SPRINGFIELD - Governor Bruce Rauner announced a number of key staff appointments to help him as he works on the Illinois Turnaround. Today's announcements include the new Director of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program; the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority; the Illinois State Board of Investment; and the Illinois Human Rights Commission.

In addition, Governor Rauner has also extended the contract of state CFO, Donna Arduin. She will continue working with the Governor's Office of Management and Budget on enacting a balanced budget. Her compensation has been reduced by half from her previous contract and will terminate when the final budget is signed or on August 28, whichever comes first.

Name: Joseph Wright
Position: Director, Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program

Governor Bruce Rauner has named Joesph Wright the Director of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program. He is currently Assistant General Counsel in the Office of the Governor.

In the Office of the Governor, Wright has worked extensively with the state agencies involved in the medical cannabis pilot program. He is the liaison with the legal teams within the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Illinois Racing Board. In addition, Wright assisted the Office of the Governor with Freedom of Information Act requests.

Wright has experience at the federal level, working as a Legislative Assistant in the Office of Congressman Jim Matheson. He also was a law clerk for Holland & Knight, the Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Wright is a graduate of the University of Illinois, and earned his law degree from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He lives in Chicago.

Name: Timothy Rand
Position: Illinois Sports Facilities Authority

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Timothy Rand to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. Rand's experience in the food and beverage industry and in event promotion makes him an excellent addition to the board.

Rand is the founder and owner of Midway Airport Concessionaires that owns a number of food outlets at Midway International Airport. He oversees the sales, management and marketing duties of the operation. In addition, Rand has served as Director of Urban Partnership Bank and is the co-founder of the annual Chicago Football Classic.

Rand is extremely active in the community working with the Chicago Urban League, Make-a-Wish Foundation, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the DuSable Museum and the Council on Chicago Public School Partnerships. Rand also served five years in the U.S. Army National Guard. He graduated from Southern Illinois University and lives in Chicago.

Name: Ezequiel Flores
Position: Illinois State Board of Investment

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Ezequiel Flores to the Illinois State Board of Investment. Flores is a global business leader with extensive experience as an entrepreneur and senior-level executive.

Flores is currently the CEO of Flores Retail Corporation, which is a real estate company that specializes in public-private partnerships, development and financing, and retail brokerage. In addition, he also co-founded Flying Food Concessions, which is responsible for one of the largest specialty retail portfolios at O'Hare International Airport. He is also the CEO of Flying Retail.

Prior to these ventures, Flores was the Strategy and Corporate Development Manager at the Sara Lee Corporation. He also worked as an Assurance and Business Advisory Associate at Arthur Anderson LLP.

Flores graduated from DePaul University with an accounting degree. He is currently earning his master's degree at the Catholic Theological Union. He lives in Chicago.

Name: Steve Kim
Position: Illinois Human Rights Commission

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Steve Kim to the Illinois Human Rights Commission. Kim is a proven advocate for Asian Americans in Illinois and was the first Asian American to run for a statewide office when he was the Republican candidate for Attorney General in 2010.

Kim is currently a managing partner at RKJ Legal, which is an international law firm with offices in seven countries, and Kim serves as General Counsel to several other international companies. Prior to this, Kim was General Counsel for Coils, Inc., directing all legal, regulatory and governmental affairs activities. He has also worked for Time Warner Cable and AT&T.

Kim began his professional career with the State of Illinois, serving in the 1995-1996 Dunn Fellow class, assisting the Governor's Economic and Business Development Adviser. He was also a Special Assistant to Governor Edgar, where he advised the governor on a number of issues, including international trade. In addition, he was the primary contact in the Office of the Governor for the Asian-American community.

Kim earned his bachelor's degree and law degree from Loyola University Chicago. He lives in Northbrook.

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July 9 & July 23: 8 AM - 4 PM, Principles of Leadership Excellence Series: Module 1 - Trust and Influence: New-School Leadership. The goal of the Principles of Leadership Excellence Certificate Series (PLX) is to provide you with opportunities to learn the skills, behaviors, and knowledge needed for effective, successful leadership.  Cost is MRA Members: $495  Nonmembers:$655 (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

July 10: 8 AM - 3 PM, Effective Communication-Beyond the Basics. Advanced tools, techniques, and strategies developed from the study of proven top performers in leadership.  Program uses the new DiSC assessment. Cost is MRA Members: $295  Nonmembers: $390

July 17: 8 AM - 3 PM, Communication from the Inside Out.  Savvy communicators know that words are just one part of the message that gets communicated.  Apply the idea of "who body thinking" to enhance your ability to communicate effectively.  Cost is MRA Members: $295  Nonmembers: $390

July 20 & July 21: 8 AM - 4:30 PM, ISO 9001: 2008 Internal Auditing.  This two day class will have a strong emphasis on best practice techniques used to audit the American Nationals Standard ISO 9001-2008 version.  Cost is MRA Members: $550  Nonmembers: $750.

