Last month, in a special dedication ceremony, the Peoria Riverfront Museum unveiled display cases that would ultimately feature duck decoys. But it wasn’t the decoys that were the subject of the celebration. It was unprecedented collaboration that resulted in the first business deal in generations between a central Illinois entity and the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

Rep. Mike Unes

State Representative Mike Unes (R-East Peoria) announced last week that HB1868 has been signed into law by Governor Quinn. House Bill 1868 is aimed at keeping High-Tech Manufacturing Classes in area high schools.

As a member of the Focus Forward Central Illinois Economic Development Steering Committee, Rep. Mike Unes has been working hard on issues aimed at job creation and retention in Central Illinois. One of the major concerns expressed by the specialized manufacturing group in the region has been closing the skills gap between ideal job candidates and the skills they were finding amongst area job applicants. Employers like Excel Foundry & Machine began partnering with local high schools to share information with students in area high schools about specialized manufacturing careers. This is a critical public/private partnership according to Representative Unes. Read more on Rep. Unes Website.

Other news from Central Illinois

Recent flooding continues to widely impact communities in the state.

Info from IEMA, Illinois State Police and the Governor's office in a separate post. 

- Red Cross Hotline 1-800 Red-Cross
- River Watch - Water Observation
- Local EMA & Red Cross Contacts
- Ready Illinois

Flooding Assistance Process 

Be sure to document the damage caused by flooding and take the following steps:

1. Contact your homeowner's insurance to determine what if any flood damage is covered.
2. Contact the local emergency management agency for your community, typically that agency is within county government. Here is a link to some of the local agencies: http://www.state.il.us/iema/disaster/pdf/lepctier2mailingaddresses.pdf
3. Contact Red Cross for flood clean up kits. Here is a list of Red Cross sites:

• Adams County Chapter (Quincy)
• American Red Cross of Greater Chicago
• American Red Cross of the Heartland (Bloomington)
• American Red Cross of the Quad Cities Area (Moline)
• Central Illinois Chapter (Peoria)
• DeKalb County Chapter
• Illinois Capital Area Chapter (Springfield)
• Kankakee County Chapter
• Mid-Illinois Chapter (Decatur)
• Northwest Illinois Chapter (Freeport)
• Rock River Chapter (Rockford)
• Southwestern Illinois Chapter (Alton)
• Western Illinois Chapter (Galesburg)

Brochure by State of Illinois for local government's on the process of obtaining funding assistance for residents: http://www.illinois.gov/ready/SiteCollectionDocuments/DisasterDeclarationProcess.pdf

Guides:

Repair Your Flooded Home

Cómo reparar su hogar inundado