Police probe sees proof of embezzlement, but closes case against the late CEO

The first of at least three investigations into suspected financial wrongdoing at WTVP-TV 47 shows likely embezzlement and forgery in recent years, but after a 10-month inquiry, the Peoria Police Department requested the case be closed at this time, according to an Aug. 6 police report.

Their recommendation conceded that there was probable cause for charges against former CEO Lesley Matuszak, but she is dead. Regarding a second person who WTVP officials in January named as possibly involved – former Finance and Human Resources Director Lin McLaughlin – “probable cause has not been reached for her arrest unless she is able to be communicated with,” police said.

Heavily redacted, Peoria Police Department (PPD) criminal reports, obtained by the Community Word through a Freedom of Information Act request, say the PPD probe started last Nov. 7 after an audit showed “some problems with the answers provided on what should be some fairly simple questions,” said PPD, which noted it talked that day with four unnamed board members, legal counsel and others.

In a joint statement, current WTVP Board Chair John Wieland and CEO Jenn Gordon said, “This has been a sad chapter in the life of WTVP. Someone lost their life; friends and a family are grieving. We feel deeply for them, as well as for the members, viewers and donors of WTVP who have been impacted. We appreciate the work of the Peoria Police Department. We hope this report provides some closure for the community.” The community wasn’t informed about financial questions at WTVP although station leaders were alerted in July 2023 by the National Education Telecommunication Association that WTVP investment funds had been moved. The police reports don’t explain why it took the previous board more than two months to ask for a meeting with Matuszak and McLaughlin to answer questions, 12 more days to announce problems at a public meeting, six additikonal weeks to involve the police, and another month for years of credit-card statements to be provided to investigators.

Before the proposed meeting with Matuscaz and McLaughlin could be held, McLaughlin resigned on Sept.

19, Matuszak resigned on Sept. 27 and then she committed suicide the next day.

After reviewing a WTVP credit-card statement with what appeared to be unusual purchases, some unnamed male responsible for “signing off on invoices after they processed …noticed some questionable significant charges from Saks Fifth Avenue and a lot of Michigan Avenue-style clothes that are not appropriate to be on the credit card statement,” PPD reported.

Last October, ex-board chair Andrew Rand said there had been “questionable, improper or unauthorized” spending, and the board cut $1.5 million from its budget, laid off nine employees and shut down its Peoria magazine (which had contributed to an $870,000 shortfall, according to an internal audit released later). The credit-card statements given to Peoria Police in December totaled some 4,000 pages, and police eventually reviewed 335 pages – almost 10% of which “appeared to be conspicuous, as it did not resemble expenses related to the regular operation of WTVP,” PPD said, “ – $46,796.36.”

Meanwhile, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s investigation is an audit by its inspector general, which was expected last month but has not been released. The CPB is withholding grant money to WTVP pending results. Also, the Illinois Attorney General’s investigation is ongoing, that office confirmed to the Community Word.

As for Channel 47’s fiscal procedures, Gordon and Wieland commented, “Internally, we have implemented financial controls and accounting practices to ensure that fiscal responsibility and oversight is at the core of our operations. Mark Lasswell was promoted to Chief Compliance Officer to assure we comply with all state and federal requirements. As we move forward, we are focusing on building a very bright future where WTVP can impact and serve central Illinois for many years to come.”

 

Police found four areas of concern

Unauthorized liquidation of funds: Without authorization, Matuszak had $320,000 transferred from WTVP’s investment account with Cypress Asset Management to the station’s checking account, and used another $100,000 from its line of credit at PNC Bank, “believed to be done to hide the misappropriation of funds,” PPD said. “The Director of Finance and Human Relations [then McLaughlin] … was approving a lot of the fraudulent activity, either through incompetence or personal gain.”    Credit card: A list of what the station considered improper transactions from November 2019 to September 2023 totaled $375,017, and the 335 pages of documents police were able to examine “made up a total of $731,665.89 worth of submitted expenses by Lesley,” PPD said. Some are assumed to have been legitimate. “There appears to be no questioning of the obvious personal expenses by Lesley [by those responsible to do so],” police said. “It was all coded as WTVP operational expenses.”    Besides purchases at Saks, acquisitions occurred at Bergdorf Goodman, which specializes in expensive brands such as Gucci and Prada. Other unusual charges included payments to seven insurance companies for what looks to be personal coverage; a donation to state Rep. Ryan Spain (prohibited by law for nonprofits); travel, including golf outings; car expenses beyond Matuszak’s $500 monthly car stipend from her contract with WTVP; and paying a phone bill for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Peoria. (Matuszak and McLaughlin had worked together for about 18 years and had been employed at the Boys and Girls Club.)   Questionable reimbursements: Among some $500,000 in reimbursements the station made to Matuszak over almost four years, some without documentation, were her membership dues to the Creve Coeur Club and the Peoria Country Club.    Luxury auctions: Three such purported fundraisers were held in October 2020, November 2021 and November 2022, and “supposedly sold at that auction,” PPD said, were “higher-end” items such as two jeweled tennis bracelets costing $10,000 and $16,000 and an unidentified $30,000 purchase. Police said items totaling $88,285.01 included goods from Dior ($14,497.88), Brom’s Furs & Fashions ($36,000) and Potter & Andeson ($17,101).    “The money never came in to the bank account, nor was it recorded as revenue,” PPD said.    Further, the top three auction donors received nothing, said PPD, adding, the goods “have yet to be located.” One donor denied signing a $100,000 invoice from the auction, “indicating Lesley had forged [a] signature for receipt of the itemized jewelry,” PPD said.

