Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 1

4 Rare pair LocaUygrown State agencies will have to buy food from IllinoisCl Girls thought to be only twins with skin conditionDl 1 Y.t WWW.HERALD-REVIEW.COM 4 Ml -i III I 3 re Iv-flifc WEDNESDAY 1 1D 1 i Every turn adds to cost of project By CHRIS LUSVARW Staff Writer OREANA After gathering input on where to build a new high voltage transmission line north of Decatur, AmerenIP revealed Tuesday its preferred route for the project. The company wants to connect a second line from the east-west running Clinton to Latham line eight miles north of Decatur to a substation near Qreana. The substation at Cundiff Road and Illinois 48 helps to supply power to the Decatur area, and a second line is seen as a way to necting line is typically the most that is run through a line, Morris said. The company next must submit a petition to the Illinois Commerce Commission to get the go-ahead for the plan. Before they do so, they've sought input from interested parties in an effort to create the best route.

P0WERA2 miuiii j. jmt0! Herald Review photosKelly J. Huff Block's Brewery waiter Steve Belmont delivers lunch to Brenda Baker and Becky Barnett. The national economy may be hurting, but area restaurants are still seeing a steady stream of diners. what AUGUST 19, 2009 Novak dies at 78 Political columnist Robert Novak, a conservative, pugilistic debater and proud owner of the "Prince of Darkness" moniker, died Tuesday after Li a battle with brain cancer that was diagnosed in July 2008.

He was 78. Nation D4 End-of-fifecare As a political uproar rages over end-of-life counseling, a new study finds offering such care to dying cancer patients improves their mood and quality of life Nation A6 'Body by Lou' Showing off the latest "Body by Lou," senior Daniel Dufrene has arms bulging and waist -I trim, the result of months in coach Lou Hernandez's weight room and days of sweat and toil on the lllini practice field. Sports B1 More students Enrollment is up by 20 percent at Richland Community College. The increased enrollment and the resulting tuition money is helping Richland weather the state's late payments. Local A3 Lake Decatur level watch Normal winter pool level 612.5 Normal summer pool level .614.4 Yesterday's level 614.24 YOUR WEATHER HIGH LOW Today: Mostly cloudy T-storm Tonight Couple of strong T-storms DetailsB8 ESDEX Classifieds C3-6 Comics.

D5 Dear Abby D2 Horoscopes D5 Life D1-8 Money C1 Obituaries D3 Opinion A5 Puzzles Sports B1-7 Television D6 '02138 "00001 75 cents Our 137th year Issue 231 Four sections Delivery: 421-6990 Newsroom: 421-6979 Outside Decatur 1-800-437-2533 protect against major power outages in the' event of catastrophe or periods of high electrical usage. "It's required to support Decatur during peak conditions," Ameren Corp. spokesman Leigh Morris said. "Decatur is growing, and people are out there getting more electrical devices. Because of that, demand continues to go up." The voltage of the proposed con citys coffers steady customers' food orders in Block's Brewery as much as expected.

"I think they've all done fine," Neufeld said. "Sales tax is down everywhere in the country right now, but the telecommunications tax is holding its own, the utilities tax is holding its own, and the food and beverage tax is holding its own." RESTAURANTSA2 chances are you Dickens, a spokeswoman for the bureau, said Tuesday. The researchers didn't look at the same number of bank notes from each city. In all, they analyzed money from 30 places in five countries the United States, Canada, Brazil, China and Japan. The bits of cocaine on most bills so small that consumers shouldn't have health or legal concerns over handling paper money, Zuo said.

Some drug amounts ranged from several thousand times smaller than a grain of sand to about 50 grains of sand. Money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals or ST3? Prison pays bill to avoid power shutoff Centralia facility was $284,000 late By KURT ERICKSON Springfield Bureau Chief SPRINGFIELD State officials scrambled Tuesday to keep 1,500 inmates at a Southern Illinois prison from being left in the dark. Although the Illinois Department of Corrections said no formal cutoff notice was sent, there apparently was concern about the state's failure to pay the electric bill at Centralia Correctional Center. An estimated $284,000 is owed to the Clinton County Electrical Cooperative dating to April. On Tuesday, the Illinois Comptroller's Office, which pays the state's bills, received a request from prison officials to expedite payment of the bill to avert a shutoff, spokeswoman Carol Knowles said.

