News Programming September 1999

Rantoul made their presentation it took about 25 minutes and they only had to answer a few questions from the panel officials were there to pitch the reasons why Rantoul should be the next location for one of two new state prisons Rantoul Mayor Joe Brown says they were able to provide some pretty good incentives. For one I think our location was better. We will put the water. Gas. Electric or two to say there's about six futures that is or the former Sure first varies. That would be leased to him at a dollar an acre. Brown says that any time they can still pull out of the competition if they decide a prison would not be in Randall's best interest. Meanwhile officials with the Department of Corrections should have a short list of finalist communities available within the month. I'm Amy Morris AM 580 News. We will have two or three more in the next two or three weeks. Again I know there are some opposition to it and I respect that. And there are a lot of

people for respect that right now I'm still neutral myself until. I think we've got all the facts in. Get elected to do it. Some people. Take a different view of their how they're supposed to respond I guess than I do. We asked what our options are. Go from there I don't want to there's a probably no process is going to work. Just put it out for bid. Going through the normal things you do to contract with a contractor if that's the case then are going to have to put up with it the way one way or another. People who wouldn't normally drink people that would never ever ever on a Friday or Saturday night go out and get drunk. It would it would. Resist that temptation would

wouldn't even be tempted by it. Well go out tomorrow or go out Saturday Sunday Monday go to a picnic play softball never beer here you have a beer there last year take him punchier in by 3 o'clock in the afternoon they're drunk and they don't know what. The officer will talk to you and try to determine if there is alcohol on your breath. Maybe put plumeria breath test there called the detector in your vehicle. It may show that the presence of alcohol which would be probable cause to a dead time initiate a breathalyzer. People are not so much worried about where we are worried then they're worried about where we're going and I think that what the economy seems to be telling us is that we're sort of stay in the same track we've been on for quite a long time which actually is pretty good. It is and I don't think that a whole lot different what you find with the national

economy as a whole. Right now there's a lot of interest a lot of worry about where the economy is going so people think the economy is moving too much toward overheating and the Federal Reserve is concerned about the resurgence of inflation but there's two other people who are concerned about an economic downturn so what I think we're finding here is that neither of those is a real concern at this point we seem to be going along at a pretty steady pace and simply a great deal of inflationary pressure but on the other hand it doesn't seem to be a lot of concern either about a downturn. One of the biggest issues there is fair and consistent treatment. People feel like the rules are not applied as consistently as they should be. People also want much more of a say in what goes on in terms of resident care issues terms of dealing with staffing. And of course you know the bread and butter

issues of pay and benefits is a concern as well. The county agreed this time to remain neutral and last time they had not done that they'd been strongly trying to influence employees against the union. And you know I think that all along the employees were very much in favor of the Union in favor of getting change in a voice on the job. And that when they were allowed to just make a free and fair decision about that they decided that they didn't want to have a union. Turner and Hollis are in their third years at their respective programs and thus far neither team is shined. Since 1997 the fighting alignment and Indians have combined for just nine wins against 37 losses so it's no wonder that the two coaches are using tomorrow's game as a measuring stick. Hollis who's a su team came within a last second field goal of sending its game with Minnesota to overtime a year ago.

So the program was all but dead before he arrived in Jonesborough. We have we have struggled because of just lack a bit the lack of talent. Of established in maturity level weave we struggle with establishing an identity level the first two years here but we're getting better at that. Hollis says the Indians were hurt by an inability to run the football with consistency due to undersized linemen and huge first quarter deficit dictating a su to throw the football way too often. But the biggest problems are defensive although the team has good overall speed. It gives up too many big plays that could be good news for Turner's underachieving off fence. A year ago Illinois was scored three twenty six to one forty nine in a three in a campaign so Turner is turning to youth 9 first year players pepper the O-line night to deep offensive roster. And yeah it's a big game for us obviously we need to get a win

Illinois needs a win not just to give the players confidence but the fans as well. The projected game Saturday is only 30000 a line I faithful whether more people jump on the Turner bandwagon is contingent on more than winning the team must also be entertaining something it has not been since John McAfee left Illinois in 1901. Hollis who played against Illinois during the Makah Vick years while a coach at Ohio State says he knows what it's like being in Turner's position and he's faced an uphill battle and you don't have a lot of breathing room when you. When you're playing in that conference Illinois has not won an opening game in seven seasons dating back to 1992 when it beat Northern Illinois 30 to 14. Kickoff Saturday is 230. This is Dave Dickey. Vice President of Adium says the market is more likely to pay farmers extra premium for crops that are not genetically modified GM. That is to punish farmers with a

discount price for GM crops. Marty Andrea says the premium prize will be decided by the marketplace. You could have premiums you could have discounts but we're just one player in a huge world grain markets. And if the market decides some of these products deserve a premium Well then we'll be paying them. And do you know we we all have to be competitive in this grain trade so whatever if there is a premium obviously we'll be paying it but the market will decide that. From a philosophical standpoint if you will would you rather pre pay a premium for non GM owes or a discount for GM. Well I mean it won't be that way because as I say the market will decide I I would tend to believe that it would go more towards the premium side. At least that's the way more and more of the conversation is going in the grain trade. Andrea says the market is being driven by customer demands European Union consumers are generally opposed to genetically altered food. And Japan is requiring all GM food be labeled as

such. I'm Charles Lindy. Well you know we're looking at what they did last year and will be some of what they did you know last year some of what they did at Northeast Louisiana where Burnett was you know we looked at that so. And like I said there's going to be some adjusting we're going to have to do in the first first half of that game seeing what they're what exactly what they're doing making some adjustments to it. Their quarterback Cleo Lemon too is known to have over 27 hundred yards last year. He's a very good quarterback exceptional quarterback. They've got a tight end that into the season ranked fourth nationally and in two running backs that are big plate type players when they're healthy they've had some injury problems but when I was a 10 300 meter guy so it is that is a legitimate track speak. And so that what we're attempting to do is to close this loophole by putting some repercussions similar to when you say you don't want to do a breathalyzer thing and

repercussions together if you refuse to follow the police officers request to perform some field sobriety test. Will be going into a different phase of the depos history soon enough. Let's see probably this fall or next spring will be breaking ground on a facility to destroy the chemical agent VX and Mason in hangar has a separate supporting contract. It's different from this one with the contractor Parsons who will be taking care of that operation. But Mason hangers roll will change under this contract in that we will actually be be moving the chemical agent around transferring it from the storage facility over to the facility where it will be treated and destroyed. Mason hanger has been the operating contractor here since