WIU Board clears the way for university administrators to lay off about 124 workers

MACOMB – Less than two weeks before fall semester starts at Western Illinois University, WIU’s Board of Trustees at an emergency meeting Aug. 6 authorized the university’s current administration to lay off faculty and staff to cope with a budget shortfall of about $10 million.

Days later the exact number was released: 57 faculty positions and 32 staff jobs. Those 89 are on top of 35 others laid off this summer.

At the Aug. 6 meeting, WIU’s interim President Kristi Mindrup said, “We are at a crossroads, with no choice but to make a significant financial shift for the ultimate sustainability of Western Illinois University.”

The union representing more than 500 WIU faculty, instructors and academic support professionals dispute that no other choices are available.

“The administration’s announcement to lay off more of our experienced, dedicated faculty and academic support professionals is ill-conceived,” said Merrill Cole, president of WIU’s Chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) Local 4100, an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT).

“These layoffs will impact the quality of education that WIU offers to students, devastating our community and regional economy [and] have a negative and immediate impact. Lower enrollment is sure to follow, which will further harm the university’s bottom line.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” he continued. “This new administration needs to strengthen and guide the university forward instead of gutting the quality of education.”

The total enrollment at WIU’s Macomb and Quad Cities campuses was 6,495 this spring, about half what it was 14 years ago, when a steady decline started. (See chart). With falling revenues – plus former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget impasse and the COVID pandemic – WIU made up annual deficits with restricted funds, which are now depleted.

At an Aug. 5 rally at Chandler Park here – where about 100 WIU workers and students, plus members of the community turned out to support faculty – UPI 4100 state president John Miller, an executive vice president at IFT, said layoffs are short-sighted failures in such situations.

“Layoffs will not solve the problem,” he said. “This would be the fourth time for [layoffs at] Western and none has worked.”

Miller urged WIU leaders to “not repeat the mistakes of previous administrators and previous trustees,” and encouraged them to look for other steps, such as the WIU Foundation, which has net assets of more than $100 according to its most recent tax form analyzed by ProPublica.

WIU spokeswoman Alisha Looney, an interim Assistant Vice President, said, “Like many institutions across the country, Western Illinois University is adapting institutional expenditures, operations, services and staffing to reflect the changing population and student needs. In an ongoing commitment to achieving fiscal stability, 35 Unit B faculty contract non-renewals were announced this summer, and additional layoffs are being identified.”

Indeed, writing in Forbes magazine, president emeritus of Missouri State University Michael Nietzel mentioned WIU, the University of New Orleans, and Massachusetts’ Wittenberg College as locations where major budget cuts are being considered. In Macomb, it’s been a leak that’s becoming a flood.

Those 35 faculty members were laid off in June. On July 10, Mindrup told a Faculty Senate meeting that many more layoffs were ahead, and said the university originally had needed to cut spending by $20 million.

The administration said austerity measures were enacted in June, including freezing spending, suspending hiring, cutting department budgets and reducing student aid. That reduced the deficit to about $13 million, and dismissing the first 35 teachers (whose positions weren’t tenured, so they had no job security) will save about $3 million, she said.

“If we’re needing to balance the budget and ensure we have a cash flow throughout the year, we’re going to need to make adjustments to personnel,” she told Quincy’s WGEM-TV 10. “We’re not leaving any stone unturned.”

Neither Mindup nor any Board member cited other options to cutting faculty, but they came close to blaming previous administrations.

WIU Board Chair Carin Stutz said the Board’s responsibility is oversight, not management, commenting, “Over the last few years, we have strongly pushed for action, including personnel changes, but we cannot make the changes ourselves. Our expectations and commitment [last year)] was that spending would be aligned with revenue.”

Mindrup said 80% of WIU’s budget is personnel, so that’s where more cuts will be made. However, WIU says it has 1,313 workers, including 519 faculty, meaning that almost 800 others who don’t teach remain on the payroll.

