Continues Business and Economic Trade Mission throughout Asia

SPRINGFIELD - September 26, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that Japanese manufacturer Sakae Riken Kogyo Co. is investing $35 million to expand its Peru facility and create 25 new Illinois jobs. Today's announcement is one of several business and economic partnerships the Governor has announced during his trade mission throughout Asia, and builds upon his aggressive goal of doubling exports by 2014.

"The relationships we're building as a result of our outreach in the Asia market will help Illinois maintain its global standing and create jobs for us at home." Governor Quinn said. "This project is another example of a strong Japanese company making the decision to locate or expand its domestic operations in Illinois where a company can not only thrive but build for the future."

Sakae Riken Kogyo Co, which is operating under the name of Eakas Corporation, will expand its existing facility in Peru from 257,000 square feet to 537,000 square feet in order to support its next generation of manufacturing. Eakas Corporation produces plastic parts and other decorative trims for the automotive industry. Completion of the new plating line will make Eakas the only manufacturer in North America to provide color molding, paint, hydrographics™ and chrome decorative finish components under one roof.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is providing a $675,000 Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP) Flex Grant to the village of Peru to assist with local infrastructure improvements in support of the facility. Illinois' CDAP program - known nationally as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program - supplies federal funding for community-based projects. Communities with populations of 50,000 or less can apply for CDAP-Flexible Opportunity grant funding to support a variety of projects that provide significant community benefits but fall outside of other CDAP program parameters.

"The Peru facility will provide a much greater global presence for Eakas Corporation, with farther reaching global expansion slated in the future for Sakae  Riken," said Tom Mori, president, Eakas Corporation. "The long-term, outstanding effort by the current and past Eakas employees has allowed Eakas to enjoy the reputation of being an outstanding supplier of decorative parts in the automotive industry and is the primary reason why we are expanding in Illinois. This project wouldn't have been possible without the outstanding efforts of Governor Quinn, the state of Illinois and the city of Peru."

"We live in an increasingly global society and our global partnerships will be key to our long-term economic growth," said DCEO Director Warren Ribley. "Through our aggressive set of business programs, we're able to help businesses of all kinds grow and prosper."

The state of Illinois is also providing Eakas with a $50,000 grant through the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program. DCEO is administering a $334,250 business investment package consisting of tax credits spread out over a 10 year period to support job creation, and a job training grant to help the company's workforce remain on the cutting edge. The company is also eligible to receive local benefits from being located in an Enterprise Zone. The city is providing enhanced infrastructure capabilities including waste water treatment and electrical capacity.

"I would like to thank everyone from the city of Peru that participated in helping bring this $35 million expansion effort to Peru, our partners at the state of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the Eakas Corporation for their confidence in the city of Peru," said Scott J. Harl, Mayor of Peru.

While in Japan, Governor Quinn is attending the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association's annual meeting and talking with a number of Japan-based companies that have a presence in Illinois.

For updates on Governor Quinn's trip, visit www.Illinois.gov or follow him on Twitter at @GovernorQuinn. More information about Illinois trade and business opportunities can be found on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's website at www.illinoisbiz.biz.

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HIGH SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST OPENS FOR 2011-2012

BEING AN AMERICAN ESSAY CONTEST FOCUSES ON CONSTITUTION

Students and Their Teachers Compete for Cash Prizes Up to $1,000

Arlington, VA - U.S. high school students and their teachers are invited to participate in the Bill of Rights Institute's sixth annual Being an American Essay Contest.

The largest contest of its kind in the country, the Being an American Essay Contest explores the Founding principles outlined in the Constitution. The contest is administered by the Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit educational organization in the Washington, D.C. area devoted to educating young people about the Constitution and Founding principles. The 2011-2012 contest is sponsored by the History Channel.

"This contest is unique in that it gives students the opportunity to think about the important Founding principles communicated in our Constitution," said Dr. Jason Ross, Bill of Rights Institute Vice President of Education Programs. "This context is vital to helping students see their Founding principles as a meaningful part of the American experiment of self-government."

Specifically, students are asked to share their thoughts on the Constitution by answering the following question: "How does the Constitution establish and maintain a culture of liberty?"

The top three student winners from each of the five geographical regions will be awarded cash prizes of $1,000 (First Place), $500 (Second Place), and $250 (Third Place). Teacher sponsors for each student winner will also receive a cash prize of $100.

"The contest not only honors and awards sponsoring teachers, but also equips them with free lesson plans and other supplemental materials that meet state and national academic standards so they can easily incorporate the essay contest into their classrooms. The Contest is really a tribute to the excellent work teachers do in the important task of civic education," said Ross.

