Tagged: Birds Point Levee

New Illinois laws aim to protect elderly

New laws signed by Gov. Pat Quinn this weekend are aimed at protecting the elderly in Illinois by increasing oversight of caregivers and making it easier for authorities to respond to cases of abuse or neglect.

One of the new pieces of legislation allows prosecutors to ask a court to freeze a suspect's assets if he is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person. That's meant to keep a defendant from spending stolen money before restitution is collected.

Jacob McCleland of KRCU reported for this story.

The Army Corps of Engineers will restore the Birds Point-New Madrid levee to its original height by the end of the year. The Mississippi River Commission made the decision last week, according to Army Corps spokesperson Jim Pogue.

“Our level of confidence in our ability to finish this work this year is real high," Pogue said. "We’ve had good weather, good river stages and assuming that the contractor continues to make good progress and our other work in the confluence area goes well, we’ll be right on track.”

Reporting from KRCU’s Jacob McCleland.

Construction at the Birds Point-New Madrid Levee has come to a halt - a contractor protested the Army Corps of Engineers' bid process.

A&M Engineering and Environmental Services, from Tulsa, Oklahoma challenged the Corps’ decision to award the $2.4 million contract to rebuild the upper crevasse to Young’s General Contracting, from Poplar Bluff.
Corps spokesperson Jim Pogue says the Corps must now go through a thorough review process.