Naperville News Digest: Artists sought for Water Street Fine Art & Fine Craft Fair; College of DuPage launches free workforce training program
Artists sought for Water Street Fine Art and Fine Craft Fair
Local artists are being sought for the 2nd annual Water Street Fine Art & Fine Craft Fair, which is to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 13, along Water and Webster streets in downtown Naperville.
The juried art exhibition and sale is open to artists in the suburban Chicago area who specialize in painting, drawing, sculpture, jewelry, photography, pottery, glass, wood and other art forms.
The show also features children's activities and live jazz by the Pete Ellman Trio.
Artists interested in participating can apply through May 16. A jury will select between 30 to 35 artists to be part of the event.
The fair is sponsored by Water Street Naperville and Marquette Cos. One 'best of show' winner will be awarded a $250 prize and an invitation to return. Up to four 'honorable mention' awards also will be presented.
For an application, go to the art fair section at www.waterstreetnaperville.com.
College of DuPage launches free workforce training program
The College of DuPage has launched a free workforce training program to prepare students for jobs in clean energy.
The program is supported by a $3.1 million grant from the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act to benefit the Aurora Workforce Hub, one of 13 hubs across Illinois that provides free training, certification preparation and skill development for entry level positions in clean energy industries, a news release said.
It is designed to help those from environmental justice communities, displaced energy workers and others facing general employment barriers find careers in clean energy businesses while helping the environment, the release said.
The Aurora Workforce Hub offers an initial training that provides 176 hours of skills-based education.
Training is provided by the College of DuPage with partners from the Quad County Urban League. Several communities colleges including Waubonsee, Harper, Elgin, Triton and Kishwaukee have contributed to the Workforce Hub's launch, the release said.
After completing the initial training, students can transition into work-based learning or pursue specialized training in clean energy fields, the release said.
Knox Presbyterian Church Hosting Art Exhibit
A Lenten art exhibit featuring the works of the Rev. Shawna Bowman is being presented from Monday, April 14, to Friday, April 18, at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 1105 Catalpa Lane, Naperville.
Bowman, an artist and pastor at Friendship Presbyterian Church in Chicago, will display a series of works that provide an opportunity to walk through the final events of Christ's life and resurrection.
'This body of work is meant for us to explore the ways power is not only misused and abused in our current systems and realities but also point us to the promise that evil and death never have the final word. This is why there is also an Easter Station included in this series,' according to a description of the artwork.
The free exhibit is open to the public and can be found in the church's main sanctuary. Viewing times are 1 to 8 p.m. April 14-17 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 18.
The self-guided experience also includes a brochure that will describe the art work and provide questions for reflection, organizers said.
This is the second year Knox Presbyterian Church has offered the Lenten art experience. Its event last year featured artists who were members of the church.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
6 takeaways from Michelle Bowman's first speech as Fed vice chair
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. Michelle Bowman is a veteran of the Federal Reserve. But the ink on her newest role – the Fed's vice chair for supervision – is still drying. Following her confirmation, she spoke Friday at Georgetown University in her first appearance as the central bank's top cop. Here are six takeaways from her remarks. 1. The Fed's job is not to take the risk out of banking entirely. Banking is not and cannot be devoid of risk, and to drive out such risk 'is at odds with the fundamental nature of the business of banking,' Bowman said. 'Banks must be able to earn a profit and grow while also managing their risks.' 'Adding requirements that impose more costs must be balanced with whether the new requirements make the correct tradeoffs between safety and soundness and enabling banks to serve their customers and run their businesses,' she said. Rather than eliminating risk from the banking system, regulators must be tasked with ensuring banks manage risk effectively, Bowman said. 2. ...or make sure banks don't fail. 'Our goal should not be to prevent banks from failing or even eliminate the risk that they will,' Bowman said. 'Our goal should be to make banks safe to fail, meaning that they can be allowed to fail without threatening to destabilize the rest of the banking system.' 3. Enhancing supervision doesn't necessarily mean more rules; it means tailored rules. 'Supervision focused on material financial risks that threaten a bank's safety and soundness is inherently more effective and efficient,' Bowman said. 'We should be cautious about the temptation to overemphasize or become distracted by relatively less important procedural and documentation shortcomings.' The uniqueness of each bank, in business model and complexity, means that risks are not uniform. In the past, Bowman said, rules meant to enhance safety at the biggest banks have also been unfairly applied to smaller banks. She suggested creating a framework instead for those smaller community banks, which would insulate them from the standards designed for bigger, more complex institutions. 'While I have no objection to a deliberate, intentional policy to apply similar standards to firms with similar characteristics as conditions warrant, the gradual erosion of distinct regulatory and supervisory standards among firms with very different characteristics — essentially the subtle reversal of tailoring over time — is not a reasonable approach for implementing supervision and regulation,' Bowman said. 4. The Fed needs to reconsider some rules it has imposed on banks since the 2007-08 financial crisis. Since Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act almost 15 years ago, rules banks must follow have 'increased dramatically,' Bowman said. And while many were important, a number of these reforms were 'backward looking — responding only to that mortgage crisis — not fully considering the potential future unintended consequences or future states of the world.' Some changes had unintended consequences, she noted, like pushing banking activities into 'less regulated corners of the financial system.' Moving forward, the Fed needs to evaluate these rules on the banking system today, rather than that of the financial crisis-era. Meanwhile, other regulations, some of which haven't been updated in more than two decades, need to be. 