Latest news with #BradleyUniversity
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NFW's Corporate Restructuring Spawns Third Wave of Layoffs
Bad news comes in threes—at least for NFW. The Illinois-based plant-based plastic provider's third round of corporate restructuring in as many years has (predictably) led to layoffs. More from Sourcing Journal Chemical Textile Recycler Eeden Closes $20M Funding Round Material Innovation Initiative Makes a Comeback Material World: Still Burning Bras? You Can Bury Balena's In line with previous press statements, NFW did not share quantitative details on just how many people, exactly, were reorganized this week in Peoria. Or where, as the plant-based and plastic-free materials maker has a few facilities in the city, some 10 miles apart. Per a press statement, the recurrent 'difficult decision' was not made lightly and 'affects many talented team members whose work has helped bring our mission to life,' NFW said. It is unclear how many positions were terminated. The shift will streamline technical solutions for partners throughout the supply chain, CEO Steve Zika said, though NFW's mission will 'remain unchanged.' 'We are evolving our model to operate more squarely as an intermediates business: Embedding our IP directly into the supply chains of leading brands and manufacturers rather than producing materials ourselves,' said Zika. 'This allows us to scale faster, reduce resource intensity, and make our sustainable technologies more widely.' Bradley University and Illinois State University's joint NPR network, first reported the news last Friday. NFW was unable to share any additional information with Sourcing Journal. For context: Luke Haverhals founded NFW back when it was known as Natural Fiber Welding. Citing personal reasons, the Bradley professor resigned as CEO last October, as announced at the top of 2024's fourth fiscal quarter, but would remain on the board. Then-president Zika resumed the role in November 2024. Days preceding Zika's promotion, NFW has furloughed a 'significant' portion of its staff; what a spokesperson previously attributed to delays in customer contracting—rendering NFW 'unable to close a bridge round of funding that's been in the work for several months,' a local news channel reported at the time. The Another Tomorrow collaborator's last known dismissal data affected 10 percent of its workforce—reportedly representing 'less than 30 employees' spanning the C suite to the cutting room floor—in April 2023. This alleged trimming of the fat in preparation for scaling Mirum was not indicative of any financial issues or operational shortcomings. 'This shift marks a new chapter for NFW,' the company said. 'One rooted in the same purpose of displacing petroleum-derived synthetic materials, but with a renewed focus on our core chemistries in order to drive greater impact over time.' 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
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Morrison student inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
May 24—BATON ROUGE, La. — Morrison resident Clara Bush recently was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society at Bradley University. Bush is one of 20,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni annually inducted into the society. Membership is by invitation only and requires chapter approval and nomination. The membership is eligible to the top 10% of seniors and 7.5% of juniors. Graduate students in the top 10% and faculty, professional staff and alumni with a scholarly distinction also qualify. Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society with chapters on more than 300 campuses in the U.S., its territories and the Philippines. The organization's goal is to recognize and promote academic excellence in all higher-education fields and engage the scholars community in service to others. For more information, visit
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Saying thank you to nurses for National Nurses Week
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — National Nurses Week is meant to highlight the contributions of nurses, focus on their positive impact, and promote the profession. And all across Central Illinois, people are showing their gratitude. At Carle Health in Peoria, they brought therapy dogs and food to celebrate the week. Kami Colvin has been a nurse for 17 years and said it's all about bringing the best care to her patients. 'Our patients are telling us that they appreciate the care and being able to see them come in and have a significant need and progress with our arms wrapped right around them and get ready and go home, and then be with their family. That's really the best thing in health care that you could ask for as a nurse,' said Colvin. This year's theme is 'the power of nursing'. Currently, there is a nationwide nursing shortage, but at Bradley University, more than 300 students are studying to become nurses. 'The very large retirement of the baby boomers, nurses who have been in the hospital for 20 or 30 years, are retiring, and we have a huge deficit of nurses. So with graduating nurses, it's really important that we try and get them exposure to the hospital as soon as we can,' said Dr. Rachel Borton with Bradley University. She went on to talk about how nurses are the backbone of hospitals. 'The nurse is the one who's with the patient the longest. So the providers are coming in. They're responsible for many times hundreds of patients, and they have a very finite amount of time that they can spend with the patient, whereas the nurse is there for the entire shift and many times maybe three shifts a week with the same patient. So they know they're patient,' she said. The week is also meant to honor Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois Congresswoman Robin Kelly jumps into US Senate race to replace retiring Dick Durbin