1986. They also have a number of other contract military contracts around the United States. They've basically been responsible for the operation and a safe and secure storage of chemical agent VX here. Their security forces will have some some new training and we are in large part the contract here is is largely security. Everyone had a piece of this when tailback Rocky Harvey had TV runs of forty and seven yards. Freshman Eugene Wilson went 65 yards with a pond the first on my return for a TV since 1982 and quarterback Kurt Kitchener threw for a pair of touchdowns the first of 5 yarder to tight end Brian Hodges. But a line I coach Ron Turner says it was Kitchener's second TV a 12 yard slant to Michael Dean that was the play of the day. We're a little bit up tight and I just kept telling I say relax and play football just relax and have fun and play.

And after that play we did. Dean was happy the ball was on target he was sans mouthpiece on the play and that was approaching fast I don't like to think and I know when I came out of the game with a few question marks for next week Center Luke but yes sprained both his right ankle and right knee. Why don't nick beotch to hurt an ankle in his doubtful and strong safety as seen play as has a tender growing. This is Dave Dickey. The one hundred twenty six members of the herring Education Association decided to strike early this morning after some seven hours of negotiations last night failed to produce a new contract sticking points for the proposed one year deal our salaries and benefits no further negotiations have been scheduled. If the strike goes ahead twenty two hundred students in the district will not have classes tomorrow. It's the first time the district's teachers have called for a strike. I'm Craig Cohen AM 580 News. Presidential hopeful George W. Bush has said federal funds should be taken away from the

worst performing schools and made available to parents for private education. The plan calls for schools to test their impoverished students after three years of no progress the Title 1 money would be given to the state which would then dole it out to each student. Regional School Superintendent Marty Barrett agrees. Accommodating low income youngsters is a problem but that Bush's solution is impractical. He says instead officials should increase the amount of money in Title 1 funding. Right now we don't have enough title funds to really deal with all of the cuts that are really available. Federal guidelines are you know I'd rather inconsistent sometimes and almost free. Clue to some students from actually going help. So as opposed to trying to set up a penalty system. Be nice if they set up an accountability system which I believe already in place and that they put more money into actually truly funded programs. Barrett says the idea of bringing every child up to certain standards simply won't work because many states are still working out what exactly their standards are. And he says more testing isn't necessary because kids already face a battery of tests every year. Meanwhile

education secretary Richard Riley says the plan is a lot like a voucher system for private schools. Amy Morris 580 News. The idea is to test students Bush says if he's elected president the Title 1 money would be taken away from schools that don't bring the students in question up a standard within three years. That money would then go to the state. The state would then allocate funds about fifteen hundred dollars a year to the students for private school education. Regional superintendent of schools Marty Baer says the idea of bringing every student up to standards just won't work because many states simply don't have standards in place yet. Illinois has just recently established them. That's a very slow process. We only have just in the process of establishing standards we have now established a process for actually walking our curriculum over to standards. So we're we're several years away from that and to hold the districts accountable for some. Think it's the one that works and the guidelines haven't even been made yet. I think our I guess I would hope that he would take it into consideration.

Plus Merritt says these kids already face a battery of tests and more testing will prove anything. Secretary of Education Richard Riley says the program sounds an awful lot like private school vouchers. I'm Amy Morris AM 580 News. The charges that the Chicago district had were strictly for the Chicago stamping plant and the Chicago assembly plant. But the agreement actually cover you know several other facilities other stamping plants in the assembly plant that have their either large in nature or they had some charred history with it or they have a substantial number personage of women employed. For you to agree to do something that normally doesn't happen unless it's a hiring or promotion case and that is they will

agree to actually you know hire or promote 30 percent women you know to a degree of 30 percent into first time management positions because they recognize as we have that you know when you have female employees who have been sexually harassed and with some of the racial overtones there are in some instances they feel more comfortable going to a female. The survey by the Chicago Council on Urban Affairs says 60 percent of respondents believe tougher laws and longer sentences are effective ways to deal with violent juvenile offenders. But 62 percent say lawmakers could do more than just locking up the state's most violent kids CCU a President Lee Bailey hopes the survey will shape public policy in the next session of the General Assembly. The telephone survey of fifteen hundred Chicagoans showed about a fourth of all respondents have

no trust at all that police would do the right thing by youth in the juvenile justice system. The survey very little along racial lines. This is Cheryl weedy AM 580 News. There's been other surveys that were nationwide that pretty much confirmed what we have here in our survey that people in general do not want to stop a alike guy for an eye justice. When it comes to children they want Stern just because what they want they want to be restored. And so the kids. When they go through that you know the system can learn what the error error was to correct that error. Give the child support. So when they are ready to be reintroduced to society they come in and have a perfect. Not even close to it it wasn't like. You know they just walked in it was that they were a little sick one day into the emergency room they've been sick for many years.

