Kelly Stewart has been selected superintendent of the year for the Egyptian division of the Illinois Association of School Administrators.
Here’s the link to the story in the Southern Illinoisan.
Benton’s Kelly Stewart named superintendent of the year by Illinois Association of School Administrators
October 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Lawmaker: Pension plan ‘very likely’ for veto session
September 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment
A key member of a legislative panel charged with finding a way to fill Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation unfunded pension liability said Sunday that she believes it is “very likely” a plan to change state retirement benefits could be agreed upon to present to lawmakers next month.
Here’s a link to the story in the Chicago Tribune.
Hooters makes good on promise, caters lunch for Benton firefighters
September 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment
By Jim Muir
What started as a controversy has ended with three “Hooter’s Girls” making a special trip to Benton to cater a hot wing lunch for the city’s firefighters.
Making good on its promise, Hooters catered a lunch Tuesday afternoon at Donna’s Sweetwater Saloon, located east of Benton, for nine city firefighters.
The controversy which led to Tuesday’s lunch, began earlier this month when the Benton City Council denied a request for reimbursement for meals purchased when two firefighters were away at training because two of the receipts submitted were for meals at Hooters, the restaurant chain known for its hot wings and “Hooters Girls.”
Bob Burnett, who serves as public safety commissioner, asked the council to deny the meal reimbursement request because of the two Hooters receipts, totaling about $65. Burnett called the matter for a vote so that the entire council could decide. The reimbursement claim was denied by a 3-2 vote of the council.
In a story that appeared in a local newspaper, Burnett said:
“To each his own and if you want to pay to eat at Hooters on your own dime, that’s one thing but to ask the taxpayers to pay for it is another,” he said. “Respect me and the taxpayers enough not to do that.”
Benton firefighters are pictured with three Hooters’ Girls, following a catered lunch on Tuesday. The meal resulted from a controversy after the Benton city council refused to reimburse two firemen for meals at a Hooters restaurant while they were out of town receiving training.
(Photo provided)
Instead of getting in a war of words with the Benton city council about the decision to deny the bill, Hooters opted to fight back by offering a token of gratitude for Benton’s firefighters and all first responders.
In a statement issued Tuesday night a Hooter’s spokesperson said:
“Hooters loves and appreciates fire fighters and all first responders and that’s where our focus will remain. It was our pleasure to serve the Benton firefighters who work hard every day to protect their local community. As a show of appreciation, first responders receive 10 percent discount at Southern Illinois Hooters locations in uniform.”
Benton firefighters declined to comment about the council decision or the Hooters-catered meal but emphasized that all firemen were on their own time and that the lunch was not sanctioned by the city.
Diana Geiger, a district manager with Hooters will be a guest on WQRL’s “Sound Off” on Wednesday night (September 25) to talk about the decision to honor the Benton firefighters.
Area man facing charges in alleged road rage incident
September 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment
A Williamson County man is free on bond after being accused of hospitalizing a teenager in what authorities describe as a case of road rage.
Here’s a link to the story in the Springfield State Journal-Register.
Daley ends campaign for governor: ‘This isn’t the best thing for me’
September 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Bill Daley has scheduled a downtown news conference this morning to discuss the reasons behind his abrupt decision to skip a challenge to Gov. Pat Quinn in next year’s Democratic primary.
Daley, who told the Tribune of his decision to drop out in an exclusive interview Monday, noted it was difficult to dislodge an incumbent governor but believed it was possible against Quinn. Still, in the end, it wasn’t a race Daley decided to make.
Here’s the link to the story in the Chicago Tribune.
Area man killed, local doctor injured in Florida explosion
September 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Associated Press
A Southern Illinois man was killed and another injured in a weekend explosion at a Destin, Fla. vacation home.
Michael Todd Brower, 35, a resident of the Franklin-Williamson County area, was killed when a car exploded Saturday night, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department.
A second man, 58-year-old Luis Lopez, who is listed as a physician at the Heartland Pediatric Clinic in Marion, was seriously in-jured in the explosion. Lopez was listed in critical condition at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla. as of Sunday night.
Emergency crews responded to the residence, located at 704 Harbor Lane in Destin, just after 7 p.m. Saturday after receiving calls of a loud explosion and fire, the sheriff’s office reports.
Officials from the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office said Sunday the explosion was accidental, and there is no indication of foul play.
The explosion appears to have been a “freak and tragic accident,” said Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley.
Investigators are focusing on acetylene torches that were rented to do work on the house, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.
Old King Coal Festival gears up for weekend activities
September 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Autumn-like temperatures will usher in a weekend of activities at one of Southern Illinois’ premiere events. The Old King Coal Festival is gearing up for an exciting weekend of activities for all ages. Below is the schedule.
