyan music, but Libyan music in a modern way," he says. "When you hit a message to any generation, a young generation, you have to hit it by the way they like, to satisfy and deliver your message in a clear way." Abbar and Pixie, the young Libyan composer, got together after the revolution. Pixie had worked with international hip-hop stars in Turkey, where he grew up. Now he's home, hoping to make a mark in his own nation. In many ways, Abbar says, Libya is a mess. But despite all the difficulties, Libyans now have the right to speak freely. "Before, we were controlled," Abbar says. "But now we can do whatever we want." http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/libyan-radio-station-promotes-democracy-one-rap-at-a-time Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:18:13 -0500 libya, media and journalism, music, radio News GovernmentMedia and journalismMusicTelecommunication http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/public-outrage-continues-over-urbana-library-director Public outrage over the director of the Urbana Free Library continued during Monday night’s Urbana City Council meeting. Longtime patrons demanded answers following revelations that too many books were sent to an online retailer as part of a weeding process to make room for newer collections. Desiree Yomtoob has lived in Urbana for more than 30 years, and if there is one thing she loves about the community, it is the library. “I’m a book lover, and the way that the books have been collected and organized is breathtaking and it's brilliant,” she told members of the city council. “It represents one of the better things about Urbana is that there is a sort of wealth or generosity in terms of learning and knowledge.” Yomtoob said she was angry when she found out last week that shelves at the Urbana Free Library were left nearly bare. "It sounds crazy, but if you love books maybe you would understand," she said. "I was so, so upset." Library Director Debra Lissak has apologized, adding that her librarians did not follow proper criteria in weeding out certain collections that were 10 years old. However, others have claimed Lissak ordered titles to be removed based on age alone. While many of the titles are coming back, it appears some patrons, like Yomtoob, are not willing to forgive and forget. “One, we get rid of the existing director,” Yomtoob continued. “Two, the director that replaces it shows competence in terms of maintaining a collection, and three whoever gets the job next needs to be able to be fair to their staff.” Library professionals also spoke at the meeting, calling for greater transparency in the way the Urbana Free Library is run. University of Illinois Library Science Professor Kate McDowell previously worked at the Urbana Free Library. She said restoring public trust in the library must involve televising meetings of its Board of Trustees, and re-vising its strategic plan. “Public libraries are changing and they’re changing fast, and we need good strategic planning,” McDowell said. “I think the survival of the public library as an institution is going to be contingent on continued public good will, and we do need strategic planning, but in this case, this strategic planning process has been rushed. I believe it needs to be slowed way down.” Urbana Alderman Eric Jakobsson is a member of the Urbana Free Library's Board of Trustees, which has scheduled a special public meeting for Wednesday at 7pm at the library. "We're going to listen and then we're going to go into executive session," he said after the Urbana City Council adjourned. "I think we have to think about (a change in leadership). Obviously that's a question we have to consider. I have not made a decision that that's necessarily the case, but obviously it's on the table in a way that it wasn't on the table a little while ago." Jakobsson credited Lissak for issuing an apology. "The real question is how do we respond to that," he added. "What happened was the result of a bad implementation of an attempt to implement the new strategic plan. I think the entire Board of Trustees was astonished by what happened, so I think we're going to have to do some air clearing." http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/public-outrage-continues-over-urbana-library-director Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:56:41 -0500 urbana free library, debra lissak, books, business, government, urbana city council News http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/urbana-interim-comptroller-resigns The interim comptroller for the city of Urbana has resigned from his post, saying he has had enough of what he calls a "toxic environment," marred by bullying and intimidation. Just before the Urbana City Council approved the city’s annual budget on Monday night, Interim Comptroller Bill DeJarnette gave an update on the numbers. After he was done, he stated, “I am formally announcing my retirement effective immediately – July 2 – whatever works for HR.” DeJarnette’s announcement came after the city council voted on Mayor Laurel Prussing’s request not to re-appoint Accounting Supervisor Liz Walden, who has been with the city for nearly 25 years. Walden said she was given no explanation about why she was losing her job. "The news of his decision came as a total shock to me, and has made me phyiscally ill," Walden told members of the city council. "There has never been a deficiency in my performance." Her husband is former Urbana chief administrative