Thomson News

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk today released the following statement following news that the defense official charged with moving the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Thomson, Illinois - " Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy Phillip Carter - " unexpectedly resigned on Friday.

A Democratic political contingent led by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin toured the Thomson Correctional Center Saturday morning, then had lunch and a press conference at Buck's Barn.

Residents around Thomson, Illinois, are taking a wait-and-see approach. That's after learning their nearly-vacant correctional center could get a huge boost by housing Guantanamo Bay detainees and filling hundreds of jobs promised years ago.

Scott Lee Cohen, a Democrat who wants to be lieutenant governor, is canvassing the Thomson community around noon today, followed by a 2 p.m. news conference to rally support for the proposed sale of Thomson prison, he said in a news release Monday.

THE ANALYSIS BY THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS ESTIMATES LOCAL RESIDENTS WOULD BE ``EXCELLENT CANDIDATES'' FOR UP TO 1,400 OF THE NEW JOBS.

People in the Illinois burg of Thomson who say it would be all right with them if Guantanamo Bay ter-rorist detainees were transferred to their prison "as long as it brings jobs" raise eyebrows among many of us, mainly conservatives who still believe we're fighting a global War on Terrorism despite what the current Democrats in power would have us ...

Fedearl Bureau of Prisons director Harley Lappin talks Monday about jobs that would be created in the Thomson, Ill., area from Guantanamo Bay detainees being held at the Thomson Correctional Facility.

Thomson Correctional Center MOUNT CARROLL – Believing that it would help spur economic development, the Carroll County board has passed a resolution stating its support for selling Thomson Correctional Center to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the Bureau of Prisons was considering Hardin's empty jail as a potential site to house Guantanamo inmates.

Would somebody please explain to me and the rest of the United States what the difference is between holding the combatants at Guantanamo Bay and holding them in a stateside prison like the one in Thomson, Ill.? Aren't we are still holding them? Why don't we just leave then at Gitmo? Reinhold Krambeer Palatine

French forces say the death toll from rockets fired at a crowded market northeast of Kabul has increased to 12.

As Sen. Dick Durbin on Saturday leads a tour of the nearly vacant Thomson Correctional Center--a top Obama White House contender to house Guantanamo detainees--the White House released its first detailed economic impact statement on the jobs and money that will be channeled to northwestern Illinois if the federal government buys the prison.

Is it the right prison in which to put terror suspects? Federal officials will be trying to answer that question as the9 look a4 a prison in northwestern Illinois today.

For nearly eight years years the people in Thomson, Illinois and the surrounding area have waited for Thomson Correctional Center to open.

FOLKS IN THOMSON, ILLINOIS SAY THEY'D RATHER TAKE THEIR CHANCES WITH GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES THAN STRUGGLE ANOTHER YEAR WITH HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT.

The Chicago Tribune conveyed yesterday that it's ridiculous to oppose transferring GITMO terrorists to Thomson, Illinois.

Amanda Fortino 757-622-7382 Thomson, Ill. -- Today, PETA sent an appeal to Michael P. Randle, director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, requesting permission to convert the nearly empty Thomson Correctional Center into an empathy exhibition center in the event that the facility is not chosen to house Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Thomson Correctional Center appears to be the leading candidate to house terror detainees being transferred from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Republicans in Congress are gearing up to fight a new White House effort to relocate detainees at Guantanamo Bay to a prison facility in Illinois.

Thomson, Ill., village President Jerry "Duke" Hebeler, 63, talks about the possible federal purchase of the Thomson Correctional Center.