September 8th, 2010 03:41pm
Doug Gass
To use a sports analogy, Embry-Riddle choosing Rockford for a residential aviation campus would be as game-changing for us as when Philadelphia Eagles star Reggie White chose to play for Green Bay in the mid-1990s. White’s decision forever affected the Packers and was a key piece in making them Super Bowl champs.
Until White said yes to the Packers, Green Bay was not considered a favorable destination for top free agents. Sure, Brett Favre was making his name, but the Packers needed league credibility. White opened that door. He believed in Green Bay.
Embry-Riddle, if it chooses Rockford, could open the door for us. Our employment losses over the past decade have been well documented, as has the flight of corporate headquarters away from here. An Embry-Riddle campus at the Rockford airport wouldn’t change all of that history, but it could signal to the aeronautics world that Rockford has value. Maybe Embry-Riddle will believe in us, at a time when we don’t quite believe in ourselves.
Reporter Alex Gary writes in his blog today that Rockford is sending a team to Daytona Beach on Thursday to learn more about what Embry-Riddle needs for an residential aviation campus: Jeff Kaney, founder and CEO of Kaney Aerospace, Bob O’Brien, executive director of the Chicago Rockford International Airport and Eric Voyles of the RAEDC. As Alex notes in his blog, the stakes are high:
An Embry-Riddle campus in Rockford would be the biggest economic development to Rockford in years. It would attract students from throughout the Midwest to the area who then might stay to work for the more than 90 local companies in the aerospace industry. It would create about 300 well paying college administration and teaching positions. It would attract residential and retail development to south Rockford. The campus could be used as a tool to entice other companies to locate here.
September 8th, 2010 01:27pm
Wally Haas
There are 10 people on the Rockford Register Star Editorial Board. Community members serve one-year terms, although those terms often are extended at the discretion of the editorial page editor.
A rotating staff position, currently filled by Annette LaCross, also is a one-year term.
Peter Ricker, publisher
Linda Grist Cunningham, executive editor
Wally Haas, editorial page editor
Doug Gass, managing editor
Mary Kaull, assistant editorial page editor
Tom Lasley, general manager
Chuck Sweeny, senior editor
Annette LaCross, deputy managing editor/local news
Bob Trojan and Vernon Hilton, community members
September 8th, 2010 11:30am
Doug Gass
Job openings grew by 178,000 in July, Sean F. Driscoll noted in his blog this morning. Total job openings topped 3 million for the first time since spring, according to preliminary data released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Alex Gary writes about mortgage rates and foreclosures. Mortgage applications dropped last week as rates on 30-year fixed mortgages increased slightly, but most of the drop was due to a decrease in refinancing. On foreclosures, August became the third busiest month in 2010 for foreclosure filings.
Ted Biondo asks a compelling question in his blog today — “Is a segment of America becoming like a third world country?” Here’s a segment from his post:
More people use food stamps in America than ever before. More than 50,000 people in Winnebago County received food stamps in June. That’s about 5,000 more than last year. In Illinois, the number of families who got food stamps in June increased almost 12% percent from a year earlier, or more than 780,000 families.
September 8th, 2010 07:10am
Doug Gass
The expected showdown between Mayor Larry Morrissey and the City Council over the proposed pay for the newly appointed HR director never happened. The council delayed action on the pay and on a proposed 5 percent across-the-board pay cut.
Here are updates filed Tuesday night by Corina Curry from the meeting:
Here we go — talking about the proposed 5 percent across the board cut for all employees. Ald. Wasco says he’s not ready.
The proposal would include steps and ladders, explained city legal dir. Patrick Hayes. Could prompt retirements, too.
Wasco says he’s not against the proposal. Just has questions about how it works.
Proposal lays over. Hayes says mayor is adding his name to the aldermen’s resolution saying they agree to take a 5 percent pay cut.
Proposal to set the salary for the city’s human resources director also gets tabled. Ald. Wasco has issues with how Hayes worded it.