officer, Bruce Walden, who Prussing let go in 2007. During her tenure as mayor, Prussing said there have been four people that she has not re-appointed. DeJarnette did not address Liz Walden’s termination, but made it clear he was not happy with the treatment of city staff “I’ll not hunker down and look over my shoulder every day in the hopes that I’ll get missed and I’m able to survive a shuffle to retirement as many others have,” DeJarnette said. “I’d like to apologize to my staff,” he added. “They’re hardworking and loyal to the city of Urbana, and while my decision will come as a shock, it is not without much deliberation. But if I quietly stood by and acted water cooler brave, it would show that I condone this behavior, and I do not.” After the city council adjourned, Prussing defended the work environment at city hall, calling DeJarnette’s claims “off-base.” “I think most people understand that the atmosphere here was vastly changed when I got to be mayor, and it was changed for the better,” she said. “I think he’s done some very good work. I’m sorry to see him leave.” Prussing said she is going to name an interim comptroller soon, and then begin a search for a permanent replacement. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/urbana-interim-comptroller-resigns Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:53:25 -0500 government, urbana News Government http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/court-upholds-indiana-legislative-boycott-fines The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld fines levied by House Republicans on Democrats for their 2011 legislative walkout to East Central Illinois. The court split 3-2 on an opinion issued Tuesday finding that the constitutional separation of powers bars the courts from interfering in internal legislative decisions. The state's highest court approved a request that the case be dismissed. Chief Justice Brent Dickson wrote for the majority that it is not the court's role to assess punishments within the legislative branch of government. Justices  Loretta Rush and Robert Rucker dissented. The pair wrote that the House's "discretion to punish its members'' doesn't include withholding pay. Majority House Republicans ordered the state auditor to withhold the fines from Democrats who spent weeks at an Urbana hotel in protest of the right-to-work bill. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/court-upholds-indiana-legislative-boycott-fines Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:50:05 -0500 indiana, indiana supreme court, Indiana legislature, right-to-work law News GovernmentPolitics http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/prosecutors-jackson-can-get-treatment-in-prison Federal prosecutors are refuting the contention by defense attorneys that Jesse Jackson Jr. should spend less time in prison because a lengthy sentence would cause his fragile mental health to deteriorate. In a court document filed Monday, they say the Bureau of Prisons has hundreds of mental health experts who can treat the former Illinois congressman for bipolar disorder and depression. Prosecutors are asking for the judge to impose a four-year prison sentence. Jackson's wife has pleaded guilty to filing false joint income tax returns. In a court document, Jackson says his wife is asking for probation but if she's sentenced to prison, he asks to serve first. He says his health issues leave him unable to work now and that she can work to support their children. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/prosecutors-jackson-can-get-treatment-in-prison Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:13:43 -0500 jesse jackson jr, sandi jackson, criminal justice, government, politics News Criminal JusticePolitics http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/rantoul-looks-at-turning-air-base-into-food-hub There is interest in Champaign County about transforming at least part of Rantoul’s former Chanute Air Force Base into a facility where locally grown food can be processed and distributed to area businesses. Supporters say this “food hub” would drive up interest in local produce by improving access to it. Backers of the project include officials with the University of Illinois, the village of Rantoul, and the Champaign County Farm Bureau. Farm Bureau Manager Bradley Uken said the proposed food hub would only be one part of this project. “We’re looking at this big picture of not just your typical food hub. It is must more than that,” Uken said. “It is the farming. It’s education. It’s research. It’s aggregation. It’s packing. It’s all of that." Uken said he sees this project as an opportunity to shepherd in the next generation of agricultural workers who are growing up on small family farms. “This is a great opportunity for some of the younger individuals where may be the operation isn’t big enough for another family to be brought into the operation,” he said. “This is for some farmers to kind of diversify their operations (through) local foods. It’s a different type of agriculture, but it’s clearly part of agriculture.” The Chanute Air Force Base closed in 1993, taking away thousands of jobs and leaving dozens of old, empty buildings in Rantoul. Mike Royse, a consultant working with the village on behalf of the Center for Community Adaptation, is exploring the feasibility of developing the shuttered military base. The village is paying the center $4,000 a month for his services. Royse said Chanute is a perfect spot to begin looking forward. “The old Chanute Air Force base is an underutilized asset that used to supply 10,000 jobs to our region,” he said. “It’s a source of blight, and it deserves our focus. It’s better than looking at areas that are currently economically viable, and doing it there.