Over 80,000 students have participated in the essay contest since it began in 2006.

"We are pleased to support the Bill of Rights Institute's Being an American Essay Contest," said Dr. Libby O'Connell, SVP, Corporate Outreach and Chief Historian, History Channel. "The contest encourages students to think critically and truly makes the past relevant in their lives today."

Complete contest details can be found below.  Further information, including submission criteria, lesson plans and background information on the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Founders and the Founding principles are available at www.BillofRightsInstitute.org/Contest.

MEDIA FAST FACTS:

BEING AN AMERICAN ESSAY CONTEST

2011-2012 SCHOOL YEAR PARTICIPATING REGIONS:

North Eastern Region:
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont

Southern Region:
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia as well as Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands

Mid-Western Region:
Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin

Central Region:
Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming

Western Region:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington as well as Guam, American Samoa, and American Armed Forces Schools Abroad (APO)

SPONSORING ORGANIZATION: Bill of Rights Institute, Arlington, VA.

The Bill of Rights Institute, founded in 1999, is a nonprofit educational organization. The mission of the Bill of Rights Institute is to educate young people about the words and ideas of America's Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society.

FUNDING PROVIDED BY: History Channel (New York City, NY).

CONTEST GOAL: To help promote dialogue among students and teachers about American Founding principles. The Essay Contest serves as a key part of the Bill of Rights Institute's mission to educate young people about the words and ideas of America's Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society.

ESSAY QUESTION: "How does the Constitution establish and maintain a culture of liberty?"

ELIGIBILITY: Students in grades 9-12 who are U.S. citizens or legal residents and are either attending public, private, religious, or charter schools, being home-schooled, or participating in a GED or correspondence school program but are no older than 19 years of age.  Military bases and U.S. territories are also invited to participate.

ESSAY LENGTH: No more 1,000 words.

JUDGING CRITERIA:

• Adherence to Essay Question
• Originality
• Organization
• Writing Style
• Depth of Analysis

JUDGES: High school teachers

STUDENT CASH PRIZES: Three cash prizes per region will be awarded to students:

• First Prize: $1,000 each
• Second Prize: $500 each
• Third Prize: $250 each

TEACHER CASH PRIZES: Cash prizes of $100 will be awarded to the teachers of all winning students:

CONTEST START DATE: September 17, 2011

DEADLINE FOR ESSAY SUBMISSIONS: December 15, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. PST. All essays must be submitted at www.BillofRightsInstitute.org/Submit.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: February 2012

WEB SITE AND CONTEST GUIDELINES: www.BillofRightsInstitute.org/Contest

Q&A on the Securities and Exchange Commission

with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley

Q:        What's the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission?

A:        The SEC was created during the Great Depression, in the wake of the stock market crash of 1929, when the public's faith in capital markets needed to be restored.  The agency is supposed to strengthen investor confidence by providing transparent, reliable information and rules for fair, orderly and efficient markets.  This should help facilitate the capital formation necessary for economic growth and job creation.  When the agency fails to meet its mission, the negative repercussions can impact anyone with investments monitored by the SEC, including investments in pension and other retirement funds.

Q:        How did you get involved in oversight of the SEC?

A:        I'm committed to the work of congressional oversight, and there's a great need for it with the SEC.  Four years ago, based on information from a whistleblower and the work of my investigative staff, I spelled out in a comprehensive report (with then-Senator Arlen Specter) how the SEC Inspector General failed to investigate credible allegations by a former SEC attorney that his supervisor pulled punches in an investigation because of one Wall Street witness' political clout.  The report hit a nerve and, ultimately, the SEC attorney who blew the whistle was vindicated.  Last year, the SEC finally obtained a $28 million settlement from the capital management company in question and paid the attorney years of back pay in a settlement related to his termination.

Adding to that, last March, a new Inspector General of the SEC issued a stinging rebuke of an agency program created more than 20 years ago to help target insider trading and securities fraud by rewarding agency employees who spoke up and shared valuable information.  Last summer, knowing that the SEC missed the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history in the Bernard Madoff case, a colossal mishap that might have been avoided if the SEC had paid attention to whistleblower information, Congress passed legislation I authored to dramatically beef up a whistleblower office inside the SEC.  I'm still working to make sure that office is strengthened as the law calls for, and not weakened by institutional ego.  Every source of information is needed to combat financial fraud.  Both investors and taxpayers are exposed by wrongdoing.  I want to see the SEC embrace whistleblowers because they can help with the mission.  Whistleblowers could help stop another Madoff.

