DAVENPORT, IA – March 6, 2013 – Midland Communications, an industry leader in unified communications, announced today that the company has launched a Desktop Optimization Center (DOC) in order to jumpstart their customers' productivity. A DOC is a business support center where administrators monitor networks and remotely control computers, networks or unified communications systems in order to boost performance. Many small to medium-sized businesses are making the move to DOCs in order to reduce the amount of employee downtime on common technical issues and streamline operations.
Midland Communications' DOC constantly monitors and helps to improve the performance of their customers' entire IT infrastructure including computers, devices, applications, networks and the cloud. As a result, network performance is ceaselessly improved and common issues can be fixed faster than ever before. For example, when a customer's employee runs into an issue with a software program on his or her computer, they can call the DOC and a technician will take control of their computer from a remote location and fix the issue immediately. Employees are often astounded when they can watch their issue being fixed before their eyes without having to lift a finger.
The recession has many businesses spread thin, making it tougher than ever to sacrifice valuable IT personnel to fix mundane issues. This places enormous demands on SMBs, who are already searching for ways to maximize employee performance at every opportunity. Simply put, today's businesses cannot afford to wait around for long periods of time before an issue can even begin being worked on.
"The overwhelming majority of computer problems are extremely simple to fix," stated Jason Smith, Vice President of Midland Communications. "More often than not, our customers' employees need help locating a misplaced a file, configuring a printer, recovering passwords, fixing software that has malfunctioned temporarily or something else relatively straightforward. The real benefit of our DOC is that employees can resolve their issues fast. When we can get our customers' businesses back up and running quickly, that results in increased profitability for everyone. We firmly believe in always searching for innovative ways to serve the needs of our customers."

ABOUT MIDLAND COMMUNICATIONS
Midland Communications began more than 60 years ago in 1946 as the Worldwide Marketing Arm of Victor-Animagraph Projectors. In 1977 a communications division was formed due to a partnership with NEC America. Today, As a distributor of NEC America, for 33 years, Midland Communications has a customer base of more than 3,000 satisfied customers that include general businesses, government agencies, Universities, colleges, hospitals, and hotels.
Midland provides a wide range of communication services including VOIP, PBX and key systems, Wide Area and Local Area networking, computers, Computer integration, voice mail, CCIS, and video conferencing and paging systems. Our philosophy is simple, provide quality products at a fair price, backed by an average emergency response time of twenty minutes, and the best service in the industry. For more information on Midland Communications, call (563) 326-1237 or visit www.midlandcom.com.

Illinois Gains Over Last Year's Ranking

CHICAGO - Governor Pat Quinn today announced that the state of Illinois has been ranked #5 in the nation for new and expanded corporate facilities. Illinois moved up two spots from last year's seventh place ranking, according to the annual analysis by Site Selection magazine, one of the nation's premier corporate real estate and economic development publications. In 2012, Illinois had 322 corporate facilities locate or expand in the state.

Governor Quinn has made job creation and economic growth his top priority.

"More and more companies are choosing Illinois to invest and grow their business," Governor Quinn said. "I'm committed to advancing Illinois' competitiveness, and using every tool at my disposal to expand businesses headquartered in our state and encourage others to locate and do business here."

Illinois joins Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia on the list of the top ten states with the most locations and expansions. With 311 projects, the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metro area ranked second on the list of cities in the tier one, top ten metropolitan areas list. Illinois companies that have relocated or seen significant expansions this year include Walgreen, Nippon Sharyo, Chrysler, Woodward and LaFarge among others. Chicago maintained its #2 ranking among the metropolitan areas category for the second year in a row.

To be included in the rankings, new facilities and expansions had to meet at least one of three criteria: (1) involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, (2) create at least 50 new jobs or (3) add at least 20,000 sq. ft. (1,858 sq. m.) of new floor area.

"Illinois has the attributes that are most important to business," said Adam Pollet, acting director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. "We have a strong and diverse economy, premier logistics network, skilled workforce and an entrepreneurial spirit driven by innovation."

The Governor's Cup analyses, issued by Site Selection magazine, are regarded by corporate real estate analysts as "the industry scoreboard." Site Selection is the senior publication in the corporate real estate and economic development field and the official publication of the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC, at www.iamc.org). The magazine's circulation base consists of 44,000 executives involved in corporate site selection decisions, most at the CEO/President/COO level.

For more information on why Illinois is the right place for business, visit illinoisbiz.biz.

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Washington, D.C. - Congressman Loebsack released the following statement today after the House of Representatives left for the weekend only hours before the automatic, across the board spending cuts known as sequester go into effect.  Loebsack has been opposed to these drastic cuts since they were created by the Budget Control Act, which he voted against.  Earlier this week, he called on House leadership to keep the House in session and working until a bipartisan way to stop the cuts is reached.

"There are many things that go on in Washington that are baffling to both me and the American people. The fact that Congressional leaders and the White House have not yet sat down to discuss how to avert this self-imposed mess is only the latest.  Since the New Year, after the proverbial can was kicked down the road for two months, I called on everyone involved to come to the table and find a bipartisan solution.  But yet, we remain in the same position that got us here.  The American people deserve better and are demanding better.  These cuts will have real life effects on Iowans.  Congress should not be leaving town until a real, commonsense solution is reached."

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SPRINGFIELD - February 28, 2013. With the Governor's budget address set for next week, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon announced today that she is voluntarily requesting a 3 percent cut in her fiscal year 2014 budget. Simon, who voluntarily cut the current fiscal year's budget request by 9 percent, will achieve savings by reducing personnel and administrative costs.

"Illinoisans are doing more with less, and state leaders need to do the same," Simon said. "Over the past two years, I've cut my own pay and reduced the office budget by more than $250,000. We can all do our part to preserve funding for vital services such as education and public safety."

For the second consecutive year, Simon is reducing her office's headcount to achieve savings. She will continue to return one day of pay per month to the state and require her senior staff members to take four furlough days within the year. She is also eliminating her grant-making authority, which will save taxpayers up to $50,000 a year and brings her total cut to 5 percent in fiscal year 2014. 

Simon's office will continue to purchase equipment through Central Management Services (CMS) master contracts, which offer discounted prices on office supplies. Though constitutional offices are not required to follow CMS master contracts, Simon instituted the policy after her inauguration in 2011 to save taxpayer dollars. Printing and equipment expenses are also being reduced.

Despite cutting her office budget by 12 percent since fiscal year 2012, Simon continues to be a state leader in education and ethics reform. She recently released a report on game changing practices that will make college more affordable for students, and helped draft legislation that would create the strongest financial disclosure law for public servants in 40 years. Simon also chairs the Governor's Rural Affairs Council, key river and military base committees and advocates for domestic and sexual violence prevention. 

Lt. Governor Simon submitted the reduced fiscal year 2014 spending plan to Governor Pat Quinn in advance of his March 6 budget address. Simon is making the lowest appropriation request for the Office of the Lt. Governor since at least 1992.

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