'Given the dynamic nature of the banking system and how the economy and banking and financial services industries have evolved over that period, we should update and simplify many of the Board's regulations, including thresholds for applicability and benchmarks,' Bowman said. 5. Ratings need a revamp. Supervisory changes have 'eroded the link between ratings and financial condition,' Bowman said, noting that two-thirds of the nation's biggest financial institutions were rated unsatisfactory in the first half of last year. Yet the majority of these institutions met all supervisory expectations for both capital and liquidity, and they're all still operating. 'This odd mismatch between financial condition and supervisory ratings requires careful review and appropriate revisions to our current approach. Under the current large bank ratings framework, a single component rating can result in a firm being considered not 'well-managed,' which has driven the disparity between well-managed status and financial condition,' she said. The Fed plans to address this mismatch by proposing changes to the Large Financial Institution ratings framework, she said. The changes will be geared toward creating 'a more sensible approach' to determining if a bank is well-managed, and won't disproportionately weigh a single framework component 'for a firm that has demonstrated resilience under a range of conditions and stresses,' she said. 6. Processing delays have not been kind to bank applications, including for M&A. Applications for regulatory approval, such as seeking a de novo charter or approval to merge, need transparency and clear timelines for action, she said. Processing delays must spur a rethinking, Bowman said, of 'whether many of the additional requests for information can be addressed through better application forms or relying on information that is available from bank examinations.' Recommended Reading Bowman nod for Fed supervision czar advances to full Senate Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
IDOL recovers unpaid wages for workers on Saline County solar project
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) has recovered over $85,000 in unpaid wages. The IDOL has recovered these unpaid wages for 17 workers that were employed on a construction project in Saline County. IDOL also recovered more than $17,000 in penalties from D&D Electric, LLC (D&D). Eggs sold at Walmart, other grocers in 9 states recalled amid salmonella outbreak 'Illinois law requires that employees on publicly funded projects be paid a fair wage for their skilled work,' said Illinois Department of Labor Director Jane Flanagan. 'Making these workers whole reflects IDOL's commitment to enforcing the Prevailing Wage Act and holding employers accountable when they violate workers' rights.' IDOL says it began its investigation of the Harrisburg, Illinois-based contractor in 2024 for its work on a solar panel installation. The department says it determined D&D violated the State's Prevailing Wage Act by allegedly failing to properly classify workers and correctly compensate them for fringe benefits and overtime. IDOL explains the Prevailing Wage Act requires contractors and subcontractors to pay laborers, workers and mechanics employed on public works projects no less than the general prevailing rate of wages, which consists of hourly cash wages plus fringe benefits, for work of similar character in the locality where the work is performed. U.S. Supreme Court to hear Representative Bost's case on mail-in voting IDOl says the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) ensured that new clean energy construction jobs are also quality high-wage jobs by requiring that contractors pay prevailing wages for workers on projects receiving incentives through the Illinois Power Agency. Officials say if a worker believes they have not been properly compensated for work performed in Illinois, they can file a complaint online or call 312-793-2800 with questions. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Federal Reserve's New Supervision Chief Will Wield Crypto Authority
The Federal Reserve — a key regulator of U.S. banking — is about to have a new vice chairman for supervision, Michelle Bowman, who will ultimately guide how the Fed oversees the financial system, possibly including how stablecoin issuers are regulated. After a tight party-line confirmation vote in the Senate approved the Kansas Republican's nomination 48-46, Bowman, who has already been serving as one of the Fed board's governors, will now be elevated to one of its leadership roles. The supervision job was created after the 2008 global financial meltdown and is meant to help focus the central bank's regulatory role as distinct from its better-known job marshaling U.S. monetary policy. Banking has been a sore spot for the crypto industry, and the Fed — alongside the two other bank agencies, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — had taken a highly cautious crypto stance. The sector and its lawmaker allies have blamed the agencies for pressuring the banking system to cut off digital assets businesses and insiders from banking services, jeopardizing the industry's health, though this changed after Donald Trump became U.S. president again this year. In April, the Fed joined the other regulators in withdrawing earlier constraints on banks' interactions with the industry. The Fed's potential role over stablecoin issuers remains murky as the regulatory legislation is still being debated. Republicans lawmakers have worked hard to sideline the central bank from stablecoin duties, but the latest legislation being considered still foresees the Fed regulating stablecoin issuance in the banks it oversees, plus serving a role in assessing whether foreign regulators are up to snuff to handle issuers outside the U.S. While Democrats had favored a Fed duty as a watchdog over nonbank issuers, the current legislation being debated on the floor of the Senate puts the OCC in that position. In her new job, Bowman will serve under Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who has stated in the past that he'd defer to the vice chairman to lead the supervisory agenda. She replaces Democrat predecessor Michael Barr in the position, though he stayed on the board. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
