Jason Cregier: Kevin Haas is the managing editor of rockrivercurrent.com, and he will discuss some recent news around the Stateline. Kevin, thanks for joining us today.
Kevin Haas: Jason, thanks for having me.
A proposal has been submitted to the city of Rockford to build a data center on the city’s south side. What do we know about that?
This became news because a company has filed an application for the data center the state of Illinois, but we do not know many specifics so far.
What we do know is the company wants to position itself on 1,300 acres of land south of Chicago Rockford International Airport, but we are not sure of the exact location.
We also are not sure who the customer is, is it for Meta data? Amazon? An emerging artificial intelligence company?
Because of those factors we also do not know the answers to some concerns people may have about the data center, such as the amount of energy used and the amount of water it will consume.
Is uncertainty the main talking point for the community?
Absolutely. People have seen what has happened with data centers in other parts of the U.S. Utility bills have skyrocketed, water aquifer resources have been exhausted, people are concerned about that happening in Rockford too.
City officials will tell you they share the same concerns, but they also are asking the public for patience. The city also touts possible economic benefits of what may be the largest monetary investment in Rockfords history.
That said, the public is pushing to make sure that whatever happens, it is done responsibly.
In other news, the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office recently released a year’s worth of crime statistics. What stands out from that data?
Before State’s Attorney J. Hanley was elected, the county had never really tracked data in this way. It is also extremely complicated to determine what is successful from a courtroom. Convictions and guilty pleas have many factors in play to determine if you did the right thing as a prosecutor.
After being elected, J. Hanley pledged to share some of these data points with the public as an act of transparency. We learned that seven of the nine murder cases the state’s attorney’s office took to trial ended in guilty verdicts.
Hanley would like to see that number be 100 percent, but before he took office almost half of murder trials in Winnebago County end in a not guilty verdict.
Let us talk about fun news now. St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and this weekend is the 50th edition of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Rockford. Are you hearing about anything special being planned to celebrate the milestone?
It is hard to believe it has been five decades since this parade began. The parade will be on Saturday through downtown Rockford with its normal parade route. The big celebration will take place after the parade at Prairie Street Brewing Co. Paddyfest has been run by the Irish Marching Society for five decades.
Kevin, thanks for joining us today.
Thank you.
