Serving Bureau County Since 1847
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
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Still reeling from Great Recession Bureau County better than average for state By Ken Schroeder Shaw Media Service
SPRINGFIELD — It’s been called the Great Recession, when speculation in the housing market by financial institutions resulted in an estimated $8 trillion in losses. Officially, the Great Recession lasted from December 2007
to June 2009 and includes the global crisis of 2009 that resulted. But while the recession may be over, many states — including Illinois — have yet to recover from the lost jobs during that period. The Great Recession will go down as an economic crisis second only to the Great Depression, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Nationwide, nine million
jobs have been recovered as of May, according to the Department of Labor, and June’s estimates show more job growth. But according to the Department of Labor statistics, 32 states including Illinois are still struggling. At the beginning of the recession, Illinois’ unemployment was 5.1 percent, higher than the national average but normal for the state. Unemployment in Illinois peaked in
January 2010 at 11.4 percent, more than double 2007’s percentage. As of June 1, Illinois has clawed its way back to 7.5 percent, more than a full percentage point behind the national average of 6.3 percent. In fact, after the recession ended, Illinois lost more than a percentage point of jobs in seven months. Forty-three states have lower unemployment rates than Illinois.
Bureau County has weathered the storm better than most counties. The latest figures place local unemployment at 7.4 percent, slightly lower than the state average. Nearby, the news is a bit more dismal. Although the Illinois Department of Employment Security notes a gain of more than a full percentage point since May 2013, LaSalle County still has the highest unemploy-
ment rate of the state among non-metropolitan areas at 8.9 percent. Putnam County fares a little better with a rate of 8.2 percent. A July Reuter’s story indicates United States’ employment rates will likely make modest gains into 2016 as the recovery from the Great Recession continues. The Reuter’s story notes jobs will increase at a level of 2.5 percent in 2015 and 3 percent in 2016.
Bird tests positive for WNV No positive tests in Bureau/Putnam counties By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Area surveillance for the West Nile Virus (WNV) has confirmed a dead crow in Sterling has tested positive for the virus. The Sauk Valley News Daily Gazette reported on July 17 that Whiteside County Public Health Administrator Beth Fiorini had issued a press release confirming a crow had contracted the virus from a Culex mosquito, the primary spreader of the disease. Bureau/Putnam County Health Department’s Director of Health Protection Kurt Kuchle said local WNV surveillance continues, but the health department is having problem getting birds for testing this year. The health department has sent in only one dead bird for WNV testing this year. The bird was from the Granville area and tested negative for WNV. The health department has received other birds, but the birds which the health department has picked up so far, or were brought to the health department, have all been too decomposed. In order to be tested, a bird has to be fresh, dead less than 12 hours. In cases when birds have been brought to the health department on a Friday, those birds will not keep, even with ice packs, until Monday when the state lab reopens, he said.
WNV Page 4 Year 168 No. 87 One Section - 20 Pages
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BCR photo/Becky Kramer
The way we used to do it Shawn Borri demonstrates how music was made through the use of an antique 1888 recording phonograph during Saturday’s 37th annual Ol’ Fashun Threshun Days, sponsored by the Bureau Valley Antique Club. The annual event is held each year at Albrecht’s grove, southwest of Ohio, and features a variety of demonstrations, like wheat threshing and wood sawing. Visitors also saw displays of vintage tractors and gas engines. Ol’ Fashun Threshun Days was one of several events taking place this weekend throughout Bureau County.
Remembering Dick Nelson Princeton businessman, entrepreneur, inventor, friend dies at 79 By BCR
staff
news@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Longtime Princeton entrepreneur and community leader Richard “Dick” Nelson is being remembered as a highly successful businessman who believed in giving his business team the credit for his success, who loved his family, and still took time to give back to his community.
Nelson died Friday at the age of 79. Princeton Mayor Keith Cain said he greatly respected Nelson. The two had countless conversations spanning a variety of topics throughout the years. Together, they took a lot of political trips, and Cain said Nelson visited him at his office a couple times a week. “We’d talk about anything and everything — politics, business, city things,” Cain said. “He was
definitely a proud American. He loved his country. “Dick Nelson was a great man,” Cain continued. “You always knew where you stood with Dick. He liked everyone. I highly respected the man, and he was probably my closest business associate ... He was very community-minded and always interested in getting things done. He helped a lot of people in his life, and he gave everyone a chance. “Dick had a good heart. He loved his family and the people who worked around him. He always said his success was because of the people around him,” Cain said.
Jeanie Gelsomino and her husband, Vince, have been friends with Nelson and his wife, Judy, for years, living nearby each other as they were raising their children. Their sons, Steve Nelson and Danny Gelsomino, were playmates and good friends. The Gelsominos and Nelsons went through years of Cub Scouts, Little League and school activities together, Jeannie said. About three years ago, Nelson asked Jeannie to help him write his autobiography, “Paving the Road to Success,” which told of
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