Bashir Jihadbaaree, 34, was found guilty of possession with intent to deliver cannabis Jan. 27 after a bench trial in front of Judge Gary V. Pumilia and was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

March 16, 2011, members of the Rockford Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at 323 N. Church St., Timeless Touch Barber Shop, where officers located Jihadbaaree in the building. While searching the defendant, officers recovered automobile keys, U.S. currency, as well as a clear plastic baggie that contained a green, plant-like material that field tested positive for the probable presence of cannabis.

Police observed a black Chevy Suburban parked outside of the barbershop that was registered to the defendant. Detectives observed inside the vehicle in plain view several loose pieces of cannabis buds.

Jihadbaaree consented to a search of the vehicle, in which officers located loose cannabis buds as well as one box of sandwich baggies, a digital scale, and a black cloth bag containing 27 small individual Ziploc baggies that later tested positive for cannabis. Total weight of the cannabis recovered was 19.46 grams.

Possession with intent to deliver is a class 4 felony with a sentencing range of one to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. However, because of his prior criminal history, the defendant was eligible for an extended-term sentence of up to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Following a national and local surge in employment in January, the Rockford housing market also experienced a significant gain.

Rockford Area Realtors (RAR) sold 216 homes in January, the highest total for the month of January since the housing recession began five years ago, when 351 properties were sold in 2007. Sales this January jumped an astonishing 35 percent from 160 home sales in January 2010.

January also marked the eighth straight month of year-to-year increases. The last such sales streak occurred more than a decade ago, ending in October 2001.

“A combination of unseasonably mild weather, historically low mortgage rate and attractive market pricing lead to an eighth straight month of increases in home sales,” said Steve Bois, CEO of RAR.

RAR’s latest report shows market-wide home sale prices fell 3.8 percent from a three-month rolling average price of $98,076 in December to $94,371 in January, the lowest monthly average price since the housing recession started in 2007.

However, when bank foreclosures and property short sales (a home sold for less than the current amount owed to the lender) were discounted, the average sale price rose to $117,146.

“While home prices continue to be a concern, largely due to the continuing effect foreclosures and short sales are having on the market,” Bois said, “the continued trend of month-over-month increases in the number of home sales is really encouraging news. Buyers are finding deals that are simply too good to pass up, and coupled with stronger consumer optimism, this is making an excellent way to start 2012.”

The monthly average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage Feb. 2 fell to 3.87 percent, down from 3.98 percent the week of Jan. 26, according to Freddie Mac. These are the lowest mortgage rates in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971.

“For consumers looking at the big picture, especially first-time homebuyers, now is the time to get a new mortgage,” Bois said. “If you are able to qualify for a mortgage and have job security, it means now is a great time to buy a home.”

Housing market forecasts for first quarter 2012 for Illinois by the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) of the University of Illinois and other January housing statistics suggest sales in the first quarter of this year will be significantly higher than the same period last year, although prices will still be lower than a year ago.

Upward trending January statistics including strong sales pending for February, a drop in housing inventory to 2007 levels, an increase of up to 15 percent in showings reported by Realtors and a significantly higher number of unique users on the association’s website (levels usually seen in the higher-selling spring market).

In a long-awaited wave of hiring, companies added 243,000 jobs nationally in January.

Locally, Chrysler announced the creation of 1,800 upcoming jobs being added to a third shift, some 200 more than expected, as the Belvidere plant begins production of the new Dodge Dart.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The federal tax credit that has supported wind energy for almost 20 years is set to expire at the end of 2012.

With this expiration looming, the future of the industry in Illinois — one of the top producers of wind energy in the nation — could leave the state struggling to meet its renewable energy requirements, even as the state exports more wind energy than it uses.

With 1,500 turbines in operation and about the same number in permitting stages, Illinois’ wind industry also has thrived because of an electric grid ideal for carrying power into Chicago and exporting it to Midwestern and Eastern states and the state’s renewable-energy requirements.

Illinois is one of 33 states that has passed renewable energy requirements. By 2025, 25 percent of Illinois’ electricity has to come from sources such as solar, wind and biomass; 75 percent of that must come from wind.

In 2011, Illinois became the fourth-largest wind-producing state in the country, according to a January report from the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group.

In 1992, Congress offered wind companies a federal tax credit, now worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity generated and lasts for 10 years. Illinois’ wind generators can produce as much as 2.4 million kilowatts, worth as much as $52,000 a day.

But Matt Aldeman, senior energy analyst with Illinois State University’s Center for Renewable Energy, which studies new sources of energy and the markets to sell them, said it is not “that often” that Illinois’ wind farms generate the maximum 2.4 million kilowatts.

“It might be windy in one part of the state, but not windy in another part,” Aldeman said. Which is why, he added, it is difficult to come up with average energy production and tax credit figures.

For Stefan Noe, wind energy is a worthy investment

“It does make up a good percentage of the economics of a wind project,” said Noe, president of Midwest Wind Energy, a wind developer based in Chicago that is building the Big Sky wind farm in Bureau and Lee counties, which is expected to generate enough electricity to power 125,000 houses.

But Illinois is just one state where Midwest Wind Energy has wind farms. The company also has wind farms in Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska, and sells power throughout the Midwest.

“The wind industry has become able to compete even with coal, thanks to the tax credit and falling turbine prices,” Noe said.

More companies are producing wind turbines, which leads to lower prices, as does a drop in the price for many of the parts used to make the giant blades and generators.

Noe said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the tax credit will be renewed, as it has been almost every year since 1993. And as long as wind turbines are in the ground before the end of the year, the companies will qualify for the credit.

Even so, the industry is lobbying hard for its renewal; the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, would extend it for four years.

“We’re not asking to be a permanent part of the tax code,” said Ellen Carey, a spokesman for the American Wind Energy Association. “Wind is on track (to) contribute 20 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030. We’re just saying, let us finish the job.”

Kevin Borgia, executive director of the Illinois Wind Energy Association, a nonprofit industry trade group, said he is optimistic the credit will be renewed.

But without the credit, Borgia said, “investment isn’t attractive, new development will grind to a halt and the thousands of American manufacturing jobs the industry supports will wane.”

In Illinois, dozens of companies, many of them with headquarters in Europe or Asia, manufacture parts such as turbines and gearboxes for the state’s and country’s wind industry. Aside from the manufacturing jobs in the supply chain, the industry has created more than 13,000 temporary construction jobs and about 600 long-term maintenance jobs, according to the Illinois State University Center for Renewable Energy, a research and outreach nonprofit.

NTN Bearings, a Japanese company that makes bearings for heavy machinery, including wind turbines, has considered expanding its Macomb, Ill., plant to serve U.S. markets, said spokesman Joe Kahn.

“With the uncertainty over the production tax, it’s difficult to make a business case for capital expansion,” Kahn said of the Macomb plant, which employs about 400 people and primarily makes bearings for agricultural and construction machinery.

A study released in December by the economic research firm Navigant projected that an end to the tax credit would likely lead to loss of 37,000 wind industry jobs nationwide. Extending the credit, according to Navigant, would create 17,000 jobs over the next several years.

More than jobs, though, Borgia and Noe, president of Midwest Wind Energy, said the expiration of the tax credit could make it hard for Illinois to meet its renewable energy regulations of getting 18.75 percent of its electricity from wind by 2025.

“With the federal tax credit, the cost of compliance with the (requirement) is low. Without (it), the cost increases dramatically, raising rates for consumers,” Borgia said.

Only a few Illinois wind farms have long-term agreements to sell to Illinois’ major electricity providers, Ameren Illinois and Commonwealth Edison LLC, said Borgia.

Between September 2010 and 2011, 4 percent of Ameren’s electricity came from wind, said Ameren spokesman Leigh Morris.

During that same time, only 1 percent of ComEd’s electricity came from wind, according to the company’s most recent disclosures.

Wind generates about 7 percent of the state’s electricity, enough to power about 500,000 to 1 million homes, said David Loomis, director of the Center for Renewable Energy, a nonprofit that does research and outreach on renewable energy. That’s projected to double over the next five to 10 years, Loomis said.

Most of the wind electricity generated in Illinois is exported to states on the East Coast such as New York and Massachusetts to help meet their renewable energy requirements. Or, they sell to the “merchant” market to any utility that needs to buy power on any given day, whether in Illinois or elsewhere. The specific amounts of those exports aren’t public information.

Arlene Juracek, acting director of the Illinois Power Agency, which buys contracts for ComEd and Ameren, is optimistic Illinois will meet its renewable energy requirements, while also allowing companies to continue exporting most of that wind energy.

“Wind has proven to be a cost-effective resource, and we’re on track to grow the industry,” said Juracek.

PECATONICA, Ill. — Illinois State Police District 16 Commander, Lt. Jeff Bain, announced the following arrests were made by District 16 troopers between Dec. 27, 2011, and Jan. 31, 2012, for driving under the influence (DUI):

Arrested in Winnebago County — Ricky Joe Gross, 56, of Dixon, Ill.; James C. Cox, 52, of Sun Prairie, Wis.; Nicholas B. Ellis, 31, of Belvidere, Ill.; Justin A.L. Boone, 20, of Roscoe, Ill.; William R. Gaulitz, 57, of Rockford; Brianne K. Minnihan, 20, of Rockford; and Darrien M. Spate, 24, of Rockford.

Arrested in Stephenson County — Angie M. Ellis, 30, of Freeport, Ill.

CHICAGO — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V is encouraging the public to participate in the second annual central U.S. ShakeOut earthquake drill. The multi-state drill will be held at 10:15 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7.

More than 1 million people are preparing to participate in the emergency drill by following three simple steps that are recommended during an earthquake: drop to the ground, take cover by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and hold on to it until the shaking stops.

The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut is organized and coordinated by the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium and its member and associate states (including Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee), FEMA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and dozens of other partners.

Two hundred years ago, a series of major earthquakes struck the Mississippi River Valley along the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Scientists estimate there is a 25 to 40 percent chance of a damaging earthquake occurring in the central U.S. within the next 50 years.

“We don’t know when the next earthquake will strike,” said FEMA Region V Administrator Andrew Velasquez III. “This drill offers an opportunity to learn what to do before, during and after an earthquake. The earthquake in McHenry, Ill., earlier this week, while low in intensity, serves as a reminder that earthquakes do occur in the central U.S.”

The drill will start at 10:15 a.m., Feb. 7. Some radio and TV stations in participating areas will broadcast the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill during this time. For information about participating stations, visit http://www.shakeout.org/centralus/drill/broadcasters.html.

The ShakeOut is free, open to the public, and anyone can get more information or register to participate by visiting www.shakeout.org/centralus. Further earthquake preparedness tips can be found at www.ready.gov/earthquakes.

Online Staff Report

Three of Rockford’s most experienced professional stagehands headed off to Indianapolis last weekend to participate as crew members working Super Bowl XLVI between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. (Game time is 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 5, on NBC.)

Erik Myles, Rick Abrams and Michael Peterson — all members of Local 217 of IATSE (the national stagehands union) — are skilled craftsmen who work regularly at the Coronado Performing Arts Center, the BMO Harris Bank Center, the On the Waterfront Festival, Davis Park and other area venues. Almost always behind the scenes, they make concerts and performances come to life for Rockford audiences year-round, but the Super Bowl gives them a chance to work one of the most widely-viewed entertainment events in the world.

Myles, the principal stage electrician and lighting specialist at the Coronado, will be working “camera cable pickup” along the New England Patriots’ sideline, while Abrams and Peterson will be maneuvering light carts on the New York Giants’ side of the field. It’s unlikely any of them will turn up on camera or be seen by the millions of game-watchers world-wide, except perhaps by chance, but they’ll be there nonetheless, helping to make it all come together.

