Afternoon news update: June 12, 2015

It appears that a truck explosion in Loves Park early Friday morning was the result of some sort of bomb. Loves Park Deputy Chief Chuck Lynde confirmed to our news partners at Eyewitness News that a device was detonated inside of the truck. The blast happened in the 400 block of Theodore. The Winnebago County Bomb Squad was called to the scene and several homes were evacuated. No injuries were reported. An investigation is ongoing.
Imprisoned former Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell is making as much as 14-thousand dollars a year from show horses she no longer owns through breeder royalties. Crundwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for embezzling more than 53-million dollars from the city. The majority of Crundwell's assets have been seized and liquidated for restitution. Now this money is believed to be next on the list. It’s reported the government has seized the money but doesn’t yet have access to it.
Salaries for state workers are less than those in the private sector, according to a new study. The study comes from the anti-tax, anti-union group Americans for Prosperity. It finds that state workers in Illinois are paid 7.2 percent less than those in the private sector with comparable jobs and experience. But, says Illinois director David From, the state workers get 1.8 times what private workers get in benefits - mostly in health care and retirement benefits - something he expects the governor to do something about. "He has said, and we very much expect that he'll try some significant reforms to try to limit the costs to government, because frankly you have to. The government can't afford, taxpayers can't afford to keep moving in this direction. The benefits are just too large for us to pay out," he said. According to the study, the average Illinois state government employee in the data sample receives an annual salary of $56,919. In addition, Illinois employees receive annual benefits, either received in that year or accrued toward retirement, worth $55,791. A comparable Illinois private sector employee receives a salary of $61,017 but annual benefits of only $19,725. Asked why private-sector workers aren't given more, From said it's because their employers can't stay in business if they provide generous benefits. The full study is available at http://americansforprosperity.org/illinois/files/2015/06/AFP-IL-Publicsectorcompensation-6-4-15-v2.pdf
The NIU Huskies are taking on a college football powerhouse this September and are doing on network TV. The Huskies will take on number one ranked Ohio State University on WTVO-17 September 19th at 2:30pm. The game is in Columbus. Tickets are available now to all Huskie Athletic Fund donors, NIU Football season ticket holders and current (Fall 2015) NIU students through the NIU Athletics Ticket Office through Friday, August 14th on a first-come, first-served basis.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan is warning Illinoisans about a new phone scam. The call looks like it’s coming from a government number and the scam artist poses as a worker from Attorney General Madigan’s office. She says the caller tells the person they owe the state money and if they don’t pay up, they will be arrested within 30 minutes. Anyone who gets such a call is urged to report it to the Illinois attorney general's office so they can track down these con artists: Illinois attorney general dot gov.
Motorists and pedestrians are being urged to be careful around a downtown road closure Saturday. West State from Wyman St. to just west of Main St. and Main St. from Elm St. to Mulberry St. will be closed beginning at 9:00 a.m. in order to get ready for the 3^rd annual Main Street District block party event. The doors open at six o’clock Saturday night.
Chicago will be the first site of Yoko Ono's permanent public art installation in the United States. The Chicago mayor’s office says the installation, called Sky Landing, will be in Jackson Park on the city's South Side and will open next June. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ono, John Lennon's widow, are scheduled to announce the new piece Friday.
A new batch of college graduates is on the job market. The job prospects for college graduates are the best in 15 years, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Employers are expected to boost hiring by 8.3 percent this year over last. But students would be well served to look beyond large employers, says Lisa Hinkley, director of the Career Advancement Center at Lake Forest College. "When we're in the kind of labor market that we're in right now, small and mid-size companies are the areas that students will find more opportunities, and those opportunities can be a little harder to find for students," she said. Hinkley says graduates may not know exactly what job they want, but they should learn about an industry they're interested in so they'll have something to offer employers.

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