Walgreens Adds 500 Jobs, Spurs Economic Growth in Northern Illinois

DEERFIELD - August 3, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn and Walgreens today announced the "Invest Illinois Initiative," an agreement that calls for the nation's largest drug store chain to create 500 jobs over three years and invest $75 million to expand and renovate more than two dozen corporate offices spread throughout metropolitan Chicago. Walgreens currently employs more than 5,000 workers at its Deerfield headquarters and surrounding offices. Governor Quinn has made economic growth and job creation his top priority.

"Walgreens has deep roots in Illinois and is an important part of the region's flourishing health care hub," Governor Quinn said. "This expansion will create good paying jobs, attract additional investment to the area and help fuel our economic recovery."

The new jobs will focus heavily on supporting Walgreens' growing online business and its expanding pharmacy, health and wellness services. The new jobs are corporate positions and don't include the additional store-level positions the company anticipates creating in the same time period.

Walgreens' corporate workforce is currently housed in 27 different office buildings in Deerfield, Northbrook, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Bannockburn, Mt. Prospect, Northlake and Chicago. The company's investment will be used to retrofit disparate offices and make it easier for workers to travel between buildings.

Walgreens opened its first downtown Chicago office at the historic Sullivan Center in 2010 where it houses its e-commerce staff. It opened its first store on Chicago's South Side in 1901. The company has been based in Deerfield since 1975.

"We are proud of our Illinois heritage," said Greg Wasson, Walgreens president and CEO. "Just as our stores and pharmacies are health and daily living anchors for the communities we serve, we as a company are now recommitted to serving as an economic anchor for northeastern Illinois. A state and workforce that has served us so well for more than a century will now see our footprint grow even larger."

Under Governor Quinn's leadership, the state of Illinois has worked diligently to identify companies with the potential to bring jobs and economic growth to Illinois.  Illinois has added 140,700 private sector jobs since January 2010, when job growth returned to the state following a two-year period of declines during the recession.

Under the terms of the agreement, Walgreens will also be eligible for tax credits tied to retaining 1,500 existing jobs. The state's targeted investment package, estimated at $47 million, includes Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credits, which are based on jobs and distributed over a period of 10 years; tax credits under the High Impact Business (HIB) Program which supports companies that propose substantial capital investments in operations; and training grants through the Employer Training Investment Program (ETIP). The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will administer the package.

Walgreens operates 592 drugstores in Illinois. Last year it announced plans to quadruple the number of Chicago stores offering healthy food selections to urban communities identified as food deserts. Walgreens had fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion and serves nearly 6 million customers a day. It operates 7,907 drugstores in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations nationwide.

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

Television PSAs, Homeowner Help Website, New Mortgage Assistance Guide Launched to Educate Homeowners about Resources Available to them through Historic Mortgage Servicing Settlement

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced today the launch of the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement's first public service announcement (PSA) television ad titled "Homeowner Help."  The PSA, which can be viewed at www.hud.gov and www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com, is designed to educate homeowners about the resources available to them through the mortgage servicing settlement.

The "Homeowner Help" PSA, amplified through three key components - 30 second television and radio spots, customized for both national and local media markets, a HUD Homeowner Help website and a new Mortgage Assistance Guide - is aimed at educating homeowners about the various options and opportunities they can seek for assistance to find out if they are eligible to benefit from the settlement.

"The National Mortgage Servicing Settlement represents the single largest-scale principal reduction effort we've seen since this housing crisis began and the PSAs and online tools announced today will create an extended opportunity for homeowners, across the country, to gain  access to information, options and opportunities that could help to keep them in their homes," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Already the servicing settlement is helping homeowners and making a difference, and our goal is to ensure every eligible family is aware of the help it provides."

In addition to being televised, "Homeowner Help" will also be broadcast in both English and Spanish language radio formats for national and localized markets. The launch of the national PSA and new online tools will remind people who are in mortgage trouble, to call the their servicer, Homeowner's HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE or visit the national settlement website at NationalMortgageSettlement.com to seek out available help.

"If we learned anything from the housing crisis, it is that that there is no one solution," said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. "We want homeowners to know the possibilities that they have with this settlement. PSAs are already running in Iowa and we're hopeful that information shared helps people in a substantial way."

