STATE

Voter registration available online

Illinois residents 18 and older who are not registered to vote still have time to register in order to vote in November.

The Illinois State Board of Elections enables online voter registration at ova.elections.il.gov. Deadline is Oct. 21.

Seventeen-year-olds can register if they will turn 18 before Election Day.

The Nov. 6 election is for governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer and some seats in the state House and Senate and in Congress.

State to collect tax on online sales

Online purchases now include state sales tax. Since Oct. 1, most online purchases in Illinois are subject to automatic collection of the state’s 6.25 percent use tax. 

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. is projected to increase revenue to the Illinois state budget by $140 million for the remainder of this year, and perhaps $200 million in future years.

Technically, Illinoisans were already required to pay the use tax – an alternative to the sales tax paid on transactions at brick-and-mortar retailers – on online transactions. However, many did not.

The new tax could be in jeopardy. A bill in Congress would delay implementation until Jan. 1, 2019, and would also restrict the businesses subject to collection requirements to those that generate more than $10 million in annual U.S. e-commerce sales. Both changes would likely reduce the amount of revenue Illinois could raise this year.

Dr. Richard Pearl

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Children’s hospital longtime surgeon-in-chief retires

Following 20 years of dedicated service to OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, and patients throughout central Illinois, Dr. Richard Pearl retired Oct. 1.

Dr. Pearl will continue in his part-time role as the director of surgical simulation at Jump Simulation where he organizes surgical simulation projects, coordinates American College of Surgeons accreditation and will oversee an ACS Simulation Fellowship.

Over the years, Dr. Pearl’s drive to improve care for children has led to many initiatives including: 

• Establishment of the Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center.
• Construction of the OSF Children’s Hospital building, which brought pediatric inpatient
  care into one state-of-the-art building when it opened in 2010.
• Participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement
  Program (ACS NSQIP).
• Opening pediatric general surgery satellite clinics throughout northern, central and southern Illinois.

In 1998, Dr. Pearl was the first board-certified pediatric surgeon recruited by OSF Children’s Hospital. The team has grown to five pediatric surgeons.

Dr. Pearl is a retired U.S. Army colonel, with a career spanning nearly 30 years from 1966 to 1994. He served as an infantry officer and helicopter pilot in Vietnam and Germany, and as a surgeon in Saudi Arabia and Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.  He has received numerous military honors and awards, including the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit. 

Dr. Charles Aprahamian is the new pediatric surgeon-in-chief.

COUNTY

Author to give history of former hospital

Gary Lisman, author of the book, “Bittersweet Memories: The History of Peoria State Hospital,” will present the history and current state of the now-defunct mental institution in Bartonville that was the model of excellence in the 20th century, when he speaks at the upcoming meeting of the Woodford County Historical & Genealogical Society. The meeting will be held 7 p.m. Oct. 11, at the Roanoke Park District Building.

Lisman collaborated with Arlene Parr on the book that was published in 2005.

For more information, call Karen Fyke at 309-360-6772.

Those who do not know where the building is are advised to follow these directions: Turn north off of Rt. 116 on Green Street across from the Freedom Station. Drive four blocks north and follow the brown park signs. The building is one-quarter mile from Green Street on the left.

–Woodford County News Briefs–