Will County News

According to a New York Times interactive map published today, food stamp utilization in Will County has increased 45% since 2007.  The map can be viewed here  , move your mouse over Will County to see the county's food stamp statistics.  According to the map, Will County's food stamp statistics include: Percentage on food stamps: All people: 7% Children: 12% Whites: 3% Blacks: 21%

NETWORK TO MEET The Will County Environmental Network will meet at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, November 12  at Laraway School in Joliet. The regular meeting was moved to Thursday because of the Veteran’s Day holiday. Important agenda items include an update on the Network’s Roundtable Special Report that is being distributed and continued development of the electronic roundtable. A copy is available at t his link  . Other key agenda items include updates on Vulcan Material’s proposed expansion of quarrying, expanding to the west on acreage that stretches to the west and Brandon Road. Everyone interested in working to protect & defend the environment is invited to attend this meeting.

The  Midewin National Tallgrass Prairi e, located between  Elwood  and  Wilmington ,  was created by federal legislation  transferring Joliet Army Ammunition Plant land to the Forest Service in order to create Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. The Joliet Arsenal Ammunition Plant was created when the Federal Government told landowners living in the Arsenal's footprint their land would be sold to the government in order to create the ammunition plant that would produce bombs for the Allied effort. This 1909 Map of Florence Township documents the farms and schools that were eventually sold to the Federal Government for the purpose of creating the Joliet Arsenal. These newspaper clippings from 1941 record how much farmers were paid by the government for their land. I recently had the opportunity to interview a man whose family's Florence Township-farm was sold to the government for the Arsenal.  He remembers his family was told they had 30 days to leave.  He rememb