In April, a Federal District Court approved the landmark $25 billion agreement between the Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 49 state attorneys general and the nation's five largest mortgage servicers - Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo - to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. The settlement will provide up to $25 billion in relief to borrowers and direct payments to the states and federal government and it is the largest multi-state settlement since the Tobacco Settlement in 1998.

To view the new PSA "Homeowner Help," click HERE:

Script (.30):

Announcer:     Are you a homeowner who's facing mortgage trouble?

A government settlement with the nation's biggest mortgage servicers provides help and hope for many people fighting to save their homes from foreclosure.

If you're behind on your home loan, call your mortgage servicer–that's who handles your mortgage.

See if this settlement affects you and if maybe there's other help available.

Contact your state attorney general, click on NationalMortgageSettlement.com, or call the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and  transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on Twitter @HUDnews, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Senator Chuck Grassley issued the following comment about the two amendments he filed to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012.  The Finance Committee is expected to mark up the proposal this week.

Grassley comment:

"It's not right to single out one energy incentive over others before a broader tax reform debate.  I've filed two amendments.  One is a straight two-year extension of the wind credit, like the legislation I introduced earlier this year.  The other is a one-year extension with necessary provisions so that wind-energy producers can, in fact, take advantage of an extension that's for only one year.  An extension needs to be effective.  I'm working with Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Hatch, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Bingaman, and it's my understanding there's support from the committee leaders to include wind energy when the committee meets to take action."

Description of the Grassley amendments:

Grassley Amendment #1 to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012

Short Title:  Wind Production Tax Credit Extension

Description of Amendment:  Extend for two years, through December 31, 2014, the section 45 production tax credit for wind which expires on December 31, 2012.

Grassley Amendment #2 to The Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012

Short Title:  Wind Production Tax Credit Extension

Description of Amendment:  Extend for one year, through December 31, 2013, the section 45 production tax credit for wind which expires on December 31, 2012.  Modify placed-in-service date for wind to a "begin construction" rule.

Background information:

Senator Grassley authored the legislation that created the wind-energy production tax credit in 1992 as a way to provide a level playing field for this renewable resource against coal-fired and nuclear energy and to help grow an innovative energy industry.  He has won passage of extensions a number of times.  The credit has been a tremendous success in helping to develop clean, renewable and domestically produced wind energy.

As this point, wind-energy production supports 75,000 American jobs and drives as much as $20 billion in private investment.  During the last five years, 35 percent of all new electric generation in the United States was wind.  There are nearly 400 wind-related manufacturing facilities in the United States today, compared with just 30 in 2004.

Conventional energy sources, including oil, gas and nuclear, enjoy countless tax incentives and many of them are permanent law.

New law makes Illinois one of the first states to prevent employers from demanding social network passwords

CHICAGO - August 1, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today signed a new law protecting current and prospective employees' right to privacy in the fast-growing world of social media. House Bill 3782 makes it illegal for an employer to request an employee's or job candidate's social network account information, such as username or password, in order to gain access to their account or profile. Illinois is the second state to enact such a law.

"Members of the workforce should not be punished for information their employers don't legally have the right to have," Governor Quinn said. "As use of social media continues to expand, this new law will protect workers and their right to personal privacy."

Sponsored by Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), HB 3782 prevents employers from screening potential job candidates or reprimanding current employees based on information from their social network accounts that would otherwise be private. The new law protects workers' privacy and their choice to make certain information from their social network accounts private.

"Employers certainly aren't allowed to ask for the keys to an employee's home to nose around there, and I believe that same expectation of personal privacy and personal space should be extended to a social networking account," said Leader Radogno, who pointed out employers are not allowed to ask employees or job applicants about age, sex, race, or sexual orientation?all information that could be easily gleaned from a social networking site. "This law will not only protect employees' reasonable rights to privacy on the Web, but will shield employers from unexpected legal action."

The law's definition of social networking sites does not include email, and it does not prevent employers from obtaining information in the public domain about current or prospective employees.

"Social networking accounts are places where we document the personal and private aspects of our lives, and employers have realized they can get answers to questions they are already prohibited from asking by gaining unfettered access to our accounts," Ford said. "This legislation may protect employers from future lawsuits as much as it protects employees and jobseekers."

The law is effective Jan. 1.

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