CHICAGO — South suburban U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly on Tuesday became the second candidate to enter what's expected to be a crowded field to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, setting up a potential Democratic proxy battle with Gov. JB Pritzker. Kelly's announcement that she is vying for the Senate seat comes two weeks after Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton launched her campaign last month with the backing of Pritzker, her two-time running mate. The race for the party's nomination to replace Durbin, a Springfield Democrat who was an ally of Kelly's and announced in April that he would not seek a sixth term, isn't the first time Kelly has faced off against a candidate backed by the billionaire governor and his political apparatus. After working with Durbin in 2021 to defeat a Pritzker-backed candidate and become the first woman and first Black official to chair the Democratic Party of Illinois, Kelly dropped her bid to retain the seat a year later when allies of the governor rallied behind his handpicked state party leader, state Rep. Elizabeth 'Lisa' Hernandez of Cicero. Kelly now enters a race in which her only declared opponent already has the backing of two of the state's top Democrats: Pritzker and the state's other senator, Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. Durbin told reporters last month that he intended to make an endorsement in the race only in 'an extreme case.' In a 2½-minute video announcing her candidacy and released early Tuesday morning, Kelly said she's undaunted in the face of a challenge. 'You could say I've been an underdog my whole life,' Kelly said, referencing her upbringing helping out in her 'family's mom-and-pop grocery store' before putting herself through college at Bradley University in Peoria. After working 'at the hospital where my kids were born and at a child abuse prevention center as a counselor and mental health professional,' Kelly said, she turned to politics. 'Against all odds and (with) every pundit counting me out, I ran for state representative against a 10-year incumbent and won,' Kelly said of her victory over state Rep. Harold Murphy in the 2002 Democratic primary. Despite Stratton having big-name backing, Kelly has a head start in fundraising, at least through her main campaign fund. She ended the most recent reporting period on March 31 with $2 million in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission records. Stratton, on the other hand, didn't report raising any money for her new Senate campaign fund, although a large influx of cash from Pritzker is expected. Still, Stratton is barred from using any of the roughly $97,000 left in her state campaign fund for the Senate race because of stricter contribution limits at the federal level. The lieutenant governor and former one-term state representative in January also launched a federal political action committee, Level Up, that has yet to report raising any funds. 'This moment requires proven leaders who have the experience to take on the toughest battles. I've never backed down — not from gun lobbyists, not from MAGA extremists, and certainly not from a fight for what's right,' Kelly said in a news release accompanying her announcement. Kelly has not faced a serious primary or general election challenge in races for her current seat representing Illinois' 2nd Congressional District since winning a 15-way special primary and subsequent general election in 2013 to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned the previous year before going to federal prison. Other Democrats considering joining next year's Senate race include U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Lauren Underwood of Naperville. So far, no Republicans have declared, but U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood has acknowledged he's considering it. During her time in Congress, Kelly has focused on issues including gun violence and health care. Her work on gun control, including the release of a periodic congressional report on gun violence in America, was a major focus of her campaign launch, with Kelly highlighting how early in her tenure in Washington she stopped standing for moments of silence in Congress after mass shootings. 'The next time, someone else sat down with me, and then another, until a moment of silence felt more like an echo of inaction,' Kelly says in the video. She's running for the Senate 'to fight for health care that doesn't bankrupt families, for wages that lift people up, for housing that's affordable, for neighborhoods safe from gun violence,' she says. 'These are the issues and the people I'm fighting for.' Assuming Kelly stays in the race, she will be unable to hold her seat in the U.S. House, with her Senate bid setting up a potentially fierce competition among Democrats for her current seat. Kelly's years representing the 2nd District, which in its current configuration runs south along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the Indiana border from 43rd Street on Chicago's South Side to Danville in central Illinois, may lend Kelly some small credence with downstate voters in a primary race expected to feature candidates who all live in Chicago or its suburbs. Before being elected to Congress, Kelly spent four terms in the state House and was chief of staff to then-Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and chief administrative officer for Cook County under President Toni Preckwinkle. As part of a recent effort by congressional Democrats to hold town hall meetings in districts represented by Republicans, Kelly held an event last month at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, which sits in the deep-red district of far-right U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Hindsboro. In her only previous bid for statewide office, Kelly lost the 2010 race for state treasurer to Republican Dan Rutherford by a little more than 4 percentage points. But no member of the GOP has won a statewide election in Illinois since Bruce Rauner was elected governor more than a decade ago. A member of the Democratic National Committee, Kelly also has strong allies among the Congressional Black Caucus, whose political arm backed her unsuccessful bid to remain the chair of the state party in Illinois. ____
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
US Rep. Robin Kelly jumps into US Senate race to replace retiring Dick Durbin
