TItle town Bombers take regional title with comeback, 40-31, see page B1
ROUNDUP: LOCAL STUDENT, SCHOLASTIC BOWL HONORS
THE WEEKENDER INS IDE TO DAY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
LIFESTYLE, A6
Vol. 160, No. 41
$1.25
WEST PRAIRIE SCHOOLS
One-click contact policy on task than More
$19UP8ONS
IN CO VINGS A AND S
LOCAL, A3
City to hear about county referendum
New email-related rule would bring district’s code into state compliance By Lainie Steelman Reporter/Lifestyle Editor
SCIOTA — A new school board policy at West Prairie School District makes contacting the board as easy as one click. Policy 2:140, which was heard for a first reading at Thursday's regular
board meeting at West Prairie High School, defines how communications to and from the board will be disseminated. "The one major change is that we have to provide a one-click access to email the board from the public," Superintendent Jonathan
Heerboth said following the meeting, "and then the superintendent is required then to inform the board what happened with that, with whatever email." The new policy puts the district's school board code into compliance with a new section of the Illinois
School Code, 50 ILCS 205/20, pertaining to Internet posting requirements. The section states that school districts serving a population of fewer than 1 million must "post to its website for the current calendar year a mechanism,
Quinn advocates consumer rights, blasts Rauner's budget
Eagle eye Good Hope photographer spots feathered friends around area
John Hallwas: Remarkable story of Blind Boone
By Sophia Tareen
LOCAL, A5
Associated Press
Meet Sunday’s Miss Macomb contestants
GIS Center, will be able to work in the field with his assistant, Keisuke Nozaki, a GIS Specialist." Sperry called it a "good collaborative effort," hopefully, with the potential to impact the search and rescue field. "We're bringing, basically, mapping capabilities
CHICAGO — Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn offered a preview Friday of his life after public office, delivering a speech on consumer rights to lawyers and students and also taking a shot at his successor. The Democratic governor, who lost to Republican Bruce Rauner in November, used his first public appearance since leaving the governorship to give a keynote during a Loyola University Chicago School of Law panel on forced arbitration. He recalled his activist days helping start Citizens Utility Board, scrutinized Chicago officials and lawmakers on protecting consumer rights and said he planned on citizen-focused advocacy work. "I've done a lot of petition drives ... I still think I can collect autographs of everyday people for causes that really count," he told reporters. "Using petition and referendums sometimes is the only way you have to go around the lobbyists and special interest groups and sometimes the legislators who pay too much attention to them.
See MRC — A2
See QUINN — A12
BUSINESS, A11
January real estate transactions PHOTOS COURTESY OF RON RUEBUSH
EXCLUSIVES
COMING
These photos were taken earlier this month north of Macomb. The hawk (top) was in Ruebush's yard in Good Hope and had just caught a sparrow for a meal, according to an email from Ruebush. Eagles near the Macomb Municipal Airport were feeding on a road-killed raccoon, he said, while the eagle was landing near the Good Hope junction of routes 67 and 9.
IN PRINT
To submit your town photos, send them to jsmith@McDonoughVoice.com.
Teen dating violence
MRC grant to help first responders scout
■ February marked
Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Looking back, find out what local Victim Services folks had to say about its prevalence and spreading awareness.
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INDEX Weather Calendar Obituaries Opinion Lifestyle Business Comics Astrograph Classifieds Sports
A2 A2 A3 A4 A6 - A7 A10 - A11 B5 B7 B6 - B7 B1 - B8
See SCHOOLS — A2
OUT OF OFFICE
AROUND TOWN OPINION, A4
such as a uniform single email address, for members of the public to electronically communicate with elected officials of that unit of local government or school district, unless such officials have an individual email address for
By Jacqueline Covey Staff Reporter
MACOMB — McDonough County Health Department staffer Josh Anderson in recent weeks reaped a $15,000 grant – off an "innovative and applicable" idea for a geographic information system tracking hub – from the Medical Reserves
Corps "The Challenge Award." The McDonough County Medical Reserves Corps' award, funded by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, will allow the group to purchase largescale equipment for a selfsustaining outpost, or the Field Monitoring and
Communication Outpost. "(We purchased) a large solar powered generator, two solar panels, 16 radios, a 10-foot light tower and other items needed," Anderson said. "This grant is in conjunction with the Western Illinois University GIS department. Our GIS coordinator, Chad Sperry, the director of the WIU