He is expected to announce that no public school will be placed on the state's academic early warning west based soley on the results of a new tougher Illinois standards achievement test. Spokesperson Kim can now or says it's unfair to put schools on the state's warning list based on first year data starting next year however we will be and what we're going to do in the interim is is that's what our attorneys are looking at is that can we go ahead and work with the schools that are that we know are the most academically troubled as if there were a list. To go ahead and work with them to try to help them turn things around. And then we'll begin our list next year. Some districts superintendents have been critical of stat saying scores conflict with other national tests showing that schools are improving in hours says school administrators need to remember that study is different than

other standardized tests and that it compares a child's performance relative to an absolute standard rather than how a child tests in relation to a group of students. This is Dave Dickey a 580 News. A study from the group Families USA found that nearly three quarters of rural Medicare clients can't find a health maintenance organization in their communities and another 10 percent only have one HMO to choose from. The champagne based campaign for better health care says in Illinois only 4 percent of the rural population have access to two or more competing HMO shows. Campaign spokeswoman Dina Matola says that's reason to believe that more HMO involvement in senior health care wouldn't work. Say some of can't make a profit and there are areas because other people they're spread out across wide areas they can't do it because of scale because they have the market. Few people over long distance. Doctors in rural areas really have a lot of negotiating power versus the doctors in the urban areas

so a child can't hike all the cost out like they can in the urban areas. The authors of the study are campaigning against a bill in Congress that would give HMO has a more prominent role in providing health care for Medicare recipients. Mottola believes the current traditional insurance approach would be the best option for Medicare. Despite the specter of future financial troubles. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. Now that the sister in the collar counties of Chicago for example where him also go went to the several counties around Chicago I know go ahead and test the water and then pull out. So the trend is on the downward for choice. David Brodsky says personal reasons are behind his decision to resign after four years in the Chancellor's post Roski turn in his resignation letter yesterday. Your vice president James Dougal says he will stay on at UIC as a tenured professor of allied health and talks are underway on future prospects for Barofsky struggle says he was responsible for positioning the Chicago campus as one of the nation's preeminent urban universities the

university will form a search committee to find Brodsky's replacement current vice president for academic affairs Sylvia Manning will become interim chancellor. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. You know when I coach Ron Turner says Kittinger will have to think and move at the same time to avoid an Aztec d fence intent on intimidation. There Davis Alymer looked like a shot out of a cannon once a ball something I mean they're attacking him they're coming forward. They're an attacking blitzing style defense are going to bring somebody in every play. They're going to get off the bus blitzing us we know that that's what that's their style that's what they do and you know something we're going to be ready for a year ago a lot of my quarterbacks want up to the challenge facing blitzes game in and game out. Illinois threw for just three TDX against 14 interceptions kickoff Saturday is 230. This is Dave Dickey. The Europeans believe that comprehensive negotiations will help us to balance gains and losses better during these negotiations than do negotiations

carried out on a sectoral basis which seems to be the U.S. preference. EU launched an initiative called the stability pact for Southeast Europe in May. It involves countries in the region the EU the United States and Russia are all committed to building a durable peace in the area. The sad idea of a summit in July emphasized the responsibility of countries in the region to Forster mutual confidence a mutual cooperation in a new new spirit. The decision will be made gradually over time over three to five years as we announced when we bought it. We were asked at the news conference about any possible staff reductions. We said that over over time as efficiencies and processes are introduced there would be some reduction in staff. How much that will be will be determined by the

needs of the plant. These six and a half million dollar bequest is funding 42 students scholarships in the College of Commerce and business and it establishes the lobby as Hall Distinguished Chair in economics hall was a U of Iowa and Decatur businessman who died last year. Here hold also up is the hall fund trustee and executor of the estate you says a stock portfolio forms the bulk of the endowment meaning that the number of scholarships could increase in the future life he had been a friend for over 20 years and he had talked to me about his plans. And I knew that I was his executor. He updated His Will every couple of years but. But that part didn't change much. Most most of it is stocks and bonds and in fact that's one of the reasons Lybia and I were close friends we both have a love for the stock markets and and that sort of thing and being the trustee I'm in charge of managing his portfolio.

Each student scholarship is worth a minimum $5000. Juniors and seniors in commerce and business with a C or better grade point average are eligible. Hall received a bachelor's degree in marketing from the U of I in 1954. This is Dave Dickey a 580 News. The bequest comes from former Illinois alumni lobby s hall hall was a businessman in the Cater until his death last year. Harold also up as executor of halls of state and trustee of the endowment. He says Hall wanted the gift to go to people rather than bricks and mortar. Be was was very. I'm adamant about his affiliation with the University of Illinois he was proud to be an alumni and he just wanted to do all that he could to help the students. The gift is the largest ever made to the university for scholarship support for your senior and junior commerce and business students received scholarships this fall. The smallest being $5000 earned an undergraduate degree in

marketing in 1954 from the US. In 1959 he purchased the Decatur Yellow Cab Company. This is Dave Dickey and AM 580 News. He knows he's got to prepare his guest a focus he's got to go and play well and and there's no reason that he won't I believe he will he is going to play perfect you know he won't play perfect he never will play perfect. Nobody ever has played a perfect game except maybe Montana and a couple of Super Bowls whether or not you know we don't expect that and we don't need that from a we just need him to go out and play a good game which I which I believe you will. The final. Was. Going to be. Just as it did a week ago in a crowded Arkansas State University and was often seen wore out maybe ROTC bell ringers on the line I coach. Turner says he's keen to an all star in Gibbs words won't mean much without additional improvement ahead of

next week's game with Louisville and Heisman hopeful Chris Rodman. We need to play better than we did today and we can't afford to have a lapse where we have a third quarter where we kind of fall apart we lost our poise a little bit in the third quarter and you know he made too many mistakes causes for concern for Turner include converting on third down just three of 13 times and failure for the second game in a row to get a turnover. Among the highlights yesterday quarterback Kurt Kitna threw for 54 and 30 yard T.D.. Steve have rambled around and for a 46 yard score and Eugene Wilson went 56 yards with a punt return has set up a hard plunge over right tackle for sex. This is Dave Dickey. Public health spokesperson Tom Schaffer says more than 200 people have been reported ill from a potentially fatal strain of E. coli bacteria. The outbreak has been traced to a September 4th party held in a cow pasture 25 miles north of Springfield. Schaffer says LEED Department is still

