Afternoon News Update: Tuesday September 16
- A legislative panel said that it wants more time to decide whether rules written by the Department of Natural Resources to govern fracking in Illinois can take effect. Opponents fear it will cause pollution and health problems. The industry insists the method is safe and will bring a badly needed economic boost to southern Illinois.
- Rockford is now claimed to be the third least educated metro area in the nation. A new study by Wallethub.com makes the claim. The website analyzed the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. based on nine key metrics. Among them are educational attainment, the percentage of workers with jobs in computer, engineering and science fields, and the number of enrolled students in the top 200 universities per capita.
- A Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Chicago Midway Airport early this afternoon. Flight 321 was headed to La Guardia when it experienced a problem at 1:15pm and returned to Midway, landing 15 minutes later. Officials say the emergency landing took place without incident and was not able to provide any additional details.
- Bruce Rauner says the medical marijuana pilot program in Illinois is shrouded in secrecy and he wouldn't have signed the legislation. Governor Pat Quinn's Republican challenger says Quinn is trying to keep taxpayers in the dark when millions of dollars in business licenses are at stake. Quinn's spokesman says keeping the names of people applying to grow and sell the drug confidential will ensure state officials aren't influenced by political connections.
- Tightrope daredevil Nik Wallenda says he will walk from one Chicago high-rise to another on November 2nd. He will walk from one of the twin Marina Towers to the Leo Burnett Building on the other side of the Chicago River. The highest skyscraper walk in Wallenda family history will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel.
- Fire officials say an Elgin man is hospitalized in intensive care after a house explosion. Firefighters responded to reports of the blast on Monday night. Authorities say the resident left the house himself and was on the front yard when fire crews arrived. Officials are investigating what caused the explosion.
- State education officials say the majority of Wisconsin public schools and school districts meet or exceed expectations for student achievement. The state report cards for about 2,100 public schools show about 88 percent meet or exceeded expectations. About 98 percent of the state's 424 districts also achieved the mark.
- Illinois farmers are behind schedule with the corn harvest because of cool and wet conditions over the past week. The Department of Agriculture says farmers have taken in two percent of their crop as of Sunday. That's better than last year at this time but behind the average for the last five years.
- A new subpoena seeking records about Govenor Pat Quinn's botched 2010 anti-violence program has been issued, this time from a federal grand jury based in Chicago. The request marks the first subpoena issued by Chicago-based federal authorities in the probe into Quinn's $54.5 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. Numerous prior subpoenas had come from federal authorities in Springfield.
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