Illinois Department of Agriculture Hosting Valentine's Promotion For State-Produced Products

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Followers of the Illinois Department of Agriculture's social media sites will be eligible to win prizes during a Valentine's promotion of state-produced products. The "I Love Illinois Products" contest will be Feb. 10-14.

Each day a winner will be chosen from among those who "like" the department's Facebook page or sign up to follow the agency on Twitter. Prizes include state-produced therapeutic soaps and lotions, wine, and candy from businesses in Owaneco, Utica, Decatur, Rockport, Taylorville, Lacon, Springfield, Vienna, Fairmount and Godfrey.

Many of the companies will be participating in the Illinois Products Expo March 3-4 at the state fairgrounds in Springfield. Winners of wine products must be at least 21 years old. More information is available online: www.facebook.com/IllinoisDepartmentofAgricultureor https://twitter.com/#!/ILAgMarkets  - http://goo.gl/TPKD3

Tests Show No Radiation Increase at Nuclear Plant

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois Emergency Management Agency officials say lab tests show no measureable increase of radiation after steam was released to cool a northern Illinois nuclear reactor. Officials said Friday that the environmental sampling was conducted earlier this week after the incident at Byron Nuclear Power Plant on Monday.

Agency director Jonathon Monken says the results confirm "no health hazard for people who live and work in the area." The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that the trace amount of radioactive tritium released in the steam was not enough to present a danger to the public.

Monday's outage started when an electrical insulator failed and fell off the metal structure that it was attached to. That interrupted power and caused the reactor to automatically shut down as a precaution.   full story

State Farm Plans to Hire 3,000 Employees

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - State Farm Insurance plans to hire 3,000 people across the U.S. and Canada and add 900 agents. The Bloomington, Ill.-based company said Friday that the hiring will replace positions it has left open as the country's economy struggled the past few years.

State Farm spokeswoman Holly Anderson said the jobs will be mainly in customer service, claims and IT. Three-hundred will be in Bloomington with the rest widely scattered. The company is the largest local employer with more than 15,000 workers in central Illinois. State Farm has a total of 66,000 employees and another 17,800 agents. Anderson said the company will actively recruit military veterans through job fairs.  full story

AFSCME: Give Us Our Pay Raises

Springfield, IL -- Governor Quinn took a jab at Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' position on the Right to Work bill in his State of the State speech Wednesday. But AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Henry Bayer says Quinn's actions are speaking much louder than his words. "It is hypocritical of the Governor to criticize the governors of Indiana and Wisconsin for the actions they have taken, and then to turn around and not honor a collective bargaining agreement", said Bayer.

Quinn advocates for the right to bargain but he has frozen pay increases for more than 30-thousand union state workers. About 200 union members gathered outside Quinn's Springfield office today asking the governor to change his mind.

They say if the state can afford to add 300-million dollars worth of new programs, they can afford to pay out the negotiated 75-million dollars in pay raises. - http://goo.gl/0iXOu

Number of Illinois Wineries Grows to More Than 100

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The number of wineries in Illinois has sharply increased over the last five years. The State Journal-Register reports the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association counts 106 wineries in the state at the beginning of 2012.

That number has risen from 63 in 2007 and 19 more than a decade ago in 1999. Association president Bruce Morgenstern lauded a 2008 Illinois law that allows wineries to sell directly to the public if they produce up to 25,000 gallons a year. But Morgenstern says some wineries are nearing that 25,000-gallon limit as the industry grows in Illinois.

Wineries that produce more than 25,000 gallons a year must use a commercial distributor. Overall, statistics show Illinois' wine industry is small compared with states like California and Washington. - http://goo.gl/WxpS6

Four Plead Guilty in Marion County Court

A 29-year-old Centralia man has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one of two unlawful delivery of a controlled substance charges pending against him. Brandon Lashbrook of Clinmar Street was also ordered to serve two years of mandatory supervised release when released from prison.

Lashbrook had been charged with delivering cocaine in December 2010 and January of last year. The judge ruled costs in the case were uncollectable. A 19-year-old Centralia man has pleaded guilty to felony theft. Nathan Hale of South Locust admitted taking power tools from George Lackey, Harvey Loeger and Bruce Humphrey of Centralia in September.