As one stagehand observed, “Whether it’s Broadway, country music, circus, rock ’n’ roll or the Super Bowl, it’s all show business to us.” And while none of Rockford’s own will be bringing home a Super Bowl ring, three hard-working local pros will likely return with memories for a lifetime.

In recognition of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a local group will address HIV/AIDS in the African-American community at a town hall meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7, at the Montague Branch Library, 1238 S. Winnebago St., Rockford.

The event is organized by People Supporting People HIV/AIDS Alliance (formally known as BASUAH — Brothers and Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS).

Refreshments and appetizers will be available as supplies last. Raffle prizes (e-reader, women’s/men’s clothing accessories, gift baskets, etc.) will be awarded to winning ticket-holders. Contact Sonya Kirkpatrick at (313) 505-7116 for ticket information.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an HIV/AIDS testing and treatment community mobilization initiative designed to encourage blacks across the United States to get educated, tested, involved and treated for HIV/AIDS.

People Supporting HIV/AIDS Alliance has, since August 2006, coordinated many programs with partner organizations to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in the community by supporting current HIV/AIDS education, screening and innovated outreach programs.

In 2009, an estimated 16,741 blacks were diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S., a number that has slowly decreased since 2006. By the end of 2008, an estimated 240,627 blacks with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the U.S.

In 2007, HIV was the ninth leading cause of death for all blacks and the third leading cause of death for both black men and black women ages 35 to 44.

Unfortunately, many of those who are infected with HIV are unaware of their status and may unknowingly transmit the virus to others.

While blacks represent approximately 14 percent of the U.S. population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the group accounts for 44 percent of the nation’s new HIV infections.

For more details, contact Shelton Kay at Crusader Community Health by calling (815) 490-1600, or visit www.blackaidsday.org.

Online Staff Report

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Feb. 3 that 243,000 jobs were created in January, lowering the national unemployment rate to 8.3 percent.

According to the BLS, job growth was widespread in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government employment changed little over the month.

The national unemployment rate has fallen by 0.8 percentage points since August, and the number of unemployed people declined to 12.8 million in January.

Locally, the Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Jan. 26 that despite gaining 500 jobs between December 2010 and December 2011, Rockford’s unemployment rate remains the highest in the state at 12.5 percent.

Among the major worker groups identified in the national BLS report, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teen-agers (23.2 percent), whites (7.4 percent) and Hispanics (10.5 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

In January, the number of job losers and people who completed temporary jobs fell to 7.3 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.5 million and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed.

After accounting for the annual adjustments to the population controls, the employment-population ratio (58.5 percent) rose in January, while the civilian labor force participation rate held at 63.7 percent.

The number of people employed part-time for economic reasons, at 8.2 million, changed little in January. These individuals were working part-time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

In January, 2.8 million people were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 1.1 million discouraged workers in January, little different from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are people not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.7 million people marginally attached to the labor force in January had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Professional and business services continued to add jobs in January (plus 70,000). About half of the increase occurred in employment services (plus 33,000). Job gains also occurred in accounting and bookkeeping (plus 13,000), and in architectural and engineering services (plus 7,000).

Over the month, employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 44,000, primarily in food services and drinking places (plus 33,000). Since a recent low in February 2010, food services has added 487,000 jobs.

In January, health care employment continued to grow (plus 31,000). Within the industry, hospitals and ambulatory care services both added 13,000 jobs.

Wholesale trade employment increased by 14,000 over the month. Since a recent employment low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 144,000 jobs.

Employment in retail trade continued to trend up in January. Job gains in department stores (plus 19,000), health and personal care stores (plus 7,000), and automobile dealers (plus 7,000) were partially offset by losses in clothing and clothing accessory stores (minus 14,000). Since an employment trough in December 2009, retail trade has added 390,000 jobs.

In January, employment in information declined by 13,000, including a loss of 8,000 jobs in the motion picture and sound recording industry.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing added 50,000 jobs. Nearly all of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, with job growth in fabricated metal products (plus 11,000), machinery (plus 11,000), and motor vehicles and parts (plus 8,000). Durable goods manufacturing has added 418,000 jobs over the past two years.

Employment in construction increased by 21,000 in January, following a gain of 31,000 in the previous month. Over the past two months, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 30,000 jobs.

Mining added 10,000 jobs in January, with most of the gain in support activities for mining (plus 8,000). Since a recent low in October 2009, mining employment has expanded by 172,000.

Government employment changed little in January. Over the past 12 months, the sector has lost 276,000 jobs, with declines in local government; state government, excluding education; and the U.S. Postal Service.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged in January. The manufacturing workweek increased by 0.3 hour to 40.9 hours, and factory overtime increased by 0.1 hour to 3.4 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 33.8 hours.

In January, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $23.29. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent. In January, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees edged up by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $19.62.

U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo responds to jobs report

U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., issued the following statement regarding the BLS’s jobs report:

“It’s wonderful to see some people returning to work, but we need to do much more to strengthen our economy and help employers create even more jobs. While 243,000 Americans returned to work, the long-term unemployed — those without jobs for more than 6 months — remained essentially unchanged at 5.5 million people. There are still too many Americans who want to work but can’t find a job. My American Jobs Agenda would go a long way to help our employers expand and create jobs.

“Things are looking much brighter in northern Illinois. Just last week, I was able to greet the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner when it stopped in Rockford on its maiden tour of international airports. The production of that amazing airplane will generate $16 billion in contracts for just one Rockford company — Hamilton Sundstrand — and many more local companies will benefit through sub-contracts. In addition, we were ecstatic to learn just yesterday that Chrysler — now owned by Italy’s Fiat — plans to add 1,800 jobs by this summer at the Belvidere Assembly plant to build the exciting new 2013 Dodge Dart, the first Chrysler vehicle to incorporate Fiat architecture, similar to that used in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Things are definitely moving in the right direction, and I strongly encourage the Senate and the president to work with us and pass the nearly 30 House-passed jobs bills that are languishing without action.”

Casting calls for Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition Season 3 will be in Chicago Saturday, Feb. 11, and Milwaukee Saturday, Feb. 18.

The Chicago casting call will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 11, at Dave and Busters, 1030 N. Clark St., Chicago. The Milwaukee casting call will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 18, at Dave and Busters, 2201 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Casting call attendees should bring a non-returnable photo. Casting call applications will be provided.

Candidates are asked to either attend an open call in one of the casting call cities or send a home tape. Information about how to apply can be found on the official casting website at www.extrememakeovercasting.com.

In a unique, non-competitive show about weight loss, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition documents the amazing makeover of courageous, “super obese” people who, in an unprecedented 365 days, set out to safely lose half of their body weight, ultimately revealing an amazing metamorphosis.

The term “super obese” is used to define those who exceed their estimated ideal weight by approximately 225 percent and who are roughly 200 pounds or more overweight.

Trainer and transformation specialist Chris Powell (“The 650-Pound Virgin”) guides each of the eight participants through their transformation process by moving into their homes with their families or loved ones. By assuring they have the proper nourishment and exercise movement, Powell will provide a fresh perspective to individuals whose lives have become unmanageable because of their weight.

In each of the one-hour episodes, the participants undergo a transformation not only of their bodies, but of who they are as individuals. Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition will chronicle each participant’s journey in a stand-alone episode as they go about reclaiming his or her life.

Occupy Rockford will hold an open protest and street theater from noon to 2 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3, at the corner of East State Street and Mulford Road in Rockford. The protest will be part of a national day of action against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Rockford attorney Kim Macloskey said: “I believe the provision of the act in question is unconstitutional as it violates the due process clause of the Constitution. It is troubling to me that this provision was passed, and I wish it would have been vetoed.”

The NDAA has shocked many civil libertarians on both the left and the right. Those opposed to the act contend the two most worrying provisions are the ability for United States armed forces to detain U.S. citizens on U.S. soil and sweeping worldwide indefinite detentions without temporal or geographic limitations.

Local activist Gillian Zekos said: “People are genuinely worried that some incident could open the door for the provisions in this bill to be implemented. I don’t want to see soldiers policing the streets.”

For details, contact event organizer Eric Howanietz at (815) 621-5170 or ericmoveon@gmail.com.

Click on the following headlines to read The Rock River Times’ coverage of the NDAA:

Editorial: Ron Paul speaks out, wants to repeal part of Defense Appropriations Act, Feb. 1-7, 2012, issue

Editorial: Obama signs dangerous defense bill, despite reservations, Jan. 4-10, 2012

Editorial: Do we still have rights? Not sure, Dec. 21-27, 2011, issue

Defense bill sparks rights panic, Dec. 14-20, 2011, issue

According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the amount of radioactive tritium released in steam to cool a reactor at the Byron nuclear plant during a Jan. 30 shutdown is not enough to harm the public.

The NRC announced Jan. 31 it would begin a special inspection at the plant after a loss of offsite power led to a Unit 2 reactor shutdown Jan. 30.

The NRC said preliminary reports show the radiation released by the station was less than 0.001 percent of the NRC’s annual limit. However, final data will be released following the conclusion of the special investigation.

The two-unit Byron nuclear power plant is operated by Exelon Generation Co. and is in Byron, Ill., about 17 miles southwest of Rockford.

According to a Jan. 31 NRC press release, the special investigation team “will look into how plant equipment responded to the loss of offsite power. They will review the sequence of events, evaluate the facts and circumstances, and review the plant’s actions surrounding the incident. The team will also review the plant’s evaluation of what happened, their plan for addressing the cause of the event, and the implementation of their corrective actions.

“Unit 2 remains in a safe and stable shutdown condition and the diesel generators continue to supply power to the plant as planned for this type of incident,” the Jan. 31 press release continued. “There was a steam release from the non-nuclear side of the plant with trace amounts of tritium. This type of steam release is used by nuclear power plants to release pressure to maintain the plant in a stable condition. Doses to the public from this type of release are significantly below even the most stringent Federal protective limits and, therefore, do not pose a risk to public health and safety.”

The NRC’s special inspection report will be available within 45 days of the inspection’s completion.

2013 Dodge Dart

Online Staff Report

As many as 1,600 additional workers are expected to be hired at the Chrysler Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Ill., as the plant prepares to start production of the Dodge Dart this spring.

With more than 2,700 employees, the plant is the Rockford area’s largest manufacturing employer.

Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will be at the plant Feb. 2 to celebrate the production launch of the Dart.

Chrysler invested more than $600 million and built a more than 600,000-square-foot body shop in Belvidere in 2011 in preparation for the Dart production.

Introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Jan. 9, the Dart will replace the Caliber on the production line in Belvidere. The Dart will be the company’s first compact sedan since the Neon was discontinued in 2005.

More than 35 exhibitors are participating in The Workforce Connection’s annual Career Expo from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Community Building Complex in Belvidere, Ill.

Employers, staffing agencies and educational institutions will have booths at the event with job and training opportunities available in manufacturing, health care, customer service, logistics, office and sales.

Attendance at least year’s job fair was 700.

The Community Building Complex is at 111 W. First St., in downtown Belvidere.

For more details, visit www.theworkforceconnection.org.

LOVES PARK, Ill. — The Rockford RiverHawks are partnering with Buffalo Wild Wings of Rockford to support Rockford College athletics.

Buffalo Wild Wings, 6275 E. State St., will donate 10 percent of its food sales Friday, Feb. 3, to Rockford College athletics.

Although fans can support the Regents at any point during business hours, Friday’s featured event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. RiverHawks manager Rich Austin and hitting coach Patrick O’Sullivan will be at Buffalo Wild Wings to sign autographs and meet fans. Customers can also participate in a prize wheel and trivia contest for prizes from the RiverHawks and Buffalo Wild Wings.

