Charlie Schlenker

Six catholic parishes have banded together to continue the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen in Bloomington. It appeared last week the decades old institution would close with the coming retirement of its director Tina Sipula. The last day for the soup kitchen was to have been November 24th. Sipula also operates the Clare House food pantry. She had been unable to find new sponsors for either social service outlet. Service providers say they believe other food pantries in the twin cities can make up that need.

Governor Bruce Rauner had $58.3 million dollars in income last year. The Republican has released tax returns for 2014, showing he paid more than $18 million in federal and state taxes.

His effective Federal tax rate was about 26%. His overall effective rate was 31%

The Rauner family foundation also gave more than $3.3 million to charity.
 

If former Congressman Aaron Schock keeps spending money on lawyers at this rate, his campaign fund will be out of money by the next quarterly filing period. The most recend Federal Election Commission report shows the Peoria Republican spent $900,000 in legal fees in the third quarter and still owes $747,000. He has less than $1.2 million cash on hand. Since Schock resigned under an ethics cloud and a grand jury investigation into his personal and campaign financial dealings, Schock has spent nearly $2.7 million on lawyers.

A Bloomington Normal swimmer has won female swimmer of the year in Illinois. Grace Ariola also won best female performance of the year, a 100 meter backstroke time of one minute and 62 hundredths of a second. In the last five years, Ariola has reduced her time in that event by more than 12 seconds. The teenager has also qualified for next year's Olympic Trials. Ariola swims for the WAVES team at the Bloomington YMCA.

Ariola and her WAVES team mate Melissa Pish were on the U.S. National Junior team that competed in Singapore.

Lincoln College in Normal is losing several certificate and bachelors programs as the institution reorganizes with more programs moving to the Lincoln campus. It's part of what President David Gerlach calls a $7.6 million reinvestment campaign for the 150 year old school.

Lincoln College will stop offering Esthetics, Cosmetology, teacher training, and massage therapy certifications in Normal. Degree programs in Criminal Justice, Business, and Sports Management will move from Normal to Lincoln. Four jobs will also move and the college has eliminated 13 jobs.

After scrapping a planned strike authorization vote, leaders of the union covering workers at the Mitsubishi plant in Normal have set an informational meeting on Sunday for members. The meeting will run from two to four p.m. on Sunday at Parkside Junior High in Normal.

The company earlier this year announced plans to end production of the Outlander Sport and close the plant next May if it cannot find a buyer.

The Sierra Club is blasting the Illinois Pollution Control Board for what it calls permissive emissions standards for a Tazewell County coal fired power plant. The environmental group says the U.S. EPA has designated the air in parts of Tazewell and Peoria Counties as unsafe to breathe because of high levels of sulfur dioxide pollution. The major source in the non-attainment area is the Powerton plant near Pekin.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says the standoff over a state budget "could go on for a while" but his administration is prepared to continue managing state finances without one. The Republican spoke Friday following a manufacturing expo in Effingham.  

He says he remains committed to getting Democrats to approve some of his pro-business agenda. He repeated that if Democrats don't want to work with him they can balance the budget _ by passing a tax increase _ without his support.  

Mitsubishi Workers have scheduled a strike authorization vote tomorrow. This is in spite of plans to end production in the plant in late November and to close the facility next May. The UAW Local 2488 Facebook page posted the vote announcement this morning. The company and union have extended the existing contract twice, once for more than a month and more recently for a couple days. The pact sunsets tomorrow night. A strike authorization does not guarantee a walkout.

After nearly four decades entertaining people with dinner theater, the Barn II near Goodfield has closed. The facility had been open since Halloween of 1975. Owner Mary Simon says an insurance company has denied a storm damage claim after wind went through the facility in August. A structural engineer says the former cattle barn is not repairable. And without insurance money, Simon says the Barn productions cannot afford to relocate to Morton.

The search for Illinois' next Auditor General has been narrowed to a field of four. That includes a pair of state lawmakers --- both Democratic members of the Illinois House: Frank Mautino of Spring Valley and Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook. A legislative commission will endorse one of the finalists ... and forward that name to the full General Assembly ... which gets to vote on the final choice. The current state auditor is retiring at the end of the year.
 

EIU President David Glassman says layoffs and furloughs have helped the school cut its budget deficit from $13 million to $1 million. Glassman said during his state of the university address that the cost-cutting isn't over but any additional layoffs would be small. EIU doesn't have a state appropriation because GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic leaders in the Illinois Legislature haven't settled on a state budget for the current fiscal year.