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the success of food hubs is growing, with more than 200 operating across the country. The agency recently awarded a $99,000 grant to Heartland Community College, in partnership with the community - based Edible Economy Project, to start up three food hubs in Central Illinois. The locations of those hubs have not been finalized. Royse said he has been in talks about partnering with the recipients of the grant. “There are other counties in our Midwest region who have started to really focus on growing their own food, and we import a lot of food now,” Royse said. “If we could not do that and profitably grow our food here, we could add a lot of value.” Meanwhile, Royse said he is also reviewing the possibility of starting up a biofuel production facility at the Chanute Air Force Base. He maintained any discussions about future developments at the site are still in the early phases. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/rantoul-looks-at-turning-air-base-into-food-hub Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:14:15 -0500 food, business, agriculture, rantoul, chanute air force base News AgricultureBusinessFood http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/madigan-seeks-second-delay-on-gun-action-plan Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for more time to decide whether to appeal a lower court's order saying citizens should be allowed to publicly carry concealed guns. Madigan already got one extension - until June 24 - to challenge the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said a ban on concealed firearms is unconstitutional. Now she wants until July 24. The request was filed late Friday, but The Associated Press obtained a copy Monday before it was posted electronically. The appellate court ordered the ban be lifted by July 9. Lawmakers complied by sending Gov. Pat Quinn a plan on permitting concealed carry. A spokeswoman says one reason Madigan's seeking another delay is because of uncertainty over Quinn's plans for the measure. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/madigan-seeks-second-delay-on-gun-action-plan Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:35:13 -0500 News Criminal JusticeGovernment http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/gov.-quinn-signs-fracking-regulations-into-law Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation giving the state the nation's strictest regulations for high-volume oil and gas drilling. In a news release, Quinn's office says the governor signed the bill Monday.  Quinn says the law will "unlock the potential'' for thousands of jobs in southern Illinois while protecting the environment. Quinn's signature was expected after the measure sailed through the Illinois Legislature. The process called "fracking'' probably won't begin in earnest in the state until next year because the Department of Natural Resources must adopt rules to mirror the regulations and hire dozens of new engineers, inspectors and regulators. The law was crafted with the help of industry and some environmental groups.  The unusual collaboration has been touted as a potential model for other states. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/gov.-quinn-signs-fracking-regulations-into-law Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:15:47 -0500 fracking, governor pat quinn News BusinessCinemaEnvironmentGovernment http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/analyst-relief-coming-at-the-gas-pump Gas prices around Champaign are slowly falling from a peak price of around $4.13 a gallon late last week. An analyst from the price tracking website GasBuddy.com said the statewide average has dropped 11 cents in the past week.  But Greg Laskoski said they should even be five-to-10 cents lower at end the end of the week. The website shows price at the pump locally is now averaging $3.95 a gallon around Champaign.  Laskoski said five refineries in the Great Lakes region had been operating below capacity.  He said two of them are nearby – including a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, which is expanding. “It has the capacity in excess of 400,000 barrels a day," he said.  "And it’s also going to be able to accommodate much of that Western Canadian crude, the heavy crude, and refine it into gasoline. So that’s making a lot of progress. The other refinery that we saw experience difficulties was the Exxon-Mobil refinery in Joliet.” Laskoski said the Joliet refinery closed for just over a month, but is now back in operation after some maintenance. He expects gas prices during the summer travel season to hover much closer to where they are now. