Peoria, IL (September 16,2013)- A Bradley University expert on trade and international business will receive global recognition for his work. Director of Operations at the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at Bradley University, Jim Foley, will be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Trade Training Organizations (IATTO) this month in Greece.

Foley is being recognized for his leadership and outstanding contributions in trade training. At the International Trade Center at Bradley University, he coordinates a program of counseling and training in international business planning, marketing, logistics and export finance. He works with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and Bradley University with a mission to promote international trade and assist companies with trade-related expansion and training.

He passionately believes international trade, especially for small and midsized companies, is critical to our country’s economic success. “In working at the Illinois Small Business Development Center’s International Trade center for many years at Bradley University, I’ve had the chance to personally see the impact exports have made to the strength of our communities. The 2008-2009 recession would have had a far greater impact had so many of our outstanding companies not already been engaged in international trade.”
Foley was instrumental in establishing a certification system that sets a professional standard for skills in international trade. “For ten years I led a voluntary effort to create the Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP). In fact the first meeting to develop the national exam was right here at Bradley University. Today nearly 1,500 individuals have received their CGBP designation.” IATTO is seeking to promote a global certification and his work with the CGBP helps support that effort.

Foley was recently the President of NASBITE, the North American Small Business International Trade Educators and now serves as the Board Liaison for International Trade Certification. He also serves as national co-chair of the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC) International Trade Committee. He also authored two books on international trade.

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This prestigious international recognition will be take place on September 25th at a gala held during International Export Summit held in Thessaloniki, Greece. The Prime Minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras will be present at the gala.

Thousands of Illinois Residents Calling for Illinois Pollution Control Board to Deny Dynegy’s Request for More Time to Meet Clean Air Standards

WHAT: On Monday, Peoria area residents will gather in downtown Peoria to announce the planned delivery of 8,000 petitions that the group will bring to an Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) hearing the following day. The petitions call on IPCB to deny Texas-based energy company Dynegy’s variance request for more time to meet Illinois state clean air standards. A bus-full of Peoria area residents will travel to Springfield at 7am on Tuesday to deliver the petitions in person.

Dynegy has a pending purchase of five Ameren Illinois coal-fired power plants, including the E.D. Edwards coal plant in Bartonville. The company will pay no cash for the sale, instead taking on $825 million of Ameren’s debt.

Dynegy, which is building an unfunded shell company to operate the coal plants locally, is claiming to IPCB that the company is in financial hardship and needs more time to comply with the state’s landmark Multi-Pollutant Standard law established in 2006.

The Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance will be joined by residents from across the state of Illinois to deliver the thousands of petitions in person at the IPCB hearing on Dynegy’s variance request on Tuesday.

WHO:
Robin Garlish, Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance
Dr. John McLean, Retired Peoria Neurologist
Kady McFadden, Sierra Club
Lisa Offutt, Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste

WHERE:
Outside the Peoria Civic Center, Corner of Fulton and Madison St in front of Sonar Tide statue

WHEN: Monday, September 16, 2013, 10:30 AM

Thousands of Illinois Residents Calling for Illinois Pollution Control Board to Deny Dynegy’s Request for More Time to Meet Clean Air Standards

PEORIA, Ill. – Today, the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance announced it will deliver more than 8,000 petitions to an Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) hearing tomorrow in Springfield. The petitions call on IPCB to deny Texas-based energy company Dynegy’s variance request for more time to meet Illinois state clean air standards. The Respiratory Health Association estimates that this variance alone would cause 2,000 asthma attacks and 125 premature deaths in Illinois.

Dynegy has a pending purchase of five Ameren Illinois coal-fired power plants, including the E.D. Edwards coal plant in Bartonville. The company will pay no cash for the sale, instead taking on $825 million of Ameren’s debt.

“As a former medical professional, I oppose Dynegy’s request to avoid complying with common-sense clean air standards in Illinois,” said Dr. John McLean, a retired Peoria area neurologist. “Plain and simple, we should not be putting the profits of a polluter above our children’s health and the promise of cleaning up our air.”