Robert Hironimus-Wendt, a WIU sociology professor for 20 years before retiring, reported that WIU’s administration had notified deans in the school’s four colleges (Arts & Sciences, Business & Technology, Education & Human Services, and Fine Arts & Communication) to each name 25 tenured or tenure-track faculty for layoff.

“Whether they get to 100 or not, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “If they only get 50, that’s still 50 families that are losing family wages.”

Union president Cole said Mindrup is dealing with a fiscal problem that developed over years but “all of sudden we have to solve everything in six months. That’s fiscal insanity.

 “We are very frustrated with what appears to be a constantly shifting rationale, constantly shifting numbers, shifting objectives and what appears to be no real plans to grow WIU in the future,” he continued. “People are terrorized, to put it bluntly. This is no way to start the school year. I’ve heard of classes being cancelled, of class sizes being increased. None of this is good for our students and none of it is good for our faculty. None of it is good for the communities that we serve. We are a major economic engine in west central Illinois, and to damage us means to damage everyone.

“We urge the administration and the BoT to stop before more damage, and perhaps irreparable damage, is done – tearing down the university. Everything’s on the table. Now is the time for action.”

 

Area lawmakers voice concerns

* “I am disappointed to learn of the painful cuts happening at Western Illinois University. WIU is a major employer in my district and has provided high-quality education to thousands for many years, and these cuts undoubtedly will make maintaining those standards of excellence that much more difficult,” said State Sen. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island). “As Chairman of the Illinois Senate Higher Education Committee, I am committed to doing everything possible to help increase funding for our colleges and universities, to ensure they drive our economic and educational success for the short term and long term. We have to address this challenge together.”

*          State Rep. Gregg Johnson D-East Moline) added, “My heart goes out to the faculty and academic support workers whose jobs will be lost. Layoffs will hurt our local and regional economy, and I am particularly concerned in light of other recent layoffs impacting our region. I am committed to working with my colleagues Sen. Halpin and U.S. Rep. Eric Sorenson in conjunction with stakeholders across the area to address this growing problem head-on.

“I encourage anyone affected to reach out to my office. We will do everything in our power to connect you with programs and services that will help get you back on your feet.”

Waiting on CPB audit, WTVP hopes to benefit from training program to reach viewers

At press time, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting hasn’t delivered its long-awaited audit of WTVP-TV 47, ordered after financial irregularities were revealed last fall. However, CPB on July 15 did announce an ambitious training program to help local stations improve their delivery, if not contents.

“We intend to benefit from the new CPB program and hope our application will grant us access into the 2025 cohort program,” said WTVP CEO Jenn Gordon.

CPB said it picked the Poynter Institute to develop and deliver a new and larger second phase of its Digital Transformation Program over the next three years. Funded by a $5 million CPB grant, the training will educate more than 200 public media entities and hundreds of station leaders and staffs to develop an audience-first, multi-platform approach to their organizational strategies, operations and culture.

 “CPB serves as the steward of the federal appropriation and applies these monies in ways that enable public media to continue to deliver value to the American people,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, the private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967 as the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.

“Local stations are strongly connected to the communities they serve, and these communities are accessing media in many ways,” Harrison continued. “ CPB is forward-leaning in embracing digital innovation and helping stations be future-focused. Based on stations’ reviews, we have chosen the Poynter Institute to help continue our work accelerating stations’ digital transformation efforts.” 

Programming delivery is in need, according to national studies. Providing contents via streaming or podcasts isn't making up for missing viewers, according to TRAC Media’s report for the Public Television Major Market Group, and neither is social media – Facebook users are down 4% and Twitter/X is down 30%, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report. Podcasting is too abundant to help, according to media consultant and University of Maryland lecturer Tom Davidson in Editor & Publisher.

“The trouble is that anyone can produce a podcast,” Davidson said. “The podcast search engine Listen Notes found over 227,000 new titles in 2023. Spotify alone has more than 4 million different titles on its platform, and the glut is only growing.”

Gordon says WTVP uses many avenues for viewers to find programming.

“Nearly two-thirds of consumers now use a combination of linear and streaming platforms (and on average rely on more than six sources to watch content, says Hub Research’s Best Bundle 2023 Report,” she said. “At WTVP, we have loyal viewers that love linear broadcast. This isn’t going away! Broadcast media has a place and is a part of so many of our viewers lives.

“We are striving to meet all viewers where they are,” she continued. “Our multi-platform approach offers several entry points for all viewers to engage with the quality content that sets WTVP PBS apart from other stations and streaming services: over the air, cable and satellite; on-line (WTVP.org); a livestream of our main broadcast channel, WTVP-HD 47.1 and WTVP-Kids 47.2; [and] all of our locally produced content is available to stream on demand at our website.

