STATE

Bill supports high-speed internet for rural schools

A bill recently introduced in Springfield lays out plans to provide high-speed internet to more than 90,000 students across 100 school districts in rural Illinois.

Proponents say the bill takes advantage of federal money earmarked for Illinois while bridging the digital divide that puts many rural school districts at a disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts. The legislation would set aside $16.3 million in state funds from the upcoming budget, which would leverage as much as $50 million in matching funds from the federal government.

Online resources taken for granted in some schools — such as streaming educational videos, participating in online testing and engaging in remote learning — are out of reach for those who lack access to high-speed internet.

The sponsors warned that if action is not taken this year, in addition to perpetuating the digital divide, federal funds set aside for the state may be diverted to other states. They urged Gov. Bruce Rauner to include the funding in the budget he will unveil in February.

Nationally, 40 percent of Americans in rural areas lack access to broadband internet, compared to just 4 percent in urban areas, a 2016 Federal Communications Commission report found.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Program to train future solar energy workers

A new solar jobs training program based at Illinois Central College is accepting applications.

ICC recently won a $1 million grant to establish the Central Illinois Solar Workforce Pipeline Training Program, a partnership with Tri-County Urban League and Heaven’s View Community Development Corp.

The nine-week program includes four weeks of job-readiness training and five weeks of solar technician training. The program also includes 58 hours of work-based training at a local business. Participants earn $10 an hour during the technical training portion.

The program is designed to help ex-offenders, former foster children and residents of Peoria’s poorest areas. But it is also open to all 18-year-olds with a high school diploma or equivalent who live within ICC’s 11-county boundaries.

Thirty students will be enrolled each year of the four-year grant.

Applications are available at icc.edu/news. Peoria Jobs Partnership at (309) 682-2360 and Tri-County Urban League at (309) 673-7474 also can provide more information.

PEORIA 

Airport reports hike in 2017 passengers

Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport has posted its third busiest year, with a 2 percent increase in 2017 over 2016 in overall passenger traffic. The airport had 635,003 passengers, up from 623,134 in 2016. The airport also reported a 26 percent increase in total freight operations.

The airport had five record-setting months in 2017, including March, its busiest month ever, but fell short of the 2015 record of 641,671 passengers. In 2014, the airport had 639,320 passengers, making it the second-best year.

William Kristol

Political analyst to speak at Washington Day Banquet

William Kristol, the founder and editor-at-large of The Weekly Standard, will be the keynote speaker at the Creve Coeur Club of Peoria’s Washington Day Banquet.

The conservative commentator and political analyst will speak at the Feb. 21 event at the Peoria Civic Center.

He is the latest in a string of pundits and strategists to headline the event, now in its 120^th year, following George Will last year and Charles Krauthammer and Karl Rove earlier this decade. The annual gala typically features a well-known speaker from the world of politics and government, with past guests including Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.

Kristol is regularly seen on ABC’s “This Week,” and has a resume that boasts stints as chief of staff to Reagan administration Secretary of Education William Bennett and to Vice President Dan Quayle.

The Creve Coeur Club every year honors President George Washington at its Washington Day Banquet. Tickets are $250 for club members and $275 for non-members. For more information, call (309) 672-2267.

County music star Urban to perform Oct. 12

Country music superstar Keith Urban’s world tour in 2018 will make a stop in Peoria. Urban will perform in Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center Oct. 12, as part of the “Graffiti U World Tour.”

The 58-date global trek will start in St. Louis in June and run through November. The 50-year-old Urban last performed in Peoria in 2013 on the “Light the Fuse” tour. He was slated to perform in Chillicothe in 2015 as a headliner for the Country Life Music Festival, but did not appear once the festival was infamously cancelled ahead of time.

Tickets for the October show in Peoria go on sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 26 and cost $69.50 or $95.50. To purchase tickets, visit the Civic Center box office, ticketmaster.com or call 1-800-745-3000.

DUNLAP

Music teachers want fees cut

Participation in Dunlap school band and orchestra has hit a sour note. Music teachers say the expense of participation is more than some parents can afford.

The number of grade school students taking band or orchestra in Dunlap School District has declined about 25 percent since 2014, and teachers blame the district’s $100 activity fee as the main reason. Therefore, teachers are asking the district to either end the fee or cut it in half for fourth- and fifth-grade students.

The fees were installed as a temporary fix in 2014 to reduce budget deficits, and now the board is considering raising the activity fee to $125. The fee is in addition to instrument rental costs that averages $560 per school year.

Music teachers would like to see the activity fee dropped for all students.

–Peoria County News Briefs–