Rockford Register Star Thursday, June 6, 2019
Pritzker signs Illinois budget, income tax measure
By Sophia Tareen
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker
on Wednesday signed an
approximately $40 billion state
budget with more money for
education and the state’s child
welfare agency, along with a
measure that could pave the
way for a graduated income tax
in Illinois.
The spending plan for the
EPA gives $600K to
Rockford, S. Beloit
By Corina Curry
Staff writer
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency announced
grant awards of $300,000 each
to the cities of Rockford and
South Beloit on Wednesday to
be spent on cleaning up con-
taminated properties.
The announcement does not
state specifically where and
how each municipality plans to
spend the money. The money
is earmarked for brownfield
site revitalization to help gov-
ernments redevelop vacant
and unused properties.
A total of 149 communi-
ties across the U.S. received
funding Wednesday.
“We are targeting these
funds to areas that need them
the most,” EPA Administrator
Andrew Wheeler said in a
news release. “Approximately
40% of the selected recipients
are receiving the grants for the
first time, which means we are
reaching areas that may previ-
ously been neglected.”
“Many communities are
ready to move forward
with redevelopment, they
just lack the funding to get
started,” added EPA Regional
Administrator Cathy Stepp.
Rockford plans to use the
funds to promote redevelop-
ment efforts in some of the
IN BRIEF
ENVIRONMENT
Goodwill to host
recycling event
ROSCOE — Goodwill
Northern Illinois will host a
free electronics recycling event
from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday
at First National Bank and
Commander’s use of deadly force ruled justified
By Ken DeCoster
Staff writer
ROCKFORD — A high-ranking
Rockford police commander’s
use of deadly force during a Jan.
20 traffic altercation was justi-
fied, according to the Winnebago
County State’s Attorney’s
Office.
Assistant Deputy Chief
Carla Redd and her husband,
Ronald Miller, opened fire on
A3
fiscal year that begins next
month has been called “bal-
anced” by both Republicans
and Democrats. It’s a 2%
increase over the current year,
fully funds Illinois’ $9 bil-
lion pension contribution and
authorizes the borrowing of
$1.2 billion to pay $6.7 billion
in overdue bills. The budget
also includes a $1,600 annual
pay raise for lawmakers.
“A new era of fiscal
city’s oldest industrial areas
on the southwest side.
“Brownfield grant funds
have been an early economic
catalyst in Rockford for valu-
able redevelopment projects,
including the UW Health
Sports Factory, the downtown
Embassy Suites hotel, and the
Rock Valley College Advanced
Technology Education Center
at the former Barber-Colman
manufacturing complex,” said
Mayor Tom McNamara. “We
will continue to utilize these
grant funds in a manner most
effective to reduce blight and
turn brownfield properties
into community assets.”
South Beloit will use the
money to determine if there is
any environmental contami-
nation near the confluence
of Turtle Creek and the Rock
River and determine if any
cleanup is necessary before
the area is redeveloped.
“We know the power of
this award and need to look
no further than the impact of
our first grant five years ago,”
said South Beloit Mayor Ted
Rehl. “We restored a large
portion of our downtown,
maintained one hundred jobs,
and created green space out
of a toxic dumping ground.”
Corina Curry: 815-987-
1371; ccurry@rrstar.
com; @corinacurry
Trust, 5360 Bridge St.
Items that can be donated
include cell phones, com-
puters, printers, small
appliances, VCRs, DVD play-
ers and stereos.
For a complete list of accept-
able items: goodwillni.org.
Steaff reports
the occupants
of a vehicle after
their vehicles
collided in the
area of Eighth
Street and Fifth
Redd Avenue.
No injuries
were reported.
An investigation by the
Winnebago-Boone County
Integrity Task Force was
reviewed by the state’s
responsibility has arrived in
Illinois,” Pritzker said at a
Chicago bill signing alongside
enthusiastic fellow Democrats
and community leaders.
The income tax measure adds
a constitutional amendment
question to November 2020
ballots asking voters whether
they want to switch from a flat-
rate income tax to one based on
income. If approved, the new
scaled approach would take
Midway Village wants
you to die of dysentery
Rockford museum
to host live action
version of Oregon Trail
computer game
By Derrick Mason
Staff writer
ROCKFORD — Since 1971,
people have been able to fire up
their computers and embark on
a quest along the 1848 Oregon
Trail.
Minutes later, they die of
cholera or watch a family
member drown in 3 feet of
water while attempting to ford
a river.
It’s a scenario familiar to
anyone who has played “The
Oregon Trail,” which was
popularized in schools in the
mid-1980s and 1990s. Now,
Midway Village Museum is
bringing the computer game to
life — complete with “deaths”
from dysentery or a broken
leg — with its Oregon Trail IRL
event on Saturday.