Here are stories in the works today:
Reporter Jeff Kolkey reports on the financial woes that threaten the River District Association. Last week the Register Star reported the group laid off its paid staff and canceled events because it lacked money.
In his blog Tuesday, Jeff also revealed that an emergency meeting set for Thursday came as a surprise the to board’s president, Emily Hartzog.
Sean F. Driscoll, who writes about jobs in the Rock River Valley, goes back to high school today. He’ll visit ACE High School, which he has been covering since it opened in 2008. The school gets its first freshman class this year.
Alex Gary writes in his blog about the latest effort by the Obama administration to tackle the mounting number of homeowners nearing or in foreclosure.
September 7th, 2010 01:40pm
Mary Kaull
One of the Register Star’s loyal letter writers, Harold Neave of Mount Morris, has died.
I read his obituary over the weekend with sadness. It’s amazing how much I do not know about letter writers aside from their opinions — as courteous or as in-your-face as those opinions might be. I put Mr. Neave in the courteous category.
Even though a copy assistant often helps us make phone calls to verify letters, I would call Mr. Neave myself from time to time.
I did it because I loved hearing his careful articulation. I appreciated how he always had a gentlemanly manner. Little did I know he had an MBA from Harvard and his undergraduate degree was from prestigious Williams College in Massachusetts.
Mr. Neave was an engineer by trade. He was very active in Ogle County politics and, among his many involvements, was a member of the Ogle County Board and Mount Morris township supervisor. He had a special interest in land preservation.
His politics and world view were hard to pin down. More than anything, he seemed to enjoy challenging preconceived notions and prodding people to think more logically about issues. Looking through our digital archives, which go back 13 years, I counted a couple dozen letters from Mr. Neave. There may have been more.
In September 2009, he wrote that state funding to faith-based charities was “bipartisan pandering,” which would eventually lead to bleed between the religious and nonreligious elements of charity work. It was obvious his quarrel was not with the charities’ good works; he wrote he was an enthusiastic contributor to the Rockford Rescue Mission.
A couple of months later, he advocated a common-sense — yet too rare — prescription for budget deficits. “Let’s have plausible solutions to runaway state and federal spending — reductions in staff with increases in taxes and fees in Illinois and higher deductibles on federal Medicare charges,” he wrote in November of last year.
Mr. Neave died Aug. 31, just three days after his 84th birthday. He left a sister, nieces and nephews and cousins Gordon and Georganne Eggers, parents of Crusader Community Health CEO Gordon Eggers Jr.
I’ll miss Mr. Neave. I hope he finds an audience for his excellent insights in heaven. I’m sure he’ll be polite with all the souls.
September 7th, 2010 07:10am
Doug Gass
Updated at 4:30 p.m.
Reactions are pouring in to Mayor Richard Daley’s announcement that he won’t run again in Chicago.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn praised Daley as a “great guy” and a “great mayor.” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says Mayor Richard Daley and his family have put their “hearts and souls” into the city of Chicago. Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. says there’ll be many candidates to replace Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, but only a few can mount a serious bid.
Senior Editor Chuck Sweeny has reaction in his blog from Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan. “For 10 years, I worked with Mayor Daley to expand O’Hare, defend Lake Michigan and improve the quality of life for Chicago-area families.”
Community blogger John Groh said Daley’s decision is a clear sign that the way cities, regions and states are managed and governed is changing. Groh writes that Daley the Second has been mayor of Chicago since 1989. He’s been mayor during high times and low times. Certainly the past year has had its share of lows. And, based on reports and projections the next few years aren’t going to be much easier.
Jobless claims: Sean. F. Driscoll notes that more than 4,000 people in Boone and Winnebago counties filed their first applications for benefits last month, according to data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.That’s an increase from June.
Updated at 11:30 a.m.