“Rockford College athletics is excited to partner with the Rockford RiverHawks and Buffalo Wild Wings,” Regents Director of Sports Information Brian Vanden Acker said. “We appreciate their support and look forward to the many RiverHawks and Regents fans who we plan to see Friday.”

The RiverHawks are members of the Frontier League, an independent professional baseball league that will play its 20th season in 2012. The RiverHawks open their 11th season May 18 at River City. Advertising and season ticket information is available by calling (815) 885-2255. Fans can also visit www.rockfordriverhawks.com.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn

By Andrew Thomason
Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) said Wednesday, Feb. 1, that increased state spending in critical areas will spur much-needed job creation in Illinois.

But Republican legislators had harsh criticism for a plan they say will cost the cash-strapped state roughly $500 million.

During his State of the State address, which came a year after the state’s individual and corporate income tax rates skyrocketed, Quinn said he’d like to create tax credits for families and businesses, invest more money in education and upgrade the state’s aging water systems.

Quinn said his Illinois Jobs Agenda 2012 would create a more job-friendly environment in a state that has seen its unemployment rate hover around 10 percent for the past several months, about 1 percentage point higher than the national average.

But Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said Quinn’s ideas are working around the margins. The state has $8.5 billion in unpaid bills this year, and a recent study by the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan group that focuses on the state’s fiscal health, shows that number hitting $35 billion by 2017 if drastic steps aren’t taken.

“If we don’t have the revenue, it really doesn’t matter,” Redfield said. “They’re great ideas we can’t afford. They are things we should probably be doing … but if we fall off the cliff three years from now, these things will be pretty irrelevant.”

Quinn’s jobs program must past through the General Assembly, where legislative leaders, especially those on the right, were skeptical.

Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, and state House GOP Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said the ideas Quinn laid out weren’t bad, but he ignored the state’s ailing fiscal health.

“The best thing we can do for (jobs) … is fix the state’s budget, because what happens is people looking to invest in the state see the financial disaster it’s facing and they know the other shoe is going to drop,” Radogno said.

State Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, had more tactful words for Quinn.

“As he advances new initiatives to create jobs and improve the economy, I look forward to hearing how we can fund these important priorities within a balanced budget,” Cullerton said in a news release.

Specifically, Quinn proposed eliminating the natural gas utility tax, which his office estimates will take away around $164 million in state revenue. Quinn said the abolition of the tax on natural gas usage will give Illinois a competitive edge over its neighbors in attracting job-creators.

“Illinois will be the only state in the Midwest without a natural gas utility tax on manufacturers, retailers and everyday families,” Quinn said.

Quinn proposed a tax credit for families with children, which would provide $100 of tax relief annually for a family of four, the governor said.

“This targeted tax relief will stimulate consumer demand, which is 70 percent of our economy,” Quinn said. “And it will create jobs for our local merchants.”

Kelly Kraft, Quinn’s budget spokesman, said the tax credit would save taxpayers and cost the state $130 million annually.

Quinn also called for investing more in early childhood education, modernizing classrooms with digital textbooks and high-speed Internet access, and providing scholarships for college students.

“Our youngest and most vulnerable citizens need our strongest support,” Quinn said. “Research has shown that without an early learning foundation, children fall behind in school.”

The governor’s call for expanding the Monetary Award Program, which offers scholarships for college students demonstrating financial need, and more early childhood spending comes mere weeks after his own budget office projected keeping education spending flat for the next three years.

“I don’t know how that squares with what he himself said just a few weeks ago,” Radogno said.

The last pillar of Quinn’s jobs plan was upgrading the water systems statewide.

Quinn said his plan “will put thousands of people to work replacing broken water mains, building treatment plants, upgrading sewers and cleaning up environmental threats.”

Quinn didn’t outline how he would come up with the $500 million to cover his jobs plan, even as the state faces $8.5 billion in overdue bills, despite the individual income tax rate jumping by 67 percent and the corporate income tax rate jumping by 46 percent last January.

The governor’s only mention of funding was: “I look forward to working with you to find the proper funding to meet these urgent needs.”

Kraft said details will following in Quinn’s Feb. 22 budget address.

“Today, our focus is on the vision for our state,” Kraft said.

Cross said the state needs to tackle its ballooning Medicaid and pension spending before it looks to this jobs program.

“I’m not sure still to this day (if Quinn) gets the gravity of this situation,” Cross said. “He certainly hasn’t demonstrated (that) in what he did today.”

Two Rockford Public School District 205 schools — Washington Gifted Academy and Lewis Lemon Elementary School — have been named to the 2011 Illinois Honor Roll and are being recognized by the State Board of Education for efforts to achieve academic excellence.

Washington received the Academic Excellence Award for sustained high performance for at least three years.

Elementary and middle schools in the excellence category must have 90 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in both reading and math. In 2011, all Washington students met or exceeded proficiency levels on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.

Lewis Lemon earned an Academic Improvement Award for the school’s efforts to boost student performance. Over the past three years, ISAT scores at Lewis Lemon have continued to increase from 49.3 percent of students meeting standards in 2009 to 52.6 percent in 2010 and 62 percent last year.

State Board of Education Chairman Gery Chico said: “These Honor Roll schools continue to prove that hard work and reform efforts impact student performance. Community members can and should celebrate their local schools’ success. Behind each school’s success is an untold story of extraordinary passion and dedication on behalf of administrators, teachers, parents and students. We commend each school for its commitment to improvement and excellence.”

Across the state, 438 schools were recognized with Academic Excellence Awards. Academic Improvement Awards went to 114 schools. Recognition is based on standardized test scores and demographic information.

For more details, visit www.ilhonorroll.niu.edu.

Cedric Lewis's mugshot, courtesy of www.mugshotsonline.com

By Brandon Reid
Assistant Editor

Cedric Lewis, chief financial officer for Rockford Public School District 205, faced charges of driving under the influence (DUI) and felony possession of a firearm in a Will County Court in November 2010.

The charges stemmed from a Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, incident in which Lewis was also charged with improper traffic lane usage, driving the wrong way on a divided highway and parking on the median.

Lewis, 39, was employed by the district at the time of the offenses. With a salary of $152,000, Lewis is among the highest paid individuals in the superintendent’s cabinet.

According to court records on the Will County Circuit Clerk’s website, Lewis paid a $300 fine and was sentenced to 12 months supervision for the DUI charge and also paid a $1,500 fine for the felony possession of a firearm charge. The Circuit Clerk’s website lists the “case type” for the possession of a firearm as being a “criminal felony.”

Lewis was represented by attorney Paul R. Vella of Vella & Lund P.C. in Rockford, according to court documents.

A message left for Lewis at 12:45 p.m., Feb. 1, has not been returned.

District 205 issued the following press release at 1:34 p.m., Feb. 1:

RPS 205 CFO Explains Misdemeanor Charge

(February 1, 2012)…A disgruntled former RPS 205 employee contacted school administration today to release a 2010 record from the Will County Circuit Clerk’s office involving RPS 205 CFO Cedric Lewis.

In September, 2010, Lewis was stopped by Illinois State Police in Will County for speeding.

“When the officer asked me if I had any drugs or weapons in my car, I truthfully answered that there was a gun in the car. I have owned a gun since I was 21 and lived in Mississippi where it was legal to own and transport weapons,” Lewis stated. “I wasn’t aware I needed a FOID card in Illinois as I’d only lived in the state for a short time. It was my mistake. I’m now in compliance with state law.”

Lewis pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge and paid a fine of $1,500.

“We know all of the details and there are no job performance issues involved,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Robert Willis stated. “This is a personnel matter so we cannot discuss it further. The administration is fully supportive of Mr. Lewis and his role with the district. ”

Online Staff Report

Cirque du Soleil’s critically-acclaimed production Quidam will offer seven performances at Rockford’s BMO Harris Bank Center June 13-17.

Tickets for the general public will be available starting Feb. 3 at www.cirquedusoleil.com/quidam or by calling (815) 968-5222. Tickets are $35-$70 for adults, $28-$56 for children 12 and younger, and $31.50-$63 for military members, seniors and students.

Quidam had its world premiere in Montreal under the Big Top in April 1996. Since that time, the production has toured on five continents and been experienced by millions of people.

In December 2010, Quidam embarked on a new journey, performing the same captivating production, but now in arenas throughout North America.The international cast features 52 world-class acrobats, musicians, singers and characters.

Young Zoé is bored; her parents, distant and apathetic, ignore her. Her life has lost all meaning. Seeking to fill the void of her existence, she slides into an imaginary world — the world of Quidam — where she meets characters who encourage her to free her soul.

Performances at the BMO Harris Bank Center, 300 Elm St., Rockford, will be at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday-Friday, June 13-15; 3:30 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16; and 1 and 5 p.m., Sunday, June 17.

Matt Ulery (Photo by John Broughton)

Online Staff Report

Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis each have written their own chapter in annals of music history. From 6 to 10 p.m., Feb. 3, at the Anderson Japanese Gardens, several of Chicago’s best entertainers will join forces in an all-star ensemble to celebrate some of America’s greatest jazz music at the Winter White Jazz Night.

Organized as a fund-raiser for Keith Country Day School, this ambitious and inviting ode to jazz will feature incredible entertainment, delicious hors d’oeuvres and drinks, a wine raffle with the opportunity to win gift certificates ranging from $15 to $100, and a huge inventory of silent and live auction items.

“It’s very exciting to be able to bring in this caliber of talent to Rockford,” said Alan Gibby, head of Keith Country Day School. “Our development office has done a tremendous job with this event, and I think the community is really going to enjoy it.”

About the band …

Kimberly Gordon

A Rockford native, Ryan Swanson has played his saxophone in the Forest City many times partnering with a variety of well-known local musicians such as Harlan Jefferson, Ernie Hendrickson and Matt Goodwin. He is joined on bass by Matt Ulery, who is described by Chicago Jazz magazine as a “leader of the new generation of Chicago jazz innovators.” Ulery has composed more than 200 pieces and has hosted music clinics at colleges across the United States, including at Princeton, Cornell and DePaul.

Rob Clearfield will be on the piano. Clearfield is just as ubiquitous in Chicago as Ulery with four solo albums to his credit. The Chicago Reader calls him “a rhythmic genius who has the ability to both improvise and stay true to any composition.”

Born in Chicago, Quin Kirchner has collaborated with a variety of musicians across the country. While living in New Orleans, he regularly played drums for some of the area’s most well-known bands, including the Other Planets and Grilly Biggs.

Rounding out the ensemble is Kimberly Gordon, whose unique singing talent is seen regularly on Sundays at the legendary Green Mill Jazz Club. Gordon has been part of the national jazz scene for 20 years and has shared the stage with jazz legends such as Roy Hargrove, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Marcus Roberts, Captain Jack McDuff and many others.

Tickets to this event are $25 per person. For more information, contact Diane Zammuto at (815) 399-8850, ext. 152.

Keith Country Day School is an independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory school. On a 15-acre campus overlooking the Rock River, Keith serves students from age 3 through grade 12 from the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin area. The school is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and fully accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. More information about Keith School is available at www.keithschool.com.

Jamie Kindleyside and JustGoods favorite Andrew Holm met at an apartment co-op in Madison, Wis.; they’ve been close friends ever since. The two later moved to Nashville, Tenn., where Jamie currently resides. His schedule finally meshed with JustGoods, and the two friends will both do a set at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3, at JustGoods, 201 Seventh St. These will include some improv duets. Some other guest players may participate.

Here’s what critics have said about Jamie’s music:

“Every once in a while, you find yourself lucky enough to sit in a bar and watch a musician plan, and have the presence of mind to realize that you are witnessing a future legend. It occurs to you that the very show you are attending will be talked about years later by people who will come to be hardcore fans. Such was the feeling I had while I was watching Jamie Kindleyside play. …” — Josh Clark, editor/critic, Washboard Weekly, Johnson City, Texas

“Kindleyside’s voice is gently gravelly, just on the smooth side of Steve Earle. He also has a fantastic picking style which combines the Delta blues picking of folks like Mississippi John Hurt and the more modern style of Jorma Kaukonen or Leo Kotke … Kindleyside’s songs stand up to the best in folk and Americana right now…” — Watauga Mountain Times, Boone, N.C.