trying to identify the source of the bacteria. The 202 people have been reported ill right now. We're putting in the computer system and then we'll start doing some mathematical formulas based on that and cross matching and that will give us an idea you know what the exposures might might have been and what might not have been. And Shafer adds state health inspectors toured the pasture where the party occurred this past weekend. We took samples of the water system from up and from the ground from cow manure. We talked to the food handlers. We talked to the organizers. So we're still doing our detective work at an information that we're going to try and put all that together and see what we come up with. Schaffer says investigators are also running tests on meat that people brought home from the event and put in their freezers. Illinois typically has about 200 cases of e.coli a year. This is Dave Dickey and AM 580 News.

Will we look for new manure. That something is going to tell us a lot more than the old man or the things that were there on September 4th. You know the whole idea is not going to live you know outside the cow body. So we're looking for. Yesterday we look for a new cow paddies and we were going to test that to see if the particular cows are still on the property may or may not have this variety of E. coli. A woman who serves as a foster mom in Champaign also wants to adopt. So she called the 1 800 number listed in the Yellow Pages and talked to a woman. Police are not identifying the suspect who allegedly told the potential adoptive mom to wire her $10000 and she could have her baby within a few days. No background checks no social service agencies no legal fees. That's when the foster mom called police. What scared me. Just really scared me and made me you know I still think my filming was that this person said that she had this baby for us and then about it. He didn't

ask for a home study he didn't know anything and had a foreman take it baby. Anybody despite what the birth mother wanted. I mean that he wanted to make the money. Police say they're still looking for a way to bring charges against the group but there's a question of jurisdiction. It's also hard to determine exactly what laws other than advertising laws were broken because selling babies is illegal but being a facilitator of adoptions is not. Meanwhile the adoptive mom who wishes to remain anonymous to protect her new child's identity was able to adopt her baby through legal means. The child is home now safe with her new champagne mom. What worries police is how many kids are still being brokered the investigation is ongoing. I'm Amy Morris AM 580 News. Bell started with a call to a 1 800 number in the Yellow Pages. But when one champagne area foster mom called the number to discuss adoption she was told to wire $10000 and within a few days she'd have her baby. No legal fees no home

visits no background check. That's when the woman called police. She has since adopted the child in question through legal means. So she wants to remain anonymous but she says there's not a lot police can do because technically selling babies isn't really a federal offense. It's a federal law that you can't. So it's harder I mean to say it's a federal law that you can't sell children in the United States for sexual exploitation. Oh absolutely there's a lot they can catch these people and their crops facilitator but they come so what we used to call them with baby broker. Police say the case crosses many lines of jurisdiction the FBI is involved too. The investigation's ongoing. Police say there's no way to know how many babies have already been sold whether the birth mothers or attorneys are in on the scheme or how many families have given money only to find out there is no baby at all. I'm Amy Morris AM 580 News. He was very aggressive very far more physical than he has been. Did a good job against the pass good job against the run and really played outstanding all around game.

Carol Buss says she and her clients have had bad experiences with INS mainly the clerks who make up the front line of the operation. She says the indifferent treatment happens to even the most distinguished professors a skill that if I make the wrong foot the idea that they're going to deport me I guess. Something terrible to me. So if I don't have that relationship I think some of the IMF staff may be take advantage of this. They're rude. And sometimes they literally care right. People I think have no appreciation for how nervous people are having to approach them for certain kinds of services. Members of Illinois congressional delegation spent Monday hearing other complaints about the Chicago INS office the office director has already promised changes including expanding the office to help reduce delays and implementing cultural diversity training. I'm Tom Rogers a 580 News.

Carol buss helps faculty and staff at the University of Illinois deal with INS issues such as visas green cards and immigration even though much of her client's business is now done with another office. There are negative experiences with rude treatment at the Chicago office make sure hope things can change. Boss does have sympathy for INS clerks but only to a point and it is demanding. There are huge numbers of people and it's complicated by the fact that a lot of the people may not speak English at all. A lot of times they don't have the right forearm so they're not filled out properly and it takes a lot of patience to deal with this. And they don't seem to employ patient people are at stake I doubt being patient. They bought it on the way bus says the harsh treatment has been directed at all types of vi and his clients including the most distinguished visiting professors even if they're fluent in English. The director of the office claims improvements are taking place. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News.

Hopefully remember that we're going to slow down and do things the right way. You know I've been saying all along the correct term for a referendum it's been a better time to slow down and start doing things in a more businesslike manner for you know having government buy cry heard. Initially are going to slow things down a little bit. I understand they're going to be working overtime maybe even some night to try to get her traffic record be open in time to play for Jondrette premier cooking and Krispy Kreme there. There is more at stake than which team gets off to a 2 1 0 start. The Aztecs are one of eight schools that moved from the West to create a Mountain West Conference. San Diego State coach Ted Tollner says non-conference wins this year

and the next will give the MWC needed visibility. I think we're one of those conferences that people think of right after the major you know the Big 12 the southeast the Big 10 and the only way you're going to think about it is to play some of those people and win your share of games. A win over the Aztecs who won the whack last year could give Illinois dwindling fan base a needed shot of enthusiasm. Illinois I won only three games in the last two seasons. Kick off Saturday is 2:30 this is Dave Dickey. Ford Motor Company says it will contribute four point five million dollars over the next five years for scholarships and facilities at the U of I. A large portion of the contribution will go toward a new laboratory in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering. The lab will prepare students for careers in automotive science. Another significant portion of Ford's gift will fund undergraduate and graduate engineering scholarships as well as undergraduate scholarships and business and assistance for minority and women engineering students. The money will also

