The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has created comprehensive new online resource guides covering sustainable design and planning. Related Links: Illinois DOT Seeks $300-Million TIGER Grant for Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program Indiana Seeks $71.4 Million in Stimulus Funds for Northwest Rail Improvements New IDOT Web site Offers Data about all Illinois Bridges Portland Cement Association Offers Sample Ordinance For Sustainable Construction Missouri DOT Starts Work on Page Extension for Route 364 Geotechnology Awarded Contracts on Missouri Bridge Program and Army Corps of Engineers Project New International Code for Commercial Buildings will Draw on California Green Building

Photo: Meridian Design Build A new 38,000-sq-ft warehouse and distribution facility built in the Chicago Stockyards Industrial Park was constructed using the design-build delivery system. Related Links: Turner Selected for $110-Million Renovation of Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago Bulley & Andrews Completes Swissotel Chicago Renovation and Expansion Need Sparks Wisconsin�s First Free-standing Emergency Center Morgan/Harbour to Complete Build-Out for the Hinsdale Orthopaedic Group Pingree Grove Police Facility Earns LEED Silver Certification Holland Construction Builds New Aquatic Center McShane Completes 294-Unit Luxury Apartment Complex Ragnar Benson Completes Office Building Meridian Design Build, Deerfield, Ill., has completed construction of a new 37,942-sq-ft facility

Related Links: Illinois DOT Seeks $300-Million TIGER Grant for Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program Indiana Seeks $71.4 Million in Stimulus Funds for Northwest Rail Improvements New IDOT Web site Offers Data about all Illinois Bridges Landscape Architect Society Now Offers Sustainability Guides On Line Portland Cement Association Offers Sample Ordinance For Sustainable Construction Geotechnology Awarded Contracts on Missouri Bridge Program and Army Corps of Engineers Project New International Code for Commercial Buildings will Draw on California Green Building Standards Chicago Aviation Commissioner Discusses O�Hare Modernization at North American Forum The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission broke ground October

Related Links: Turner Selected for $110-Million Renovation of Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago Meridian Completes Chicago Build-To-Suit Bulley & Andrews Completes Swissotel Chicago Renovation and Expansion Need Sparks Wisconsin�s First Free-standing Emergency Center Pingree Grove Police Facility Earns LEED Silver Certification Holland Construction Builds New Aquatic Center McShane Completes 294-Unit Luxury Apartment Complex Ragnar Benson Completes Office Building Morgan/Harbour Construction, Woodridge, Ill., has been selected to complete an 11,868-sq-ft project in the Silver Cross Medical Office Building for the Hinsdale Orthopaedic Group. The building is on the Silver Cross Replacement Hospital campus in New Lenox, Ill. Morgan / Harbour will complete

< Photo: Flad Architects Wisconsin's first stand-alone emergency center has been completed in Sun Prairie. Related Links: Turner Selected for $110-Million Renovation of Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago Meridian Completes Chicago Build-To-Suit Bulley & Andrews Completes Swissotel Chicago Renovation and Expansion Morgan/Harbour to Complete Build-Out for the Hinsdale Orthopaedic Group Pingree Grove Police Facility Earns LEED Silver Certification Holland Construction Builds New Aquatic Center McShane Completes 294-Unit Luxury Apartment Complex Ragnar Benson Completes Office Building Located miles from any hospital, the $8.2-million St. Mary’s Sun Prairie Emergency Center is the state’s first free-standing emergency center. Before the center opened, the residents

Photo: McShane Construction Co. The new Residences at the Grove luxury rental community in Downers Grove, Ill., includes 270 apartments in three eight-story buildings and 24 townhouses. Related Links: Turner Selected for $110-Million Renovation of Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago Meridian Completes Chicago Build-To-Suit Bulley & Andrews Completes Swissotel Chicago Renovation and Expansion Need Sparks Wisconsin�s First Free-standing Emergency Center Morgan/Harbour to Complete Build-Out for the Hinsdale Orthopaedic Group Pingree Grove Police Facility Earns LEED Silver Certification Holland Construction Builds New Aquatic Center Ragnar Benson Completes Office Building McShane Construction Company, Rosemont, Ill., recently completed the 294-unit, 433,932-sq-ft “Residences at the

A resource that provides a greater variety of pre-qualified moment connection options for special moment frames (SMF) and intermediate moment frames (IMF) is now available for designers of steel structures in high seismic regions. Related Links: Hydraulic Institute Publishes Rotodynamic Pump Vibration Measurements and Allowable Values Standard Structural Engineers Offer Seminar About Designing Aluminum Structures Nov. 18 Six Wight & Company Projects Receive LEED Gold Certification RISA Engineering Software First with Full Range of Wood Features AISC’s Supplement No. 1 to Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Applications (ANSI/AISC 358-05s1) is now available for free

Q: I am a military vet. My father and grandfather served in wars. I want to help returning vets from Iraq, even if they are disabled. Are there any organizations training vets for jobs in construction? Is there anyone I can turn to who places vets in jobs? What can I personally do? I think they deserve more than a good word. I want to give them a good job. TOENJES A: A creative new program has been put in place in the last 24 months to help make the connection between the need for employment of returning veterans and

Computerized systems can help keep track of equipment location and use, prevent theft, and even track it if thieves manage to steal. TOENJES Q: We’ve walked onto construction sites in the early morning to see our equipment missing or vandalized by thieves who tried to steal it. I am aware of electronic devices that track equipment, we’ve put up cameras to monitor sites and I am even aware of a database of serial numbers, photographs and reported thefts of equipment. But it seems the thieves are always finding a way when they’re determined. (Why don’t they use that ingenuity on

Changes are a fact of life in design and construction. Written contracts typically require that the changes are not valid unless formalized in writing and signed by an authorized agent of the owner. Frequently, though, to advance progress, contractors or design professionals proceed on oral authorizations or letters signed by an owner’s employee. MROWIEC For private contracts, the courts have recognized that parties can waive the contract’s formalities regarding the need for written change orders by their course of conduct. See, e.g., Tados v. Kuzmark, 660 N.E.2d 162, 170 (Ill. App. Ct. 1995). A recent case reminds us that public