Erin Brockovich, legal clerk, consumer advocate, and environmental activist, was a guest recently on WZOE’s “Wake Up Princeton” with Paul Bomleny.

Brockovich was instrumental in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California and her successful lawsuit was the subject of the 2000 film, Erin Brockovich, which starred Julia Roberts in the Oscar-winning title role.

Without any formal legal education, Brockovich was instrumental in building the suit against PG&E, alleging contamination of drinking water in Hinkley, California with a chemical known as chromium VI.  The $333 million became the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit.

In the years since, Brockovich has continued to serve as an anti-pollution advocate around the country, especially as a champion for clean water.

Her new book “Superman’s Not Coming” has been called the activist version of teaching a person to fish.  She tackles the environmental concerns of the planet but says no one is going to solve this for us.  It is up to us, we the people.

"Superman's Not Coming" is available at her website brockovich.com.

Today on WKEI we had the chance to talk with Ian Swindler, certified athletic trainer, at OSF Saint Luke Medical Center about the topic of concussion. Most parents assume when are discussing concussion and kids that we are talking about the dangers of Football but, indeed, all sports have different kinds of concussion causing activity. One of the worst, according to some doctors, are the ravage of soccer where constant head knocking can be numerous blows to the head.
Ian explained that the IHSA has protocols in place for kids and concussions in High School including what Ian refers to as a concussion team.

Henry and Stark County Health Department Director Duane Stephens tells WKEI he won't be surprised if Henry County ends up on the next list of counties to receive a warning from Governor Pritzker's office. According to Mr Stephens, last week Henry County's infection rate, the percentage positive tests among all COVID tests in the county, went over the 8% threshold two if not three days last week. August has seen more new infection of COVID-19 than the entirety of the previous 4 and a half months of partial shutdowns and quarantines. If the numbers continue to trend in the wrong direction, we could see the end of in restaurant dining and perhaps, schools being forced to return to an all E-Learning model. This is why the Health Department is so serious about masks. As Mr Stephens says, we can avoid these rollbacks by simply listening to the mitigation examples and taking them to heart.

State Senator Neil Anderson by Regional Media

CGH About Your Health by Regional Media

Freedom House in Princeton Making The Greatest Comeback

The Greatest Comeback continues for area businesses and organizations including Freedom House in Princeton. Freedom House is a non-profit organization that serves survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence. Freedom House provides services to adults and children in Bureau, Henry, Marshall, Putnam, and Stark Counties. In the past year, Freedom House has served over 900 victims of domestic and sexual violence – women, men, teens, and children.
Brittany Stewart of Freedom House tells WZOE that despite the coronavirus situation, Freedom House continues to provide all essential services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. She says due to the social isolation during a pandemic, the incidence of domestic violence and sexual abuse can elevate dramatically. Many more victims than usual have sought refuge at Freedom House and they expect the increased demand for their free services to continue.

Freedom House is located at 400 Elm Place in Princeton. Their 24-hour hotline is 800-474-6031 and their business line is (815) 872-0087. More information is available online at freedomhouseillinois.org and at facebook.com/freedomhouseillinois.

Rock Falls Chamber Events by Regional Media

The Mayor of Galva joined WKEI on Tuned In on Wednesday to discuss Galva's City Council Meeting on Monday night. The Mayor of Galva tells WKEI that there are potentially 8 homes in Galva where families are quarantined due to COVID-19. The number of families came out as part of a discussion of COVID-19 at Monday's meeting. The Mayor says that such quarantines are a reminder as to why people need to be vigilant about COVID-19 and to wear a mask when in public. We also talked about more than $5000.00 raised by the Galva Freedom Fest Committee for the 2021 celebration and changes potentially coming for Galva's speed limit.

Ashley Egan is the Kewanee Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists Kewanee employee of the month. Ashley is an Occupational Therapist at KPTRS and she discussed what her job as an Occupational Therapist entails and the remarkable work she does getting people back to doing the things they enjoy doing. Ashley also has a new specialty in Lymphedema. There are two types of Lymphedema each of which leads to sweilling and discomfort that though it cannot be cured, it can be managed and Ashley is eager to help. Ashley Egan is also a cancer survivor and KPTRS has given her the chance to start a cancer support group that meets weekly at Kewanee Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists.

By the time you read this, Henry County will have surpassed 400 individual cases of COVID-19 and more than 200 cases in the Month of August alone. The number might seem small compared to the population of Henry County but with each of those cases causing other cases due to proximity, the ripple effect is an increasing infection rate. Henry County has hovered around 5% of all tests returning positive for several weeks. If that percentage of tests rises, Henry County, as part of Region 2 could face penalties now being faced in Southern Illinois where the outbreak is larger and the infection rate is over 8%. The math and rationale is complicated but we broke it down well with Duane Stephens, director of the Henry and Stark County Health Department on People to People.