support a program that develops college courses distributed through telecommunications. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. Perhaps there is a way we can indicate the placard itself. Who is the person who it's been given to. I'm not quite sure the best way to go about this but it's something that Secretary is intending to present to his Highway Safety Task Force that's looking into a number of motor vehicle issues. While the number of handicapped parking placards issued by the state has gone up sharply recently groups are seeing more able bodied people claiming reserved parking spaces with the tags. Dave Drucker the secretary of state's office says the problem may be overstated. For example he says more placards are being issued because the state is now the only source for them. The previous administration taking responsibility away from local governments. I think we do need to look at it. No question about it. And there has been an increase in both the papal plates and the placards but the fact of the matter is is

that the secretary of state has been having centralized the location we inherited the place I'm sorry all of the placards that have been given out by municipalities. So there was no automatic increase. They are the ones that we were giving out. Drucker says Secretary of State Jesse White will approach a special committee with ideas including a proposal to put a name or a license plate number on each placard to help prevent misuse. A new law passed this year imposes a flat $100 fine on people who violate the handicapped parking lot. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. The Department of Corrections has four finalist cities for a new women's prison and five communities in line for a new 288 juvenile facility. One of those five is own Argan Iroquois County Chamber of Commerce director Mike Telstra says the DRC will learn at a public meeting in the next few weeks whether that community supports the site. There will be a community hearing where the fish will

come to hear why we support it and to hear from people who do not support it. I don't you know I wouldn't be so naive as to think that something I believe 90 percent of the people feel is very positive for a community that there are some people who think otherwise. Till Straw says oh Naga is at a disadvantage. The others in the running are offering incentives like free land and infrastructure assistance. He says his county has little in the way of economic development expertise. He hopes the DLC considers his area's economic need and its proximity to the Academy a private institution that works with troubled young people. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. They're quite county in the last two years alone and just for employers we lost nearly 700 jobs and a county of only 30000 population. Combined with that loss in farm economy jobs and loss of farm economy and revenue I think will be also very devastating for our

economy as you know. I mean the list of reasons goes on unarmed with declining enrollment in our schools to you know just dying towns in the area. Blossom jobs and some revenue here since the last application we had we lost 40 high paying jobs from the coal mining and the county lost $200000 a year in sales tax revenues from the coal mine. Yesterday public service electric and gas of teachers they put out a call for assistance. And so we have that 26 two person crews out to a new charity they left very early this morning from all of our service reaching offices around the state. Much will be said and written this week about Louisville quarterback and Heisman hopeful Chris Redmond and wins over Kentucky in Chattanooga. The Cardinals scored one hundred

fourteen points and Redmond completed 74 percent of his passes with five touchdowns publicly a lot my coach Ron Turner said Rodman's performance thus far this year is making the entire often more productive that teams have been so concerned with the past that Louisville has found big holes to run through. Privately Turner is saying Illinois is lawyer bills equal and he may have a point. Last year's game with lawyer Bill was in doubt until the fourth quarter when missed tackles cost Illinois a win. When teams are equal Turner says Field position is crucial. Davis has to stop people and we stop someone three three and out 10 times in a game before some point you're going to have pretty good field position or punt coverage team or kickoff coverage team all of our special teams return teams are doing a really good job of you know covering kicks not let him get retires and we're get some good punt return so we're getting good field position. Illinois the fence has been the beneficiary of a long field seam play as credits and a line I often say has consistently driven the ball put the ball in the end

zone to not turn the ball over not given you know the defense the ball in a position where we're basically already. On our heels. And that's that's that's to give props to our office and I think that they're really responsible for that as well as the defense were playing a very good defense and we have to continue that much is also being made this week about the Cardinals the fence goes into tomorrow's game ranked number one in the nation against Iran at 13 and a half yards a game. But Cardinals coach John L. Smith says that's misleading that teams haven't challenged Louisville on the ground. He says that won't be the case when Illinois comes calling. This week we really get to find out how how good we are versus the rush because I believe Illinois is going to come in here without a doubt. Step up and say we're going to run it and we're going to run it at you and we're bigger and we're stronger you got to stop the run to beat us kick off Saturday evening is at 6. This is Dave Dickey.

The line I have had some chances in the first two games opponents have dropped the ball on the ground three times and the Illinois secondary has had at least a half dozen golden opportunities for a pick off. Thus far nothing and Turner says if that continues a winning season will be tough to achieve. You know we're minus two in the turnover ratio after two games and that's not that's not good enough we've got to improve there. Turner says turnovers could play a role in grounding Louisville's high powered offer ends tomorrow. The Cardinals have scored 114 points in the first two games. Kickoff Saturday is 6 p.m. This is Dave Dickey. But tremendous faith and you know local districts and what they do and how they how they structure their curriculums how they do how the community then involved in setting a goal. And and I think especially in Champaign and four counties I think our school systems are just tremendous. And I think they all you know if you

compare on state averages that they are. And and to be burdened by another one that arbitrarily is going to weigh something down. I just you know I don't see it. I think there's a tremendous problem. People who are optimistic about the program will cite the number of people who were in some sense. And also the wage levels which you know $7 an hour it's not a great wage level but maybe it's higher than some of us would have expected. But people find fault with the program or are going to turn more to the instability of the income the poor use of services that we're seeing that needs to be improved. And also how we make our service system more responsive to those people who are trying to to make it through word. It's a very time consuming and labor intensive process. So what we thought about doing was instead of each one of us doing it individually