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/analyst-relief-coming-at-the-gas-pump Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:12:44 -0500 -- http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-supreme-court-arizona-citizenship-proof-law-illegal States can't require voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before they can use a federal voter registration system designed to make it easier to sign up. That ruling comes today from the Supreme Court. It involves a requirement that was approved by Arizona voters. But four other states -- Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee -- have similar requirements. And 12 other states are considering that type of legislation. By a vote of 7-2, the justices rejected the law forcing Arizona voters to document their citizenship in order to use the registration form produced under the federal "Motor Voter'' law. An official with a Mexican-American advocacy group says the ruling means that states can't impose "burdensome paperwork requirements'' on top of what federal law requires in order to vote. Arizona officials, though, have argued that they should be able to pass laws to stop illegal immigrants and other non-citizens from getting on their voting rolls. And Justice Clarence Thomas, writing the dissenting opinion, said states are allowed to determine the qualifications of voters in federal elections, which means they can determine whether voters meet those qualifications. http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/us-supreme-court-arizona-citizenship-proof-law-illegal Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:02:17 -0500 u.s. supreme court, law, arizona, election, government News GovernmentLaw http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/snowden-nsa-collects-everything-including-content-of-emails Self-described NSA leaker Edward Snowden has made some stunning allegations during a live chat with The Guardian today. Snowden, who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of the NSA PRISM program, which U.S. officials say mines Internet data from foreigners, contradicted both what the big tech companies have said and what American officials have said in front of Congress. Snowden said the NSA "likes to use 'domestic' as a weasel word." That is, while the government insists the program is all about foreigners, a lot of domestic communication gets dragged in while acquiring that data, he said. Snowden used a specific example: "If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702 [a law that allows the gathering of electronic information on someone believed to be outside the U.S.], and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time — and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants." Snowden was also asked if he stood by his original assertion that he could "wiretap anyone" as an intelligence employee. He said: "Yes, I stand by it. US Persons do enjoy limited policy protections (and again, it's important to understand that policy protection is no protection — policy is a one-way ratchet that only loosens) and one very weak technical protection — a near-the-front-end filter at our ingestion points. The filter is constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the "widest allowable aperture," and can be stripped out at any time. Even with the filter, US comms get ingested, and even more so as soon as they leave the border. Your protected communications shouldn't stop being protected communications just because of the IP they're tagged with." The NSA chief, Gen. Keith Alexander, said during a hearing last week on Capitol Hill that he knew of no way to do that. As far as the denials from Google, Microsoft and others, Snowden said they were "misleading and included identical, specific language across companies." We'll update this post with highlights of the Internet chat, so make sure to refresh this page. Update at 12:35 p.m. ET. On Why He Leaked: When asked why he waited to leak the documents he did, Snowden responded: "Obama's campaign promises and election gave me faith that he would lead us toward fixing the problems he outlined in his quest for votes. Many Americans felt similarly. Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, he closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge." Update at 1:07 p.m. ET. Not A Chinese Spy: On a couple of occasions, Snowden was asked if he was a Chinese spy. "If I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing?" he said. "I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now." He was asked if he ever had contact with Chinese officials. He said: "No. I have had no contact with the Chinese government. Just like with the Guardian and the Washington Post, I only work with journalists." Update at 1:10 p.m. ET. More On His Reasoning: Snowden was asked if a single moment made him decide to go public with the surveillance programs. He said: "It was seeing a continuing litany of lies from senior officials to Congress - and therefore the American people - and the realization that that Congress, specifically the Gang of Eight, wholly supported the lies that compelled me to act. Seeing someone in the position of James Clapper - the Director of National Intelligence - baldly lying to the public without repercussion is the evidence of a subverted democracy. The consent of the governed is not consent if it is not informed." Snowden seems to be referring to testimony Clapper gave the Senate Intelligence Committee in March. He was asked if the government collected data on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans. Clapper said no — "not wittingly." http://will.illinois.edu/news/story/snowden-nsa-collects-everything-including-content-of-emails Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:59:43 -0500 edward snowden, national security agency, nsa, government, technology, national security, media and journalism News GovernmentMedia and journalismNational SecurityTechnologyTelecommunication