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Presented by the Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Statesmanship Award
Good Tuesday morning, Illinois. Another bit of normalcy: Chicago public health Commissioner Allison Arwady told aldermen Monday she expects block parties will return this summer.
TOP TALKER
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker put the James R. Thompson Center up for sale May 3, 3021, announcing a request for proposals on purchasing the state government building. | Getty Image
8 Thirty-three West Virginia National Guardsmen, Defense Information Systems Agency employees, Illinois National Guardsmen, and West Virginia University students partnered with Polish allies to compete in the world’s largest international cyber defense exercise run virtually by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia the week of April 12-16th.
Locked Shields is a unique cyber defense exercise, offering the most complex technical live-fire challenge in the world, with more than 1,200 experts from nearly 30 nations participating.
There were 22 friendly defense Blue Teams competing in Locked Shields to defend a fictional country. The Blue Team that the West Virginia National Guard – Defense Information Systems Agency Mission Assurance – Cyber members were a part of was a joint team led by Poland, and included additional National Guard members supporting the event both in the exercise and real-world capacities.
Over Half Illinois Residents Over 16 Have Now Been Vaccinated patch.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from patch.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
10 SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – The Illinois Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion is reaching beyond lunchroom displays and promotional items, and becoming part of the educational process in Illinois high schools and colleges.
“It is a mutual benefit between the learning institution and Illinois National Guard recruiting,” said Sgt. Maj. Chad McDannald of Franklin Illinois, the battalion’s operations sergeant major. “We have specific presentations that teach students about leadership, how to plan and obtain goals, financial planning classes and how the Guard can benefit them in all those areas.”
They also will bring in military equipment and teach the students about the equipment, allowing them to put hands on some equipment they may have only seen in photos or on film before.
9 On an overcast day in late March, the hard thump of rotor blades beating down the air accompanied by the high-pitched whine of twin Lycoming turboshaft engines accompanied the normal din at the Peoria International Airport in Peoria, Illinois. It was the unmistakable sound of two CH-47 Chinook helicopters on approach to the Army Aviation Support Facility across the tarmac from the airport.
As the two helicopters made their way to the ground and taxied back to the facility, a fire engine waited on the ramp, ready to douse the lead Chinook with a deluge from its water cannon. As the blades ceased their rotation and the engines wound down, a smiling Jason Rassi, chief warrant officer 4 and Chinook pilot with B Co. 2nd Battalion, 238th Aviation Regiment, could be seen from his side window. This was Jason’s “fini flight,” a time-honored tradition among aviators taking their final flight before retirement.