Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Governor Rauner to start selling unnecessary state property.

Executive Order 15-08 further instructs Central Management Services (CMS) to identify surplus property for auction in compliance with state law. Further, GOMB and CMS will review all property owned or leased by the state and develop a strategy for consolidation and relocation of offices.
Finally, the governor ordered all agencies to reduce energy consumption and spending on energy, including reducing heating, air conditioning, and lighting usage when facilities are not in use.
“Every dollar that we spend unnecessarily in government cannot be used to help our most vulnerable citizens,” Rauner added. “We must take every step necessary to ensure Illinois becomes the most compassionate and competitive state in the nation.”

James R. Thompson Center, architecturally significant to some and an emblem of bureaucratic government excess to others, would be sold and likely demolished to be rebuilt as a privately owned residential, office and retail space under a plan Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Tuesday.

Helmut Jahn's 17-story structure made its 1985 debut as the State of Illinois Building. Its $172 million price tag was more than double the original estimate. The center was renamed for former four-term governor James R. Thompson in 1992. ate law requires three appraisals be obtained if the property is worth $5,000 or more, according to the RFI. The average of the three, plus appraisal costs, determines the fair market value; the building couldn’t be sold for less than that amount.

The 17-story building cost $172 million to develop. Completed in 1985, it is named after James Thompson, the state’s longest-serving governor.

News stories in recent years have noted the building’s condition has deteriorated because the state lacks money for upkeep and repairs. Complaints include ripped and worn carpeting, water leaks and even a bedbug outbreak.

The building includes offices for the governor, the Illinois attorney general and the Illinois secretary of state, among others.

FBI News:

October 05, 2015

Southern District of Illinois
(618) 628-3700
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that Darnell Roy Baker, a.k.a. “Forty,” 26, of Chicago, Illinois, pled guilty today to charges returned against him by a Federal Grand Jury in November 2014. Specifically, Baker pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin from September 2012 through October 2014 in Marion County (Count 1), and four counts of Distribution of Heroin during June and July 2014, also in Marion County (Counts 2, 3, 4, and 6).

Count 1 carries a maximum penalty of not less than five years in federal prison, up to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine, and at least four years’ supervised release. The remaining counts carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, and not less than three years’ supervised release. All counts require an assessment of $100.

According to court documents, Baker agreed with his co-defendants, Dominique Burwell, and Marquise Ross, to distribute heroin for profit in Centralia, Marion County, Illinois. Baker and the others shared a cell phone which customers would contact to order heroin. Burwell often answered the shared cell phone, took the order, and then sent Baker or Ross to complete the transaction with the customer at whatever location was agreed upon. In July, Burwell was convicted in the case. In August, Ross pleaded guilty in the case and is awaiting sentencing.

Information leading to the charges against Baker was obtained in an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kit Morrissey.