Q:        How can the public have confidence that the SEC isn't too close to the industry it oversees, especially the big players?

A:        A revolving door between agency staff and the investment firms and banks they oversee has led to concerns of coziness and the soft-pedaling of potential criminal cases.  Last year, the SEC Inspector General identified cases where the revolving door appeared to be a factor in staving off enforcement actions and other types of oversight, including cases involving Bear Stearns and the Stanford Ponzi scheme.  I offered an amendment to the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial services reform bill to extend the cooling-off period at financial agencies to two years and to require a list of former agency employees who are representing clients before their former agencies.  Unfortunately, my amendment was blocked by the bill sponsors.  These reforms plus better record-keeping by the SEC are needed to help maintain the regulator's integrity and preserve the public trust in a balanced playing field.

This year, I'm working to make sure the SEC is held accountable for what it does with referrals of suspicious trading activity from one of the biggest and most powerful hedge funds.  How the SEC handled specific referrals will shed light on how the enforcement system works.

I also highlighted the big divide between the stated policy of the SEC and its actual practice of providing information to the securities industry about the criminal law enforcement intentions of the Department of Justice.  The SEC enforcement manual, which was revised after the 2007 Grassley-Specter report, is undermined if the SEC relays to potential targets of investigation exactly what the Justice Department has in store for them.

Separately, I've helped to shed light on the actions of the SEC's former General Counsel David Becker.  After missing the Madoff scam, the top leadership of the SEC let one of its own who profited from a Madoff account craft the commission's position on how to treat Madoff victims.  The agency let this major conflict of interest slide and then tried to cover it up.  After a comprehensive report, the Inspector General has referred Mr. Becker's case to the Justice Department, but the SEC's ethical standards need to be stronger, consistent and uniformly applied from the executive suite to the rank-and-file employees.

Q:        Where else have you scrutinized what's going on inside the SEC?

A:        This year, an enforcement lawyer at the agency wrote to me and outlined what he said was the agency's destruction of least 9,000 files between 1993 and 2010, all related to initial inquiries into possible wrongdoing on Wall Street.  The lawyer said these files were destroyed as a routine matter of internal SEC policy, but that the shredding might have compromised enforcement cases against Madoff, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, and the SAC Capital hedge fund.  I pressed for a full accounting.  In response, the National Archives said the SEC "did not have the authority to dispose of" the records in question under federal law.  And, the SEC directed staff to stop destroying preliminary investigative documents until further notice.  Keeping records is common sense in law enforcement.  You never know what might be valuable information.  Complete records also may help keep the agency honest and inoculate against compromised ethics and biases.

The promises of financial system reform will be empty if the top enforcement agency for free and fair markets is ineffective.  I will continue to work for accountability and necessary reforms of the SEC.

Coal Valley, IL - September 23, 2011 - Niabi Zoo has announced an all-new and fun event to benefit the construction of a larger and more modern elephant exhibit. The new event, titled Wines for Wildlife & Art Expo: Presented by the Grape Life, is an after-hours wine tasting that offers attendees the chance to sample a variety of wines for a good cause. Attendees will enjoy music and appetizers in a fun and casual atmosphere. Wines for Wildlife & Art Expo: Presented by The Grape Life takes place on zoo grounds on Saturday, October 1, 2011, from 6:00 pm to 10:00pm.

"Niabi Zoo is extremely proud to be the only zoo in the state of Illinois to feature elephants as part of its collection," says Assistant Zoo Director Marc Heinzman. "Our two Asian elephants, Babe and Sophie, are the biggest stars of the Zoo, both figuratively and literally. They deserve a larger and more modern habitat, and we hope to add a third elephant sometime after construction is completed."

The estimated exhibit cost is close to $4 million, and Niabi Zoo is hoping to offset some of that cost with a variety of fundraising activities, such as Wines for Wildlife & Art Expo: Presented by The Grape Life. In addition to the wine tasting, the event will also feature an art gallery consisting of masterpieces from local artists and even zoo animals such as elephants, lions, snakes, and birds. "We have a lot of artists here at Niabi Zoo," says Heinzman, "and they love to paint."

Tickets for the event are $40 for zoo members and $45 for non-members in advance, or $50 for all at the gate. The Zoo is also selling Double Mangnum 4- packs of tickets at $150 for members and $170 for non-members. Call 309-799-3482 ext. 242 or email events@niabizoo.com to purchase tickets.