The Peoria Chapter of the American Sewing Guild’s ‘Sew Special’ will be held October 12 at EP!C (formerly PARC), 1913 W. Townline Road in Peoria, IL. Fans of the needle arts will gather at 8:00 AM for a day of learning new techniques and gaining inspiration from Londa Rolfing, Terry Kaveney and Katy McCue with Debbie Kauffman.

The Peoria Chapter of the American Sewing Guild is hosting the annual event which will include sewing workshops, the Make It With Wool contest and style show, a continental breakfast and a box lunch, door prizes, and vendor tables. The fee is $60 for non-members, $50 for members and $35 for students. Registrations may be sent to Gisela Schuman by October 3, 432 E. Pearl St., Farmington, IL 61531.

Londa Rohlfing is an acknowledged authority on heirloom and fashion sewing. Living in the Champaign-Urbana area, she conducted a retail store for 13 years before switching to an internet business, Londa’s Creative Threads. Her workshops at the Sew Special will focus on Art to Wear – what to put where and why, Artistic Tops ‘N T’s, Stylish Sweatshirt Jackets that Fit, and Creative Jacket Journey. Londa will provide a large vendor area for shopping.

For those who want something different, there are alternative workshops taught by Terry Kaveney and Katy McCue/Debbie Kauffman. Terry will provide quick and easy items to dress up a table or to give as gifts. Katy and Debbie will teach two hands-on workshops, one on making a microwave hot pad dish or cup holder and the other on making a zippered sleeping bag and matching pillow for an 18-inch doll.

The American Sewing Guild supports sewing by all ages and of all types. The Central Illinois Chapter is centered in Peoria and includes ‘neighborhood groups’ in Champaign-Urbana, Fulton County, Bloomington, Woodford County, and Peoria. Members can attend any and all of the monthly meetings of the groups as well as any ASG meeting throughout the United States. In addition to receiving quarterly publications, members of the Guild are allowed 10% off at many sewing stores, including JoAnne’s. Contact Pat West at 309-925-3395 for membership information.

To learn more about Sew Special call Gisela Schuman at 309-245-4884.

The Peoria Park District’s Adult Co-Rec Dodgeball League for ages 18+ will be held on Sunday evenings starting October 6 at Franciscan Rec Complex. Teams of 6-10 players (with at least two female players) will put it all on the line trying to outlast their opponents in a friendly competition. Registration deadline is September 27.

Fees are $75 for resident teams and $80 for non-resident teams. Player fee is $10 for residents and $15 for non-residents. Registration packets are available at Glen Oak Park Pavilion, Franciscan Recreation Complex, RiverPlex, and online at www.peoriaparks.org.

For more information, contact Matt Suellentrop, Sports Coordinator, at 681-2866 or visit www.peoriaparks.org
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Thursday, November 14, 2013, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Embassy Suites East Peoria, IL

Women In Leadership of Central Illinois’ 2013 Career Leader Award Winner, Dina Emser, of Eureka, IL, will be offering a leadership seminar designed for individual contributors who are being groomed for leadership positions. This one-day event, Lead the Ones You’re With, will focus on teaching new leaders how to understand and expand their leadership styles and strengths so that they may increase their influence and effectiveness.

Participants will gain an understanding of the direction leadership is heading and learn strategies to navigate the changes required to lead in today’s world. This seminar is an expansion of a presentation Emser did in June for Bradley University’s first Alumni Leadership Summit, and again in July for the International Positive Discipline Conference in San Diego, CA. Cost is $99 before October 14 and includes hot breakfast buffet, snacks, copy of Emser’s book Roadmap to Success, and workshop materials.

Cost after October 14 is $129. Contact Julie LaMere at assistant@dinaemser.com or 202-0142 for more information or to register.

