Illinois Governor Pat Quinn says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied the state's appeal for assistance after a deadly late February tornado and severe storms in southern Illinois. Quinn says he is disappointed with the decision and doesn't believe "it reflects the reality and devastation on the ground." Hundreds of homes in five southern Illinois counties were damaged or destroyed by storms that killed seven people in Harrisburg. Quinn says the state is submitting a request to the U.S. Small Business Administration for low-interest loans. He says the Illinois Emergency Management Agency will meet with a FEMA recovery specialist today to pursue other kinds of assistance. Quinn appealed to the Department of Homeland Security days after FEMA turned down the aid request.
Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
