PEORIA COUNTY

Sheriff to award college scholarship

The Peoria County Sheriff’s Office is participating in a program that will award a local college student $500 for the 2016-17 academic year.

The scholarship is under the auspices of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, which will award more than 100 college scholarships throughout the state. The scholarships are intended to assist with the cost of tuition, books and fees during the regular school year. All Illinois students attending an Illinois higher learning institutions are eligible. Winners will be students who demonstrate outstanding scholastic, extra-curricular and character qualifications. Criteria and eligibility are detailed on the applications.

Applications are available at the Administration Office on the second floor of the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, 301 N. Maxwell Road, Peoria or at the Peoria County Courthouse, Room B-20. Applications are also available online at www.ilsheriff.org.

The scholarship program is funded through the various programs of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association Associate Membership Program. Sheriff Michael D. McCoy considers this scholarship program an investment in the future and believes this will provide for better communication with residents of the communities served. Applications must be postmarked by Sunday, March 15. They will be reviewed and evaluated by a citizens’ committee selected by Sheriff McCoy. The committee will select the winner and two alternates from Peoria County. Submit completed applications by dropping them off or mailing to: Scholarship Application Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, Attn: Ellen Balagna, Sheriff’s Secretary, 301 N. Maxwell Road, Peoria 61604. A winner will be announced by Monday, May 2.

REGION

Discussion to explorecomplexity of immigration

The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria invites the public to join in a discussion entitled, “Immigration: the Complicated Path to Citizenship.” The free event will take place at 6 p.m. Feb. 4, at the auditorium at AMT — Advanced Medical Transport, 1718 N. Sterling Ave., Peoria.

The Immigration Project’s Executive Director Jasmine McGee will provide a brief overview of major immigration legislation of the past and explain how it has shaped the current immigration system and affected low-income immigrants and their families in Central Illinois. McGee will present for 30 minutes and answer questions for another 30 minutes. 

A look at the past not only gives us a better understanding of our current laws, but can be our guide to the current immigration debate — Syrian refugees, presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed wall/banning Muslims proposals, and other hot immigration topics, according to organizers of the program.

The Immigration Project is striving to build up partnerships such as currently with Friendship House, ICC’s ESL programs, VRMI, the Red Cross and the women’s shelter.  It strives to build a better relationship with law enforcement and the States Attorneys in our area.

Currently, if deferred action (DAPA) is implemented, “community navigators,” people willing to help undocumented immigrants apply for this form of relief, are needed. If any type of wide scale reform is passed, the participation of the community is vital to making sure that eligible immigrants apply. It is believed that there are about 10,500 foreign-born people in Peoria alone; an estimated 2,700 are undocumented.

PEORIA

Caterpillar’s global retail salesdrop leads to job cuts

 On the heels of announcing a revenue shortfall, Caterpillar is cutting workers and shutting down an area facility. 

Caterpillar Inc. will shut down Building HH, 901 W. Washington St., East Peoria and lay off 120 employees there, the company said Jan. 29.

The layoffs will be indefinite and begin Feb. 8, affecting office and shop workers. The company will relocate affected production to other Caterpillar facilities with a portion of the work moving to outside suppliers, the company said.

Caterpillar has eliminated about 2,300 workers in Illinois since Sept. 24, 2015, spokeswoman Rachel Potts told Crain’s Chicago Business. All told, Caterpillar has said the job cuts will save the company $1.5 billion.

Caterpillar is reporting adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates, but revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Shares of Caterpillar gained more than 3½ percent in premarket trading immediately following the earnings announcement Jan. 28.

Looking ahead, Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman told CNBC: “2016 is going to be rough and challenging again.”

Caterpillar does a lot of business in China, which has been building up infrastructure. In an interview with CNBC, Oberhelman said he sees long-term opportunity there but short-term pain. “Our numbers are down 30 percent-plus year over year [in China].”

“[There’s] a lot of oversupply from construction equipment,” he continued. “But they’re still pouring concrete and doing lots of things. Once that imbalance works out, it should be a pretty nice market.”

But China’s economy is showing signs of slowing — a trend that’s knocked financial markets for a loop in the new year on concerns about whether the U.S. recovery could also get derailed.

Caterpillar Inc., the world’s biggest maker of mining and construction machinery, said retail sales declined in all global regions last quarter as a demand slump in its energy-equipment business deepened, as reported by Bloomberg News.

Receipts in its energy and transportation segment fell 32 percent from a year earlier in the three months ended in December, the Peoria-based company said in a statement Jan. 27. That compares with a 29 percent decrease in the three months ended in November, marking the seventh straight month of accelerating declines. Sales of all machinery fell 16 percent last quarter, led by a 48 percent drop in mining equipment in the Asia-Pacific region.

“CAT continues to face global weakness across all of its end-markets, which we believe is driving capacity utilization down toward the low-40 percent range and will weigh heavily on 2016 profitability,” Joel Tiss, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets Corp., told Bloomberg.

Caterpillar’s earnings and revenue have tumbled as customers in the natural resources and energy sectors rein in capital spending amid a collapse in global commodities prices.

Profit is expected to fall 49 percent to 69 cents per share, according to the average of 20 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Kevin Schoeplein

OSF HealthCare chief elected to state hospital board

Kevin Schoeplein, OSF Healthcare System CEO, has been elected to the newly integrated Illinois Health and Hospital Association’s (IHA) Board of Trustees. The board of trustees is the policymaking body for the association, which represents more than 200 hospitals and nearly 50 health systems across Illinois.

Schoeplein began his career with The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis as an assistant administrator at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria in 1978, and has served in a variety of positions at OSF facilities and Ministry headquarters before being named CEO in February 2011. He was first appointed to the IHA Board in 2014 and serves on the executive committee.

–Peoria County Area News Briefs–