Hale was placed on one year conditional discharge, ordered to make $1.040 in restitution and have no contact with the victim. 20-year-old Jonathan Stevenson of South Maple in Centralia has pleaded guilty to criminal defacement of property for defacing the spillway walls on Raccoon Lake near 710 East Green Street in Centralia in November of last year.

He was placed on two years court supervision, fined $100 and court costs, and 100 hours of public service work. Restitution was reserved for a future court hearing. Stevenson was also ordered to undergo drug evaluation and treatment and earn his high school diploma or GED. 36-year-old Chad May of West Spruce Street in Salem entered a guilty plea to a battery charge. Chad May of West Spruce was placed on two years probation, ordered to pay court costs, pay $337 restitution and serve 45 days in jail. May was also ordered to undergo drug and metal health evaluation and treatment. - http://goo.gl/LLknk

Local airport fence project almost complete

MT. VERNON — The $1.2 million fence project at Mt. Vernon Outland
Airport is expected to be completed next week.

"We made great strides earlier this week," said Outland Airport Manager Chris Collins.

"This was a requirement for all commercial service airports. We still hold a commercial license and this was a part of mandated requirements that we have 10 foot wildlife/security fencing around the grounds."

The move forward, Collins said, "Shows we are being proactive. These type of things are starting in different places. We're already beginning to see it in terms of air rescue and firefighting along with security lights and fencing."

Collins noted the local share of the project cost totaled $31,000.

"In the future, there could be insurance mandates where commercial planes can only go into air fields that have air rescue and firefighting," Collins said. "We could start to see where they can only go to the type of air fields that have security fencing."

While crews constructed the remaining 2,000 feet of fencing between buildings at the airport, Collins noted the six foot fence was still present in those areas.

Electricians also put the final touches on wiring which supplies power to the electric gate motors on the grounds.

The airport, Collins said, has five electric gates.

"We had this type of technology before. We are just updating it as part of the overall project," Collins said. - http://goo.gl/8WbN1

Rockford-Based Airline Lays Off 200 Employees

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - Rockford-based Ryan International Airlines has announced it will lay off about 200 pilots, flight attendants and other workers. The Rockford Register Star reports Thursday that the airline will make the cuts at four U.S. bases and said the reduction reflects less business coming from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Much of the company's business has come from moving troops around the world. Ryan executive vice president Mark Robinson says there is "just less military flying." Robinson says the airline will restructure over the next six months to add more charter flights. The airline employs 585 people. Those affected by the layoffs are based in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Rockford.

A spokeswoman for the Airline Pilots Association says the union was notified of the layoffs on Wednesday.  full story

One Person Injured in Jefferson County Accident Thursday Afternoon

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and the Jefferson Rural Fire Department responded to an accident early Thursday afternoon. The accident occurred at Route 37 and Idlewood Road north of Mt. Vernon at 1:02pm. One person was taken to a local area hospital. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department would not release the names of those involved in the accident, or any specific details regarding the accident.  full story

Two arrests made, cash and drugs seized

An investigation into an alleged criminal sexual assault led to two
arrests, a cache of money and drugs, and the seizure of four dogs and a
pet snake in rural Jefferson County earlier this week.

Richard M. Foutch Jr., 39, and a juvenile were arrested after Jefferson
County detectives executed a search warrant at 4588 E. Dix-Irvington
Road in connection with the assault investigation Monday, Jefferson
County Sheriff Roger Mulch said.

During the search, officers discovered $16,685, more than 500 grams of
cannabis and drug-related paraphernalia inside the residence, Mulch
said.

The juvenile was charged with criminal sexual assault and taken to the
Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in Benton, while Foutch was
charged with manufacture/delivery of cannabis more than 500 grams.

Both Foutch and the juve-nile lived at the residence in northwest
Jefferson County.

Foutch is scheduled for a first appearance in Jefferson County Court at
9 a.m. March 2.

Four dogs and a pet snake were taken from the resi-dence and placed with
the Jefferson County animal warden.

More charges could be filed once the investigation is finished, Mulch
said. - http://goo.gl/0lx4N