Headlines from today:
The death penalty will be in play for Katie Stockton. Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato said today he’ll seek the death penalty in the case. Stockton, 29, faces 10 counts of murder in the death of her newborn daughter, dubbed Baby Crystal. The baby was found frozen to death in December 2004 on the side of the road near Stockton’s parents’ home in rural Rockton.
Alex Gary reports in his blog that the number of bankruptcy filings from residents and business owners in Boone, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties was down in August year over year for the third straight month.
Less than half of the nation’s teens and young adults had jobs this summer, making 2010 the worst summer job season since 1948. Sean F. Driscoll reports in his blog that just 47.6 percent of people ages 16 to 24 had jobs in August, according to USA today, with an unemployment rate averaging 18.3 percent for those age groups in June, July and August.
From earlier today:
Rockford aldermen and Mayor Larry Morrissey continue to disagree over how much to pay the mayor’s new appointed HR director. Tonight at City Council the two sides are expected to continue the debate.
In today’s preview of the meeting, reporter Corina Curry writes that the mayor and aldermen could end up in court seeking a ruling on how to interpret city ordinance that determines who sets the pay.
The mayor told Curry, “If they feel they need to bring a lawsuit against me or the city, then do it.” The story is a print exclusive, but you can read a summary of the story here.
Curry also will write live updates from the council meeting. You can follow them at rrstar.com through Twitter, with the code #rfd907.
Private schools partner: More than a dozen private schools in the Rock River Valley are beginning to work together. The tough economy and shrinking enrollments are behind the new effort. Reporter Cathy Bayer writes:
They’ve formed a group called ONE, Opportunities for Nonpublic Education, to share ideas and resources and be a sounding board for one another.
Economic update: Watch Alex Gary’s blog this week for numbers on August’s foreclosure totals and bankruptcy filings. He’ll also write about Chrysler sales.
September 3rd, 2010 04:00pm
Doug Gass
We quote dozens of people every week in our newspaper and online pages. Some are eloquent, some are direct and others leave you scratching your head: What did he just say? Here are some of our favorites this week.
I’m not sure what this one — from Harry Cann, SMG Senior Regional Vice President — means exactly. Cann was commenting after layoffs and restructuring at the MetroCentre were announced.
“We are synergizing those operations to provide better services, to drive more revenue and maximize efficiencies.”
Bryan Suh, owner of Mary’s Market and a member of the Miracle Mile board, talking about the area’s success in a tax increment financing district.
“Business has steadily increased in the past three years. I see many new faces, and it’s because people are stopping more. It’s not so much a passage way anymore. It’s a place of its own again.”
Brian Boyer, chairman of the Greater Rockford Airport Authority board of directors, commenting on Embry-Riddle’s intention to consider the Rockford airport as a site for a future campus.
“We showed them the site we think would work best for them, and you could see he was getting more and more excited. Dr. (John) Johnson is very serious about taking this to his board. This would be one of the biggest things to happen to the airport in a long time.”
Emily Hartzog, commenting on the River District’s financial problems and staff cuts that left director Kim Wheeler Johnson without a job.
“This isn’t something we took lightly. Kim, to many, is the face of the River District. But our whole objective is to keep the River District going, and we’ve essentially run out of money.”
Former Rockford school Superintendent Dennis Thompson, commenting about the fact that he and his wife plan to move back to Rockford after his contract expires in Florida next July. His contract was not renewed.
“You guys have a superintendent there. I don’t intend to apply for anything.”
September 3rd, 2010 09:07am
Wally Haas
Frank Beach’s name was left off this morning’s letter because I didn’t see his signature on the hard copy given to me. He used his initials and signed on top of another alderman’s name so it all looked like one name, at least to me. So the aldermen who signed the letter were: Bill Robertson, Carl Wasco, Nancy Johnson, Pat Curran, Frank Beach, Doug Mark, Lenny Jacobson, Bill Timm, Joe Sosnowski and Ann Thompson-Kelly.
Beach distributed a letter to aldermen and city staffers at Monday’s meeting, but that was a different letter.