we could get together as a group and collect the information. It would make it the same information. What gaps they perceive in services. What needs are not able to be met. And also as far as their own agencies are concerned what resources they need what data they need that they aren't able to find to help them determine their priorities. Making better decisions more consistent decisions and quicker decisions that's really the biggest thing. Then he sold the ball with more confidence on the ball with more accuracy and he's what he's doing right now is giving our receivers chances to make plays. Champagne unit for business manager David Grayson also serves as president of the governing board. He says the champagne school district operates 19 facilities and they spend a

lot of money on power. We use almost a million dollars a year in electric. Because of the lighting because of the air conditioning and in some of the schools. Famish etc. there are any number of of usages that are compatible with computers and other technology and schools that use electricity. Gray says the goal is for the members to not have to be experts in electricity usage. That's the job for example with deregulation utilities are calculating how much power each customer will need per hour. They do that for the customers with the IEC in place they'll do it for their members. Gray says they expect to see savings of three and a half to four million dollars the first year their group is in place and savings should kick in November 1st. I'm Amy Morris AM 580 News. Superintendents business managers school boards do not have to become experts in

electric utilization and nomination that is going to be done for them by a program administrator that is experts in that field and are able to do that. Obviously one student have been gone for a while they come back they're excited to see each other they tend to have more social gatherings and they haven't necessarily gotten into the meat of their class work at. So the first month is always a bit of a struggle in that area. And so we always look forward to when the students can settle down and focus on their class work instead of they're doing an excessive amount of socializing. This is a problem that does not just affect University of Illinois by any stretch of the imagination. We're taking some proactive steps to to try to prevent student drinking. So we're doing a better job in some schools perhaps not as good a job as other schools. The problem is not

the worst here as it is some places in the nation and it's not dealt with as much as it is in other places in the nation I mean you know we're probably closer to the middle of the pack. Part of what a lot of people want to do when we talk about a crime is get beyond just the individual and you know some would say kind of random acts of violence and talk about discrimination and you know the roots of discrimination itself which they see is you know the roots to the you know hate crimes. Generally. What we're doing now in this joint committee is talking about things we can to you know to publicize. The problem to sort of bring this discussion out in the open. You know these are the ideas behind groups like the World Church the Creator our views that

if you expose them to the light of day. You know it showed himself to be pretty flawed ways of thinking in a way flawed ways of viewing the world. The parent company of Commonwealth Edison Unicom is proposing to merge with Pico energy a Philadelphia company that's helped operate the Clinton nuclear power station a company owned in part by Pico is in the process of buying Clinton. The 31 billion dollar merger would create the nation's largest electric utility and the fourth largest generator of electricity. Pico CEO Corbin McNeil says a future nuclear plant purchases are possible. We think that we can manage that transition achieve the premier status that we want as a company as a combined company I have to tell you to acquire nuclear plants as long as we can be assured that we can operate them safely revival and productively to make sure a very large shareholder return.

The new yet unnamed company will have its power marketing headquarters in Philadelphia and its distribution in retail headquarters in Chicago. It could result in the loss of eleven hundred jobs. McNeil says the merger should not affect the purchase of Clinton state and federal regulators still have to approve the merger as well as the shareholders of the two companies. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. The heads of both companies say the marriage is what's needed to compete in the future marketplace Yoona com is the parent of Chicago's Commonwealth Edison CEO John Rowe says his company and Pico of Philadelphia will not only continue to operate retail utilities in their own areas they hope to expand nationwide in the third way. We are to anxious to stay in the regeneration and marketing business information and distribution business and the retail energy business. Both metropolitan areas and to expand what we can across the nation. The point of this merger is to

get this scale to become effective on a national basis. All aspects of this space is business. Rose says even through the merger process comet will still concentrate on upgrading its electric transmission system. Tom had suffered several embarrassing power outages in the Chicago area over the summer. I'm Tom Rogers a 580 News when they took over the local phone company in California in 1997. The following year they filed the string of rate increases and custards customer complaints against the phone company that were filed with the state regulatory agency their almost doubled. No they have a very bad track record and unfortunately the consumers here in Illinois have to look forward to. It's going to be a huge monopoly controlling almost one third of the country's phone lines. And what we've seen in the past is that the biggest

competitors AT&T and CII brands when they came in and they tried to compete simply against Ameritech they had a very difficult time and they abandoned those plans. It's going to be even harder for those companies to come in now and compete against a huge company with the you know resources of SBC and Ameritech combined. Arkansas State and San Diego State couldn't run or pass against Illinois. Louisville was a pass happy Turner says Michigan state brings a legitimate balance balance that begins with a talented front line. They're big they're physical and like you said they can also protect the passer so I mean they're very talented we're going to have to do a good job of being aggressive getting off blocks against the run and getting off blocks and pressuring the quarterback. The Spartans are throwing for two hundred forty six yards a game and running for one hundred eighty three. And Turner adds for the most part MSU has been on predictable this year. Kickoff Saturday at Memorial Stadium is 2:30. This is Dave

Dickey. Illinois coach Ron Turner says he knew Kitchener was the Big Ten quarterback in the moment he saw him on film but the Schomburg high school project didn't play that way last year after starting four games. Kitna was benched by Turner Kittinger watched a line I losses against Penn State and Indiana before returning in the fourth quarter in the season finale against Michigan State. Turner says Kittinger needed to ride the pine. He wasn't real happy when we made the move last year and took him out at the time he didn't understand and I think now he may not admit it but I think now he's looking back on even after the season looking back on it he knew it was a best thing for him. We weren't doing much offensively around him and his confidence was starting to get rattled a little bit and to sit to have a chance to play then sit out and watch a little bit and then get back in and play and and do pretty well. Enable him to go all in and have a great focused offseason which has helped him tremendously.