August 6 & August 20: 8 AM - 4 PM, Principles of Leadership Excellence Series: Module 2 - Communicating for Results: Gold Medal Performance. The goal of the Principles of Leadership Excellence Certificate Series (PLX) is to provide you with opportunities to learn the skills, behaviors, and knowledge needed for effective, successful leadership.  Cost is MRA Members: $495  Nonmembers:$655 (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

August 7: 8 AM - 3 PM, Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking.  The human brain has two very different ways of thinking. The right brain is visual and the left brain is verbal.  Discover strategies for using your creativity for effective communication.  Cost is MRA Members: $295  Nonmembers: $390.

August 10: 8 AM - 11:30 AM, Human Resource Professional Certificate Series: HR Metrics: ROI for HR Initiatives.  This program will provide you with practical advice on how to cost-justify and present the business case for your HR-related initiatives.  Cost is MRA Members: $200  Nonmembers: $265.  (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

August 10: 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM, Human Resource Professional Certificate Series: Internal Investigations: A How-To Guide.  The workshop provides you with step by step instructions to conduct and complete thorough, legally compliant harassment, discrimination, and other types of internal investigations.  Cost is MRA Members: $160  Nonmembers: $205. (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

August 13: 8 AM - 11:30 AM, Business E-Mail - Write it Right, During this half-day workshop, you recognize the latest techniques for writing emails that make it easy for your readers to read, understand and respond to your messages.  Cost is MRA members: $160 Nonmembers: $205

August 17: 8 AM - 3 PM, Human Resource Professional Certificate Series: Fundamentals of Compensation.  This program explores the practice and theory of compensation management, discusses how to tailor a compensation program to support the organization's strategic goals and objectives.  Cost is MRA members: $250 Nonmembers: $340  (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

August 18, August 25 & September 1: 8 AM - 4 PM, Supervision: The Essentials.   This three day program provides your new, less experienced leaders with ideas and practices they can put to use immediately.  Cost is MRA members: $750  Nonmembers: $950.

August 21: 8 AM - 4 PM, OSHA's Electrical Safety Best Practices and NFPA - 70E.  Sessions explore the requirements of OSHA and NFPA 70E and keep you current on electrical hazards and the methods to control them.  Cost is MRA members: $275 Nonmembers: $370

August 24: 8 AM - 3:30 PM, Human Resource Professional Certificate Series: Finance Essentials for the HR Professional.  This course is designed to expose the HR manager to basic accounting practices including how to read and interpret accounting and financial reports. Cost is MRA members: $250 Nonmembers: $340  (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

August 27: 8 AM - 12 PM, Grammar Basics.  Is it affect or effect? Should I use 15 or fifteen? Which punctuation mark should I use.  This half-day program addresses those and many more basic grammatical questions.  Cost is MRA members: $160 Nonmembers: $205

August 31: 8 AM - 3:30 PM, Human Resource Professional Certificate Series: HR Professional as Business Partner.  Primary focus within this program includes developing the business partner role through effective coaching strategies to address performance management.  Cost is MRA members: $250 Nonmembers: $340  (Pricing also available if you sign up for the entire 6 module series).

By Isaac Orr

Nearly 10 years have passed since the federal government imposed a national mandate requiring gasoline be blended with ethanol. At that time, President George W. Bush claimed the United States was addicted to oil and that biofuels, especially ethanol produced from corn, offered an important way to bring down gasoline prices while weaning the nation off of foreign sources of oil and supporting economic development in rural America.

As a farm kid about to graduate from high school in rural Wisconsin at the time, ethanol sounded like a good idea to me. A decade later, it's clear the program will never achieve those results, and Congress should end the mandate.

The ethanol mandate, more commonly known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), is developed and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the same regulatory body that wants to regulate farm dust and classify small wetlands, temporary runoff streams, and ditches near farm fields as navigable "Waters of the United States" to increase its regulatory control. Like other government decrees, the ethanol mandate imposes onerous regulations on property owners and increases costs for consumers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the ethanol mandate will increase fuel costs for drivers by 4 to 9 percent in 2017.