Illinois Pollution Control Board to Hear Dynegy’s Request to Not Comply with Illinois Clean Air Law until 2020 In Gamble on Future Energy Markets

WHAT: On Thursday, ACM Partners, an independent financial analyst, will release the findings of a report on the pending no-cash sale of five central and southern Illinois coal-fired power plants from Ameren to Dynegy, a Texas-based energy company. The independent analysis found that Dynegy is preparing for the high risk of the purchase by creating an unfunded shell company to operate the coal plants locally. This shell company will not have the capital needed to install vital sulfur dioxide pollution controls or deal with daily maintenance and operation issues.

This model protects the profits of polluters like Dynegy, while forcing Illinois communities to bear the risk when the financial model fails.

Despite Dynegy’s financial resources, its shell company Illinois Power Holdings, is asking the Illinois Pollution Control Board for more time to comply with state clean air standards at the coal plants due to financial hardship. This financial hardship, however, is self-imposed, as Dynegy has the resources to properly fund its shell company.

Dynegy is hinging the final purchase of Ameren’s plants on whether Illinois Pollution Control Board will give the company more time to comply with vital state clean air standards, exposing Illinois residents to dangerous sulfur dioxide pollution for years to come.

The financial report author, Illinois energy experts from the Sierra Club and Environmental Law & Policy Center and a resident from an affected community will be available on a telepresser the morning of September 12 to discuss the report and urge the Illinois Pollution Control Board to deny Dynegy’s out-of-line request to the Board.

WHEN:
Thursday, September 12 at 10:30 AM CST
DIAL-IN: Phone: 866-952-1907 – Passcode: DYNEGY (spoken to operator)
WHO:
David Johnson, Financial Expert and Report Author, ACM Partners
Kady McFadden, Field Organizer with the Sierra Club Beyond Coal campaign
Andrew Armstrong, Attorney with Environmental Law & Policy Center
Joyce Blumenshine, Peoria Resident

Donations for Kellar’s Fall Rummage Sale will be accepted Mon-Fri, September 23-October 4th from 7-8:30 AM and 3:30-5:30 PM. Donations can be dropped off at Kellar Primary School’s gym (6413 N Mt Hawley Rd, Peoria). For Saturday or Sunday (Sept 28-29 and Oct 5-6) please e-mail Jen at jen.m.adler@gmail.com to schedule a time for a donation pick up. Everyone who provides a donation will receive a coupon ($2 value) for free admission to the Sneak Peak of the sale that will be held from 5:00 – 7:00 PM on Friday, October 18th.

Items that we will accept include: gently used baby, kid and adult clothes and shoes, household goods, books, toys, outdoor ware and sports equipment.

Peoria, IL (September 10, 2013) Advocate Lilly Ledbetter, whose discrimination case led to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, will speak at Bradley University on September 17, at 7 p.m. in the Peplow Pavilion in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center, located at 816 N. Tobias Lane. Admission is free and open to the public.

Ledbetter’s topic is “Grace and Grit: How I Won My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond.”

Ms. Ledbetter worked as a supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama for 19 years. Toward the end of her career, she began to suspect that she wasn’t being paid as much as her male counterparts. Intent on facing the discrimination, she brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Complaint against Goodyear and won. Goodyear appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and in a 5-4 decision, the Court overturned the ruling.

After the decision, legal groups and Democrats worked to introduce a bill that was signed into law in January of 2009, a law that makes it easier for women who have experienced pay discrimination to fight back.

A tireless advocate for fair pay, Ledbetter has been a featured speaker at colleges, universities, conferences, and other groups around the country. She also has made frequent television appearances.

The lecture is the first in the 2013-14 Women, Gender and the Law Series presented by Bradley’s Women’s Studies Committee.

September 11, 2013 at 6:30 PM
Peoria Public Library, North Branch, McKenzie Room, 2001 W Grand Parkway
Peoria, IL 61615

Do you have breathing trouble on some days and not others ? Have you ever wondered about the air quality in the Peoria area? Air pollution issues for the Peoria Illinois River Valley region and the impact of the Edwards power plant on air quality will be discussed by Kady McFadden, Sierra Club staff, and members of the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance. An Ameren representative has been invited to participate in this event.

