Legislators to ask for reimbursement for county legal expenses
Julie M. Bayerl, leadership assistant for State Senator Tom Bakk, informed the Cook County Board of Commissioners at the December 16, 2014 meeting that legislation had been drafted to reimburse Cook County for prosecution fees incurred during the court proceedings against former County Attorney Tim Scannell. U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger was hired to prosecute Scannell, the county’s attorney at the […]
Land use and Highway 61 planning on county agenda
The agenda for the Cook County commissioners on January 13, 2015 included discussion of the county land use plan and the Highway 61 corridor. County Planning Director Tim Nelson asked the board to adopt the Land Use Guide Plan (LUGP) Update Committee’s recommendations to expand the current process now used by the county so that a new plan would become […]
Organizing and planning for ISD 166
The School District 166 board meeting on Monday, January 12, 2015 started with treats and well wishes for outgoing school board members. Michael McHugh, speaking on behalf of the Cook County teachers said, “We want to publicly thank Ann [Sullivan] and Ed Bolstad for their dedication to our students and for all of their efforts.” McHugh also gave a welcome […]
Ringtone troubles
Technology can be a wonderful time saver. I love mail merge features that allow an address list to become a sheet of labels with the push of a button. Email is a quick and easy way to communicate after hours when it’s too late to make a phone call. And yes, my niece Mindy is right, Excel spreadsheets (once set […]
Under-taxed?
Jim Boyd recently suggested that essential services are suffering due to inadequate taxes being levied. With all due respect, I would argue that any shortfall in essentials is not for a lack of tax increases, which have been rather magisterial over my 20 years here, but rather a matter of priorities. There will never be an end of good ideas […]
Community makes 1st and 2nd successful
Later this month, 1st and 2nd Thrift Store will give checks to 34 nonprofit organizations in Cook County, totaling $51,525. We wish to thank everyone who made this possible: the donors who brought quality clothing and household goods to our Donation Center; the volunteers who prepared the merchandise and staffed the store and the customers who purchased the merchandise and […]
Early childhood services are a critical need
As a member of the Early Childhood Coalition for Cook County, I read the December 27, 2014 article regarding an alternative learning facility in Cook County with concern about the information stated. Since 2003 when I began to volunteer to support upgrading early childhood services in Cook County, a multi-agency group has been meeting to build support and provide services […]
School District just beginning exploration of educational facility
Cities, townships, counties and school districts all deal with complex issues and budgets that are difficult to summarize into sound bites or articles. In a small community like ours it doesn’t take long for misinformation to spread, as was the case with news that the Cook County School District was beginning to explore the development of a facility that would […]
Notorious topics tackled at the ACA
An evening of historical entertainment was offered by the Cook County High School’s College in the Schools Composition class at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Monday, January 12. Fifteen students researched and acted as characters facing the public to address a variety of topics. The students did an excellent job staying in character and were able to answer […]