In addition to increasing costs, RFS hasn't made energy independence a realistic option. Most of the farmers I know are very independent people, prioritizing hard work and self-reliance, which is why using ethanol to replace foreign oil appealed to many of us. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), however, the United States consumes about 19 million barrels of petroleum products per day, including gasoline, diesel fuel, and biofuels. In all of 2014, the United States used about 340 million barrels of biofuels, meaning these fuels provided the equivalent of about 18 days of the nation's supply.

While providing only about 5 percent of the fuel we use, ethanol eats up about 40 percent of the nation's corn crop. Even if the United States doubled the amount of ethanol used for fuel, which it can't do because most cars are not designed to handle fuel with more than 10 percent ethanol, America would still only replace the equivalent of about one month of oil, and it would consume 80 percent of the corn crop at current production rates.

Proponents of ethanol championed it as a way of reducing our use of foreign oil, but the ethanol mandate makes little sense now that hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, has nearly doubled oil production in the United States, making us the largest oil producer in the world. Fracking has done significantly more to increase America's energy security, without mandates, than we could ever hope to achieve through use of ethanol.

The federal government has tried subsidizing and mandating ethanol, but it still can't compete with other sources of fuel in terms of price and quantity. It's clear ethanol was just another case of the government picking winners and losers, and as with Solyndra, the failed solar power company that cost U.S. taxpayers more than half a billion dollars before going belly-up, the government backed a very expensive loser.

If advocates of family farms want to be taken seriously when we object to government mandates, such as expanding the powers of EPA over puddles or proposed U.S. Department of Labor rules to limit the types of work kids can do on their uncle's farm, we have to advocate ending existing mandates that don't make sense, even if they appear to benefit agriculture in the short term. Both farmers and the nation will be better off if we end the ethanol mandate.

Isaac Orr (iorr@heartland.org) is a research fellow for energy and environmental policy at The Heartland Institute.

BANDITS BASH CUBS EARLY TO EVEN SERIES

Quad Cities cuts its magic number to three to clinch a first-half playoff spot

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (June 7, 2015) - Quad Cities River Bandits All-Star third baseman Nick Tanielu homered among three hits while matching a career high with four RBIs, and four other River Bandits had two-hit games to help the visitors to a road trip-high 13 hits and an 8-3 win over the South Bend Cubs at Four Winds Field Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the River Bandits (39-18) reclaimed the best record in professional baseball. With a loss by Burlington (28-29) and Kane County (29-28) winning Sunday to move into third place, Quad Cities' magic number (combination of Quad Cities wins and losses by the Western Division's third-place team) needed to clinch a playoff spot was reduced to three. Quad Cities holds a head-to-head tiebreaker with Kane County. Second-place Cedar Rapids (35-22) also lost Sunday, so the River Bandits' Western Division lead grew to four games.

After rain delayed the game's first pitch 58 minutes, Quad Cities scored in the first inning for the third time in five games. Left fielder Jason Martin hit a one-out single to right field off Cubs right-hander Erick Leal (4-4), and All-Star catcher Jacob Nottingham (starting as the designated hitter Sunday) hit the first pitch he saw down the left-field line for a double to score Martin.

The lead grew in the third inning, as catcher Jamie Ritchie and Martin drew consecutive walks. Nottingham grounded into a fielder's choice, before Tanielu blasted a 2-0 offering from Leal over the left-field fence for his second Midwest League home run and a 4-0 lead.

A four-double fourth inning gave the River Bandits three more runs off Leal. Second baseman Kristian Trompiz hit a leadoff double but was thrown out at third base when he tried to advance on first baseman Ryan Bottger's flyout to right field. Center fielder Ramon Laureano hit a two-out double down the left-field line, before Ritchie hit an RBI double off the right-center field wall, and Martin grounded an RBI double down the first-base line. Nottingham added an RBI single to left field, scoring Martin for a 7-0 lead. Leal was charged with all seven earned runs on nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts in four innings.

The Cubs (26-30) never had the tying run on base and never brought the tying run to the plate after falling behind, 4-0, in the third inning. River Bandits right-hander Brandon McNitt retired the first nine batters of the game, before All-Star center fielder Charcer Burks singled to left field leading off the fourth inning. All-Star shortstop Gleyber Torres walked, and Burks went to third base when second baseman Andrew Ely flied out to right field. All-Star catcher Cael Brockmeyer (starting at first base Sunday) hit an RBI single to right-center field, sending Torres to third base to be able to score on third baseman Jason Vosler's sacrifice fly that made it 7-2. After a single by catcher Gioskar Amaya and walk to left fielder Kevin Encarnacion loaded the bases, McNitt got designated hitter David Bote to ground out.

After allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in four innings, McNitt was relieved by left-hander Jordan Mills starting the fifth inning. Mills allowed a leadoff infield single by right fielder Jeffrey Baez and two-out single by Ely before finishing a scoreless inning. Right-hander Akeem Bostick (3-1) began the sixth inning and yielded a leadoff double to Vosler, who later scored on Bote's two-out single to left field. Bostick then retired 10 of the next 12 batters to finish the final four innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

From the South Bend bullpen, right-hander Ryan McNeil pitched three shutout innings and allowed one hits and one walk, and right-hander David Garner pitched a perfect eighth inning. Laureano broke a stretch of 13 hitless River Bandits batters with a leadoff single in the ninth inning. Ritchie singled, Nottingham walked with one out to load the bases, and Tanielu hit an RBI single to center field for an 8-3 lead.

The River Bandits conclude their season-long 10-game road stretch and their series in South Bend at 6:05 p.m. Central on Monday. River Bandits right-hander Austin Chrismon (4-1) is scheduled to face Cubs left-hander Tommy Thorpe (1-3) in the series rubber match.

UP NEXT: Modern Woodmen Park is hosting a Father's Day Cookout for the 1:15 p.m. game Sunday, June 21. Call 563-324-3000 to order a package that includes a game ticket and access to the all-you-can-eat buffet in the Budweiser Champions Club. The day includes a Mega Mini-Fridge Giveaway presented by Budweiser and 7G Distributing and is a Family Sunday presented by B100 and ESPN 93.5. Individual tickets are on sale at the River Bandits box office and online at riverbandits.com. Ticket plans of 12 to 70 games - which include free parking, reserved seats, merchandise discounts, and guaranteed giveaways - are available by calling 563-324-3000.

NULL PITCHES CUBS TO 2-1 WIN OVER BANDITS

With Burlington's loss Saturday, Quad Cities' magic number drops to five to clinch a playoff spot

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (June 6, 2015) - South Bend Cubs right-hander Jeremy Null allowed one run in six innings, while Cubs catcher Cael Brockmeyer hit a game-tying solo home run in the fourth inning, and second baseman Andrew Ely hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the fifth inning of a 2-1 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits at Four Winds Field Saturday night.

Despite losing a series-opening game for the second time in 10 road series this season, the River Bandits (38-18) moved closer to a first-half playoff spot. Third-place Burlington (28-28) lost on Saturday at Great Lakes, which lowered Quad Cities' magic number (combination of Quad Cities wins and losses by the Western Division's third-place team) needed to clinch a first-half playoff spot to five. Second-place Cedar Rapids (35-21) also lost at West Michigan to remain three games behind Quad Cities in the Western Division first-half race.

Making his first start since being named to the Eastern Division All-Star team, Null (6-1) retired the first five batters of the game. River Bandits second baseman Kristian Trompiz extended his hitting streak to nine games with a two-out double to left field in the second inning but was stranded at second base when Null struck out first baseman Ryan Bottger. Right fielder Ramon Laureano led off the third inning with a single and went as far as third base with two outs but Null retired three in a row to end the inning.

In a scoreless game in the top of the fourth inning, River Bandits All-Star third baseman Nick Tanielu doubled to left field and went to third base when All-Star second baseman Mott Hyde (starting at shortstop Saturday) singled to left field. Trompiz hit a sacrifice fly to center field for the game's first run, and Bottger singled to move Hyde to second base, but Laureano grounded into an inning-ending fielder's choice. Null retired seven River Bandits in a row to finish his outing, allowing five hits and no walks with four strikeouts in six innings.

Before Brockmeyer's home run, River Bandits right-hander Francis Martes (0-1) did not allow a hit for his first 3 2/3 innings, extending the longest hitless streak by a Quad Cities pitcher this season to 8 1/3 innings. After Cubs All-Star center fielder Charcer Burks began the game reaching on an error by Trompiz, Martes got All-Star shortstop Gleyber Torres to ground to Trompiz for a double play. In the third inning, Martes walked two batters with one out but retired the next two Cubs, stranding runners at second and third bases in a scoreless game.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Brockmeyer - an All-Star catcher for the Eastern Division - sent a 2-1 pitch from Martes over the left-center field wall to tie the game, 1-1. Third baseman Jason Vosler doubled but was stranded at second base. In the fifth inning, right fielder Jeffrey Baez had a one-out bunt single, and Burks singled to right field to put runners at first and third bases. Torres then grounded back to Martes who threw to All-Star catcher Jacob Nottingham to tag out Baez at home plate. With runners at first and second bases in a 1-1 tie, Ely lined a single to left-center field, scoring Burks for a 2-1 Cubs lead. Martes was charged with two earned runs on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in five innings.

