The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced spending bills that include money for the McLean County Historical Society.
The measure includes $550,000 to help the Museum of History continue making online copies of photo negatives from The Pantagraph newspaper archives that contain more than 1.5 million images. The digitization initiative also has attracted state funding.
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have pushed the grant to the full Senate as part of three Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills for Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies; Financial Services and General Government; and the Legislative Branch.
“These bills make critical investments in Illinois. I’m glad the Senate Appropriations Committee was able to come together on a bipartisan basis to advance these bills, which will benefit families, communities, and the economy in Illinois,” Durbin said. “I will continue to work with my colleagues to see these priorities across the finish line.”
Durbin is a member of the appropriations committee.
“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families — and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” added Duckworth.
Among the provisions affecting central Illinois are:
Photographic digitization initiative, Bloomington: $550,000 to the McLean County Historical Society to continue digitizing of 1.5 million photographic negatives of The Pantagraph.
Electrical power initiative, Peoria: $950,000 to Bradley University to acquire equipment to conduct research to develop electrification standards for reliable power production. This project also will develop standards based on sound economic analysis to ensure industry produces energy systems to meet these standards.
Gun violence reduction, Peoria: $564,000 to Peoria County to deploy the Cure Violence model, an evidence-based strategy for reducing gun violence among individuals most at risk for violence.
Technology upgrades, Springfield: $300,000 to the City of Springfield Police Department for software upgrades to allow cross communication among body cameras, dispatch, ShotSpotter, computers, and other technologies in order to provide faster response times by officers.