Learn about the health affects of sulfur dioxide air pollution and particulates from coal fired power plants, and the public health costs to our area. The Edwards power plant is currently owned by Ameren, however, a Texas corporation named Dynegy plans to take over the plant. Significant questions for this area include the Dynegy bankruptcy in 2012 and other management concerns.

League of Women Voters is a member of the Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance and is acting on national League policy regarding clean air concerns. Refreshments will be served. The meeting is free and the public is invited to attend.

Peoria IL (September 10, 2013)–Jewish Bradley Chabad Student Group will commemorate the 12th anniversary of 9/11 on Wednesday, September 11 at the Olin Quad at Bradley University with a social action, Good Deed Mitzvah Marathon. The Good Deed Mitzvah Marathon will run from 11:30am to 1:30pm and is designed to present students and Faculty members with opportunities to do a good deed in memory of the victims of 9/11.

Participants will be able to choose from a variety of good deed opportunities. They will fill out a form to document their good deed and attach it to a picture of a victim of 9/11, which will then be fastened to a mini replica of the twin towers, creating the ‘twin towers of good deeds and love.’ Each participant will receive a sticker acknowledging his or her good deed. At 12:30pm a moment of silence will take place in memory of the 9/11 victims.

Rabbi Eli Langsam, Executive Director of the Jewish Bradley Chabad Student Center, says that “Although our world at times experiences great darkness and deliberate expressions of hate; love and kindness chase away much darkness. The twin towers of good deeds and love will express an outpouring of giving, generosity and care which will help alleviate much pain and sadness.” Daniel Bachrach, student president of the Jewish Bradley Chabad Student Group expressed the importance of this project saying “Students tend to get very busy with their own lives, so it’s important that they take a few moments to remember those who were lost and do a good deed in their memory.” Sarah Langsam, Co-Director of the Center added, “It is important on this anniversary that we, and particularly young people, infuse goodness and kindness into our world, proving that evil will never win.”

The event is free, open the public and organized by Jewish Bradley Chabad Student Group.

For more information on the above event, or if you have any questions, please call Rabbi Eli Langsam at 309-692-2250 or 309-370-7701

PEORIA – (September 10, 2013) This year, more than 60,000 primary brain tumors will be diagnosed in the U.S.

In an effort to reach out to brain tumor survivors and help raise funds for brain tumor research, Mark Linder founded the Walk for the Mind in 2003. That first walk attracted over 150 walkers on the Peoria Riverfront and raised over $12,000 for research programs. While Mark died in 2005, at age 31, the walk lives on and to date has raised more than $330,000 for research.

This year Honorable Judge James Shadid, who lost his own brother to the deadly disease, will be the honorary chairperson.

WHAT: Mark Linder Walk for the Mind one mile walk and raffle
WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Peoria RiverPlex. Registration and raffle opens at 7:30 a.m. The Walk begins at 9:30 a.m.

ALSO: Entry fee is $20 for adults and $10 for children (10 years and younger). Survivors are free. Children’s activities are provided. The extensive raffle includes items such as pizza for a year from Papa John’s, a condo stay in the Ozarks and Chicago Bears tickets. More information is available at www.marklinderwalkforthemind.org.

This is the second year that all net proceeds will be donated to the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.

“We are thankful for this wonderful partnership with the Mark Linder Walk for the Mind. Funds raised will help support Dr. Andrew Tsung’s vital research to understand the mechanisms that make cancers grow and invade,” said Regional Dean Dr. Sara Rusch, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. “This is research that we hope will lead to breakthroughs originating here in the laboratory at the College of Medicine and then someday translate to brain cancer treatment at the Illinois Neurologic Institute here in Peoria.”

Peoria Riverfront Museum will open its doors free of charge on Saturday, September 28, 2013, as part of Smithsonian magazine’s ninth annual Museum Day Live!