“… a voice like frayed velvet and a cache of original, fingerpicked tunes that ring with future-classics familiarity even on the first listen.” — Melanie McGee, critic, Mountain Xpress, Asheville, N.C.

ArtSpace West Gallery, 1426 N. Main St., Rockford, will host an artists’ reception from 5 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2.

The gallery will host painting and imagination by Paul Henderson, fused glass jewelry by Sue Barber, stained glass by Dave Barber, and new works by familiar artists Ray Schulz, Jackie Hickey, H. Edward Riddle and Jim.

The gallery also offers gifts starting at $3 for Valentine’s Day and other occasions.

ArtSpace West can be reached at (630) 546-4727 or artspacewestgallery@gmail.com.

Forbes magazine named Rockford’s Discovery Center Museum as one of the “12 Best Children’s Museums in the Nation” Jan. 30.

The Discovery Center was the only Illinois museum named in the article, which can be viewed online at http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/01/30/12-best-childrens-museums-in-the-u-s.

Sarah Wolf, executive director of Discovery Center Museum, said: “We are so proud of our museum for receiving this national recognition. Almost all the other museums selected in the Top 12 are located in large metropolitan areas, and being among those museums chosen is truly an honor. We know that parents and patrons pay attention to the opinion of a publication like Forbes, and we are thrilled to bring such positive recognition to our museum and our community.”

In the Forbes story, Discovery Center shares the spotlight with museums such as the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis; Boston Children’s Museum; Brooklyn Children’s Museum; Children’s Museum of Denver; Children’s Museum of Houston; and the Minnesota Children’s Museum. More than 200 children’s museums are in the United States.

Discovery Center served almost 255,000 people in 2011, a new record for the museum. It served almost 170,000 visitors on site (a 4 percent increase since 2010, and a 20 percent increase in the last five years) and another 85,000 through the museum’s outreach programs.

Forbes is an American media and publishing company.

In 2002, Child magazine ranked Discovery Center fourth in the first-ever survey to identify the 10 best children’s museums in the nation. Then in 2009, Discovery Center was included in the book The Ten Best of Everything: Families in the category of children’s museums. In 2010, Discovery Center completed construction of a major expansion, adding new galleries, new exhibits, new classrooms, a 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition hall and more.

Discovery Center Museum is a nonprofit organization creating opportunities for joyful learning and discovery through hands-on experiences in science and art for all ages. The museum contains more than 250 hand-on exhibits and an award-winning outdoor science park.

Discovery Center is inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 N. Main St., Rockford. General admission to the museum is $7 adults, $7 children (ages 2-17) and free to children age 1 and younger and museum members. Hours open are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m., Sunday.

Rockford police have arrested Melvin D. Bankhead, 40, of Rockford, in connection with a series of armed robberies on the city’s northwest side.

Bankhead was arrested Jan. 30 and charged with armed robbery, aggravated unlawful use of weapons, unlawful use of weapons by a felon, resisting/obstructing a police officer, aggravated fleeing to elude a police officer, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident (two counts), operation of an uninsured vehicle and improper lane usage. The charges stem from a Jan. 30 armed robbery at the Dollar General Store, 3732 N. Main St., Rockford.

Members of the Rockford Police Department were conducting a special detail on the northwest side of Rockford Jan. 30 as a result of recent armed robberies. During that special detail, detectives observed a possible suspect at the Dollar General Store, 3732 N. Main St. The suspect left the business, entered the vehicle and left the area. Detectives determined the suspect had committed an armed robbery at the business.

Members of the Rockford Police Department attempted to stop the suspect vehicle. The suspect failed to stop, and officers pursued the vehicle. The suspect struck a pedestrian at Rockford Avenue and Halsted Road. The pedestrian was not injured. The suspect was involved in another traffic crash at Kilburn and Gilbert avenue. There were no injuries as a result of that traffic crash. The suspect fled on foot from the vehicle and was taken into custody after a brief struggle in the 2100 block of Kilburn Avenue. A firearm was also recovered during the incident.

Following his arrest, Bankhead was also charged with the Jan. 19 armed robbery of Burger King, 2911 Auburn St. The armed robberies of Subway, 3009 N. Rockton Ave., Jan. 21, and Taco Bell, 2602 Auburn St., Jan. 23, were also cleared with the arrest of Bankhead, although he has not been charged with the crimes.

Online Staff Report

Rock Valley College (RVC) will launch an Environmental Film Series at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1, with the documentary Windfall.

A synopsis on the film’s website, http://windfallthemovie.com, describes Windfall as follows: “Wind power … it’s sustainable … it burns no fossil fuels … it produces no air pollution. What’s more, it cuts down dependency on foreign oil. That’s what the people of Meredith, in upstate New York first thought when a wind developer looked to supplement the rural farm town’s failing economy with a farm of their own — that of 40 industrial wind turbines.

“Windfall, a beautifully photographed feature-length film, documents how this proposal divides Meredith’s residents as they fight over the future of their community,” the synopsis continues. “Attracted at first to the financial incentives that would seemingly boost their dying economy, a group of townspeople grow increasingly alarmed as they discover the impacts that the 400-foot high windmills slated for Meredith could bring to their community as well as the potential for financial scams.

“With wind development in the United States growing annually at 39 percent, Windfall is an eye-opener that should be required viewing for anyone concerned about the environment and the future of renewable energy.”

The rest of the schedule for the film series is as follows:

Wednesday, March 7 — Trapped

Wednesday, April 4 — Queen of the Sun

Wednesday, May 2 — Gasland

All films will be shown in the RVC Student Center Atrium on the RVC main campus, 3301 N. Mulford Road. Cost is $1 per film and films are open to students, staff and the community.

RVC faculty and special guests will lead an open discussion following each film presentation.

For advanced registration, call RVC Community Education at (815) 921-3900. For complete descriptions of the films, visit www.rockvalleycollege.edu/efs.

High School Division first-place winner and Artists’ Choice Award winner “There’s No Pizza Like Snow Pizza,” by Rockford East High School. (Photo courtesy of Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition)

First place and People’s Choice Award winner “Pocahontas,” sculpted by Vikings in Black: Captain Svenhärd Skupien, Bjorn Skupien, and Thorfinn Skupie. (Photo courtesy of the Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition)

Online Staff Report

The Vikings in Black team of Svenhard Skupien, Bjorn Skupien and Thorfinn Skupien won the 26th Annual Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition with their sculpture of “Pocahontas.”

The winning team was honored at the competition’s awards ceremony Saturday, Jan. 28, at Sinnissippi Park in Rockford. Eight state teams, 15 high school teams and one exhibition team (last year’s winning team) participated in the Jan. 25-28 event.

Other awards included the following:

• Second Place — Mayor’s Award (tie): “7, 8, 9…”, Sculpted by The Band of Misfit Boys team composed of Scott Triplett, Dan Berry and Keith Pliml.

• Third Place — Rockford Park District Award (tie): “Bridge Over Trolled Waters,” sculpted by The Slacktastic 4 team, composed of Andy Skupien, Nathaniel Branch and Sable Matula.

• People’s Choice Award: “Pocahontas,” sculpted by Vikings in Black team, Sven, Bjorn and Thorfinn Skupien.

• Committee’s Choice Award — Patricia “Pat” Hayes Parks Award: “Elusive,” sculpted by Tat2 Crue team, composed of Nikki Schultz, Tiffani McCann and Andrew Wirth.

High School Division awards were as follow:

High Scool Division second-place winner and People’s Choice Award winner “Elephantine Love,” by Keith Country Day School. (Photo courtesy of Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition)

• First Place — “There’s No Pizza Like Snow Pizza,” sculpted by Rockford East High School, composed of Luzanna Kowalczyk, Aurora Macek, Gavin Barlow and Shanton Staten. Adviser: John DeRango.

• Second Place — “Elephantine Love,” sculpted by Keith Country Day School, composed of Jeannie Maeng, Angela Martinez, Philip Pernacciaro and Ke Tang. Adviser: Lori Walsh.

• Third Place — “1987-2011,” sculpted by Pecatonica High School, composed of Daniel Byl, Seala Hite, Anne Johns and Eric Morgensen. Adviser: Eric Donaldson.

• Linda K. White Spirit Award — “1987-2011,” sculpted by Pecatonica High School, composed of Daniel Byl, Seala Hite, Anne Johns and Eric Morgensen. Adviser: Eric Donaldson.

· Committee’s Choice Award — “Well That’s Sno’ Good,” sculpted by Belvidere North High School, composed of Allyce Angel, Spencer Gedwill, Ryan Helgerson and Noelle Nespor. Adviser: Edith Obenchain.

· Artists’ Choice Award — “There’s No Pizza Like Snow Pizza,” sculpted by Rockford East High School, composed of Luzanna Kowalczyk, Aurora Macek, Gavin Barlow and Shanton Staten. Adviser: John DeRango.

· People’s Choice Award — “Elephantine Love,” sculpted by Keith Country Day School, composed of Jeannie Maeng, Angela Martinez, Philip Pernacciaro and Ke Tang. Adviser: Lori Walsh

The three-member state teams work 3 1/2 days on a 5-ton, 6-foot-by-6-foot-by-10-foot block of snow to create frozen works of art; the four-member high school teams work 2 1/2 days on a 4-foot-by-4-foot-by-6-foot block of snow. Sculptors cannot use power tools or props (other than the snow) to hold up the pieces, nor may colorants be added.

The Illinois Snow Sculpting competition is hosted by the Rockford Park District.

For more about this event, visit www.snowsculpting.org, or call the Rockford Park District at (815) 987-8800. More pictures from the competition can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/ilsnowsculpting.

When someone brings in an item to the roadshow, Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow staff evaluate it, make an offer, then write a check sending that person home with some extra cash. (Photo provided)

Online Staff Report

Springfield, Ill.-based Ohio Valley Gold & Silver Refinery will be looking to buy precious metals, jewelry, historical artifacts, antiques and other collectibes Tuesday-Saturday, Jan. 31-Feb. 4, at Holiday Inn, 7550 E. State St., Rockford.

Hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, and 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 4. Admission is free.

When someone brings in an item to the roadshow, Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow staff evaluate it, make an offer, then write a check sending that person home with some extra cash.

Jeramy Weese, a show manager for the Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow, said: “Our job is to find buyers for items. We’re the middle man. We try to find someone in that market interested.”

Weese said that when an individual brings in an item, the buyers will enter the details into their online system, which connects with more than 10,000 collectors. Items can range from coin collections to vintage guitars and everything in between.

Musical instruments will be among the items sought by Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow staff. (Photo provided)

Ohio Valley Refinery & Roadshow staff will be looking to purchase antiques and other collectibes Jan. 31-Feb. 4 at Holiday Inn, 7550 E. State St., Rockford. (Photo provided)

“If we can get someone to generate an offer, they agree to the terms and we give them a check on the spot,” Weese said. “However, if more than one collector is interested, the offer can go higher.”

David Ford, a buyer for the company, said he enjoys traveling to different towns each week and finding new and interesting items. Just a few weeks ago, he said he had a woman come in who had bought a coin from the casino she worked at for $1 the night before. She walked out that morning with a check for $50.

For more details, call (217) 726-7590.

Chad Bennett, 22, was sentenced to a total of 35 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the offense of first-degree murder after a sentencing hearing Jan. 23. Bennett pled guilty Oct. 27, 2011, in front of Judge John Truitt.

