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Vol. 32, No. 5
February 1, 2017
@R @RBLandmark
Art in nature Artists, Blythe Park students beautify campus PAGE 10
RBHS parking plan moves to Brookfield Village Board PAGE 7 Local vets raise funds for Guthrie memorial PAGE 5
Zalewski appointed chair of House Revenue Committee Riverside Democrat will play a critical role in budget negotiations By BOB SKOLNIK
I
Contributing Reporter
f Illinois’ longstanding budget crisis is ever resolved state Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-Riverside) will likely have a significant role in crafting a solution and finding new revenue for the state. As the new state legislative session gets underway, powerful Speaker of the House Michael Madigan has chosen Zalewski to be the new chairman of the Revenue Committee of the state House of Representatives. Zalewski assumes the chairmanship of the Revenue Committee at a time when the state has been without a budget for nearly two years and faces a nearly $11 billion backlog of unpaid bills. “I came to Springfield more than eight years ago to help responsibly take on Illinois’ toughest challenges, and this chairmanship will put me in prime position to do just that,” Zalewski said in a press release announcing his appointment. “I appreciate Speaker Madigan’s faith in selecting me for this critical role. I will work hard to preserve the committee’s tradition of carefully reviewing all proposals to change our tax and fee structure and put taxpayers first in our decisions.” Zalewski has served on the Revenue Committee since he came to the House in 2009 and previously was the vice chairman. The past chairman of the committee, John Bradley, a Democrat from southern Illinois, was voted out of office in November in a hotly contested race. Bradley See ZALEWSKI on page 7
JACKIE GLOSNIAK/Contributor
SCI-FI: Jerry Zimmerman, a Fermilab engineer known as Mr. Freeze, demonstrates various uses of liquid nitrogen during his cryogenics show, Jan. 24, at District 102’s STEM Night at Congress Park School in Brookfield. His experiment had an explosive ending.
STEM Night highlights science, tech careers D102 plants seeds for aspiring students
By JACKIE GLOSNIAK Contributing Reporter
While many school districts have placed heavier emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering
and math) curricula in classrooms in recent years, it’s not every day that students get to meet local technological innovators and leaders to discover how a STEM education can lead to real world careers.
Providing students the chance to meet STEM professionals and experience unique hands-on learning opportunities was the goal of LaGrange See STEM NIGHT on page 9
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