Now Kittinger exudes confidence so much so that even Sykes up his teammates at Turner's expense. Illinois had a fourth and one last week against Louisville Kittinger came into the huddle and called it power. Oh a run for Steve Hobart between the tackles as he was breaking the huddle. Kitchener told his teammates that Turner wanted to pass the ball that he didn't believe that Illinois could get a yard on the ground. That was all have art needed to hear. You guys coach wanted to pass but I told him we could run and let's. You know I can't say the rest. Let's have our game to four on the play keeping what would be a touchdown drive alive when Kitna got to the sidelines he told Turner the story. Turner says Kittinger played in his words mind games with his teammates. But Turner also isn't arguing with success. The intangibles that he has are things that we saw on film and we saw talking to him that that can separate you know quarterbacks Michigan State coach Nick Saban also knows Kitna brings plenty of intangibles to the game.

Saban heavily recruited Kittinger only to lose him to the O-line I I would think that they're pretty pleased with the way they've got a platform. I mean I would be kicked off Saturday afternoon as 2:30 this is Dave Dickey. With a win tomorrow over Michigan State the O-line I will be off to their first for an all star since Harry Truman was president. That bowl hungry Illinois fans dreaming about a New Year's Day trip. But inside the Memorial Stadium complex the team is trying not to think about what might be tailback city of Hobart. It's a distraction because your your your focus is being pulled in a different direction than where it should be. And it's also exciting to know that we're a team that can get get to that point. Meanwhile MSU is trying to get to foreign oil for only the second time since 1966. Kickoff Saturday at Memorial Stadium is 2:30. This is Dave Dickey. We have struggled had some adversity but as a staff we've hung in there together and believed

in one another continue to do what we believed in knowing we were doing the right things and eventually we start working and as a football team the players have really hung in there real well and believed in what we're doing believed in one another and these guys really care about one another and I think that shows on the way they play with the with intense in a passion that they play with on Saturdays and you know hopefully we keep that going. We have a news conference is going on across the country this week and also enforcement campaigns going on through three different jurisdictions across the country to get the message out that if if you read if you run a red light you could cause serious injury or death to yourself to your family or to somebody you don't even know. People who run red lights seem to be saying a few minutes to a very high is more important than the life of someone else. What was

equally interesting it was that the surveys the respondent attitude toward red light running what similar to that of the attitude towards drunk driving some years ago where you had people who were otherwise decent people engaging in the behavior that they didn't realize was both perilous and morally wrong. Areas that we would most likely be looking at first would be in the area of expanded coverage for chiropractic care. And you know maybe looking at acupuncture or acupressure therapy those kinds of things. We did in fact take a look at the possibility of doing this orcas about a year to two years ago and approached a number of providers of alternative medicine to contract with them for discounts for our members wanted to use their services. And very frankly and I won't mention names of people that we approached in the champagne Urbana area. In any

case we're not interested in doing that. Are you telling me that there's anything more that we can do than pass a law that says we just don't do that kind of thing. And do you think that that's going to have any better luck than to meet the not the end but at least meet the resistance in the court in Chicago. I mean so we throw up another bill in that direction. I mean we have to figure out another way of going about it. Even though one judge struck it down. I think and I mean this literally and I don't mean it. I mean it literally thank God that we elected Jim Ryan to be our attorney general because he did decide after he reviewed it that he would fight the defect that had been struck down so we're on appeal as far as the Illinois law goes but it's such a

slow painful process. Congressional legislation now lets universities notify parents or guardians when a student violates disciplinary policy that has members of Illinois student government angry enough to call a student referendum online. I asked the president Jeff Shapiro says his organization can set up a referendum through the university computer center. Even though you have AI administrator don't have to heed the results. Illinois student government is the only body on on this campus with the right to call a student referendum. It's the largest power. I believe we have as an organization to show the administration or anyone else how the student body feels and how we think on this issue. Being that it goes right to the heart of privacy issues for students every student should have the opportunity to voice his or her opinion to the administration. The uproar centers around calls that could be made if an underage student is found possessing alcohol. SHAPIRO claims the rule carries several loopholes including exemptions from the calls for students

21 or older. Students will be able to vote online Monday or Tuesday on the referendum which asks them whether the university should adopt the call home policy. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. Illinois student government president Jeff Shapiro says students will be able to vote online next Monday or Tuesday. At issue is whether the University of Illinois should call home if a student violates disciplinary policy including possession of drugs or underage possession of alcohol. Shapiro is confident that students will voice their displeasure. And he suggests alternatives. But look for ways when a student comes to campus right off the bat where we can prevent them from ever being in that situation whether that means mandatory workshop the first week of school much like they do the care workshops or for education about rape and sexual assaults or or something else but let's look for a preventative measure not an after the fact slap on the wrist column to mommy and daddy. The proposed call home policy has already generated anger in the student newspaper and it's student

government meetings although Shapiro says ISG will not take an official position until the online referendum is finished. He admits the referendum is only advisory. You have administrators do not have to follow it. I'm Tom Rogers AM 580 News. On the first play of the day the Ally and I were backed up at their one Curt Kitchener let fly a forty six yard completion to Brandon Lloyd. From there it was all downhill. Penalty has brought back big plays the kicking game was subpar giving MSU a short field to work with four turnovers produced no on high points and the defense flat out missed chances at two other turnovers. But the biggest problem. No running game 34 rushes produced just forty two yards a line I coach Ron Turner. We had too many second and longs whether we were throwing it on first down and not getting a play or running it on first down and not get in the yardage you know second and long. To me second long situations you do get there in the driver seat Turner also had something to say about the

officials. I have an opinion right now but if I tell you what it is I'm keeping my shot. OK. I don't make enough money to pay the fine that they put on us with the loss Eli and I fall to three and want to head next Saturday's road day at Indiana. This is Dave Dickey. It brings me back to me that's critical for me. This community space technology transfer and creating an environment similar to them in California and Massachusetts can attract talent right. You know the private sector to create an environment where the community Anderson University great. Folks who just are in the government are just are in universities or just or in corporations live in their own culture and their different cultures are way different. So yeah it's a big job to say look get out of

