John Walker

A spokeswoman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he will keep working to pass a pension reform bill he believes can survive a court challenge. Rikeesha Phelon says Cullerton and fellow Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan have "the same goal but different approaches" to solving Illinois' nearly $100 billion pension crisis. Madigan filed his pension plan yesterday. It caps the salary on which a pension can be based at $110,000 and limits annual cost-of-living increases. 

The largest Illinois government employees' union will take a second ratification vote on its tentative three-year contract because of a continuing lawsuit over back wages. Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees OK'd the contract agreement with Gov. Pat Quinn's administration on March 20. But AFSCME announced yesterday it would schedule a new vote because Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office hasn't dropped a lawsuit Quinn had pressed over raises due in 2011 and 2012.

The future of Barkley Regional Airport's air traffic control tower and its six employees is still uncertain after a Congressional decision to withdraw mandatory furloughs.

BAR Manager Richard Roof updated the Paducah Mayor and Commissioners last night regarding the recent furloughs imposed on air traffic controllers.  Last week, Congress approved legislation allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to withdraw the furloughs.  However, the legislation does not mandate that the 149 contract towers including Barkley Regional Airport remain open.

From NPR: With more employees working on the road and more distracting technologies in the office, some companies are creating new ways to improve efficiency.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold five public meetings across the South to hear people's opinions about using genetically modified crops on wildlife refuges as food for migrating waterfowl. Until this year, farmers working under a cooperative agreement could plant such crops on 44,000 acres, about 1 percent of the land in 129 refuges across 10 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The agency's Southeast Region barred biotech crops after environmental groups sued. 

Illinois farmers still can't begin planting their corn crops thanks to the heavy rains that inundated the state in recent weeks and turned their fields to mud. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that as of yesterday there's been no significant planting done in Illinois because many fields are simply too wet for farmers to get out in them in tractors.

Illinois and U.S. officials are collecting information to assess that state's flood damage. The data will go into Gov. Pat Quinn's request for federal assistance. If Illinois gets federal help, that could mean grants and low-interest loans for those affected by flooding. 

The amount of bourbon produced by distillers in the Commonwealth has topped a million barrels for the first time in nearly 40 years.  The Kentucky Distillers' Association says 1,007,703 barrels were filled in 2012. The last time totals went over a million was in 1973. The group says bourbon production is up more than 120 percent since 1999. The distillers' association promotes and lobbies on behalf of the bourbon industry.

A new nonprofit organization, Land of Lincoln Health, is receiving an insurance license from the state of Illinois. The credential clears the way for the organization to offer health insurance coverage in the state in 2014 when the national health overhaul law goes into full effect.

The Kentucky Department of Education has created the new administrative position of chief of staff. The department announced yesterday Madison County superintendent Thomas Floyd has been named to the position, which pays $131,000 a year.  Education Commissioner Terry Holliday says the position is needed because of new initiatives related to state-mandated public school reforms and the No Child Left Behind waiver. The chief of staff will also work with what Holliday calls stakeholders and partner groups.  Floyd has been head of Madison County schools since 2008.