The interactive events that
are a part of the journey at
Midway Village will see play-
ers shoot rubber band guns,
search for resources and pull
team members across a tarp
“river,” among other chal-
lenges. Disaster is always
lurking around the corner as
players try to avoid receiv-
ing calamity cards that cause
problems such as broken wagon
wheels.
The teams with the most
points by the end of the game
will be eligible for prizes, if they
survive the journey. Some esti-
mates suggest about one in 10
travelers died over a 25-year
span in the mid-1800s.
“I’m not sure how our mor-
tality rate in the game will
compare to that because I
think a lot of people in this
game actually want to die,”
attorney’s office.
Investigators determined
that a vehicle occupied by
two people drove directly into
Redd’s personal vehicle while
she was seated in the driver’s
seat. Redd fired her depart-
ment-issued service weapon at
the occupants of the other car
as they drove into her vehicle at
a high rate of speed, according
to the state’s attorney’s office.
No criminal charges were
effect in January 2021.
The issue was a campaign
pledge for Pritzker, who calls
the graduated tax system a
“fair” tax because it would
replace the current 4.95% flat
rate, which critics contend eats
up a greater share of income at
lower wages.
Republicans, who pushed
back on the pay raises, were also
critical of the graduated income
tax measure calling it harmful
If you go
What: Oregon Trail IRL
Where: Midway Village Museum,
6799 Guilford Rd.
When: Saturday 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. for all ages; 5-7 p.m. for
21-and-over
Cost: $6 for children and $8 for
adults
To register: Teams must reg-
ister by Thursday by emailing
McGhghy at specialevents@
midwayvillage.com or by calling
815-397-9112, ext. 104.
said Caitlin Treece, educator at
Midway Village. “We’ve heard
a lot of people advertise this to
their friends as ‘Do you want
to come catch dysentery with
me?’”
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Saturday, families will be able
to play an educational ver-
sion of the game, minus all the
untimely deaths.
But starting at 5 p.m. teams
of up to six people will par-
ticipate in a competitive live
action Oregon Trail experi-
ence, as they load up their
wagons, hunt for food and
treat snake bites. Prairie
Street Brewing Co. employees
will also be on hand to serve
drinks during the 21-and-over
event.
Remembered for its 8-bit
graphics and incredible dif-
ficulty, the digital version of
filed against Miller, who has a
valid concealed carry license.
Arrest warrants have been
issued for Alexandro N. Elmore,
30, and Alexandro Marquez,
20, who were recently indicted
by a grand jury for aggravated
assault, attempted aggravated
battery, mob action, obstruct-
ing justice, criminal damage to
property and leaving the scene
of an accident involving damage
to a vehicle. Elmore was also
for Illinoisans.
House Republican Leader Jim
Durkin on Wednesday called it
a “blank check for uncontrolled
spending.”
“Illinois families should
remain very wary on the rates
that are being ‘promised’ today
— as Democrats will continue
to come back, year after year,
and pickpocket more money
from Illinois families and busi-
nesses,” he said in a statement.
Midway Village educator
Caitlin Treece, left, and
special events coordinator
Alyssa McGhghy blow
up an inflatable wagon
on Monday for use in
Saturday’s Oregon Trail
IRL event at Midway
Village Museum. [RACHAEL
KEATING/RRSTAR.COM
CORRESPONDENT]
the game put players in the
shoes of a traveler trying to
escort a family of five safely
from Missouri to Oregon via
covered wagon. Players could
come up with a perfect travel
plan, load their wagon and set
off toward their new home only
to die from fever, exhaustion or
any number of disasters.
Though the game frustrated
students for years, millenni-
als have recently embraced it
for the nostalgia factor. Retail
outlets even sell T-shirts that
read “you have died of dysen-
tery” in a graphic that hearkens
back to the early days of Apple
computers.
Midway Village looked to
capitalize on the game’s resur-
gence with its event, which is
part of the museum’s effort
to attract younger adults to
the museum. In August, the
museum will host “Tipsy
History Prohibition,” an event
that will turn the village into a
dry town in the 1920s.
“We just kind of sat down
and thought about what we, as
millennials, would be attracted
to, and pop culture and nostal-
gia type things are very much
heart warmers for us millen-
nials,” said Alyssa McGhghy,
special events coordinator for
Midway Village.
Derrick Mason: 815-987-
1344; dmason@rrstar.
com; @derrickhmason
indicted for driving with a sus-
pended license.
Anyone with information
concerning the whereabouts
of Elmore and Marquez should
contact Rockford Police at
815-966-2900 or Rockford
Area Crime Stoppers at
815-963-7867.
Ken DeCoster: 815-987-
1391; kdecoster@rrstar.
com; @DeCosterKen