9-11-2007

GOVERNOR BLOGOJEVICH VISITS GREENVILLE

A State of Illinois airplane delivered Governor Rod Blagojevich to Greenville Friday afternoon. The Governor was in town to meet with Senate Minority Leader, Frank Watson, to talk about statewide capitol improvements, and the gaming bill to fund those expenditures. Frank gave the Governor a tour of Greenville, including the Greenville College, the downtown courthouse square, Watson's Drug Store, Nevco, Demoulin's, the Federal Prison and other local sites. The two leaders lunched at Mabry's Restaurant and discussed upcoming legislation.

 

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GREENVILLE COLLEGE RANKS 24TH IN BEST COLLEGES REPORT

 Greenville College was recently ranked one of the best Baccalaureate schools in the Midwest region in the annual U.S. News report on America's best colleges. The school came in at number 24, sharing the list with those like McKendree University and Eureka College. The report is compiled from surveys sent to colleges and is based on information on enrollment, retention and class environments. Each school is also reviewed by other institutions in the tier.

According to Greenville College, increased growth over the past several years attracted national media attention from NBC's Today show last year and drove several building projects.

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GREENVILLE CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER PREVIEW

The Greenville City Council will meet tonight for their regular monthly meeting. Items on the agenda include reports from several city departments, the 2008 street program engineering contract and the Tourism Committee Recommendations. Other topics to be discussed include various parking lot repairs, sewer plant improvements, curbstoning and leaf burning.

 

SOUTHWESTERN ELECTRIC HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING

 

The annual meeting of Southwestern Electric Co-Operative was held this past Saturday and was very well attended. The big topic of discussion at Saturday's Southwestern Electric meeting in Greenville was pending rate increases made necessary by a new contract with a power plant in Arkansas. Southwestern Electric President of the Board, Alan Libbra, told WGEL the increase would not take effect until 09 or possibly 2010 and Southwestern may have the financial ability to phase in the 22 to 24 percent increases.

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LAW SIGNED REGARDING CARNIVAL WORKERS

 

A recent law signed into office in Illinois will now have an effect on those that can be hired to operate carnival rides.  House Bill 820 requires carnival owners to conduct background checks on operators and workers, prior to hiring them. A few of the details under the new law say that a person not be hired as a carnival operator if they are a registered sex offender, or have ever been convicted of rape, murder or certain sexual offenses.  And any carnival owner who hires a worker in violation of the law will be assessed penalties ranging from $1,000-$10,000.

 

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IDOT PRESENTS NEW MAP OF ILLINOIS HIGHWAYS

 

New maps of Illinois are now available to residents.  According to IDOT Director Milton Sees, the maps are available free of charge, at the DuQuoin State Fair.  The new maps are a result of IDOT working with corporate sponsor Best Western Hotels of Illinois.  This is the second time that the hotel chain has sponsored the Illinois map.

 

Director Sees says that every two years, new state highways maps are created to ensure that Illinois motorists and visitors have the most up to date information.  You can also receive a map through the Illinois Office of Tourism as part of the Illinois Travel kit.

 

 

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SPRINGFIELD FIREFIGHTERS GET PET RESCUE EQUIPMENT

Fire crews in Illinois' capital city now have another tool to make sure everyone gets out of a house fire. According to Metro News Source, the city is distributing some pet rescue gear to its firefighters.  The specialized oxygen masks are designed for dogs, and come in sizes to fit every dog from a Chihuahua to Mastiff. 

 

Springfield's Illinois Capitol Kennel Club paid for the gear, and handed out the kits to each of Springfield's fire stations.  Firefighters usually try to use masks made for people to help animals trapped in a fire, but say it's tough to make a human mask fit a dog's snout.

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TUNE INTO WGEL FOR

CARDINAL TICKET AUCTION THIS FRIDAY

 

Be listening after the 7am news this Friday morning for your chance to buy some great Cardinal tickets and help fight cancer.  WGEL and the Sew Smart Relay for Life team, from Demoulin’s, will be auctioning off 4 box seats to the game on September 17^th.  The Cardinals take on the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:10 that evening.