Metro-east leaders to tour Scott AFB during top Air Force general's visit (Belleville News Democrat, 3/20/14)

Eager to promote Scott Air Force Base, St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern will throw out the welcome mat for Gen. Mark A. Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, during a visit set for early Friday afternoon. Welsh will be accompanied by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, an East St. Louis native and chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  (Read More)

Air Force chief of staff visits Scott Air Force Base 

(Belleville News Democrat, 3/21/14)

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh visited Scott Air Force Base Friday at the invitation of state and federal lawmakers, who want to protect the base from future efforts to downsize or close the base because of Pentagon cost-cutting efforts. U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Belleville, said Welsh discussed how the Air Force has evolved with technological advancements.  (Read More)

Gov. Quinn announces $33.7 mil. for road projects in Madison, St. Clair and Clinton Counties (The Telegraph, 3/16/14)

Governor Pat Quinn has announced capital investments of more than $33.7 million for road projects in Madison, St. Clair and Clinton Counties, part of his Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction program. The projects are part of Governor Quinn's agenda to create jobs and drive Illinois' economy forward.   (Read More)

SWIC will host seminars for veterans (The Intelligencer, 3/15/14)

Southwestern Illinois College will host the Veterans as Strategic Assets Initiative Tuesday, March 18 from 1-3:30 p.m. in the Belleville Campus Liberal Arts Complex Theatre and Conference Room, 2500 Carlyle Ave. SWIC is a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VetSuccess on Campus School, a 2014 Military Friendly School and recipient of the 2013 Governor's Award for Excellence in Education.   (Read More)

Alton To Transfer Bond Volume Cap (Riverbender.com, 3/21/14)

Alton is in the process of transferring bond volume cap to a regional agency where it may be able to do more for the greater good.  The federal government limits the volume of industrial revenue bonds that a municipality is able to issue in any given calendar year.  This move comes at no burden to the taxpayers of Alton, according to Corporation Counselor Jim Schrempf.    (Read More)

178,000 college students equal a $15 billion economic gain for the region 

(St. Louis Business Journal, 3/21/14)

Graduation weekend at Washington University is one of the busiest for The Ritz-Carlton in Clayton - all 300 rooms are booked many months in advance. All across the region - from Edwardsville to the central corridor to St. Charles County - businesses feel the impact of the roughly 178,000 post-secondary students who live, study and spend here.  (Read More)

Winter aside, house sales looking up in Illinois 

(Illinois Business Journal, 3/20/14)

The door is finally cracking open to improvements in the housing market, and local realty agents are offering cautious but hopeful projections for 2014, despite the wintry setback of the last several weeks. Realtors in St. Clair, Monroe and Clinton counties sold more homes in 2013 than they did in the previous five years, according to Tricia Tialdo, president of the Realtor Association of Southwestern Illinois.   (Read More)

St. Louis Character: Maj. Gen. Barbara Faulkenberry 

(St. Louis Business Journal, 3/14/14)

Maj. Gen Barbara Faulkenberry was among the first women to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, entering the institution in 1978, just two years after women were first admitted in 1976. It was the prestige - and the challenge - of being among this first group of women that prompted Faulkenberry - then a high school student in Florida in a family with little military background - to pursue a military education.

(Read More)

Committee hears subdivision plan (The Intelligencer, 3/26/14)

The baby boomers may well be fueling a housing boom. That's the story Glen Carbon's Building and Development Committee heard at its meeting Monday from Chris Geiler of CMG Construction. Geiler is proposing a 55-plus villa community on the southern edge of Glen Carbon that would cater to retirees and those who are close. 

(Read More)

New developments in works at Alton Square Mall 

(Illinois Business Journal, 3/2014)

Some good news may be on the way for Alton Square Mall patrons, but what and how much remains unclear. The mall recently had a new lighted LED sign constructed at its Alton Square Mall Drive entrance, and an exposed part of the sign had community members talking about what new stores might be coming to the location.  (Read More)

Metro East residents get a break on flood insurance 

(St. Louis Post Dispatch, 3/26/14)

"The Mississippi River will always have its own way; no engineering skill can persuade it to do otherwise." The great river chronicler Mark Twain wrote that many years ago, but his words are still true today. Those of us who have lived near the river know it is often erratic, dipping too shallow one month and then rising to flood stage the next.  (Read More)

St. Anthony's Hospital Entering Partnership (Riverbender.com, 3/17/14)

Saint Anthony's Health System of Alton is planning to join forces with OSF Healthcare System of Peoria.  A letter of intent has been signed between the two entities and was discussed during a media event Monday.  (Read More)