Beach called me this morning to let me know. Sorry, Frank.
September 3rd, 2010 07:10am
Doug Gass
Want to buy a house? Alex Gary says now is the time, with prices back to 2002 levels and interest rates on 30-year mortgages are down near 4 percent. Makes refinancing nearly irresistible.
August jobless numbers start coming out today. Sean F. Driscoll writes in his blog that these Bureau of Labor Statistics are the first round. State and local data will come out in the next few weeks.
Reporter Jeff Kolkey reminds us that the City Market will be held as usual today, so swing by on your way to On the Waterfront. Read more about his day here.
Chuck Sweeny explores the anti-incumbency mood in his column. He writes that local Democrats hope to ride the wave against longtime Republican incumbents.
My Democratic friends insist the Nov 2 election will not feature a Republican landslide. They say people are angry at all incumbents. My Republican friends say Democrats are just whistling in the dark on the way to electoral Armageddon.
Labor Day Weekend is here. If you’re traveling today, have a safe holiday on the highways or in the air. If you’re staying close to home, maybe I’ll see you at Rock Cut on a bike trail. Enjoy the long weekend.
September 2nd, 2010 12:37pm
Wally Haas
One point I didn’t address when I blogged about how we write editorials is precedent. The opinions we publish are often based on the opinions of the editorial boards that came before us.
It’s similar to how the Supreme Court works. It’s unusual for the court to go against one of its previous rulings even if all the characters have changed. Same goes for our editorial board.
One of the things that Mary Kaull and I find amusing is that when we look up precedent, we often can’t tell who wrote the editorial we find. It goes back to the point that I made in that earlier post that the editorials are the opinion of the board and are written as such. They are not written from one person’s point of view.
One of the issues we’ve been consistent on is our opinion that the Winnebago County Board is too large. We’ve long thought that it should be cut in half, from 28 board members to 14. That was the editorial board’s position long before I got this gig (nine years ago).
Today there might be some movement on that. County Board member Doug Aurand will make a proposal on how the county is redistricted. Every decade after the release of census numbers, political boundaries need to be redrawn to reflect population shifts. Illinois probably will lose one congressional seat because of declining population, but that’s another story.
Usually, whatever political party is in charge draws a map that favors them.
Aurand, a Democrat, and Tom Seymour, a Republican, pitched their idea to me a few weeks ago. It’s not original; it’s based on what was done in Champaign County.
Two of the last three re-mapping efforts in Winnebago County were disasters and we said so in editorials at the time (precedent). Aurand and Seymour think their idea will lead to a fairer drawing of districts. I think they’re right.
County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen wants to take the proposal a step further. He wants the blue-ribbon commission also to decide how many County Board districts there should be and how much County Board members should be paid.
In 2008, voters overwhelmingly approved a switch from two board members per district to single-member districts. The switch makes it easier to make the board smaller, i.e. create 14 single-member districts. However, the board could opt for 28 districts.
Voters also approved giving the forest preserve district its own governing body. County Board members doubled as forest preserve commissioners, leading to plenty of conflicts in the economic development vs. preserve nature debate. With a seven-member forest preserve board to be elected in November, you could easily make the case that the County Board needn’t be bigger than 21 districts.
It’s interesting that we have 35 candidates for the nonparitsan, unpaid forest preserve commissioners and we have only 14 candidates for the partisan, paid County Board jobs.
You can expect us to re-up on our County Board precedent within the next week.
Other topics on our agenda as we head into a three-day weekend are the fight between aldermen and Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey over his wish to appoint Assistant City Administrator Julia Valdez as HR director; what Rockford needs to do to get Embry-Riddle to set up shop here and other assorted stuff.
I linked to Linda Grist Cunningham’s blog for the Valdez story and Chuck Sweeny’s blog on Embry-Riddle because they are edit board members and you might want to see how the editorials we wind up writing match or differ from their individual views.
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