July 5, 2008, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police were dispatched to Superior Avenue in Machesney Park, where Nikolas Black was found shot and killed.

Witnesses indicated the car Black was riding in was approached by people who had gotten out of another vehicle and were shouting gang slogans.

Black got out of the car to confront the people who ran up on the car he was in and was shot. Neither Black nor any of the other occupants of the car he was in were gang members. The suspects fled the area in an older-model white car with a taillight that was not working.

Through investigation, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police located the owner of the vehicle that had fled the scene. Detectives interviewed occupants of the vehicle and discovered passengers of that car had a disagreement with a member of a gang. When the occupants saw the car Black was in, they thought it was the person they were looking for, and the occupants got out of the car and ran up on the car Black was in, at which time Black was shot and killed. These witnesses said Bennett was with them when they went to fight the member of a rival gang. These witnesses identified Bennett as the person who shot and killed Black.

First-degree murder is a class M felony that has a sentencing range of 20 to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Truth in sentencing applies, and the defendant will have to serve 100 percent of the sentence.

Justen Cunningham, 19, was found guilty of home invasion and attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse after a jury trial Jan. 25.

Dec. 23, 2009, officers responded to an address on Eastgate Parkway in reference to a home invasion. When officers arrived, they met with the female victim in the bathroom and saw she had dried blood around her nose.

Officers noticed blood in the bathroom sink and on a CD player in the bathroom. The victim stated she went for a walk around the block and noticed a male subject described as about 13 years old, 5 feet, 6 inches and 160 pounds with a royal blue jacket, gray hoodie and dark jeans carrying a shovel. She told the officers she recognized the male as someone who had done yard work in the area and at her house before.

She further stated she returned home and had left the front door unlocked as she began getting ready for work in the bathroom. She then said she saw the same male from outside out of the corner of her eye coming into the bathroom. She said the suspect put his hand over her mouth and closed the door. She said the suspect told her to be quiet and take off her shirt. She said she tried to pull his fingers away from her mouth and pull at his arms, and she was able to push him against the door, but then he pushed her into the bathtub and she hit her head in the bathtub.

The victim said while she was in the bathtub the suspect kicked her in the face and she pretended to be unconscious and the suspect walked out of the bathroom. She said her nose started to bleed when he first grabbed her mouth and it bled more when he kicked her.

Cunningham was developed as a suspect. He spoke with detectives and gave a written statement admitting he was shoveling snow Dec. 23, 2009, and he saw a female go into a house.

The defendant admitted he knew the person who lived at the house wasn’t home because his truck wasn’t there. The defendant admitted he tried the front door and it was unlocked, so he went in. The defendant admitted to going into the bathroom and putting his hand over the girl’s mouth because she screamed.

The defendant said the girl told him her nose was bleeding and he didn’t want to hurt her, so he let her go. The defendant said she told him she was going to call the police, so he panicked and pushed her and she fell in the bathtub. Cunningham entered the home without legal authority.

Home invasion is a class X felony with a sentencing range of six to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a class 3 felony with a sentencing range of two to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. The defendant also has a separate residential case pending.

Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m., March 19, in Courtroom 209 with Judge Joseph McGraw.

Juan Blanco, 46, has been sentenced to a total of 47 years in prison for the murder of his brother-in-law and attempts to conceal it.

Blanco, who was found guilty June 2, was sentenced to 45 years for first-degree murder and two years for concealing a homicidal death.

Jan. 16, 2009, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police were dispatched to the Gem Suburban trailer park on South Main Street in reference to a body found in a white Dodge Intrepid near the trash bins. The Dodge’s registration returned to Felix Rojas-Perez, and it was determined the man lying dead in the back seat was Rojas-Perez.

An autopsy performed by Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia’s office determined Rojas-Perez died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head.

Evidence indicated Rojas-Perez had been shot in the head while in the driver’s seat of the Dodge and then dragged into the backseat.

Through an investigation conducted by Winnebago County detectives, it was determined Blanco was a person of interest in the case. Detectives reviewed surveillance footage from the victim’s place of employment, which revealed a blue Land Rover, the same type of vehicle owned by the defendant, driving around the parking lot Jan. 15.

Blanco had been seen at Marvin’s Tire Shop cleaning out his Land Rover and detectives located tied-up plastic grocery bags in the trash bin there. Inside the bag, detectives recovered a pair of tennis shoes that were identified as shoes Blanco was known to wear, a shell casing, as well as other evidence that was linked to other evidence found in Blanco’s vehicle.

First-degree murder is a class M felony that has a sentencing range of 20 to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. However, because Blanco personally discharged the firearm killing the victim, the sentencing range increased to 45 years to natural life, and the defendant will serve the entire sentence. Concealment of a homicidal death is a class 3 felony with a sentencing range of two to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections or probation.

Michael C. Perez

Caleb N. Gryner

Online Staff Report

The State Line Area Narcotics Team (SLANT) arrested two Rockford residents for possession with the intent to deliver cocaine and possession with intent to deliver cannabis.

Michael C. Perez, 32, of the 4700 block of Cayuga Road, Rockford, was arrested and charged with one count of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance (cocaine) within 1,000 feet of a church, a class X felony, and one count of violation of an order of protection, a class A misdemeanor.

Caleb N. Gryner, 22, of the 4700 block of Cayuga Road, Rockford, was arrested and charged with one count of possession with the intent to deliver cannabis, a class 3 felony.

The arrests of Perez and Gryner come after SLANT agents and members of the Illinois State Police S.W.A.T. team executed a search warrant of Perez’s Rockford residence. Seized as a result of the search warrant were 19 grams of suspected cocaine and 182 grams of suspected cannabis.

Class X felonies are punishable by six to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Class 3 felonies are punishable by two to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in a county jail.

Rockford’s unemployment rate dropped 0.4 percentage points to 12.5 percent in the past year, but remains the highest among the state’s 12 metropolitan areas.

According to data released Jan. 26 by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), the Rockford metropolitan area gained 500 jobs between December 2010 and December 2011.

The percentage decrease in the unemployment rate for Rockford was the second-highest decrease among all metropolitan areas, trailing only the 0.6 drop registered by the Peoria metropolitan area.

The December 2011 unemployment rate in Illinois was 9.3 percent and 12.1 percent at its peak in this economic cycle in January 2010.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in December 2011 and 10.6 percent in January 2010 at its peak.

The unemployment rate identifies those who are out of work and looking for work and is not tied to collecting unemployment insurance benefits. Illinois added 43,300 new jobs in 2010 and 52,600 in 2011.

IDES Director Jay Rowell said: “Today’s data tells us a familiar story. Overall, the Illinois economy is moving forward despite the uneven nature of the national recovery. Overall job growth continues to improve despite monthly fluctuations in the unemployment rate and the number of jobs created, which has become the hallmark of this economic cycle.”

Following are the unemployment rates, from lowest to highest, for all 12 metropolitan areas (December 2010 unemployment rates in parentheses):

1. Bloomington-Normal, 7 percent (6.8 percent)

2. Springfield, 7.5 percent (7 percent)

3. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, 7.8 percent (7.8 percent)

4. Champaign-Urbana, 7.9 percent (7.8 percent)

5. Peoria, 8.1 percent (8.7 percent)

6 (tie). Lake (Illinois)/Kenosha (Wisconsin), 9.3 percent (9.4 percent); and Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, 9.3 percent (8.6 percent)

8. St. Louis, 9.7 percent (9 percent)

9. Decatur, 10.2 percent (10.2 percent)

10. Danville, 10.3 percent (10.4 percent)

11. Kankakee-Bradley, 11.4 percent (11.7 percent)

12. Rockford, 12.5 percent (12.9 percent)

Following are the total job gains and losses, from highest to lowest, for all 12 metropolitan areas (December 2011 and December 2010 job totals in parentheses):

1. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, plus 12,800 (3,664,200 in 2011, 3,651,400 in 2010)

2. Peoria, plus 8,600 (188,300 in 2011, 179,700 in 2010)

3. Lake (Illinois)/Kenosha (Wisconsin), plus 3,400 (377,400 in 2011, 374,000 in 2010)

4. Kankakee-Bradley, plus 2,000 (45,400 in 2011, 43,400 in 2010)

5. St. Louis, plus 700 (231,400 in 2011, 230,700 in 2010)

6. Springfield, plus 600 (113,500 in 2011, 112,900 in 2010)

7. Rockford, plus 500 (145,600 in 2011, 145,100 in 2010)

8. Bloomington-Normal, even (91,000 in 2011, 91,000 in 2010)

9. Danville, minus 100 (28,900 in 2011, 29,000 in 2010)

10 (tie). Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, minus 600 (179,500 in 2011, 180,100 in 2010); and Decatur, minus 600 (52,400 in 2011, 53,000 in 2010)

12. Champaign-Urbana, minus 1,600 (107,600 in 2011, 109,200 in 2010)

Rock Valley College (RVC) and the RVC Faculty Association issued a joint statement Jan. 26 regarding ongoing faculty contract negotiations.

RVC instructors have been without a contract since July as they continue to work toward an agreement with the RVC Board of Trustees.

Following is the joint statement released Jan. 26:

“The college and faculty negotiation teams met on Wednesday [Jan. 25] to continue discussions to break the impasse. While the parties have not yet reached an agreement, both sides agree that progress has been made and are optimistic that an agreement can be reached. Discussions will continue and the parties are scheduled to meet face to face on Wednesday, Feb. 1, to hopefully bring the process to a conclusion.”

James Drago, 42, of Rockford, was arrested and charged with attempted murder Jan. 25.

Rockford police responded to an aggravated domestic battery call in the 2200 block of 19th Avenue shortly after 2:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 24. The suspect had fled prior to the police arriving.

The victim was battered and cut with a knife. She was taken to a hospital and the extent of her injuries is not known.

Officers located Drago in the 2200 block of 22nd Street shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24. He was also arrested on an Illinois Department of Corrections warrant.

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday, Jan. 24, at the U.S. Capitol. (White House photo by Pete Souza)

Online Staff Report

Putting America back to work in the wake of the Iraq War was a major focus of President Barack Obama’s Jan. 24 State of the Union address.

In making his case for a post-Iraq War economy, Obama drew a connection to the post-World War II period. Also referred to as the “Golden Age of Capitalism,” the post-World War II period saw worldwide economic growth with high employment.

As explained by Wikipedia: “The period from the end of World War II to the early 1970s was a golden era of American capitalism. $200 billion in war bonds matured, and the G.I. Bill financed a well-educated work force. The middle class swelled, as did GDP and productivity. The U.S. underwent its own golden age of economic growth. This growth was distributed fairly evenly across the economic classes, which some attribute to the strength of labor unions in this period — labor union membership peaked during the 1950s. Much of the growth came from the movement of low-income farm workers into better-paying jobs in the towns and cities — a process largely completed by 1960.”

Obama said during his State of the Union address: “We can do this. I know we can, because we’ve done it before. At the end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known. …

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” Obama added.

During his speech, Obama touched on al Qaeda and the assassination of Osama bin Laden; the auto industry; increasing exports; unfair trading practices; retooling the workforce; education; immigration; energy; infrastructure; the housing market; banks and the financial industry; tax reform; campaign finance and ethics; the dysfunction in Congress; Afghanistan; Iran; veterans’ affairs; and the politics of Washington, D.C. Excerpts from Obama’s speech about each of these topics follows in the order in which he presented them.

NATIONAL DEFENSE

“For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.”

JOBS

“In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly 4 million jobs. And we lost another 4 million before our policies were in full effect.

“Those are the facts. But so are these: In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than 3 million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.”

AUTO INDUSTRY

“On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s No. 1 automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.

“We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.

“What’s happening in Detroit can happen in other industries.”

KEEPING JOBS IN THE U.S.

“Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.

“We should start with our tax code. Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and everyone knows it. So let’s change it.

“First, if you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn’t get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home.

“Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here in America.

“Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making your products here. And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment or training for new workers.”

INCREASING EXPORTS

“Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years. With the bipartisan trade agreements we signed into law, we’re on track to meet that goal ahead of schedule.”

UNFAIR TRADING PRACTICES

“Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders.”

RETOOLING THE WORKFORCE

“Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job. Think about that — openings at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work. It’s inexcusable. …

“Join me in a national commitment to train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. … Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, and Orlando, and Louisville are up and running. Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers — places that teach people skills that businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.”

EDUCATION

“Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. And in return, grant schools flexibility: to teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn. That’s a bargain worth making. …

“When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state — every state — requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.

“When kids do graduate, the most daunting challenge can be the cost of college. At a time when Americans owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling in July.

“Extend the tuition tax credit we started that saves millions of middle-class families thousands of dollars, and give more young people the chance to earn their way through college by doubling the number of work-study jobs in the next five years. …

“States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. …

“So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can’t be a luxury — it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.

IMMIGRATION

“I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office. The opponents of action are out of excuses. We should be working on comprehensive immigration reform right now.

“But if election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away.”

ENERGY

“Over the last three years, we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now — right now — American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right — eight years. Not only that — last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years. …

“This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy. A strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper and full of new jobs.

“We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years. And my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. …

“We’ve subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that rarely has been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that never has been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits. Create these jobs.

“We can also spur energy innovation with new incentives. The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change. But there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation. So far, you haven’t acted. Well, tonight, I will. I’m directing my administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public land to power 3 million homes. And I’m proud to announce that the Department of Defense, working with us, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history — with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

“Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here’s a proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

“In the next few weeks, I will sign an executive order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects. But you need to fund these projects. Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.”

HOUSING MARKET

“I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low rates. … A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit and will give those banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust. …

“And tonight, I’m asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorney general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”

BANKS AND FINANCIAL INDUSTRY

“So, if you are a big bank or financial institution, you’re no longer allowed to make risky bets with your customers’ deposits. You’re required to write out a ‘living will’ that details exactly how you’ll pay the bills if you fail — because the rest of us are not bailing you out ever again. And if you’re a mortgage lender or a payday lender or a credit card company, the days of signing people up for products they can’t afford with confusing forms and deceptive practices — those days are over. Today, American consumers finally have a watchdog in Richard Cordray [director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] with one job: To look out for them.”

PAYROLL TAX

“Right now, our most immediate priority is stopping a tax hike on 160 million working Americans while the recovery is still fragile. … Pass the payroll tax cut without delay.”

TAX REFORM

“Tax reform should follow the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. And my Republican friend Tom Coburn is right: Washington should stop subsidizing millionaires. In fact, if you’re earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn’t get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn’t go up.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE & ETHICS

“Some of this has to do with the corrosive influence of money in politics. So together, let’s take some steps to fix that. Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow. Let’s limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact. Let’s make sure people who bundle campaign contributions for Congress can’t lobby Congress, and vice versa — an idea that has bipartisan support, at least outside of Washington.”

DYSFUNCTIONAL CONGRESS

“Some of what’s broken has to do with the way Congress does its business these days. A simple majority is no longer enough to get anything — even routine business — passed through the Senate. Neither party has been blameless in these tactics. Now, both parties should put an end to it. For starters, I ask the Senate to pass a simple rule that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days.”

AFGHANISTAN

“[W]e’ve begun to wind down the war in Afghanistan. Ten thousand of our troops have come home. Twenty-three thousand more will leave by the end of this summer. This transition to Afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with Afghanistan, so that it is never again a source of attacks against America.”

IRAN

“Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent.

“Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.

“But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.”

VETERANS

“With the bipartisan support of this Congress, we’re providing new tax credits to companies that hire vets. Michelle [Obama] and Jill Biden have worked with American businesses to secure a pledge of 135,000 jobs for veterans and their families. And tonight, I’m proposing a Veterans Jobs Corps that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters, so that America is as strong as those who defend her.”

POLITICS OF WASHINGTON

“One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates — a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary — and Hillary Clinton — a woman who ran against me for president.

“All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves.”

U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo responds

In response to the president’s State of the Union address, U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., issued the following statement: “If the president is serious about wanting to help our employers put Americans back to work, he must stop talking about the two things that will keep Americans on the unemployment lines and extend our difficult times — tax increases and excessive government regulations. Employers are not going to create jobs when they could face huge tax increases and unnecessary regulatory burdens in the near future. We need to reduce the cost of doing business in this country and help make our employers more competitive so they can expand and create jobs. My American Jobs Agenda offers solutions that would put our great nation back on the path to prosperity.

“The president also needs to get serious about cutting wasteful Washington spending and shrinking the size of government so we can strengthen our economy and give our employers the confidence they need to invest in their businesses,” Manzullo added. “Today marks the 1,000th day the Senate has gone without passing a budget. That’s unacceptable. I strongly encourage the president and Senate Democratic leaders to take a look at a budget I supported last year — the Republican Study Committee budget — that would have cut $9.1 trillion over the next 10 years while strengthening Social Security, saving Medicare, reforming the tax code, and balancing the budget in nine years. It’s time for Washington to start living within its means and end the massive borrowing from China and other countries that is saddling future generations of Americans with massive debt.”

The Rockford Park District announced that Community Recreation Manager Danielle Potter was selected as the Rockford Park District 2011 Employee of the Year. Laurie Anderson, Matt Bunk, Barb Neville, Brenda Parrish and Judy Roby were selected as 2011 Team of the Year by all staff members through an online voting system.

Throughout the year, 24 employees and seven teams were nominated by team members and selected by a staff recognition committee as Employee of the Quarter and Team of the Quarter, making them eligible to be selected as Employee of the Year and Team of the Year.

The nominations for each quarter included recognition for Outstanding Performance, Creative Contributions, Notable Service to Community/Citizens, Notable Service to Staff, Dollars for Ideas, and Safety First.

Factors used to determine quarterly award recipients included special contributions to the Park District as a whole, successful completion of special projects, ideas for improved work methods, outstanding dedication to the Park District, ideas that generated revenue or saved money for the district, attention to safety details, and/or outstanding customer service.

Potter received the recognition because of her involvement in the “Summer Challenge” program. This year, the Park District coordinated the entire program at six schools for more than 1,800 students in grades kindergarten through eighth. Potter demonstrated excellence in leadership while working with a direct budget of more than $1 million, hiring well more than 60 additional seasonal employees and preparing all policies, procedures, logistics and service partners.

Potter’s success was noted by Rockford Public School District 205, the YMCA of Rock River Valley, and other partners participating in the program.

Anderson, Bunk, Neville, Parrish and Roby were selected as 2011 Team of the Year based on their quick actions to capture available grant money and create a new program of the Rockford Park District.

Neville noticed an article in a National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) magazine about a grant for serving veterans with disabilities upon returning home. Following up on the article, but with less than one day to get it done, Brenda, Laurie, Matt, and Judy pulled together to complete what was needed for the application. The end result: $14,000 was granted to the Park District’s Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies program. This is the first time the Park District has received national grant funding for Therapeutic Recreation programs.

The other employees of the four quarters who were eligible to be named Employee of the Year included Penny Christians, John Piccolin, Reggie Peterson, Tina Leinbaugh, Nathan McDonald, Dave Rutherford, Curt Johnsen, Laura Gibbs-Green, Miranda Sparks, Garrett Jones, David Petrovich, Jeff Stacy, Zachary Zage, Pat Krueger, Paula Reiter, Matt Dutkiewicz, Gerald Bell, Alex Peterson, Pete Stankiewicz, Cindy Rathke, Pam Lindstrom, Shannon Crain, and Kyle Martinson.

The other quarterly team winners that were eligible to be named Team of the Year included Breedy Wilson and Cedric Wynn, Scott Burfoot and Don Walker, Horticulture Department, Magic Waters Seasonal Staff, Therapeutic Recreation Team, Atwood Environmental Education Team, along with Officer Scot Nason, Officer Joe Williams and Officer Jason Parada.

Peter Loewer

Online Staff Report

The first of many Speaker Series luncheons will take place this week at Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, 1354 N. Second St., Rockford.

Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens will be holding a “Murder in the Garden” luncheon with Peter Loewer from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 26.

Loewer reviews movies for National Public Radio (NPR) in Asheville, N.C., and has written more than 30 books about gardening and natural history, including the award-winning The Wild Gardener and Thoreau’s Garden.

Loewer is also a well-known and honored botanical illustrator. Over the years, Loewer has gathered information about the connection between movie monsters and flowers, plus all those plants used by mystery writers to dispatch their victims.

Lunch will be provided by Toni’s of Winnebago, and pre-registration is required. Cost is $30 per person. Nicholas Conservatory members receive a $5 discount.

To register or for more information, contact Lyndi Toohill at (815) 987-1654 or lynditoohill@rockfordparkdistrict.org, or Ruth Miller at (815) 987-1689 or ruthmiller@rockfordparkdistrict.org.

CHICAGO — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit Jan. 25 against Standard & Poor’s for its allegedly fraudulent role in assigning its highest ratings to risky mortgage-backed investments in the years leading up to the housing market crash.

Madigan filed her lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) compromised its independence as a ratings agency by doling out high ratings to unworthy, risky investments as a corporate strategy to increase its revenue and market share.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit alleges S&P ignored the increasing risks posed by mortgage-backed securities, instead giving the investment pools ratings that were favorable to its investment bank client base and S&P’s profits.

“Publically, S&P took every opportunity to proclaim their analyses and ratings as independent, objective and free from its desire for revenue,” Madigan said. “Yet, privately, S&P abandoned its principles and instead used every trick possible to give deals high ratings in order to retain clients and generate revenue. The mortgage-backed securities that helped our market soar — and ultimately crash — could not have been purchased by most investors without S&P’s seal of approval.”

The Attorney General’s lawsuit cites numerous internal e-mails and conversations among S&P employees in the run up to the housing market’s crash that demonstrate the company misrepresented its ratings as objective and independent. In one such exchange, in April 2007, an online conversation via a company-based instant messenger application revealed employees discussing S&P ratings compared to the reality of risk involved, with an employee stating an investment “could be structured by cows and we would rate it.”

Madigan said investors relied on S&P ratings because they were historically rooted in the agency’s purported independence and objectivity. S&P’s internal code of conduct states its goal to “promote investor protection by safeguarding the integrity of the rating process.” But, the Attorney General’s lawsuit cites congressional testimony by a former managing director of S&P who revealed that “profits were running the show,” with ratings being assigned to risky investments to help drive profit margins for their clients.

S&P, a subsidiary of McGraw-Hill Companies, is one of the nation’s largest credit ratings agencies responsible for independently rating risk on behalf of clients and investors.

Madigan said in the run up to the financial crisis, S&P consistently misrepresented the risk of mortgage-backed securities, assigning these securities its highest seal of approval — or AAA rating. This misrepresentation spurred investors to purchase securities that were far riskier than their ratings revealed.

Mortgage-backed securities are financial products composed of a pool of mortgages that are bundled together and sold as a security. The assets are backed by residential mortgages, including subprime mortgages.

The performance of these investment products have significant, real-world implications for Illinois institutional investors, such as pension funds and 401(k) managers who make decisions about whether, and which, of these securities are appropriate investments. It was the misrepresentation of the true value of these risky mortgage pools that helped the housing market skyrocket and ultimately led to its collapse in 2008.

The lawsuit is part of Madigan’s continuing work to hold lenders accountable for their unlawful financial misconduct, and to provide relief and assistance to Illinois families struggling to save their homes.

