Law Creates New Statewide Directory to Forward 9-1-1 Calls

ROMEOVILLE - Governor Pat Quinn today signed legislation to make emergency response systems in Illinois more efficient and effective. Today's action is part of Governor Quinn's agenda to ensure the safety of all people in every community across Illinois.

"Emergency response depends on the ability of our 9-1-1 centers to take the call," Governor Quinn said. "It is critical for public safety that once our operators get a call, they are able to direct it to the responders who can best help those who are in need."

House Bill 2856, sponsored by State Representative Natalie Manley (D-Joliet) and State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood), requires the development of an Illinois 9-1-1 systems directory so that calls answered by one system can be quickly and easily forwarded to another 9-1-1 system when necessary. This is particularly important for cell phone users, whose calls to 9-1-1 are sometimes answered by an operator in their home area code, rather than where the phone user may be at that moment. The law takes effect January 1, 2014.

Governor Quinn also today signed House Bill 2690, sponsored by State Representative Lawrence Walsh, Jr. (D-Joliet), and State Senator Pat McGuire (D-Joliet), which authorizes fees for Court Appointed Special Advocates in counties where special advocates are used. Court Appointed Special Advocates provide assistance to abused or neglected children who need help navigating the legal system. To provide resources to make this program possible, the law allows counties to charge a fee to people found guilty of felonies and certain other crimes. The law takes effect immediately.

In addition, Governor Quinn signed Senate Bill 1930, sponsored by Senator Bertino-Tarrant and Representative Walsh, which grants the Joliet Park District an additional five years to sell a parcel of its land. Sale of the parcel, located at the corner of Route 59 and West Caton Farm Road will help the park district improve its recreational offerings. The original deadline was December 31, 2013 and is now extended to the end of 2018.

Noting Social Security's importance to millions of Americans including 445,043 Iowans, AARP continues work to protect and strengthen the program.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On the eve of the 78^th anniversary of the creation of Social Security, which provides an average annual retirement benefit of $14,900 to 445,043 older Iowans AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond issued the following statement:

"In the years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation creating Social Security, it has become the foundation of retirement security in America, lifting tens of millions of seniors, as well as widows, children and people with disabilities, out of poverty. Declining pensions, inadequate savings, shrinking home values, and a difficult job market mean that the promise of Social Security will become increasingly important as today's workers approach retirement.

"Yet, some in Washington want to cut this invaluable program to reduce the deficit. Social Security is a self-financed program, not a piggy bank for deficit reduction. That's why AARP is fighting to stop Congress and the President from cutting Social Security benefits using the 'chained CPI,' a change that would hurt seniors already in retirement as well as veterans, women, children and disabled Americans. Just last week, AARP volunteers delivered to Congress more than 1.5 million signed petitions opposing the chained CPI.

"Social Security is too important to rush changes like the chained CPI, or increasing the eligibility age, into a budget deal. As we look to address Social Security's long-term financial challenges, we must think of the current and future beneficiaries who have earned their benefits and rely on them. Any adjustments to Social Security will affect individuals, families, businesses and our economy as a whole. That's why AARP is calling for a separate debate about responsible solutions that will ensure Social Security's strength for current and future generations.

"For 78 years, Americans have found peace of mind and a measure of financial stability in the modest but critical benefits provided by Social Security. As we reflect on its remarkable success, AARP looks forward to engaging with elected officials, business and non-profit leaders, and the American people in an open, honest conversation about how to strengthen Social Security for the future."

It's easy to understand why the descendant of a 1930s era German-Jewish family would harbor ill feelings toward his family's homeland. However, understanding is precisely why Torkel S Wächter no longer hates the nation that fostered the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

"My father, Michael, never discussed his upbringing even though he was obsessed with Germany, and I took that as an additional reason to despise the country," says Wächter, who was raised in Sweden. "We were never allowed to talk about it because the pain from the past was still alive in him."

After his father's death, Wächter opened the boxes that had remained sealed all of his life. They were filled with his father's and grandparents' diaries, letters, articles and other documents. From these Wächter wrote "The Investigation," a book that highlights questions about personal responsibility and evil during pre-war Nazi Germany.

In addition, the story of Wächter's family is retold on his website, www.onthisday80yearsago.com, in diary fashion. Posts about both personal and historic events appear on the day they occurred in 1933  -- the 80^th anniversary. It's an artistic/literary project called "simulated real time," a way of personalizing for readers events that were inexorably leading to world war eight decades ago.

Wächter says the documents not only revealed meaningful insights to his father's life; they offered a glimpse of a different Germany. It is one he has made his peace with. He explains why:

• Jews in Germany - the success story: Before the rise of Hitler, Germany had been a unique success story for Jews. From the 1700s to 1933, when there were roughly 522,000 Jews in the country, immigrants were able to flourish there. "It's much more difficult to hate something that you come to understand," Wächter says. "I've realized that my father actually loved the country - he had a great upbringing there. But because of what occurred under Hitler, he felt such betrayal and pain that he could never bring himself to talk about it."
  
  
• Friends of the oppressed: In his book, Wächter describes characters like Nazi and anti-Semite Werner Herbrechtsmeyer and the untrustworthy opportunist Carl Fraude. But also revealed are the close, supportive friends of the Wächter family - Franz Wegener, Hans Heinrich Sierau and Klara Henseler. While there were many desperate and ignorant Germans who happily took to Hitler's philosophy, many forget that German citizens also suffered mightily, both during the ascendancy and decline of Nazism," he says.

• A rich culture: Finding his father's hidden boxes led Wächter's to an investigation of both his father's past, and the German language and culture. Germany and Austria have produced many giants of western culture, including Goethe, Mozart, Beethoven and many of the most important philosophers, including Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein, who came from an Austrian-Jewish family.

"I've regained the German citizenship that was taken from my family 20 years before I was born," Wächter says. "I spend much of my time in the Federal Republic of Germany with my family, which includes Gustav Wächter's grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

About Torkel S Wächter

Torkel S Wächter is the son of a German-Jewish family that suffered under the Nazi regime. His book, "The Investigation," outlines the experience as recorded by his paternal grandfather and father. Wächter studied Economic History, Development Theory and languages at the universities of Lund, Melbourne and Barcelona, as well as Jewish Studies at Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies and Architectural Restoration at The Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm. After a stint as a fashion model in Paris and Barcelona, Wächter trained as a diver in the Royal Swedish Navy and then went on to an aviation career. During the 1990s, Wächter served as a First Officer with Scandinavian Airlines and frequently flew into numerous U.S. airports. In 1997, Wächter published his first novel, "Samson", and in 1999 he published the first Swedish e-book. Wächter lives in Stockholm and Barcelona with his architect wife; together they have four children.

(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds today released the follow town hall schedule.

The following events are open to the press:

Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013

10:15 a.m. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold "Our Opportunity. Our Iowa. Our Results." town hall

Fireside Pub & Steakhouse

205 S. 12^th St.

Manchester, IA

2:15 p.m. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold "Our Opportunity. Our Iowa. Our Results." town hall

Maquoketa Public Library

126 S. 2^nd St.

Maquoketa, IA

Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013

10 a.m. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold "Our Opportunity. Our Iowa. Our Results." town hall

Tipton Family Restaurant

101 E. 4^th St.

Tipton, IA

12:30 p.m. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold "Our Opportunity. Our Iowa. Our Results." town hall

Muscatine County Environmental Learning Center

3300 Cedar St.

Muscatine, IA

2:30 p.m. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds hold "Our Opportunity. Our Iowa. Our Results." town hall

Washington Public Library

115 W. Washington St.

Washington, IA