Dynegy, working locally as the unfunded Illinois Power Holdings shell company, has requested a variance from the IPCB to have until 2020 to comply with the Illinois State Multi-Pollutant Standard, a law established in 2006. The company claims that complying with Illinois’ common-sense clean air standard will cause the company undue financial hardship, though the company chose to underfund Illinois Power Holdings. Dynegy is hinging the final sale agreement with Ameren on the IPCB’s variance decision.

Peoria-area mother Robin Garlish was so outraged by Dynegy’s request for more time to pollute, that she started the petition online to tell IPCB to deny Dynegy’s variance, telling the story of her family’s respiratory illnesses and severe asthma exacerbated by high levels of pollution from the E.D. Edwards coal plant. The more than 8,000 Illinois residents read Robin’s story and took action.

“Our community has endured years of pollution from the E.D. Edwards coal plant, and now a new polluter is coming to town without a plan to clean up,” said Robin Garlish, Peoria mother and member of the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance. “More than 8,000 Illinois residents spoke out to say that Dynegy does not deserve a free pass to pollute here in Illinois. It’s time to come together as a community to demand clean air.”

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined earlier this year that the air in Peoria is unsafe to breathe, largely due to sulfur dioxide emissions from the area’s two large, uncontrolled coal-fired power plants, Ameren’s Edwards plant and Midwest Generation’s Powerton plant.

“The EPA’s designation of Peoria as a metro area with unsafe air, coupled with the Clean Air Act violations found at the Edwards coal plant are troubling for our public health,” said Lisa Offutt with Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste. “Every year, the Edwards plant alone is responsible for asthma attacks, respiratory disease and premature death. We’ve had enough of the pollution. We are ready to find a coal-free path forward in Peoria.”

The Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance will be joined by residents from across the state of Illinois to deliver the thousands of petitions in person at the IPCB hearing on Dynegy’s variance request. The group is also in the midst of an advertising blitz in Peoria and Springfield, Ill., running full page advertisements in the Peoria Journal Star and the Springfield Journal-Register on Sunday, along with additional half page advertisements and online ads through Tuesday.

“The IPCB hearing is a vital opportunity for residents to make their voices heard and demand that Dynegy’s profits come second to their health,” said Kady McFadden, Field Organizer with the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign in Illinois. “Dynegy does not deserve a free pass to pollute anywhere in Illinois.”

The IPCB hearing will start at 9:00 AM on Tuesday September 17 at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency building at 1021 N. Grand Avenue East in Springfield, Ill.

To view Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance advertisements online, please click here: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/0519_IL_BC_Edwards_Springfield_Journal_FullPage_03_x1a.pdf?docID=14161

The Peoria Park District’s Staging Your Home class is on Saturday, September 28 from 1-3:30 p.m. at Franciscan Rec Complex. Cost is $18/residents, $22/non-residents.

Whether you are looking to sell your home or create a better living space, this is the class for you! A session with this Accredited Staging Professional Master will show you how to stage your home for both top dollar and for everyday living. Learn the professional tips, tricks, and techniques that will make your home more organized and appealing. Staged homes not only sell faster, they also make loving your home for the long haul easy.

For more information or to register, visit www.peoriaparks.org or call (309) 688-3667.

The Peoria Park District’s Knitting for All Levels class for ages 9+ runs September 28 through November 11 on Saturdays from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Franciscan Rec Complex. Cost is $41/residents, $47/non-residents. Register using code 57798.

Students learn basic knitting stitches such as knit and purl. At the end of the course, students will be able to read a pattern, execute basic stitches and finish a project.

For more information or to register, visit www.peoriaparks.org or call (309) 688-3667.

The Peoria Park District’s Hooked on Crochet class for beginners ages 9+ runs September 28-November 2 on Saturdays from 9-10:30 a.m. at Franciscan Rec Complex. Cost is $41/residents, $47/non-residents. Register using code 57797.

Students will learn basic crochet stitches such as chain, single crochet, and double crochet and leave with an in-depth knowledge of crochet terms and helpful hints.

For more information or to register, visit www.peoriaparks.org or call (309) 688-3667.

Marissa Alexander Galesburg Rally
Date & Time: Saturday, September 14, starts at 1:00 p.m.
Location: Downtown Galesburg, IL — on the Public Square (which is really a circle), at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets.

