Congresswoman Cheri Bustos cast her final vote as a member of Congress to bring $66M to the 17th Congressional District last week. All of Bustos' Community Project Funding requests – 15 out of 15 – passed the full House as part of the package. Requests that received funding include the Martin Park upgrades in East Galesburg to the tune of $1.1M. Upgrades would include adding a splash pad for youth, a patio for families, a building for fundraisers, adding benches for additional seating, and fences and sidewalks to improve safety. $750,000 was secured for Monmouth College to expand its Rural Education Initiatives program. The program works to strengthen the rural education system and combat teacher shortages, increase the representation of teachers of color, and foster student-community engagement. Eagle View Community Health received over $500,000 to open a health clinic in Monmouth and address the healthcare gap the surrounding rural communities face. The City of Lewistown
Western Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos gave her final address to Congress this week. Bustos has served for a decade in Congress representing the 17th Congressional District, including Galesburg and Knox County. She reflected on her 120 'Cheri-on-Shift' job shadows, millions of federal dollars poured into the district, and how she helped secure funding for lead water service line replacements in Galesburg. That money was used to fund a major lead water service line replacement project around the city that took several years. Bustos finished by saying she was humbled to be the voice of the 17th district. She will be succeeded in Congress by former TV meteorologist Eric Sorenson.
The Galesburg Post Office will officially be renamed on Wednesday after the late Senior Airman Daniel Miller Jr. U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos introduced legislation in 2020 to rename the East Main Street Post Office after Miller. Miller graduated from ROWVA High School and immediately joined the U.S. Airforce, eventually earning the rank of Senior Airman and becoming an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Airman. He was deployed from the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron's Explosive Ordinance Disposal Flight in Hill Air Force Base, Utah, which is responsible for defusing military and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and working with chemical and biological weapons. But on Jan 7. 2007, at the age of 24, Miller was killed in action attempting to defuse a car bomb in Iraq. The renaming takes place on Wednesday, September 7th at 10:30 a.m., with Rep. Bustos and Miller's family expected to be in attendance. Bustos has helped rename several post offices after fallen soldiers in the 17th District
More federal money is getting invested into the 17th Congressional District. In announcements made through East Moline Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, the villages of Williamsfield, and Oquawka are getting federal funds to make infrastructure improvements and rural development work. Last week, Bustos made a visit to the Galesburg Sanitary District's Wastewater Treatment Plant for her 116th Cheri on Shift where she cleaned equipment used to ensure water flow at the facility and presented a $1.2 million check for upgrades. The funds will clean and improve the number four digester in Galesburg for better, more efficient mixing, adding biogas monitoring, and safety equipment. "When we think about infrastructure, most of us tend to think about our roads and bridges," Bustos said. "But the infrastructure needed to transport and treat our water is absolutely vital to all of our communities. The Galesburg Sanitary District's Water Treatment Facility collects, transports, a