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The up-and-coming economic development group Focus Forward Central Illinois has a new board, effective 10 days ago.

You probably never would have known it, though, because once again the group did a bang-up job of avoiding media attention.

No news advisories were sent about the meeting conducted over the phone to name 20 new members to the board. A release was issued a week late, only after we started to ask questions. About the only bow to transparency was that the meeting got tossed onto the FFCI websites calendar.

Because this is a group looking for public funding to bolster private dollars to operate, we asked them, frankly, what gives especially since wed been getting notices of meetings all through September after a summer full of complaints about lack of openness.

We are currently in the process of building our systems so that media requests as received can be accommodated per our commitment to transparency, FFCI communications chief Diana Hall said. I have added (your) request to our files and in the future you should receive information that we also have posted on the website.

Heres why we think Halls claims seem like nonsense:

The group managed to send meeting notifications last month even for some committees while they were also in a state of transition. The notices werent issued by the groups former parent, the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, but instead by the assistant for one of the private-sector people leading this charge.

That person, Caterpillars Jim Baumgartner whom you may remember from his tacit participation in the secret effort to push the water company buyout was one of three people on the interim FFCI board.

In short, theyve proven they can keep the media and public in the loop when they want to.

We understood indeed, we used this space to observe previously that some of the private sector folks were having to learn a whole new way of thinking about operating in sunlight.

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Word on the Street: Taxpayers shouldn’t fund transparency-averse FFCI

Creating a DataBase for Manual Install of Word Press

By: Sherman Fredericksen

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Creating a DataBase for Manual Install of Word Press - Video

DETROIT (AP) A name makes all the difference in the fight between Ford and Toyota over who has the top-selling car in the world.

Ford on Wednesday claimed that crown for its Focus compact during the first half of the year, based on registration data gathered by the R.L. Polk & Co. research firm.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company sold 589,709 Focuses from January through June across the globe, a 20 percent increase over the first half of last year, said Erich Merkle, Ford's top sales analyst.

The Focus, according to Ford, beat the perennial No. 2 Toyota Corolla, although Merkle said he could not release Polk's numbers for the Corolla. A Polk spokeswoman confirmed that the number provided by Ford was accurate, but declined further comment.

If the Focus beats Corolla for all of 2013, it would be the second year in a row that Ford lays claim to the top honors.

But Toyota disputes Ford's leadership. The Japanese automaker has said it sold a Corolla hatchback under the Matrix name, and it sells cars that are nearly identical to the Corolla under different names in countries outside the U.S. Ford doesn't tally Toyota's other nameplates in its count. Toyota has contended that if all the other nameplates are added in, the Corolla is the winner.

A Toyota spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company disagrees with Ford and is drawing up a response to Ford's claims.

Merkle said the Focus' gains are largely due to China, where sales more than doubled to 202,380 in the first half of the year. A new version of the Focus has been on the market only about a year in China, and it's considered a new product there.

But Focus sales aren't as hot in the U.S., where they're up only 1 percent to 188,654 through September. U.S. sales overall are up more than 8 percent for the first three quarters of the year, according to Autodata Corp.

Slow sales of the Focus and the C-Max gas-electric hybrid have caused Ford to plan a two-week shutdown of the Michigan Assembly Plant near Detroit, where both cars are made, during the fourth quarter to control inventory.

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Focus, Corolla Word's Best-selling cars

Associated Press (Published: 25-Oct 2013 2:50 PM, Received: 2:50:58 PM) By OSKAR GARCIA, Associated Press Word Count: 670 HONOLULU (AP) The island state that helped make gay marriage a national discussion could be the next state to legalize it after more than two decades.

Many credit a Hawaii case that started in 1990 with prompting action in courts, statehouses and Congress, leading to the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 that was eventually struck down this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now, a special session starting Monday could make Hawaii the newest state to formally legalize gay marriage, a move proponents say would finish the job and exemplify the state's fabled aloha spirit while granting equality and spurring tourism.

Opponents have taken up many fronts. Some argue that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Others say the matter should go to a vote, not be rushed outside the regular legislative calendar.

For Dr. Allan Wang, a 56-year-old Hawaii doctor, the issue is about being treated fairly.

"It's unfair that our amazing relationship which we've been together over 33 years our amazing relationship cannot be acknowledged," Wang said, sitting next to his partner, Tom Humphreys, a longtime molecular biology professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Wang and Humphreys, 77, married in California in July, one month after entering a civil union in Hawaii and after decades of pressing for gay marriage in the state. Humphreys said they were effectively forced to marry outside Hawaii after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and told he had only a short time to live.

They married exactly one week after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, granting federal benefits to legally married gay couples. Congress had passed the act in 1996 as part of a growing backlash to a case from Hawaii at the time, after a couple tried to apply for a marriage license in 1990.

Differences between civil unions and full-fledged marriage have been a key part of the debate in Hawaii. A lawsuit pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that gay couples should be allowed to marry and shouldn't have to settle for civil unions.

In calling the special session that begins Monday, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said passing gay marriage would help resolve the lawsuit and put Hawaii in line with Supreme Court rulings, which don't apply to couples in civil unions.

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Hawaii to become next stage in gay marriage debate

Rubio offers bill to delay health care law penalty Associated Press (Published: 22-Oct 2013 4:47 AM, Received: 4:47:16 AM) Word Count: 127 WASHINGTON (AP) Sen. Marco Rubio says he'll introduce legislation to delay the penalty that can be assessed on individuals who don't buy insurance under the government's new health care law.

The Florida Republican says people should not be punished for not buying the insurance when major technical problems have plagued the online sign-up process. Uninsured Americans have until about mid-February to sign up for coverage if they are to meet the law's requirement that they be insured by the end of March. If they don't, they will face a penalty.

Rubio said on "CBS This Morning" show Tuesday that he still believes the health care law itself should be repealed.

President Barack Obama on Monday acknowledged technical problems that he described as "kinks in the system."

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Original headline: Rubio offers bill to delay health care law penalty

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Rubio Offers Bill to Delay Obamacare Penalty