Most recently, in December 2011, Madigan and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a $335 million settlement with Countrywide, a subsidiary of Bank of America, for discriminating against thousands of Illinois borrowers of color during the height of the subprime mortgage lending spree. The settlement will provide restitution to harmed Illinois borrowers and is the largest settlement of a fair lending lawsuit ever obtained by a state attorney general.

The Attorney General is litigating a similar lawsuit against Wells Fargo alleging widespread discrimination against African-American and Latino borrowers.

Madigan led an earlier lawsuit against Countrywide, which resulted in a nationwide $8.7 billion settlement in 2008 over the company’s predatory lending practices. The Attorney General also reached a $39.5 million settlement with Wells Fargo over the bank’s deceptive marketing of extremely risky loans called Pay Option ARMs, and in 2006, Madigan obtained more than $10 million in restitution for Illinois homeowners as part of a $325 billion multi-state settlement with Ameriquest over the former mortgage giant’s deceptive sales of predatory subprime mortgages.

Assistant Attorneys General Vaishali Rao and Vijay Raghavan are handling the case for Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Bureau.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — llinois’ 12 percent increase in higher education spending this year isn’t going to benefit students. Instead, the additional funding for fiscal 2012 is going into the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) to address its underfunded pension program.

“These SURS appropriations do not go to individual institutions or agencies and are not available to be used for educational purposes,” according to the footnote in a study released Jan. 23 by Illinois State University (ISU).

SURS, which is responsible for the pensions of the state’s university employees, is facing an unfunded liability — how much it owes in benefits compared with how much assets it has on hand — of $17.2 billion, according to its 2011 annual report.

Illinois has a total stated unfunded pension liability of $85 billion, but a 2009 study by the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management puts the figure as high as $219.1 billion. The study didn’t specify how much it estimates SURS’ portion to be.

The “rapidly increasing appropriations” have pushed Illinois’ higher education spending from $3.2 billion in fiscal 2011 to $3.6 billion this fiscal year, according the annual Grapevine study of state support for higher education put out by Center for the Study of Education Policy at ISU.

The dramatic increase in the amount of money being given to SURS, and the other state pension systems, seeks to make up for decades of chronic underfunding by governors and legislators, and shrinking returns on investments because of the stagnant economy.

Funding that made it to the college or university classroom decreased this year compared to last year by 0.76 percent, from $1.62 billion to $1.6 billion, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), which oversees the state’s higher education system. Those figures reflect money going directly to education, such as operating expenses, and don’t include capital spending.

The amount of taxpayer money making it to the universities for daily operations has been on a downward slide for a decade, said Alan Philips, deputy director of the IBHE.

“In more recent years, it has been largely a result of the state’s fiscal challenges. The state just doesn’t have a lot of money,” Philips said. “It’s probably not very likely we’re going to see increases in state funding for education, and we’ll be lucky if (higher) education funding is held flat.”

Since fiscal 2007, the total amount of higher education funding, including pensions, in Illinois has increased by 25 percent, from $2.8 billion to $3.6 billion. During that same time, state tax dollars going to SURS have increased from $255 million to $750 million.

That figure is set to double next fiscal year, hitting $1.4 billion to meet the requirements of a 1994 law setting a pension payment schedule for the state.

When higher education spending figures are reduced by removing the costs of SURS, spending on higher education has increased by 9.4 percent since 2007, or at about the rate of inflation.

Students have been asked to shoulder much of the rising cost of classrooms while at the same time Illinois diverted money to the ailing SURS.

Beth Spencer, a spokesman for SURS, said the increasing state payments to the pension system are the result of decisions made by past lawmakers and governors.

“The state has systematically, over decades, failed to fully pay the annual required contribution,” Spencer said.

Students in 2011 paid 30 percent more for a year of college at a university than those in 2007, as the cost rose from $13,496 to $18,189.

Philips said increasing tuition and student fees have become an ugly reality for universities dealing with less state money and the end of federal stimulus funding.

“With the cost of educating increasing, with the requirement to serve more students increasing, with the state funding decreasing, there’s not many places that you make up the difference,” he said.

That’s what’s happened at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the state’s flagship university.

The U. of I.’s Board of Trustees voted last week to increase tuition for new, in-state students this fall at its Urbana-Champaign campus by 4.8 percent, from $11,104 to $11,636 a year. This comes less than a year after the board approved a 6.9 percent tuition increase at the main campus.

“Tuition increases have been declining over the least three years,” University of Illinois President Michael Hogan said at a board last week, according to the Chicago Tribune. As for future tuition increases, “much depends on the future of state funding,” Hogan said.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s three-year budget projection holds education funding flat through fiscal 2015, though the Legislature must approve those figures each year.

Quinn and legislators are looking to cut the ballooning spending on public pensions, including SURS.

Quinn said earlier this month that one possible solution would be shifting the cost of the pensions. He highlighted shifting costs of elementary school teachers’ pensions to their local districts, a move that also could be applied to the collegiate retirement system.

Cost shifting could push student tuition even higher.

To cover the extra burden of cost shifting, “tuition would be one source. We would have to reallocate (funds and resources); there would be some hard priority decisions,” Randy Kanges, a spokesman for the U. of I., said.

Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, plan to have public employees either pay more to keep their current retirement packages or pay less and switch to a 401(k)-style system.

James Palmer, editor of the Grapevine study, said spending on higher education is tied directly to the economy.

“It’s taking us longer to recover from the Great Recession that hit us a couple of years ago,” Palmer said. “If the past is prologue, funding for higher education will increase when the economy heats up.”

A rally against the proposed closure of the Rockford mail processing center, 5225 Harrison Ave., will be from noon to 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 21, outside the facility. The public is invited to participate in the rally.

A September 2011 United States Postal Service (USPS) study supported moving the operations currently being undertaken at the Rockford facility to a Madison, Wis., facility. The move would cost the Rockford area nearly 200 jobs and cause delays of two to three days in mail delivery to homes and businesses in the eight northern Illinois counties served by the Rockford facility — Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Ogle and Lee.

With the deep decline in mail volume as a result of the current economic conditions and continuing electronic diversion, the Postal Service has an excess of employees and equipment in some mail processing operations. A nationwide consolidation study recommended the closure of 252 mail processing centers and nearly 4,000 post offices. Rockford’s processing center was among the facilities slated for closure, with the operations being moved to Madison.

The Postal Service announced in December that it would delay any final decisions regarding facility closures until May 15, 2012.

The Rockford mail processing center is consistently rated among the most efficient centers in the nation, and Rockford workers provide excellent overnight delivery service to their customers in ZIP codes starting with 610 and 611.

Hundreds attended a public meeting Jan. 5 at Rockford’s Best Western Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center to share their thoughts about the USPS’s recommended closure of the Rockford facility.

A 2006 consolidation study originally recommended the closure of the Rockford facility, but efforts by area elected officials helped keep the facility in operation.

About 10 employees at the Rockford Register Star will be laid off as the daily’s parent company, GateHouse Media, consolidates its copy editing and page design staff to two central production centers.

The consolidation means production of the Register Star will move to Downers Grove. The other production center will be in New England.

Reportedly, the central production centers will open this summer, and staff laid off at the local paper will be able to apply for work at either of the central desks.

As The Rock River Times reported in 2011, portions of the daily’s graphics and advertising design departments were also being outsourced.

GateHouse owns nearly 80 daily newspapers and more than 250 weeklies throughout the country. GateHouse’s stock is currently trading at 7 cents per share.

MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. — Justin A. Garr, 25, of the 8200 block of Midred Road in Machesney Park, has been arrested for possession with intent to deliver cannabis.

Garr was charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver cannabis, a Class 3 felony.

The arrest comes after Stateline Area Narcotics Team (SLANT) agents executed a search warrant at Garr’s Machesney Park residence. Seized as a result of the search warrant were 307 grams of cannabis and a 9mm handgun.

Class 3 felonies are punishable by two to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

CHICAGO — According to media reports, President Barack Obama and the State Department will reject an effort to force administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Bruce Ratain, Clean Energy associate with Environment Illinois, issued the following statement in response:

“Today, President Obama will stand up to big oil’s latest attack on our health and environment by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. While Congressional Republicans work tirelessly for big oil, President Obama is taking concrete steps to reduce our dependence on oil and to build a cleaner, healthier future for American families.

“The pipeline would have been a disaster for our climate, the quality of the air we breathe, and critical water resources across our country. It would have deepened our dependence on dirty oil from Canada’s tar sands, producing catastrophic levels of global warming pollution.

“Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of Americans have organized and demonstrated in opposition to big oil and their destructive environmental practices. Today’s decision shows that President Obama is on the side of Americans concerned about protecting our health and environment from oil companies. This administration has helped stop the rush for dirty fuels, and it has enacted clean cars standards that will get us off oil, reduce air pollution and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“America’s dependence on oil threatens not only our environment, but also our economy, national security and health. It’s time to get off oil, and we thank the president for this step in the right direction.”

CHICAGO — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit Jan. 18 against the national, for-profit college Westwood for engaging in deceptive practices that left Chicago-area students with up to $70,000 each in debt for degrees that failed to qualify them for careers in criminal justice.

Madigan’s lawsuit alleges that, through marketing its criminal justice program, Westwood falsely convinced students they could pursue a law enforcement career with agencies such as the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State Police and suburban police departments, even though those employers don’t recognize a Westwood degree because of its lack of regional accreditation.

Many students learned only after graduation — and after racking up thousands in student loan debt — that their degrees would not land them the law enforcement jobs they originally sought.

Additionally, because Westwood isn’t recognized by regionally accredited colleges, students found they couldn’t transfer their coursework to alternative programs to complete a degree.

Lacking a regionally accredited degree and unable to transfer their coursework, Westwood students were left saddled with anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 in student loan debt.

“Westwood officials lied to potential students about almost every aspect of its criminal justice program, from its exorbitant costs to a graduate’s slim career prospects,” Madigan said. “Now, many of these students are left with thousands in debt in exchange for a college degree that has very little value in the real world.”

The Attorney General filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging numerous violations of the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Westwood College has campuses in Chicago’s Loop, Woodridge and Calumet City, in addition to campuses in five other states.

Madigan additionally alleges the college engaged in deceptive advertising. Westwood regularly promoted its criminal justice program in television and radio ads that depicted its graduates posing as police officers, in spite of its accreditation status that prevented students from obtaining such jobs.

Westwood also deceptively advertised online by purchasing search terms such as “Regionally Accredited Colleges” and “Become a Police Officer in Chicago” and “State Trooper College.”

When users searched for those terms, links to Westwood College would appear at the top of their search engine results, giving the false impression that a Westwood degree was regionally accredited and recognized by agencies including the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police.

The lawsuit also alleges that Westwood downplayed the ultimate total cost of attending the college and failed to provide students with sufficient information about their loans. Westwood is typically more expensive than most community colleges or state universities, with 2012 tuition rates for a bachelor’s of applied science totaling more than $71,000. Madigan said that when government and private loans did not cover a student’s cost, Westwood financed the student’s balance at exceedingly high interest rates — as much as 18 percent — and financial aid officers misrepresented the terms of the financing.

More than 100 students from Cook, DuPage, Kane and Ogle counties have complained to the Attorney General’s office and the Chicago Better Business Bureau.

Madigan’s lawsuit seeks to rescind contracts between current and former students and Westwood that are found to be unlawful and provide restitution to those students. The lawsuit seeks to shut down the defendant’s Criminal Justice Program. The suit also seeks to impose on Westwood civil penalties based on violations of Illinois law.

