January News Briefs
On Tuesday, December 30, 2008, Governor Blagojevich dropped a bombshell by announcing Roland Burris as his pick to replace President Barack Obama in the United States Senate. Many felt Blagojevich should hd never made the appointment given the fact that he was already accused of trying to earlier sell Obama’s senate seat. Although Burris was innocent from the matter, many felt that he should not be seated because it was Blagojevich who had picked him. A majority of the people felt that Illinois lawmakers should have called a special election to vote the new Senator, but Blagojevich beat them to the punch. Legally, it was still his selection, but many felt this was still Blagojevich acting in defiance to the charges against him.
Burris insisted he had done nothing wrong and was in no way connected to the governor. “I am not a tool of the governor. I’m a tool of the people of Illinois.” Despite his claims, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and Illinois senator Dick Durbin both insisted that Burris would not be seated. On January 6, Burris was prevented from entering the US Capitol by the sergeant-at-arms. When he talked to reporters Burris explained, “My name is Roland Burris, the junior senator from Illinois. I was advised that my credentials were not in order.”
Eventually, after an Illinois Supreme Court hearing, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White signed off that Burris would be the Senate appointment. With his “credentials” now intact, Burris was sworn in on January 15, 2009, becoming the only African-American in the US Senate.
Recently, many northern Illinois students experienced an unexpected five-day weekend thanks to some bone-chilling temperatures. A cold front came crashing through during the night of January 14 and students awoke the next morning amidst news that schools were closed due to 10 below temperatures with 30 below windchills. However, it got even colder. Schools were cancelled once again on that Friday. Low readings included an actual temperature of 29 below in Aurora and 36 below out west in Rochelle. That reading in Rochelle tied a state record for lowest temperature ever recorded.
In the early part of the afternoon of Thursday, January 15, a US Airways airplane took off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte. About 90 seconds after takeoff, the plane hit a flock of geese which got caught in an engine. The engine blew and pilot Chelsey “Sulley” Sullenberger, a former Navy pilot, had to make a split second decision on where to land. He could have tried to land back at LaGuardia but ran a high risk of not making it and crashing into a highly residential area, creating catastrophic results. So Sulley opted instead to make a water landing on the Hudson River. Incredibly, all 155 people on board survived with only one injury reported. The passangers stood on the planes wings untill ferries came and rescued them. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg had a ceremony for all those involved in the rescue. Sulley, himself, was honored in his hometown, saying, “Circumstance determined that it was this experienced crew that was scheduled to fly that particular flight on that particular day.”
