Metro-East Area News Briefs

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Madison County’s Lakeview Commerce Center
(Photo courtesy of Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois)

Madison County becoming national logistics center

Madison County is becoming a national warehousing and logistics center, according to a study released this month by the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois. Combined, the county’s three major warehousing and distribution centers — Gateway Commerce Center, Lakeview Commerce Park, and the Northgate Industrial Park —have an annual economic impact of over $1.3 billion in Madison County. Together, the three logistic centers generate around 10,000 jobs and almost $445 million in wages, according to the report.

Nearly 4 percent of all employment in Madison County is now related to the warehousing and storage industry, which is 5.4 times more than the national level, the report adds.

Employment in those industries has increased six-fold since 2001 in Madison County; with the total wages paid to warehousing and logistics employees in the county similarly increasing seven-fold.

Annually, the Madison County distribution centers produce around $50 million state and local tax revenue. The collective property tax alone is about $6 million a year, with an additional $44 million paid to the State of Illinois, the county, and local taxing bodies in income sales, corporate, payroll and property taxes.

“I think that when people drive by the (Edwardsville area) commerce centers all they see are buildings. People would be surprised at the large number of people employed locally in the logistics and warehousing industry, and its tremendous impact on the economy of Madison County,” said John Navin, Dean and Professor of Economics at Ohio Northern University, a co-author of the report.

Between 2012 and 2045, multimodal freight activity across the Greater St. Louis area is projected to increase by 74 percent.

Three Democrats eye 12th District seat

Three Southwest Illinois Democrats — a small businessman, a military veteran who works with Syrian refugees, and the co-founder of St. Louis’ unique City Museum — are vying for the opportunity to take back for their party, the 12th Congressional District currently held by nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphyboro).

Nathan C. Colombo of Carbondale is a 2014 graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and speech communication, and the founder of Brand Advocacy Group, Inc., which provides digital media services for small businesses. Colombo filed his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission earlier this year. Colombo has previously worked as a digital sales specialist for KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, MO, and was a co-owner of Vape, Inc. in Carbondale.

David Bequette, 37, of Columbia, was in Armenia, helping Syrian refugees build small businesses, when he announced his candidacy in May.  He is a graduate of Columbia High School, who attended Missouri Baptist College joining the U.S. Marine Corps and later graduating from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He says he has worked as a government contractor, built three business, lectured in marketing and leadership, and created two non-profit organizations.

Democrat Dean Pruitt, 64, of rural Millstadt, 64, is the co-founder, builder, and science director of the St. Louis’ City Museum – a multistory gallery of local history and pop culture, best known for the full-size school bus on its roof.  Before joining the City Museum, Pruitt was a commercial liaison to the Russian Academy of Sciences, living in there after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He is a mathematician, small business owner, environmental scientist, machinist and farmer. He was a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

District 12, covers parts of 12 counties, extending from just north of Alton to just south of Carbondale. Democrats have traditionally had a virtual lock on the district.

The 12th District Seat was held for 25 years by Democrat Jerry Costello, of Belleville, who retired in 2013. Democrat Bill Enyart of Belleville represented the district from 2013-15.

Rep. Bost defeated Enyart in the 2014 general election.

Before being elected to Congress, Bost served for two decades in the Illinois House of Representatives.

New Dupo police chief named

Kevin Smith has been named the new chief of the Dupo Police Department. Smith’s appointment to the post was unanimously approved by the Dupo Village Board following an executive session June 5. Smith has been serving as the village’s interim chief since May 18.  Previous Police Chief Doug Keys retired on that date after 31 years with the department.

Smith, a Dupo High School graduate, joined the Dupo Police Department as a patrolman in 2006.  He was promoted to sergeant in 2012.

The new St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon is slated to open in November. (Photo courtesy of St. Elizabeth Hospital)

Hospital funds gets $2.5 million anonymous donation

The HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Foundation has received an anonymous $2.5 million donation to support construction of the new St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’ Fallon, according to a June 8 foundation press release.

The donation pushes fundraising for the foundation’s St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Capital Campaign past the $6 million mark, according to the announcement. Foundation officials had previously announced they hoped to raise at least $4.7 million. This month’s announcement describes the new $2.5 contribution as a “capstone” for the fundraising effort.

The capital fund supports development of St. Elizabeth’s new 144-bed hospital off I-55 in O’Fallon, as well as improvements to the hospital system’s existing facility in Belleville.

This gift — unprecedented in the foundation’s history — was dedicated “exclusively to the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Replacement Project” and made “in honor of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis who have served at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital” since 1975, according to the announcement.

The new St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon is slated to open in November.

“Duck Pluckers” raise $100,000 for ambulance

The ninth annual Duck Pluckers, Deer Skinners & Fish Hookers Ball, June 3 at Nilo Farms in Brighton, raised a record $100,343 to purchase a new ambulance for Alton Memorial Hospital. To date, the annual event has raised more than $700,000 for ambulances; each identified by camouflage patterns on the rear doors.

 

–Metro-East Area News Briefs–