ILLINOIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
April 2010
By Alan J. Ortbals

While Sen. Dick Durbin has yet to come around, Sen. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, has introduced a bill in the Senate to buy FEMA-plagued communities time to repair their levees. S. 3051, the Community Protection During Levee Recertification Act, is a carbon copy of H.R. 3415 which was introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello last July…more

ILLINOIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
April 2010
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

While the engineers are busy creating plans to improve and repair the levees and others are working to try to buy the area time to make those improvements, financial consultants are busily working on structuring a financing plan to fund the project…more

ILLINOIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
April 2010
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

With the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ estimates for levee repair reaching as high as a half billion dollars, the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council is searching for cheaper and better solutions…more

ILLINOIS BUSINESS JOURNAL
April 2010
By ALAN J. ORTBALS

Multiple groups and organizations are forming a coalition to spread the word on the levee crisis and work for passage of the Costello bill, H.R. 3415. At this point, the coalition includes Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation, the Tri-City Port District, Southwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council, Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois and Archview Economic Development Corp…more