Pulse: Can Brooks’ budget blessing help?
February 10, 2013 11:04PM
The Rev. Rev. Herb Brooks Jr. (center), who was invited to give the opening invocation in the Illinois Senate on Feb. 6, poses with state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, D-Shorewood, and state Sen. Pat McGuire, D-Joliet. Brooks also serves as speaker of th
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Updated: March 12, 2013 6:15AM
We all know the state’s financial condition is in dire shape. Perhaps The Rev. Herb BrooksJr.’s opening invocation in the Illinois Senate last week will help.
Brooks, who serves as speaker of the Will County Board when he’s not in the pulpit, was invited to deliver the invocation by Sen. Pat McGuire, D-Joliet. Brooks also attended Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State of the State address as McGuire’s guest.
In July 2010, Brooks said the opening prayer for the U.S. House. But he said Wednesday’s trip to Springfield was more fun because he knew more people and he got to pull up a chair next to McGuire’s desk and watch him work.
Brooks said while there is a lot of bipartisan harmony on the Senate floor, there is a lot of tough budget work ahead.
“I think our state is going to need a whole lot of prayers,” he said.
Big boots to fill
The Will County Trail Riders Association has passed the government watchdog reins to board member Stanley Lantka, who will be attending Will County Forest Preserve District Board committee meetings in place of association past president Greg Malanca. Malanca, 59, of Lockport, died suddenly of a heart attack in late November.
Lantka said he has big boots to fill because Malanca had a deep passion for making sure the district’s trails were multiuse and horse friendly.
Losing him was “horrible,” Lantka said. “He was a big part of our organization.
Thumbs up, jail
The Will County Jail was overcrowded and conditions were less than ideal until the county board invested $70 million in an expanded facility that opened in 2009. The investment seems to have paid off.
Last month, the Commission on Correctional Accreditation issued a three-year re-accreditation for the jail. Auditors found the facility complied with all 59 mandatory standards and 297 of the 298 of the non-mandatory ones. It was the highest score achieved by the facility since its first audit in 1994.
Quote of the Week
“We should do a fish fry.” — Will County Forest Preserve District Board member Chuck Maher, R-Naperville, commenting on the news that members of the Asian carp family, an undesirable invasive species, were detected in the district’s Rock Run Rookery lake.
Cindy Wojdyla Cain and Brian Stanley contributed to Pulse.
