ILLINOIS CURRENTS NEWS | LEGISLATION | TRENDS | RESEARCH

Western Illinois Entrepreneurship Center Opens
The new Entrepreneurship Center for Western Illinois has a home in Seal Hall on the Western Illinois University campus and is open for business.

The center is located in Seal Hall Room 211 and Sadiq Shah, Western's former director of Technology Transfer, has been named director. Shah and the center will collaborate with other WIU outreach units such as the Small Business Development Center, Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs and technology transfer services.

In addition, the center will work closely with economic development units and the Entrepreneurship Center network within west-central Illinois to support economic development and entrepreneurial initiatives.

Individuals can learn more about services for entrepreneurs and existing businesses at www.wiuec.org.

Co-op Leaders Urged To Remain True To Principles and Values

Glenn English, NRECA CEO, urged co-ops to reflect on the recent past and to reaffirm the importance of adhering to the cooperative principles and values.

Glenn English, Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), eulogized the "now discredited concept of retail wheeling, killed not by its detractors but by the greed of its most ardent supporters." His remarks were made to co-op leaders at NRECA's annual meeting in February.

"Today the buzzwords are re-regulation, reliability and responsibility," said English.

The deregulators and retail wheelers over-promised and under-delivered. Deregulated retail markets collapsed and prices rose. "We remained true to our roots and as self-regulated, responsible and reliable utilities, we are now on the cutting edge.

English urged local co-op leaders to reflect on the recent past and to reaffirm the importance of adhering to the cooperative principles and values. "In the post-Enron era, we will be held accountable for the decisions we make and the manner in which we direct our businesses," he said. "We must remain vigilant, educating and indoctrinating a new generation of co-op leaders, ensuring that the corporate abuses of the past decade never encroach upon the electric cooperative network."

NRECA represents more than 900 consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide electric service to more than 37 million people in 47 states.

Co-ops Help Students Learn To Conserve Energy

EnergyNet, based in Bloomington, has partnered with the Illinois Touchstone Energy co-ops to help students understand energy issues and help their schools find ways to save energy.

The EnergyNet program creates young energy detectives, who can be found scouring their schools and homes in search of energy thieves. Energy thieves can be the actual building, the people in it, and/or heating/cooling equipment.

In another segment of the program, older students become energy auditors, who take responsibility for reducing their school's energy use and costs. They take an in-depth look at energy bills, energy practices, infiltration points, lighting and equipment. Auditors graph their data, research energy efficient solutions, implement energy saving campaigns, track environmental implications and correspond with energy experts and energy auditing teams at other schools. Energy auditors can reduce their school's energy bills by an average of 15 percent.

According to Bob Dickey, Marketing Manager at Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative, Paxton, "The EnergyNet Program is educating students by utilizing project based learning and incorporating technology in new and exciting ways. EnergyNet demonstrates now this process of learning, with direction from the teacher, actively involves the students. They learn the importance of being energy efficient and environmentally conscious."

Also, a partnership between Touchstone Energy cooperatives and Discovery Channel School has created an interactive energy education package. The Get Charged! Electricity and You kit contains a lesson plan, teacher's resource guide, 10 student activity books, two videos and an interactive CD. The materials meet the National Academy of Science's National Science Education Standards for energy education.

For more information about these programs, contact your local Touchstone Energy cooperative, or Nancy Nixon at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives at (217) 529-5561, or e-mail her at nnixon@aiec.coop.

Touchstone Energy is an alliance of more than 610 electric cooperatives across the country serving their members with four core principles — integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. For more information about Touchstone Energy, log on at www.touchstoneenergy.coop.

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Generation Keeping Up With Demand, Transmission Questionable
Electricity generation is expected to keep pace with growing North American demand over the next few years, but the wholesale transmission system might not, experts said in a forecast of electric reliability.

Those responsible for delivering bulk power must closely follow reliability standards to keep the system dependable, the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) said in its 2003-2012 reliability assessment.

Guaranteeing reliable service will also require close coordination of generation and transmission planning and construction, NERC said.

Current trends in new generation should guarantee adequate power through 2012, absent serious political, regulatory, fuel pricing and construction problems, it added.

While the grid, overall, is expected to perform with reliability in the near future, portions are nearing their reliability limits as demand drives an increasing flow of power, it noted.

"Well-known transmission constraints are recurring, while new constraints are appearing as electricity flow patterns change," NERC said.

Reliability coordinators, transmission planners and systems operators must regularly communicate and coordinate their actions to preserve grid reliability, it said.

The Aug. 14 Northeast-Midwest blackout was a wakeup call for the industry to guarantee the system's smooth operation, said Michehl Gent, NERC President and CEO.

Source: Bill Pritchard, Electric Co-op Today

Rural Schools Unfairly Targeted by Illinois Assessment Program
The Illinois method of classifying schools according to student performance on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test doesn't take into account social and economic factors. Because of this, rural schools could be unfairly categorized, say the authors of a recent study.

Researchers Beck, Shoffstall and Rau from Illinois State University examined the relationship between performance on the state achievement tests and socioeconomic factors that are beyond the control of schools. They found that 11 percent of students in schools in the top performance category ("Exceeding Expectations") are poor. By contrast, 95 percent of those in schools in the lowest category ("Academic Watch") are poor.

The research also shows that rural schools outperform non-rural schools when scores are adjusted to account for socioeconomic factors. But a high percentage of rural schools will be designated as not meeting standards under the Illinois Assessment Plan, which like other states' systems, does not take such factors into account.

