Byron 1 Refueling Begins, Bringing in 2,200 Additional Workers - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Portal

 

Roughly 2,200 temporary workers will join the 850 permanent workers employed at both units, according to plant owner Exelon. In addition to replacing 1/3 of unit 1's fuel, crews will complete about 14,000 inspections and maintenance tasks at the reactor. Exelon did not provide an estimate for when the unit will come back online.
“This is our biggest outage in more than a decade and we’re glad so many people will be able to come to the site and work,” Byron Station Vice President Tim Tulon said in an Exelon release. “We need the extra assistance; and many of these professionals currently need work. It’s a wonderful opportunity for all to benefit.”
Unit 2 will remain online.

Click on the following for more details:  Byron 1 Refueling Begins, Bringing in 2,200 Additional Workers - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Power Industry News - Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Portal

Winnebago and Boone County farm bureaus merge - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

 

Boone County Farm Bureau officially merged with the Winnebago County Farm Bureau, effective September 1. The two groups have been talking about a merger for almost two years, in an effort to better serve their members.

"I think there's one great benefit, it is that we have the opportunity now to stop and say this is what we've been doing, but let's design an organization that will meet the future," Winnebago County Farm Bureau President Earl Williams said.

The merger allows the organizations to cut down on expenses while offering more programs to members. Last month's vote to merge was almost unanimous

Winnebago and Boone County farm bureaus merge - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

Chrysler to Pay $3.5 Million in Employee Discrimination Lawsuit

 

Chrysler to Pay $3.5 Million in Employee Discrimination Lawsuit

 

BELVIDERE (WIFR) -- A local Chrysler Plant worker has been awarded the most amount of money ever given in a racial discrimination lawsuit in Illinois.

The seventh circuit court of appeals ordered Chrysler to pay $3.5 million to a Jewish employee.

Co-workers are accused of hurling racial slurs at him, making death threats and shredding his tires.

The employee tells us his co-workers also accused him of being a homosexual, he tells us that is not the case.

The court ruled Chrysler didn't do enough to stop it. This employee worked at the Belvidere Assembly Plant for more than 20 years.

Chrysler to Pay $3.5 Million in Employee Discrimination Lawsuit

Republican plan for Medicare could face years of hurdles: experts - chicagotribune.com

David Morgan

Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to turn Medicare into a voucher system and President Barack Obama hopes that fact alone will help him win votes among senior citizens and baby boomers.
But health policy experts, including two analysts who first floated the idea of Medicare vouchers 17 years ago, say no such plan is likely to become legislation - let alone law - until after the next presidential election in 2016.
That is because the mere notion of fundamentally revamping the $590 billion-a-year healthcare program, which serves 50 million elderly and disabled Americans, raises a multitude of policy issues that no politician or policymaker has addressed publicly…..

No experts in either the public or private sectors of the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare system have said in detail how a voucher system might work. The task require better insurance risk-adjustment mechanisms than are available now, as well as a deeper understanding of geographic variations in medical costs.

Click on the following for more details:  Republican plan for Medicare could face years of hurdles: experts - chicagotribune.com

Sycamore girl killed in '57 was 'outgoing, sweet and trusting' - chicagotribune.com

By Clifford Ward

Murder victim Maria Ridulph was described as a sweet, trusting child by prosecutors in opening statements today at the trial of the man charged with her murder more than a half-century ago.

Jack D. McCullough, a 72-year-old Seattle retiree and former Sycamore resident, is charged with killing the 7-year-old Sycamore girl in 1957 and dumping her body near Galena "in the cold dark woods like she was a piece of garbage," DeKalb County State's Attorney Clay Campbell said in his opening statement.

Click on the following for all of the story:  Sycamore girl killed in '57 was 'outgoing, sweet and trusting' - chicagotribune.com

Dozen shots fired near Catholic school in Rockford - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Is this not a charter school for Rockford Public Schools?  St. Patrick’s closed over six years ago.

ROCKFORD — Police recovered 12 bullet casings Monday near St. Patrick Catholic School at North Day Avenue and School Street.

No injuries were reported.

The incident was called in at 3:10 p.m. Police said the shots were fired from two passing vehicles, a blue Chevy Avalanche and a tan and blue vehicle of unknown make and model.

If you have any information about the incident, call Rockford police, 815-987-5824, or Crime Stoppers, 815-963-7867.

Dozen shots fired near Catholic school in Rockford - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star