Parents’ group wants to change public school funding

          Worried that their children could loose their music and art classes a group of parents, grandparents and even a few students in La Salle have started talking about public school financing. 

Julie Ator and Mike Rhode are members of Fair Funding for La Salle County Schools, a group that began just a couple of months ago. Rhode says he got involved because of his soon-to-be stepson who plays saxophone in the Lincoln Junior High Band.  He was surprised and upset to find out how schools are funded, believing that schools outside of Chicago get less.

He thinks the message needs to be taken to Springfield. 

They also support a one-percent sales tax referendum that will be on the ballot in April in La Salle County.  The referendum failed in November.  Rhode admits he voted no, saying he was uneducated about where the money would go.

          An interview with Rhode and Ator is available at the AM 1220 WLPO news page.

   

Seminar discusses Affordable Care Act

By now you’ve probably heard all the horror stories about the Affordable Care Act, also known by some as “Obamacare.”Illinois Valley Community Hospital CEO Tommy Hobbs and St. Margaret’s Hospital President and CEO Tim Muntz will talk about the health care act during the next IVAC breakfast seminar. The discussion starts at 7:30am Wednesday, April 10^th at Mario’s Maples Supper Club in Peru.  The meeting is 15 dollars for IVAC members and 18 dollars for non-members.

Naperville Islamic Center gets okay

 A federal judge has reversed a county board’s decision to prevent an Islamic education facility from operating in suburban Chicago.   In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer says she expects the DuPage County Board to approve a request from the Irshad Learning Center.  The board denied a conditional-use permit for the facility in 2010, after nearly two years of debate. Board members said they were concerned about the center operating in a residential neighborhood.  Officials from Irshad filed a federal lawsuit, arguing the board violated their Constitutional right to the free practice of religion.   Pallmeyer concludes there was no direct evidence of deliberate discrimination. But she says there’s no evidence Irshad would have any more impact than other religious institutions already operating in residential areas.

Strickland accused of killing Strickland

A 19-year-old Chicago man is being held without bail on charges he killed his grandfather while the 72-year-old waited for a ride to dialysis treatment.  A Chicago TV station reports William D. Strickland is charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery. Police say the suspect lived with his grandfather, who also was named William Strickland. The elder Strickland was shot several times while he waited outside his South Side Chicago home around 3:30 a.m. March 2nd. Police are still looking for a second suspect.

St. Rock “Gospel” fundraiser

A re-telling of the Gospel of St. Matthew at Starved Rock Lodge last week drew in money for hunger relief. According to its press release, the Lodge partnered with local musician Phil Kaufman to host “Cotton Patch Gospel” last Monday and Tuesday and raise over $2000 for local and international hunger agencies. Kaufman has performed the one man musical over seventy times, portraying more than 20 different characters. The release says that in two years, he’s raised over $77,000 to fight hunger. In April, Kaufman will be in Brooklyn, New York to perform the show for Harry Chapin’s widow. Chapin wrote the music and lyrics to make the show into a musical. “Cotton Patch Gospel” will be performed again at the Lodge in one year.