SIH partners with BJC Collaborative
September 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Staff Report
CARBONDALE, IL Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) today announced that it would participate in The BJC Collaborative, a partnership among health care systems throughout Illinois, Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
BJC HealthCare (St. Louis, Mo.), Memorial Health System (Springfield, Ill.), Saint Luke’s Health System (Kansas City, Mo.) and CoxHealth (Springfield, Mo.) founded the Collaborative in October 2012 to improve the quality and efficiency of health care in the region. Blessing Health System in Quincy, Ill. joined the Collaborative in May 2013. SIH becomes the sixth Collaborative member to join the group since its inception.
While remaining independent, member and participant organizations will collaborate to achieve savings, deploy clinical programs and services to improve access to and quality of health care for patients, lower health care costs and create additional efficiencies that will benefit patients and communities.
A significant benefit of the BJC Collaborative is enhanced access to St. Louis health care resources, where SIH patients are frequently referred for specialized medical care or treatment. BJC HealthCare includes Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine.
The four founding members of the Collaborative have nearly 5,000 hospital beds, 52,600 employees and 6,933 employed and affiliated physicians across their adjacent service areas. The SIH System has 285 licensed beds, 316 medical staff physicians and 3,200 employees.
The BJC Collaborative offers SIH the opportunity to participate in multiple existing initiatives, to the benefit of SIH and the communities it serves. Those initiatives include:
- Population Health Management – population health information and assessment, physician recruitment and engagement strategies, including Accountable Care Organizations and medical home development.
- Clinical and Service Quality – performance improvement, staff development and training, including eLearning, management and leadership development, clinical skills training, clinical decision support, safety event reporting and emergency preparedness.
- Capital Asset Management – supply chain relationships, facilities design, clinical engineering, technology evaluation, energy conservation and facilities management.
- Financial Services – capital resource evaluation analysis, treasury options, revenue cycle, business intelligence and actuarial expertise.
- Information Systems and Technology – meaningful use of health IT, data center management, data warehousing, software applications, hardware configurations and emerging technologies, data security and patient confidentiality.
SIH’s participation in the Collaborative will also offer the opportunity to provide input on additional future initiatives, including those specifically related to the unique challenges faced by SIH and the communities it serves.
“SIH has taken a bold step in the rapidly changing face of health care and aligned itself with an excellent group of health care providers,” said SIH President and CEO Rex Budde. “This relationship is powerful. It provides SIH with access to the shared expertise of the Collaborative partners to work together on population health management and adapt to changes coming out of managed care. We can also tap into BJC’s world-class programs to improve patient care.”
“Participation in the Collaborative is a natural outgrowth of Southern Illinois Healthcare’s longtime relationship with Barnes-Jewish Hospital, our adult academic medical center and a Midwest regional referral center for advanced medical care,” said Sandra Van Trease, BJC Group President. “We look forward to further exploring the potential to develop even stronger clinical relationships through our Collaborative work.”
SIH Board of Trustees Chairman Steve Sabens said the expanded relationship makes SIH an even stronger system.
“The fact that we are in the position where one of the largest, most respected health care organizations (BJC) in the United States is interested and willing to partner with us is exhilarating. We are a very sound system both medically and financially and I think we can provide some expertise to BJC and our new Collaborative partners as well,” Sabens said.
Fasol named to inaugural IHSA Distinguished Media Service Award
September 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Staff Report
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is proud to announce the inaugural recipients of its IHSA Distinguished Media Service Award. The 2013 honorees include sportswriter Tony Baranek of the SouthtownStar in Tinley Park, the iconic voice of high school sports in West Frankfort Bruce Fasol, retired Arlington Heights Daily Herald sportswriter and columnist Bob Frisk and recently retired radio announcer Lanny Slevin of WLPO in LaSalle.
Bruce Fasol, right, is pictured in his normal perch high atop Max Morris Gymnasium. At left is longtime broadcast partner Rick Westermeier.
The award was created based on a recommendation from the IHSA Media Advisory Committee and seeks to recognize media members who have covered high school sports and activities in Illinois for a significant period of time, while maintaining perspective on the amateur events they report on.
“These are four legendary figures in their areas of the state,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. “I have been privileged to work with or know all four during my career at the IHSA and have seen firsthand how much they mean to the schools and communities they serve. I am not sure there could have been a more exemplary inaugural class for this award.”
IHSA member schools submitted nominations for the award. The IHSA’s media advisory committee, and a veteran’s committee of retired media members that included former IHSA administrator Jim Flynn, then voted on each nominee. Those who received the required percentage of votes were named honorees. Each winner will be honored at a high school event of their choosing during the 2013-14 school year.
