Will County News

On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Treasury Department released data on businesses who received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. Data shows loans made to businesses in Manhattan, Illinois helped to retain 775 jobs: To view data for all Illinois businesses, go  here .  According to the Small Business Administration:  "The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. SBA will forgive loans if all employee retention criteria are met, and the funds are used for eligible expenses. Click  here  to read more about PPP loan forgiveness."

Today, Governor Pritzker joined local elected officials to announce two new Amazon fulfillment centers, in Markham and Matteson, Illinois. Pritzker stated 2,000 jobs would be created at the two sites, bringing Amazon's total workforce in Illinois to 20,000.  Pritzker stated all jobs at the two new sites would start with at least a $15 an hour wage. View the entire press conference:

Anyone driving west on Manhattan-Monee Road from Monee will notice a gigantic earth-moving operation happening on a piece of land just west of I-57. Today, the Village of Monee announced that an Amazon warehouse is coming to the site.  The warehouse is not Amazon's first in Will County.  Amazon previously opened a distribution center in Joliet and recently announced a second Joliet location. Press Release from the Village of Monee: "( Monee, IL ) – Today, Village of Monee Mayor Jay Farquhar officially announced the opening of an 850,000+ square foot Amazon fulfillment center in Monee. The Amazon facility has been a priority under Mayor Farquhar’s administration and has been a project in the works for nearly 2 years. “Without question, this has been a team effort and we couldn’t have achieved this without coordinated leadership and collaborative support from various agencies,” Farquhar said. “I thank Governor Bruce Rauner and the Department of Commerce and Economic ...

Public hearings on the Illiana Corridor Project Tier Two Draft Environmental Impact Statement are scheduled for: Tuesday, February, 18, 2014 5:00--8:00 p.m. Lowell Middle School 19250 Cline Avenue Lowell, Indiana 46356 Wednesday, February 19, 2014 5:00--8:00 p.m. Local 150 Training Facilities 19800 West Arsenal Road Wilmington, IL 60481 If the event in Lowell is cancelled due to the Town of Lowell school closings, the alternate date will be March 5, 2014, an will be held at Hebron High School--509 S. Main Street, Hebron, Indiana 46341. If the event in Wilmington is cancelled due to Wilmington schools closing, the alternate date will be March 6, 2014 and the hearing will still be held at the Local 150 Training Facility. According to the Illiana Study Team: "The Tier Two Draft EIS is a compilation of stakeholder outreach and comprehensive information about the project's purpose and need, proposed plans and alternatives, and potential effects on environmental re...

There will be an Illiana Expressway meeting tonight--June 18, 2013--in Peotone at Peotone High School.  The meeting is from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m..  The Illinois and Indiana Departments of Transportation will be presenting refinements to the B3 corridor including interchange types and locations, local road connectivity, overpass and underpass locations, and more. A question and answer forum will be held at 6:00 p.m..

On February 25th, 2013, people living in and near the proposed path of the Illiana Expressway B3 met in the Will Town Hall to form a new group which hopes to draw members from Lowell, Indiana to Wilmington, Illinois and beyond.  The new group--No Illiana 4 Us--has a wide range of concerns about the proposed tollway: sprawl, pollution and lowered air quality, land taken off local tax roles, quick take eminent domain, how the tollway will affect North-South travel, what roads will be closed, school bus routes, and more. Before the meeting started, people milled about and shared concerns: "Have you heard when they're going to start buying?"  "Have they been to your farm?"  When asked if he would "buy a farm down south" if the State took his land for the Illiana, one farmer replied: "if I go down south, they want $3,000 more an acre than what I'll get for my farm, I'll just quit." Group Outreach Coordinator Anthony Rayson stated the g...

By Ann Baskerville JOLIET--Hundreds packed the Our Lady of Mount Caramel Parish Hall on Joliet's East Side tonight to begin organizing efforts against a possible immigrant detention center in Joliet, Illinois. Town Hall Meeting on the Joliet Immigrant Prison A priest and a representative from the Diocese of Joliet quoted scripture while citizens who organized a successful campaign against a private, for-profit immigrant detention center in Crete , Illinois told the crowd, "We are with you" and "Si, se puede" to a standing ovation. Signs against the Crete and Joliet Immigrant Detention Centers Pastor Craig Purchase spoke out against an immigrant detention center, saying: "we in the black community should not tolerate this issue."  Purchase said at one point he did not hold the position he had now because he had not yet put himself in the shoes of an undocumented person.  Purchase said when you really understand this issue, it's a "...

FEBRUARY 2014 UPDATE: Illiana Tier Two Draft Environmental Impact Statement Public Hearing February 19th, 2014 in Wilmington JULY 2012 Update:Next Illiana Public Meeting: JULY 31, 2012, Peotone High School . UPDATE: The Illiana Corridor Planning Team has proposed two additional corridors alternatives,one of which passes just south of Manhattan, Monee, and University Park, Illinois.  This A3S2 alignment, below in red, also passes north of Elwood, Illinois and Beecher, Illinois: View Recommended Corridors A3S2, B3, B4 Interactive Map in a larger map These 2 new corridors, along with the originally recommended B3, above in green, will be studied by the planning team.  The public may submit comments to the Illiana Planning Team here . More than 300 area residents attended an informational meeting March 21, 2012 presented by the Illiana Corridor Planning Team at the Local 150 Training Center.  The Corridor Team held the meeting at the request of the Wilmington...

UPDATE 2: April 2013 Public Meetings on Tier Two of the Illiana Corridor Study July 2012 Update: Next Illiana Public meeting is July 31, 2012 at Peotone High School, more info here . UPDATE: The Illiana Corridor Planning Team has proposed two additional corridors alternatives,one of which passes just south of Manhattan, Monee, and University Park, Illinois.  This A3S2 alignment, below in red, also passes north of Elwood, Illinois and Beecher, Illinois: View Recommended Corridors A3S2, B3, B4 Interactive Map in a larger map These 2 new corridors, along with the originally recommended B3, above in green, will be studied by the planning team.  The public may submit comments to the Illiana Planning Team here . UPDATE: More detailed maps of B3  The Illiana Corridor Planning Group has released a preliminary recommendation for the proposed route for the Illiana Expressway. The Route--referred to as "B3" in Illiana Corridor Planning Documents---runs from Indiana'...