South suburban U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly on Tuesday became the second candidate to enter what's expected to be a crowded field to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, setting up a potential Democratic proxy battle with Gov. JB Pritzker. Kelly's announcement that she is vying for the Senate seat comes two weeks after Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton launched her campaign last month with the backing of Pritzker, her two-time running mate. The race for the party's nomination to replace Durbin, a Springfield Democrat who was an ally of Kelly's and announced in April that he would not seek a sixth term, isn't the first time Kelly has faced off against a candidate backed by the billionaire governor and his political apparatus. After working with Durbin in 2021 to defeat a Pritzker-backed candidate and become the first woman and first Black official to chair the Democratic Party of Illinois, Kelly dropped her bid to retain the seat a year later when allies of the governor rallied behind his handpicked state party leader, state Rep. Elizabeth 'Lisa' Hernandez of Cicero. Kelly now enters a race in which her only declared opponent already has the backing of two of the state's top Democrats: Pritzker and the state's other senator, Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. Durbin told reporters last month that he intended to make an endorsement in the race only in 'an extreme case.' In a 2½-minute video announcing her candidacy and released early Tuesday morning, Kelly said she's undaunted in the face of a challenge. 'You could say I've been an underdog my whole life,' Kelly said, referencing her upbringing helping out in her 'family's mom-and-pop grocery store' before putting herself through college at Bradley University in Peoria. After working 'at the hospital where my kids were born and at a child abuse prevention center as a counselor and mental health professional,' Kelly said, she turned to politics. 'Against all odds and (with) every pundit counting me out, I ran for state representative against a 10-year incumbent and won,' Kelly said of her victory over state Rep. Harold Murphy in the 2002 Democratic primary. Despite Stratton having big-name backing, Kelly has a head start in fundraising, at least through her main campaign fund. She ended the most recent reporting period on March 31 with $2 million in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission records. Stratton, on the other hand, didn't report raising any money for her new Senate campaign fund, although a large influx of cash from Pritzker is expected. Still, Stratton is barred from using any of the roughly $97,000 left in her state campaign fund for the Senate race because of stricter contribution limits at the federal level. The lieutenant governor and former one-term state representative in January also launched a federal political action committee, Level Up, that has yet to report raising any funds. 'This moment requires proven leaders who have the experience to take on the toughest battles. I've never backed down — not from gun lobbyists, not from MAGA extremists, and certainly not from a fight for what's right,' Kelly said in a news release accompanying her announcement. Kelly has not faced a serious primary or general election challenge in races for her current seat representing Illinois' 2nd Congressional District since winning a 15-way special primary and subsequent general election in 2013 to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who resigned the previous year before going to federal prison. Other Democrats considering joining next year's Senate race include U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg and Lauren Underwood of Naperville. So far, no Republicans have declared, but U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood has acknowledged he's considering it. During her time in Congress, Kelly has focused on issues including gun violence and health care. Her work on gun control, including the release of a periodic congressional report on gun violence in America, was a major focus of her campaign launch, with Kelly highlighting how early in her tenure in Washington she stopped standing for moments of silence in Congress after mass shootings. 'The next time, someone else sat down with me, and then another, until a moment of silence felt more like an echo of inaction,' Kelly says in the video. She's running for the Senate 'to fight for health care that doesn't bankrupt families, for wages that lift people up, for housing that's affordable, for neighborhoods safe from gun violence,' she says. 'These are the issues and the people I'm fighting for.' Assuming Kelly stays in the race, she will be unable to hold her seat in the U.S. House, with her Senate bid setting up a potentially fierce competition among Democrats for her current seat. Kelly's years representing the 2nd District, which in its current configuration runs south along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the Indiana border from 43rd Street on Chicago's South Side to Danville in central Illinois, may lend Kelly some small credence with downstate voters in a primary race expected to feature candidates who all live in Chicago or its suburbs. Before being elected to Congress, Kelly spent four terms in the state House and was chief of staff to then-Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and chief administrative officer for Cook County under President Toni Preckwinkle. As part of a recent effort by congressional Democrats to hold town hall meetings in districts represented by Republicans, Kelly held an event last month at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, which sits in the deep-red district of far-right U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Hindsboro. In her only previous bid for statewide office, Kelly lost the 2010 race for state treasurer to Republican Dan Rutherford by a little more than 4 percentage points. But no member of the GOP has won a statewide election in Illinois since Bruce Rauner was elected governor more than a decade ago. A member of the Democratic National Committee, Kelly also has strong allies among the Congressional Black Caucus, whose political arm backed her unsuccessful bid to remain the chair of the state party in Illinois.
