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| Quinn Reacts to New Area Job Losses |
Governor Pat Quinn was in a nearby community Thursday to help open a display of portraits of fallen Illinois soldiers, but he says not far back in his mind was news that the community was hit hard with earlier in the week.
Quinn was in Kewanee to commemorate the traveling "Portrait of a Fallen Soldier" exhibit making its way there, which now includes the portrait of Sergeant Schuyler Patch of Galva, who died in February.
But Quinn says he was "disappointed" to hear that Chicago-based Great Dane Trailers was laying off about 160 employees of its Kewanee plant January eighth unless sales of its semi truck trailers picked up.
Quinn tells WGIL's Will Stevenson the job losses again signal the need for the recently-passed capital construction bill.
"My job is to try and use public works to get people back to work," Quinn said. "This year, coming up, we're going to have the biggest highway construction season of all time. We've gotta fix roads and bridges. We're gonna do a lot with our rail system, investing money to put people to work. Same way with water, improving our water systems, also building new school and repairing old schools."
Quinn was asked about reports the not all the financing is in place to pay for the capital bill.
He said while it's a six-year plan, it's being, in his words, "front-loaded" so that as much work can be done now, while the need is the greatest.
(Governor Pat Quinn and State Rep. Don Moffitt meet with several families Thursday at the Kewanee American Legion. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 11 13 09 by Newsroom |
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