just your normal environment. Learn how we do business and then let's figure out how we can work together. That's not an easy task. It's no good to make new discoveries or invent new technologies in the universities if there's no way to hand it off to. And the trouble is that that handoff has to be real swift and real efficient because the pace of the race has gotten faster and you know what tomorrow is going to be even faster. Our preference would be for France now to remain an independent community. But the federal government has basically told Francis Nelson that they must affiliate with somebody and we don't want to appear to be sort of promoting or upholding one of the other providers. They voted unanimously to notify the federal government bureau of primary health care

of our commitment to oppose any effort by preventing a Covenant Hospital or preventive health system to take over Frances Nelson Community Health Center. They can start with the fires or get out of control. People burning brush or I guess you can even have a storm to start fires but that's pretty rare. A lot of people burn their trash and some of the rural areas would you suggest anybody burn their trash at this time of year. Very bad time yes we have indexes of. Time to burn trash and that's not good. Try time. Well in the past five years the country companies insurance has paid out early. Two million dollars per year for combine tractors due to a fire that we have a lot of crops. It's

really dry out there and the combine in tractor a really hot piece of equipment. The agreement was prompted by the move of pages for all ages bookstore from champagne to Savoy champagne officials were upset that Savoy offered the store a tax rebate as an incentive to locate in the community. Now the mayors of champagne Urbana and Savoy have agreed to sign a good neighbor policy that stipulates the municipalities will not use tax breaks or other incentives to spirit away a business. But one of the two other communities in the pact the agreement will not affect existing enterprise zones Tax Increment Financing districts or situations where a business is moving in from outside the region or beyond a mere Todd Satterthwaite says the trio of Mayors plan to take the pack seriously even though it's not something that's passed by the city council that all three misspelled the star.

Very serious about this policy and in fact I've already started some of the policies and incorporated them into the way we do business on a day to day basis Satterthwaite says taxpayers will benefit from the policy because tax dollars won't be used to simply encourage business to move a few blocks away to save money. I'm sure all weedy AM 580 News. You just see bidding wars between Champaign Urbana Savoy and each person each community would be trying to lure you know lucrative businesses like car dealerships across the city boundaries with higher and higher incentive packages. So you know that would. That certainly doesn't serve the taxpayer when we're giving away taxpayer dollars to merely to have businesses move around from one you know supposedly to the other. You can't just stop on a dime when you're going 35 40 plus

miles an hour and you know kids can be really quick and they're not always thinking you're driving that car. You have to be the one who's thinking and you have to be prepared prepared for any option. Part of the reaction from the drivers that they get sometimes is just silence to tears. Some people are going you know I just one think. And when you're behind the wheel of a car you have to think about all the possibilities occur. The Francis Nelson board had hoped to get input on which of the three possible choices might be a favorite within the community. But what they received was something very different. The idea of a merger or partnership with another health care provider right out feelings of anger and confusion from community members. Champagne county board member Lloyd Carter represents the district containing the center. Carter says he and the members of his district were dumbfounded when they heard of the center's plans and were left in the

dark on the subject. This came about. None of the people in the community knew in the thing about Carter says he sees no reason for any kind of partnership and says any problems the center might have. Stop and start with the people who run it. I think the people that. Chills the soup bowl in the bowl would. Didn't have any means they didn't have you know they didn't have the real commitment of the community. Francis Nelson board chairman you read allophonic says he understands the emotions attached to the center but ultimately the decision to seek out a partnership had to be done. We had to change Francis Nelson somehow. And the government has suggested and recommended and strongly recommended that we consider some other collaboration collaboration with another health care entity Alfonse says the federal government will ultimately have the final say so in any partnership agreement.

Federal grants are the center's main source of funding. More than $400000 a year. I'm Curt Libra. I AM 580 News. A little bit over 7000 students had voted I think five thousand six hundred students voted against having the university adopt this policy. They were a little bit over eleven hundred students voting for it. And as a result of that the assembly went to hadn't passed a resolution supporting the students choice. But I know a lot of students that I've spoken to had said I would call my parents in that situation if I got a ticket if I were arrested that be who I would make my one phone call to. But they didn't want the university making that decision for them. Hoping to prepare educators and others who are interested in giving them tools so that they can work with children in promoting good character.

In a way this kids. Gets a mole and she doesn't really change it right. So this leaves it suffering tragically so then they end up having a giveaway so you should take away your pangs. They should do that of course a compromise the following year. They have less money available so than you borrow a little bored the following year from there catch up with you eventually and I hope we don't rely on that over and over again. There may be a time needed for an emergency. I understand that but it shouldn't become a matter of course. Some of the things I've done this year for example the idea of declaring the subsurface which we've taken over 10 years since the inception of this country as a merge and see spending is to suggest that it was unanticipated. Well of course it's anticipated we know every 10 years we're going to do it. Imagine the bureaucracy and administrative tangle we find ourselves in trying to find all the eligible families and send out these monthly checks. I think the

overhead and administration make that particular approach questionable. It affects our credibility and I think I think frankly the American people want honest honesty from us and a bipartisan approach when it gets to the end. Tell them the truth. Play it straight and do your best to have both political parties work toward a good common solution. I caught your eye Matt is what what you do with your money how much money rip you off. Towards the end of the year it's a personal decision. Certainly not want to do that we're going to try to make on anybody's behalf. We just want to make sure people understand the facts and not might not be making decisions based on fictions or what they may have you know on the street or on a radio show. Patients come in and we treat them one way and then we have to move them down the hall mon behold another in the oral clinic in a whole other group. People have to take

over. That doesn't make sense from a patient care perspective they say why what happened to the nurse I just had. Well it was a coral foundation nurse this is a coral clinic nurse looks like a nurse to me.