River Bandits right-hander Christian Powell followed Martes with three shutout innings. He worked around a hit batter in the sixth inning and after walking two batters around a single by Vosler in the eighth inning, he struck out Hodges with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Against the Cubs bullpen, Quad Cities put a runner on base in each inning but could not score. Trompiz led off the seventh inning with a single against right-hander Francisco Carrillo, who retired the next three batters and stranded Trompiz at third base. Designated hitter Jamie Ritchie walked to chase Carrillo in the eighth inning and stole second base, but right-hander James Farris retired Nottingham and Tanielu on flyouts. Hyde's leadoff single in the ninth inning was erased on a double play as Farris went on to record five outs for his eighth save.

BANDITS TURN TIDE LATE TO TIP WHITECAPS

Quad Cities remains unbeaten in road series and reduces magic number to six to clinch a playoff spot

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. (June 5, 2015) - With the Quad Cities River Bandits facing a 3-1 deficit in the eighth inning, right fielder Ryan Bottger hit a game-tying two-run single, and designated hitter Sean McMullen hit a ninth-inning, go-ahead RBI double to lead the visitors to a 4-3 win and series victory over the West Michigan Whitecaps at Fifth Third Ballpark Friday night.

Quad Cities (38-17) kept the best record in professional baseball and increased its lead to three game lead in the Midwest League Western Division over second-place Cedar Rapids (35-20), which lost in South Bend Friday night. The River Bandits' magic number (combination of Quad Cities wins and losses by the Western Division's third-place team) to clinch a first-half playoff spot is six.

The River Bandits scored first for the third straight game against West Michigan (27-28). Left fielder Jason Martin led off the game with a double to right-center field off Whitecaps right-hander Spenser Watkins. Catcher Jamie Ritchie's flyout to right field sent Martin to third base, and designated hitter Jacob Nottingham singled to left field to score Martin for a 1-0 lead. First baseman Nick Tanielu singled to center field to put runners at first and third bases, but Bottger grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Watkins settled in to retire 13 of 15 batters and finish five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and no walks with three strikeouts. Following Watkins, left-hander Tyler Ford worked around a hit in both the sixth and seventh innings to strike out four batters in two scoreless innings. Quad Cities advanced two runners to second base - and none further - in the second through seventh innings.

River Bandits right-hander Joshua James held the 1-0 lead through the first five innings, stranding six Whitecaps base runners. He allowed his first hit with one out in the third inning, when shortstop Garrett Mattlage singled following a one-out walk to left fielder Austin Schotts. Center fielder Derek Hill singled to center field to load the bases with one out. But James struck out right fielder Ross Kivett and got  designated hitter Mike Gerber to ground back to the pitcher's mound to end the inning. In the fourth inning, James allowed a leadoff walk to second baseman Joey Pankake and single to center field by first baseman Will Kengor. A sacrifice by third baseman Zach Shepherd advanced both runners, but James struck out catcher Shane Zeile and got Schotts to ground out to preserve a 1-0 River Bandits lead.

James began the sixth inning by walking Pankake again, and Kengor singled to left field, sending Pankake to third base. James then walked Shepherd on four pitches, with the final one wild past catcher Jamie Ritchie to bring Pankake to the plate for the tying run. Right-hander Aaron Greenwood relieved James, and Zeile put down a sacrifice to advance Kengor and Shepherd, before Schotts grounded a two-run single into center field for a 3-1 West Michigan lead. All three earned runs were charged to James, who allowed five hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Greenwood finished one full inning, allowing one hit.

Quad Cities' game-tying rally began in the eighth inning against left-hander Gabe Speier, with Ritchie drawing a one-out walk, and Nottingham reaching when Shepherd dropped a ground ball. McMullen pinch ran for Nottingham, as right-hander Johan Belisario (1-2) entered to walk first baseman Nick Tanielu. Bottger then lined a single to right-center field, with Ritchie and McMullen scoring to tie the game. In the ninth, Belisario walked Martin and Ritchie with one out, and McMullen hit an inside pitch one foot inside the right-field line to score Martin for a 4-3 lead. Belisario was charged with one earned run on two hits and four walks with one strikeout in one inning.

River Bandits right-hander Angel Heredia (2-0) struck out three batters in three hitless relief innings to finish the win. The Whitecaps only managed consecutive walks to start the eighth inning, but Heredia caught a bunt popup by Zeile before striking out Schotts and Mattlage.