“One of the important parts of this award is the recognition within the community,” said IHSA Assistant Executive Director Matt Troha. “We believe it will be very rewarding to have the award presentation occur in front of the students, coaches and communities they have impacted through their exceptional work.”
A brief bio and information on the award presentation date for each honoree is listed below:
BRUCE FASOL
Presentation: Halftime of Frankfort vs. Benton boy’s basketball game at Frankfort (tentatively November 30)
With coaching in his family tree, Bruce Fasol was indoctrinated into sports at a young age, as he participated in four sports at West Frankfort High School and also began his work in radio as a junior in high school. Bruce returned to the area after attending Southern Illinois University and has spent nearly 40 years in the radio business. He is a staple in the West Frankfort community, having called over 3,000 Redbird athletic contests with broadcasting partner Rick Westermeier, often from their booth perched atop Frankfort High School’s Max Morris Gymnasium, also known as “The Supreme Court”. The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer was named the West Frankfort Citizen of the Year in 2000 and remains active in coordinating community projects throughout Southern Illinois. Bruce’s favorite part of high school sports is seeing athletes grow to become important parts of the community.
TONY BARANEK
Presentation: Halftime of Andrew vs. Lincoln-Way Central football game at Andrew on Friday, September 20
Tony Baranek reflects on his childhood saying he was a “voracious reader of the newspaper…cutting sports stories out of Chicago Today and the Chicago Daily News.” When Tony arrived at Bremen High School, he excelled in his English classes and discovered he had a talent for writing, eventually being hired as a stringer for the Harvey Star-Tribune while still in high school. Tony has patrolled Chicagoland and the south suburbs for the SouthtownStar and Sun Times Media since 1974. He recalls athletes like Oak Forest’s Joy Beauregard, Richards softball coach Julie Folliard, Mother McAuley’s girl’s volleyball coach Nancy Pederson and a number of state title teams (Mt. Carmel basketball in ’85, Lincoln-Way East ’02 & Lockport ’04 softball) as those who will always standout from his career. Tony cites the “honesty and passion” of student-athletes and coaches as the reason he loves covering high school sports.
LANNY SLEVIN
Presentation: Halftime of St. Bede vs. Rockridge football game at St. Bede on Saturday, October 5
Lanny Slevin’s love affair with radio began when he was six years old growing up in Peoria listening to Bradley basketball and Notre Dame football on the radio. He played high school football at Spalding Institute (now Notre Dame HS) in Peoria and attended St. Ambrose University before a 42-year career working in radio that he calls a “childhood dream come true.” Much of that time was spent at WLPO in the LaSalle-Peru area, while also working on the IHSA Sports Report and the IHSA TV Network throughout the years. He counts calling his children’s high school games and emceeing the 100th IHSA Boys Track & Field State Finals in Charleston among his career highlights. Lanny retired following the 2012-13 school year, and fittingly, his final radio call came at an IHSA State Final, as he brought fans the action from the St. Bede softball team’s state tourney semifinal game.
BOB FRISK
Presentation: Halftime of Hersey-Prospect boy’s basketball game at Prospect (tentatively February 1)
Bob Frisk’s junior high yearbook lists his life ambition as becoming a sportswriter. He made the first step toward achieving that dream when he became the sports editor for the high school newspaper and yearbook while at Arlington High School in Arlington Heights (Arlington HS closed in 1984, students now attend either Hersey or Prospect). As a high school student, he was also hired by the local newspaper, the Daily Herald, which started a 56-year career at the paper that was interrupted only to attend the University of Illinois, where he covered high school sports for the Daily Illini and Champaign-Urbana Courier during his four years on campus. Bob’s efforts have produced a litany of awards and honors, including IBCA Hall of Fame induction, as well as Hall of Fame enshrinement from three local high schools. Bob retired in 2008 and surmises his love of high school sports with simplicity by saying “sports at this level are still refreshing. I love watching kids compete.”
RLC developing concealed carry certification class
September 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
INA, Ill. – Concealed carry is now the law in Illinois, and those wanting to earn their concealed carry license will soon be able to look to Rend Lake College to get started.
Rend Lake College has started the application process to become a certified training center with the Illinois State Police for the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, which was passed on July 9, 2013. Several instructors are applying for their instructor certifications from the state, and the training program currently is in development.
One of the requirements to obtain an Illinois Concealed Carry License is a 16-hour firearms training, including classroom work and range instruction. This is the program being developed by RLC. Dates and costs of the classes have not yet been finalized.
Once the participant passes the training class, they must also be fingerprinted and fill out an application for a state license, which costs $150. The state will not begin processing these applications before January 5, 2014; however, the training class can be completed beforehand.
The college will release more information as it becomes available in the coming weeks.
