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Government

Vote Scheduled to Sell Hope Creek

After months of discussion, the Rock Island County Board may finally be ready to sell Hope Creek. It'll hold a special meeting Tuesday night to vote on the sale of the county nursing home in East Moline. 

A private chain of nursing homes, Aperion Care, has submitted the high bid, at 6 million dollars, even though Hope Creek was listed for sale last year for 19 million. 

County officials say it's been losing around 2 million dollars a year ever since it opened in 2009. And that the only options are sell it or close it. 

Employees and union leaders have urged the county to retain ownership, and find other ways to fix its finances. They worry about possibly losing jobs when a private owner takes over, and Aperion's record - last year it paid hundreds of thousands of dolars in fines for violations at its 34 nursing homes in Illinois.

The meeting begins at 5:30 pm. 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.