The comptroller's office processed the payment later in the day. "Keeping utilities running is of vital importance," Knowles said. It's not the first time a prison has been in arrears on a local utility bill. In recent years, some local communities have complained the backlog of unpaid state bills has left them unable to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars for water service to prisons. The current backlog stands at about $3 billion.

The comptroller is still paying bills owed to vendors dating to February. But, in some cases, such as the threat of a utility cutoff, the comptroller can juggle cash to address potential emergencies. "We're trying our best to try and take care of those as quickly as possible," Knowles said. Ralph Kuhl, manager of administrative services for Clinton County Electrical Cooperative, said the utility doesn't discuss customer accounts. "I don't want to comment on it," Kuhl said.

A prison spokeswoman said the agency is trying to make sure electricity isn't cut off in the future. "We hope to work with the electric company to avoid such an action," Januari Smith said. kurt.ericksonlee.net789-0865 have cocaine, too when users snort the substance through rolled bills. It can then spread to other cash when banks process the money. Zuo said his research shows an increase in contaminated U.S.

cash. In a similar study two years ago, he found that 67 percent of bills had traces of cocaine. Of the 27 bills analyzed from Canada, 85 percent had traces of cocaine. Eight of the 10 bank notes from Brazil were contaminated. Only a few of the 16 bills from Japan had the substance, and a little more than 20 of the 112 bank notes from China had bits of cocaine.

STILL EATING OUT remain busy, keeping Jayson Albright and Josh Hudson prepare kitchen. "One of the few things you can enjoy when things are bad is to go out and eat," she said. It helps to reinforce what city Finance Director Ron Neufeld said at a recent city council meeting. Despite state taxes that are being paid to the city late and a decline in sales tax, a group of local taxes instituted a few years ago were still bringing in about cash in your pocket, most had tiny amounts of cocaine. Yuegang Zuo, a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, led the study.

The findings were presented Sunday at the American Chemical Society's fall meeting in Washington. Except for Washington, Zuo said he and his colleagues examined a range of denominations, from $1 to $100. The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which makes the country's paper currency, said nothing in the process would taint the paper with the drug. "When it leaves here, it does not have any cocaine in it," Claudia recession? was Area restaurants By KENNETH LOWE Staff Writer DECATUR If the recession is causing people to reconsider going out to eat, it isn't apparent everywhere.

Bunny Lucas manages Coney Mc-Kane's on Prairie Avenue, a restaurant she said is seeing higher numbers than it did last year. Lucas' sister, Lea Stukins, who owns Coney McKane's and Block's Brewery, said numbers go up and down throughout the year, making the recession's effect hard to gauge. "Things are always up and down," Stukins said. "I would say it hasn't dropped off. I think because Decatur in general never really rode the wave of the high prices that we also don't feel the slumps." Lucas said she doesn't believe the economy has kept people at home in front of the stove, but she has noticed it affecting some people's habits when they visit her restaurant.

"People are eating healthier, drinking a little more water, ordering a few more salads, maybe a little wiser in what they buy," she said. One reason Decatur residents still might be eating out is that it's a comfort during otherwise trying times, Lucas said. If you have a little 90 percent of U.S. bills have traces of drug WASHINGTON (AP) Chances are there's cocaine in your wallet. Researchers looked at 234 bank notes from 17 cities in the United States and found that 90 percent had small traces of the illegal drug.

Bills from larger cities, such as Baltimore, Boston and Detroit, were among those with the highest average cocaine levels. Salt Lake City had the lowest. Scientists analyzed only $1 bills from Washington and found that.