|
NASA
statement on loss of communications with Columbia
[FEB. 1, 2003]
A space shuttle
contingency has been declared in Mission Control, Houston, as a
result of the loss of communication with the Columbia
at approximately 9 a.m. EST Saturday as it descended toward a
landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was scheduled to
touch down at 9:16 a.m. EST.
Communication and
tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST at an altitude of
about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. At the
time communications were lost, the shuttle was traveling
approximately 12,500 miles per hour (Mach 18). No communication and
tracking information was received in Mission Control after that
time.
Search and rescue
teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in portions of East Texas have
been alerted. Any debris that is located in the area that may be
related to the space shuttle contingency should be avoided and may
be hazardous as a result of toxic propellants used aboard the
shuttle. The location of any possible debris should immediately be
reported to local authorities.
Flight controllers in Mission Control
have secured all information, notes and data pertinent to today's
entry and landing by the space shuttle and continue to
methodically proceed through contingency plans.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe will
make a statement over NASA Television at 1 p.m. EST (12 p.m. CST)
Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center.
[NASA] |
|
(Andy has been asleep since November!
It is very important that he wake up on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, to
forecast the weather!)
|
Date: Groundhog Day, Sunday, Feb. 2
Time: 9-10 a.m.
Place: Illinois Raptor
Center
5695 W. Hill Road, Decatur |
Please take this opportunity to drop by
the center for a photo opportunity anytime between 9 and 10 a.m. on
Groundhog Day to meet Decatur's own hometown whistle pig, Andy
Applesauce. You will be able to take pictures or video of Andy, rain
or shine!
[to top of second column in this
article] |
IRC will provide a fact sheet about
groundhogs, along with coffee and doughnuts to celebrate the day.
Please join us!
If you need more information, call the
Illinois Raptor Center at (217) 963-6909 or e-mail us at
barnowl@illinoisraptorcenter.org.
The Illinois Raptor Center is a private
nonprofit organization
serving the people and wildlife of Illinois.
Visit our
site at
www.illinoisraptorcenter.org.
[Illinois
Raptor Center news
release]
|
|
Ameren Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Charles W. Mueller will be chairman of AmerenCILCO, and
Ameren President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Rainwater will
serve as president of AmerenCILCO.
In a separate release the company
announced the closing of the transaction to acquire CILCORP Inc.
from The AES Corporation (NYSE:
AES -
News). CILCORP is the parent
company of Peoria, Ill.-based
Central Illinois Light Company, which, beginning Friday, will
operate as AmerenCILCO. Announced in April 2002, the purchase
includes CILCORP's natural gas and electric businesses, including
1,200 megawatts of largely coal-fired generating capacity.
[Scott Cisel]
Until his most recent appointment,
Scott Cisel served as senior vice president at CILCO, where he has
been employed for 28 years. Cisel joined CILCO as a summer meter
reader and advanced through various management positions in sales,
customer services and district operations. He was named manager of
commercial office operations in 1981 and in the 1980s held a number
of management positions in energy services, rates, sales and
customer service, and in research and development. He was promoted
to director of corporate sales in 1993, and from 1995 to 1998 he
served as vice president, at first managing sales and marketing,
then legislative and public affairs, and later sales, marketing and
trading. In April 2001, he was named senior vice president.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
A trustee of Eureka College, Cisel
serves on the board of the Tri-County Urban League, in addition to
many other civic activities. A native of Peoria, Cisel holds a
bachelor of science degree in business administration and economics
from Culver Stockton College and a master's degree in liberal
studies from Bradley University.
[Robert Ferlmann]
Until his most recent appointment,
Ferlmann served as director of energy trading (both natural gas and
electricity) for CILCO -- a position he has held since 1997. He
joined CILCORP in 1987 as an accounting analyst and senior
accounting analyst and assumed progressively higher positions in
finance until he became senior energy supply administrator in 1993.
Ferlmann holds a bachelor of science
degree in accounting and a master's of business administration
degree, both from Bradley University. He is a certified public
accountant in Illinois. He serves on the board of directors for St.
Joseph Home and is an active member of the St. Thomas Parish
Council.
With assets
of more than $13 billion, Ameren, through its subsidiaries, serves
1.7 million electric customers and 500,000 natural gas customers in
a 49,000-square-mile area of Missouri and Illinois.
[Ameren
Corporation] |
|
The changes announced by the governor
on Thursday included his call for a revised mission for the
department that is charged with economic development and job
creation, as well as his appointment of a new director for the
agency, and even a new name for what is currently the Department of
Commerce and Community Affairs.
"I am here to appoint a new director
for DCCA -- and to point the department in a new direction,"
Blagojevich said.
"Today, DCCA is a department with great
potential but greater problems," he said, citing the fact that
businesses and local governments often express frustration at an
inability to navigate through a maze of red tape and are unable to
access valuable grants and programs.
Blagojevich said that by reforming the
department it will more effectively fulfill its core mission -- to
create jobs and expand economic activity throughout Illinois.
One step that the new department will
take to promote statewide economic growth will be through an
innovative venture capital program. As a candidate for governor,
Blagojevich spoke often about the initiative that he intends to
create to bring much-needed private investments to the state,
especially to areas that have lacked access to capital in the past.
Adding that "a new day for DCCA begins
with a new name, one that better reflects its goals," Blagojevich
said that he will direct it to be renamed the
Department of Commerce
and Economic Opportunity.
He added that the new director will be
assigned to carry out important internal changes within the
department and help him bring about reforms and more sensible
spending throughout state government. Helping the governor fulfill
his reform agenda, the department will help the governor in his
review of all Illinois FIRST and Member Initiatives -- to decide
which fill an essential need and which are "political pork."
"The department will be on the front
lines in my effort to carry out government-wide reforms and
institute the fiscal discipline that the people of Illinois want and
deserve," he said.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
To lead the new DCEO, Blagojevich named
Jack Lavin, who brings with him experience in both the public and
private sector. As deputy state treasurer in the early 1990s, he
helped triple the amount of money the state invested in economic
development. The programs he oversaw helped more than 25,000
families and businesses gain access to credit.
Since serving in state government,
Lavin posted impressive successes creating jobs in the private
sector. As chief financial officer for Rezko Enterprises -- a firm
that had eight restaurants when he began in 1995 and grew to more
than 120 five years later, as sales increased from $4.3 million to
$60 million -- he helped create more than 1,800 jobs.
"Jack knows what businesses need in
order to grow, understands how state government can help and is
dedicated to putting people to work," the governor said.
Among Lavin's first tasks at the
department will be a top-to-bottom review aimed at finding
opportunities for streamlining the department and consolidating
functions, both within and outside the department.
As an example of consolidation, the
department will likely serve as one of the few agencies where state
job training programs -- which now exist in the form of more than 30
separate programs, at the cost of $800 million per year -- will be
carried out.
Blagojevich said that performance
audits will be conducted to demonstrate whether such changes are
working.
The governor's venture capital project
will take the form of a $200 million fund consisting of funds that
will be raised privately and will be independently and
professionally managed. The Illinois Opportunity Fund will be aimed
at creating opportunities for entrepreneurs and workers across
Illinois -- in particular, in downstate communities that have not
had access to venture capital.
"Under my
administration, it will be businesses that will expand, not state
government," Blagojevich said.
[Illinois
Government News Network
press release] |