The lawsuit is Attorney General Madigan’s latest effort to crack down on fraudulent and deceptive practices in the for-profit college industry. In 2011, Madigan filed a complaint in a whistleblower suit against Education Management Corporation and the Illinois Institutes of Art in Chicago and Schaumburg for allegedly incentivizing admissions recruiters based on enrollment numbers and thereby defrauding the state of education grant dollars. Earlier in 2007, Madigan reached a settlement with Illinois-based DeVry University and Career Education Corporation concerning student loan practices involving the schools and lenders. The settlements required the schools to adopt a College Code of Conduct and to return the money paid by lenders to schools.

Current and former students of Westwood College seeking more information should contact Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Hotline, (800) 386-5438.

Assistant Attorneys General Akeela White, Colleen Bisher, Michele Casey, Greg Grzeskiewicz and Kevin Hudspeth are handling this case for Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Bureau.

Rafael J. Lopez-Cardona

Miguel Garcia

Online Staff Report

Winnebago County Sheriff’s police are in search of a suspect in the murder of 52-year-old Rockford resident Francisco Hernandez.

Hernandez’s body was found in an abandoned farmhouse off Edson Road in Ogle County Jan. 10. He had been reported missing by family members Jan. 4.

A warrant for first-degree murder has been issued for Miguel Garcia, 43, who also goes by Jose R. Rojas and Miguel Hernandez. Garcia’s last known address is 1731 Samuelson Road, Rockford.

Anyone with information about Garcia is asked to call the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department at (815) 319-6400 or Crime Stoppers at (815) 963-7867.

Working off information gained through their investigation, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department detectives located Hernandez’s body late in the evening Jan. 10. Trauma to the body was noted. Rafael J. Lopez-Cardona, 29, of Rockford, was arrested and charged with concealing a homicide.

Hernandez was last seen by his family members Tuesday, Jan. 3. They reported him missing Jan. 4 and said he was last seen on the afternoon of Jan. 3 when he left his home on Shelburne to collect rent for rental property.

When Hernandez left home, he was driving a white 2004 Chevrolet pickup with Illinois 19128T. The vehicle had lettering on the sides with F&S Landscaping, a business owned by Hernandez. The vehicle was found abandoned in Crystal Lake.

The Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF) will host a series of Sneak Peak parties, including one in Rockford, to announce the film line-up for this year’s festival.

The parties, formerly known as Reveals, will offer a chance to see trailers for some of the top films in this year’s festival.

The Sneak Peak is open to the public and will include an impressive spread of hors d’oeuvres, along with a cash bar.

The event will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Franchesco’s Ristorante, 7128 Spring Creek Road, Rockford.

BIFF is a four-day event taking place Feb. 16-19. It showcases approximately 140 films and filmmakers from around the world. The festival features international films, including a variety of local and regional productions. The festival has expanded into Rockford, which will host films at two locations, the Sullivan Theater and Franchesco’s Ristorante.

Rockford now has its own modern conservatory to attract visitors who enjoy facilities like the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. Gracing the shore of the Rock River at Sinnissippi Gardens and Park (built in 1909), this fine facility is a fitting tribute to 100 years of the Rockford Park District and the beautiful largesse of the Nicholas family in memory of William and Ruby Nicholas. The tropics have come to our lagoon. Visit soon and enjoy. (Photo provided)

Online Staff Report

Every month, the Rockford Park District provides a free chance to escape the outdoor elements without even leaving town.

Wednesday, Jan. 18, the Rockford Park District’s new tropical treasure, Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, 1354 N. Second St., Rockford, is open to the public for free from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The third Wednesday of every month, experience a taste of the tropics for free at Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

This week’s highlights include the following:

• Herbal Teas & Your Health, 5-6 p.m. — Liz Fiorenza, RN and owner of Wind Ridge Herb Farm in Caledonia, Ill., will guide you through the world of herbal teas and their health benefits. You will also learn how to make your own herbal teas.

• Shop at Garden Gate Gifts, which offers many unique and one-of-a-kind presents exclusive to the Nicholas Conservatory.

For more information about other free events, call the Rockford Park District at (815) 987-8898 or visit www.rockfordparkdistrict.org.

Rockford IceHogs goaltender Carter Hutton skates onto the ice after being awarded first star of the game during a Monday, Jan. 16, 2-0 shutout win against the Texas Stars at the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford. Hutton had the first shutout of the season for Rockford, stopping all 34 shots he faced. (Photo by Todd Reicher)

By Todd Reicher
Sports Columnist

If you went to the BMO Harris Bank Center Monday, Jan. 16, expecting a high-scoring, heavy-hitting and hard-punching hockey game, you were sorely disappointed. If you went expecting Rockford to play a strong game and get their first shutout win of the year, then you were in luck.

In a battle of goaltenders and defense, the Rockford IceHogs edged out the Texas Stars 2-0 Monday in front of a crowd of 4,717 fans.

Getting his third start in a row, Carter Hutton stopped 34 shots and earned the first shutout of the year for the ‘Hogs. In those last three games, Hutton has allowed just three goals and holds a record of 2-1-0.

But the win did not come easy, as Andrew Raycroft, Texas goaltender, was playing just as well as Hutton, stopping 32 of 34 shots he faced.

“Looking down the rink seeing Raycroft play well was kind of disheartening, and you’re watching a guy steal a game down there,” Hutton said after the game. “But we knew we could get a couple goals and our power play came up big in the end there.”

Indeed, the power play did come alive for Rockford. The ’Hogs had been held scoreless in their last 11 power-play opportunities, but with 4 minutes remaining in the game, Jeremy Morin sealed the win with a power-play goal. Ben Smith made a great pass and Morin buried the shot. Brian Fahey was the secondary assist on the goal. After the goal was scored, Hutton pumped his fist and skated over to the near boards, where he hammered the butt of his stick against the boards in celebration.

And not only did the power play finally click for Rockford, the penalty kill has been outstanding in the last four games, holding their opponents scoreless in their last 17 shorthanded attempts.

“I think our overall team defense and trying to take care of our end a little better and not give up as many line rushes is huge for us,” Hutton said.

The game was tied at zero after 20 minutes of hockey, and it wasn’t until the midpoint of the second frame that the first goal was tallied.

Brandon Pirri held the puck a few feet off the right side of the net and slid it across the blue paint past Raycroft. Waiting on the other side of the net was a recent arrival to Rockford, Brandon Svendsen, who buried the puck for his first goal of the season. Svendsen was in Rockford in the preseason in tryout camp and was signed to a PTO (Professional Try Out) contract last week.

Looking forward:

Rockford hosts the Chicago Wolves Friday, Jan. 20, at 7:05 p.m., then heads to Rosemont the following night to finish a home-and-home series with the Wolves. The ’Hogs are back home Sunday, Jan. 22, to play host to the Milwaukee Admirals at 5:05 p.m.

Joe Bruscato

Online Staff Report

Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato has requested an opinion from the Illinois Attorney General’s office in the dispute over the compatability of Ted Biondo’s joint holding of a Winnebago County Board seat and a Rock Valley College (RVC) Board of Trustees seat.

Bruscato’s office stated the following in a release: “The Attorney General has previously authored opinions on this issue. However, those opinions were based upon a different factual scenario. Furthermore, the opinions of the Attorney General were issued prior to statutory changes to the law. The Office of the State’s Attorney believes further review from the Attorney General would be instructive in resolving this issue.

“The Office of the State’s Attorney respects and values the electoral process,” the release from Bruscato’s office continued. “Contemplating removal from office of an elected official must be determined after careful deliberation, and without haste. Every facet of the law will be taken into account before an opinion is rendered.”

Biondo is not the first person to hold a Winnebago County Board seat and RVC Board of Trustees seat at the same time. Following is an article by former staff writer Jeff Havens published in The Rock River Times in spring 2003:

State’s Attorney Logli: No action on Johnson or RVC

Chris Johnson (R-4), a member of the Winnebago County Board and Rock Valley College (RVC) Board of Trustees, could be forced to resign one of his board seats if challenged in civil court.

The challenge could have come from Winnebago County State’s Attorney Paul Logli or a citizen, according to Michael Luke, chief of the Opinions Bureau for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

However, Logli said he will not challenge Johnson’s holding both positions because he disagrees with the attorney general’s opinion regarding the potential conflicts of interest for the offices. Specifically, Logli said the 1994 attorney general’s opinion rests upon issues that Johnson may never face.

The Rock River Times gave Logli state documents March 20 regarding the attorney general’s opinion, which states that holding both the community college and county board positions simultaneously is a potential conflict of interest. The opinion asserts no one person can hold both positions simultaneously.

Since Logli will not act, only civil action by an individual or group could bring the issue to court for determination.

Johnson said he wasn’t prepared to say which board he would resign from, if forced to do so. Before running for county board last fall, Johnson said his research did not indicate that there would be a problem with holding both positions.

A 1994 letter (File No. 94-021) from Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to Clinton County State’s Attorney Henry Bergman reads:

“I have your letter wherein you inquire whether one person may simultaneously serve as both a county board member and a trustee of a community college, part of the territory of which is located within the county. For the reasons hereinafter stated, it is my opinion that the offices in question are incompatible, and, therefore, one person may not simultaneously hold both offices … because of the potential conflicts in the duties of these offices. …”

The letter is the basis for the state’s current opinion about the compatibility of community college and county board positions, according to Luke.

If Johnson resigns from the RVC board, support for controversial RVC President Roland Chapdelaine could be further eroded. If Johnson resigns from the county board, there will be minimal impact because 19 of 28 county board members are Republican, and he holds no committee chairman positions.

Dickerson & Nieman Realtors, the largest residential real estate firm in the Rockford market, and Doyle Woodhouse & Moore Realtors, the area’s leading commercial real estate broker, merged Jan. 12.

The newly-expanded real estate business will be marketed under the Dickerson & Nieman Realtors brand. Frank Wehrstein is president of the Residential Division and Steve Clark the new president of the Commercial Division.

“At a time when the real estate industry is slowly recovering from a five-year-old housing recession, we decided to get aggressive and expand our real estate product,” said Wehrstein. “This makes it that much more convenient for sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants to go to one location for all these resources.”

Combined, the two firms now hold the largest overall market share of real estate listings in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties. Dickerson & Nieman lists 483 of 2,621 residential properties on the market, 18.4 percent of Rockford market residential listings. On the business side, Dickerson & Nieman lists 122 of 378 commercial property listings, 32 percent of the market, and 87 of 217 land offerings listed for sale, 40 percent of that segment.

Dickerson & Nieman and Doyle Woodhouse & Moore have a history of holding joint commercial real estate investment. The new Dickerson & Nieman Commercial Division will have 12 commercial broker agents, led by Steve Clark, the only commercial agent in the Rockford market certified with both the prestigious Certified Commercial Investment Member of the Realtors National Marketing Institute and a Society of Industrial and Office Realtors designation.

“If you want someone who gets right to the meat of a customer’s commercial need, Steve Clark is the guy,” said Wehrstein. “Steve is recognized as the area’s expert in commercial and industrial space, a reputation he built in Rockford during the last 35 years. Customers have faith in his integrity and his wide breadth and depth of knowledge of the commercial side of the business.”

Wehrstein said the expanded Dickerson & Nieman is positioning itself for upcoming growth in the Rockford market. He said: “As we get our schools in balance and the business community continues its aggressive pursuit of new business to Rockford, the move we’re making today will position us for the growth that lies ahead.”

Judson University’s School of Leadership and Business will host an open house from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday, Jan. 16, at the Rockford Campus, 1055 Featherstone Road.

Prospective bachelor’s and master’s degree students will have the opportunity to learn about the variety of evening programs offered, speak with an adviser, have a warm bowl of chili, and at 6 p.m. attend a brief presentation about “How Can I Pay for My College Education?” The presentation is designed to inform students of the options and processes involved with financing their education.

Prospective students or anyone interested in finding out more about Judson’s accelerated adult programs are encouraged to attend this free event. To register to attend the Rockford open house, call (815) 399-3500.