Press release from State Representative Dave Severin’s office

MARION, IL – A bipartisan bill sponsored by State Representative David Severin (R-Benton), was signed into law by the Governor on Friday. Senate Bill 730/P.A. 100-0220 extends the Petroleum Education and Marketing Act (PEMA) another 10 years to January 1, 2028. The Illinois Petroleum Resources Board (IPRB), which works under the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, will continue to oversee the act.

Representative Severin says that the PEMA is still primarily meant to promote the oil and gas industry. The act will also expand the purpose of the board to include oilfield environmental remediation and restoration activities.

“The PEMA is intended to be mainly educational, by working with teachers to educate students and the general public about the importance of the oil and gas industry in Illinois.” Rep. Severin said, “Under the renewed act, the board will also be able support efforts to clean up and/or restore tank battery sites that are environmentally friendly.”

The bill received support from the Illinois Oil and Gas Association and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources alike. It will go into effect immediately.

https://www.ilnews.org/news/state_politics/wednesday-house-session-postponed-more-education-funding-reform-talks-expected/article_d82249cc-87a6-11e7-9f49-ef45f8c84db2.html

SPRINGFIELD, IL  – (Greg Bishop, Illinois News Network.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

Wednesday’s House session on school funding reform was postponed late Tuesday after legislative leaders held “productive” negotiations on compromise legislation earlier in the day.

Meeting for several hours inside Speaker Michael Madigan’s Springfield office, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said negotiations on Senate Bill 1, the Democrats’ plan that Republicans call a bailout of Chicago Public Schools’ failing pensions, progressed.

“We went through a lot of issues,” Durkin said, “down to the minutia. And to me, that is positive. It shows that there is a willingness to bring this to a negotiated settlement.”
Durkin wouldn’t divulge the details being negotiated. However, he said Republicans are unified in opposing an override of the governor’s changes to SB1, including removing hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding that Rauner and other Republicans say is a bailout of CPS’ pension system by suburban and downstate taxpayers.

Press release from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Rend Lake Project Office

BENTON, IL – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Rend Lake will be hosting the Natural History Education Company as they present Animals Important to Humanity at the Rend Lake Project Office/Visitor Center on Saturday, August 26th, 2017. Some ways that animals are important may surprise you.

Join Bob Tarter of the NHECM as he entertains and educates the audience with his live animals! Animals Important to Humanity will take place on Saturday, August 26th at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Programs in our Environmental Science Series are free, open to the public, and suitable for all ages.

The 2017 Environmental Science Series will conclude on September 2nd with Ancient Survival Arts, presented by wilderness guide Mark Denzer of the Trails of Awareness Project. Learn how to select materials from nature to be used as food, shelter, primitive hunting, rope making, and much more! For more information about Rend Lake’s Environmental Science Series, please call the Rend Lake Project Office at 618-724-2493 or “like” our Facebook page Rend Lake Project Office/Visitor Center.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-eclipse-traffic-delays-20170822-story.html

The photo of the Johnston City exit was shared on the Tribune headline story. (Scott Olson, Getty Images)

CHICAGO, IL  – (Nerida Moreno, Chicago Tribune.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below)

It took Ann McNamara nearly 15 hours to complete what is typically a five-hour trip from downstate Illinois to Chicago as thousands headed back home after the solar eclipse, clogging nearly every major highway.

McNamara, 56, of Irving Park, left Lake Egypt around 4:45 p.m. Monday but was trapped on I-57 in standstill traffic with her two young boys.

“It was the worst traffic I’ve ever seen, and I grew up in Chicago,” she said. “There were trucks pulled over on the exit ramps, on the shoulders of exit ramps, on the shoulders of the highway. A few times, I shut the car off for up to 40 minutes. So it was really bad.”