Illinois

Marc Whitacre, the subject of the book and the upcoming Matt Damon film “The Informant” (maybe you’ve heard a little something about that?), has made some more news recently.

Whitacre has been named chief operating officer and president of operations for Cypress Systems, Inc., a Fresno, Calif.-based biotechnology company.

Earlier this month, retired FBI agent Dean Paisley and Whitacre met with government lawyers in Washington, D.C., presenting support for executive clemency by FBI agents and one of the former prosecutors who worked on the Archer Daniels Midland, Inc., price-fixing case in the early 1990s.

(Read the full post about ‘The link dump (featuring Mark Whitacre)’…)

When trailers and commercials for “American Gangster” were running last fall, I kept saying it was a perfect pairing for me, putting Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington in the same movie.

At least, I reasoned, it meant there was only one film whose name I had to remember to avoid.

(It’s kind of like what Elvis Costello once said about Styx: “The only reason I know the name of that band is so I can avoid them in the record store.” And that’s the second time I’ve used that quote in the history of this blog.)

I’m not a big fan of Crowe or Washington.

(Read the full post about ‘Learning an ‘American’ lesson’…)

Taco Loco, a fast-food Mexican restaurant in Mahomet, is expanding to Champaign.

Owner Sandro Cuellar said the new restaurant will open in June at 523 Town Center Blvd., next to the Regency Beauty Institute.

Cuellar said the Champaign restaurant will have the same menu as the one in Mahomet, and that includes such things as tacos, burritos, fajitas and quesadillas, all served fast-food style.

Cuellar said he wanted to expand and chose Champaign because a lot of the customers coming to the Mahomet location are from Champaign.

Moved

United Rentals, the national equipment rental chain, has moved its Champaign location to Urbana.

The new branch is located at 3501 N.

(Read the full post about ‘It’s your business: Mexican restaurant headed to Champaign’…)

DANVILLE – Two brothers plan to petition the Danville Area Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday to rezone 502 Forrest St. from family residential to highway business.

If approved, city residents Corey and Paul Jiles plan to construct a 600-square-foot building on the vacant lot by summer, said City Planner Chris Milliken.

The pair would move their home-based computer repair business into the space, allowing more room to work and better access to the tools and equipment they need, said Paul Jiles. The two make home visits now.

“It will take the guesswork out of everything,” Jiles said.

They also plan to sell computers and equipment from the location, he said.

The business will be open from 8 a.m to noon and 6 to 8 p.m.

(Read the full post about ‘Brothers want space for computer business’…)

Book lovers and English majors who went on to train early in producing interactive multimedia content and then work as Web developers in Silicon Valley, Travis Alber and Aaron Miller were moving to New York, stopped to visit family here and were at the Esquire Lounge in Champaign when they continued an old conversation.

Electronic books were an interesting idea, the thread went, but there was no real good way to read them, let alone share and talk about them with other readers.

“We got a cocktail napkin and started working on it,” she said recently.

(Read the full post about ‘Couple’s site lets readers read, chat and network’…)

CHAMPAIGN – Community Plus Federal Credit Union plans to open an office in Champaign in late April, the credit union’s president/manager said Thursday.

Michael Daugherty said the Rantoul-based credit union has signed a 10-year lease for an office at 1005 W. Bloomington Road. The credit union will take one of three spaces in a retail/office complex recently built in front of the County Materials showroom.

“We’re shooting for a target date of the fourth or fifth week of April,” Daugherty said.

The credit union chose that location because the northern part of Champaign-Urbana is underserved in terms of financial institutions having offices there, he said.

(Read the full post about ‘Credit union plans April opening for Champaign office’…)

CHAMPAIGN – Rural residents in seven area communities could get broadband Internet service within the next five years.

U.S.

(Read the full post about ‘Towns slated to receive broadband service’…)

by Adam Andrzejewski “It is the public policy of this State that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business.” (5 ILCS 120/1) Little noticed in Illinois, National Sunshine Week (from March 16-22) passed non-eventfully. Sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.  At www.sunshineweek.org, there is a listing of websites, organized by state, dedicated to transparent and open government.  According to the Sunshine list, Illinois has only one such website:  Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s self-titled site, namely Ensuring Open and Honest Government. (Read the full post about ‘The No-Show Illinois Holiday’…)

Posted on YouTube March 22, 2008 — Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of Chicago’s St. Sabina Catholic Church, who is also listed as one of Obama’s People of Faith here.

by John Ruskin

Here are some stories you may have missed:

Stroger’s cousin gets 12% hike Chicago Sun-Times, 03-24-08   
When Cook County Board President Todd Stroger introduced his cousin Donna Dunnings as the county’s new chief financial officer last year, they each boasted of the savings taxpayers would realize.

Governments’ hang-up with providing records is downright unsettling Chicago Southtown Star, 03-24-08   
That six governments chose to cite privacy as a sufficient reason to refuse to release records is unacceptable; if the public is footing the bill, they have a right to see those documents under the Illinois Open Records Act.

Lawmakers challenge pact with Pepsi Chicago Sun-Times, 03-24-08   
A controversial contract Gov.

(Read the full post about ‘IL Democrats Lie, Hide, and Drink Pepsi’…)