Marissa Alexander is serving a 20-year sentence for defending herself against her abusive husband by shooting a warning shot into a wall. No one was hurt and she is currently in prison.

We are banding together to hold rallies all over America on Saturday, September 14th. Let’s bring together a crowd from west-central Illinois to support FREEING Marissa! This is a national event. See this site for details: http://interoccupy.net/blog/let-her-out-marissa-alexander-nationwide-rally/

Lilly Ledbetter Event

Date & Time: Tuesday, September 17, 4:15 p.m. Q & A, 7:00 p.m. Lecture
Cost: Free — NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Location: Bradley University, Peoria; Q & A in Westlake Hall Room 116; Presentation in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center, Peplow Pavilion
Parking: Parking is available in the Main Street Parking Deck

On January 29, 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the first act of Congress signed by the new President Barack Obama. The law makes it easier for women who have experienced pay discrimination to fight back.

You are invited to attend a free presentation by Lilly Ledbetter entitled “Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond.” A tireless advocate for fair pay, Ledbetter holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the CUNY School of Law and has been the recipient of countless national and international honoraria and awards.

The presentation is part of the Bradley’s Women’s Studies 2013-2014 Series, “Women, Gender and the Law.” It is sponsored by Women’s Studies, the Intellectual and Cultural Activities Committee, the Master of Business Administration Program and the Executive Master of Business Administration Program.

PEORIA, Ill. – Continuing her efforts to protect school children, state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, is sponsoring legislation banning individuals from carrying concealed weapons on school grounds

“As Illinois institutes concealed carry, we must balance individual rights with the safety our communities,” Gordon-Booth said. “This is a common-sense way to make sure our schools are as safe as possible. I will continue pushing for legislation that increases the safety and security of our children while they are at school.”

Gordon-Booth is co-sponsoring House Bill 3669, which would prohibit concealed carry permit holders from knowingly carrying a firearm into a school building, property or parking lot controlled by a public or private school. If adopted, an individual caught with a concealed firearm would be charged with a Class 4 felony for the first offense and a Class 3 felony for the second or any subsequent offense. The proposed measure would cover pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools, colleges and universities.

“I support the Second Amendment and a person’s right to carry a concealed weapon,” said Gordon-Booth. “However, in the wake of shooting tragedies in our schools, it’s clear that school grounds are no place for firearms.”

For more information, please contact Gordon-Booth’s constituent service office at 309-681-1992 or email her at repjgordon@gmail.com.

[Peoria, IL] –Health information technology improves the quality of healthcare delivery, increases patient safety, decreases medical errors, and strengthens the interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

To mark the important role health information technology plays in improving healthcare delivery in America, the Central Illinois Health Information Exchange and others across the U.S. have joined together to celebrate National Health Information Technology (NHIT) Week , September 16-20, 2013.

The NHIT Week theme: One Voice, One Vision: Transforming Health and Care and the benefits of health information exchange will be shared next week through CIHIE’s blog and social media outreach. Lauren Wiseman, CIHIE’s Implementation Specialist, will be blogging about the latest health IT topics from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) national conference.

“Our participation in National Health IT Week highlights our organization’s commitment to ensure health information technology and health information exchange are integrated, interactive, interoperable, and used to provide the best patient outcomes”, said Joy Duling, CIHIE Executive Director.

For additional information about National Health IT Week, visit www.healthitweek.org/.

Peoria – The Focus Forward CI (FFCI) Connect Action Team is hosting a meeting on Wednesday, September 25 at 9:00 a.m. at the Peoria County Courthouse Board Room, 4th floor, 324 Main Street in Peoria. At the meeting, FFCI representatives including a facilitator from Vital Economy will assist discussion regarding economic development opportunities for carp in our waterways. The meeting will bring together fishermen; investors; business owners; State, Federal, and regional representatives; and city, county, and other regional officials. The meeting will focus on the local supply of carp and market demand in an effort to create economic development opportunities and jobs in the region.

The meeting is a result of FFCI’s previous asset mapping sessions. Carp in area waterways was identified as an asset and this meeting will bring together representatives who have an interest in developing this asset. For more information about the meeting or to RSVP, please contact John Hamann at 495-4968 or jhamann@peoriacounty.org.