Under the Illinois system, high performing schools — with mainly white students and usually located in wealthy suburbs - will be eligible for regulatory waivers, cash awards and public recognition. Low performing schools will be subject to various sanctions such as the removal of the school board, reassignment of administrators and audits.

Source: www.ruraledu.org - Rural Policy Matters a newsletter of rural school and community action

Don't Fall For E-mail Scams
If you receive an e-mail from another country asking for help transferring money do not respond. It is just one of the many e-mail scams. Below is an example.

"We are members of a special committee for budget and planning of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). With our positions, we have successfully secured for ourselves the sum of twenty-one million, five hundred thousand United States dollars (US $21.5m). Based on information gathered about you, we believe you would be in a position to help us in transferring this fund (US $21.5m) into a safe account. It has been agreed that the owner of the account will be compensated with 20 percent of the remitted funds. This transaction is 100 percent risk free."

These scams have taken the life savings of many unsuspecting people. For Internet fraud tips go to the National Consumer League Web site www.fraud.org. The Federal Trade Commission also has Internet fraud tips at www.ftc.gov. Another site is http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org. Or simply follow the updated old adage if it sounds too good to be true, trash that e-mail.

Protect Your Health and Environment
Go to the new Web site www.thisland.uiuc.edu for an online resource of information on protecting your health and the environment. Produced by the University of Illinois Extension "This Land" is an information series that extends its reach from the backyard to the back forty.

For homeowners, this could mean cutting down on chemical use in the yard, managing yard waste and household waste, improving the indoor environment, and more. For farmers, it means finding ways to reduce soil erosion, cut chemical costs, and improve groundwater and surface water without sacrificing yields.

There are three parts to the "This Land" project: 57 Ways to Protect Your Home Environment (and Yourself); 50 Ways Farmers Can Protect Their Groundwater; 60 Ways Farmers Can Protect Surface Water

For each of these three subject areas, you can order a comprehensive, extensively illustrated book. Or you can explore an online slide program—a condensed version of each book.

APRIL 2004 | www.aiec.coop | 7

Grants Help Western Illinois Wineries, Value-Added Agriculture
As part of the Opportunity Returns regional economic development plan for West Central Illinois, Governor Rod Blagojevich has provided two grants totaling more than $45,000 to help boost Illinois wineries, as well as promoting value-added agriculture through the commercial production of milkweed.

"Illinois wineries have the potential to generate millions of dollars and make even more significant contributions to regional economies like those in West Central Illinois, and by funding an additional value-added agriculture project we will be helping to develop a new market for Illinois products as well," Governor Blagojevich said. "These grants are squarely focused on helping Illinois agriculture expand and diversify."

The Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association (IGGVA) will receive a $17,450 Agri-First grant designed to help it improve the quality of wine and grapes produced in Illinois in an effort to boost sales in a market expected to generate up to $51 million annually by 2010. Another $30,000 grant, through the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), will help Western Illinois University establish the first commercial scale production field of common milkweed in Illinois.

"We need to help the wine industry grow and expand our efforts to promote value-added agriculture," said Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke.

The grant to Western Illinois University will help it establish the first commercial scale production field of common milkweed in Illinois. A Nebraska-based company has developed a method of using the floss from milkweed as a non-allergenic fill to replaced imported duck and goose downs. The company currently relies on wild hand-harvested milkweed to sustain their business and is now seeking a stable commercial source to bolster their business. An average of 900 pounds of floss can be harvested from a single acre at a price of $3 to $5 per pound, a significant potential windfall for area farmers.

Illinois Farms Decrease In Number, Increase In Size
The Illinois Department of Agriculture will use new census figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to assess changes in farming recorded over the last five years.

"This census serves as a measuring tool that lets us track the direction of industry trends," Illinois Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke said. The total number of all U.S. farms and ranches in 2002 was 2,129,226, a four percent decline from 1997. In Illinois the number of farms fell 8 percent, from 79,112 in 1997 to 73,025 in 2002.

For instance, the number of farms in Illinois has decreased nearly eight percent, but in the last five years we've only actually lost about one percent of our farm ground. The average size of a farm is simply getting larger.

"In Illinois alone more than 5,200 women are the principal operators on the family farm. That's how it's always been on my farm," Hartke said. "I'm glad to see the numbers are finally reflecting women's hard work and contribution to the agriculture industry." Nationally, 27 percent of total agricultural operators were women in 2002.

All reports from the census are available through the NASS Web site at www.usda.gov/nass/.

Economy Growth May Lead to Jobs
The economy may grow as much as 5 percent this year—the strongest pace since 1984—and may lead to faster job gains, says Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Low inflation will allow the central bank to remain "patient" before raising interest rates, he says.

"The picture has brightened," Greenspan told the House Banking and Financial Services Committee. "Prospects are good for sustained expansion of the U.S. economy" and "employment will begin to grow more quickly before long as output continues to expand." The forecast of Federal Reserve policy makers is that low borrowing costs for corporations and consumers, profit growth from productivity gains, and rising confidence should help the economy expand 4.5 percent to 5 percent this year, Greenspan said.

The Federal Reserve has never raised interest rates during an election year, and many analysts believe that they will continue this trend through 2004. The bank prime rate is currently at 4.0 percent.

Source: Jason Frenz and Scott Ewing, CFC Financial Analysts

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