“The free “PBS app and PBS Kids app [lets] viewers watch video on demand and livestream WTVP and WTVP PBS Kids,” Gordon added. “We also have content available on YouTube, LocalNow (a free streaming app), and YouTubeTV and Hulu (paid streaming apps).”

Simplification may help, she said.

“One of WTVP’s key areas of focus over the next two years will be helping the central Illinois audiences find us and engage with us whether they prefer streaming videos on demand platforms or linear broadcast/cable services,” she said. “The shifts in technology right now are not uncomplicated, especially for public media. You don’t see a ‘PBS button’ on your remote control for your smart TV like you do for Netflix or Disney. We are competing with an aggressive media industry with deep pockets. Connecting with WTVP PBS takes more effort – so we will be working on how to reduce those barriers and build better awareness about the outstanding content we offer.

“The challenge is that the digital landscape is cluttered and noisy,” she continued. “Most people I know have a subscription to at least three different streaming platforms like Disney+, Netflix, Prime. Most are not aware that they can have a similar on-demand user streaming experience with WTVP PBS. I tell people daily if they consume ANY content through a streaming service, they need to download the PBS app and start streaming and you will never go back to Netflix or Prime. Our content is just better. It’s good for your brain and your heart and engages you with your community here in central Illinois.”

Building – or restoring – audience is vital. Overall, public TV viewership seems to be fragmenting, down half in a decade, TRAC Media says. Even "PBS NewsHour," one of the network's "tentpole" programs, has seen its audience drop 10% from a few years ago, according to Pew Research.

“Fragmentation is happening,” Gordon concedes, “and this is a key hurdle for every media enterprise, which previously relied on traditional television broadcast (linear) as its main method for content distribution. PBS monitors trends at a national level and is aggressively working to provide tools and strategies to help its 330 station affiliates across the country to navigate the changing media landscape.”

Finally, funding has become a constant struggle for all media. In public TV, "Business revenue" (which includes underwriting) peaked five years ago (TRAC Media), and foundation contributions fell from 56% to 51% of revenue -- but individual contributions have slightly improved, from 26% to 27%, Pew reports.

“Outside of the major CPB grant we rely on to purchase programming, our revenue heavily relies on members who give to the station, whether it is $60 gift or a $20,000 gift,” Gordon said. “Our members have been incredibly loyal over the years, and we would not be here today without their generous support. WTVP is the community’s station, and I am convinced that as we connect with new audiences and engage new viewers that we will see membership grow and financial support for the station increase.

“In the future, we will be working towards having more opportunities for the community to come into the station and for WTVP to be out in the community,” she said. “It is all about engagement.”

Once CPB’s audit determines WTVP’s status, a more stable outlook may emerge to help such outreach. WTVP received $905,514 in Fiscal Year 2022, and $928,185 in Fiscal Year 2023, CPB records show.

Gordon expresses optimism.

“Our viewers and members are loyal because of the incredibly high quality of educational, inspirational and local programming we provide,” she said. “WTVP cuts through the clutter and provides content that helps you be your best self. We are an essential community service in a digital age where people have access to too much content that provides little to no value. We will be working aggressively to get that message out to people in our community who haven’t found us yet.”

Easing student debt helps the economy and the country

Most folks see others succeed and wish them well, for winning recognition, getting a promotion or receiving benefits from Medicare or the VA. Some, though, feel jealous: “Hey! What about ME?”

So it seems with federal efforts to ease the student-debt burden in general, and in particular President Biden’s new plan, SAVE (Save on A Valuable Education).

Created using authority from the Higher Education Act that first enacted income-based repayment reforms 30 years ago, SAVE would provide lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers who qualify based on their family size, current income, and its relation to the federal poverty line. SAVE provides a faster path to zero balances.

Already, student-debt relief has cleared balances of more than 400,000 enrollees who’d borrowed less than $12,000 and had been paying for at least 10 years. Overall, about 8 million Americans are enrolled in government repayment plans.

SAVE is an amended version of the existing Revised Pay as You Earn plan (REPAYE). All income-driven plans promise to forgive borrowers balances after 20 or 25 years of payments, but SAVE cuts the time for those who took out smaller loans.

Now, however, several Republican states’ attorneys general want to block SAVE, and regardless of their arguments, it’s political.

After suits by Kansas and Missouri blocked SAVE in federal District courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit last month granted the administration’s request that the Education Department be allowed to proceed with lowering payments under SAVE. Days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit but ruled with Missouri and once more blocked SAVE. (Alaska, South Carolina and Texas also are part of the attempt to kill SAVE, and asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in.)

So, SAVE hasn’t been saved.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on July 18 said borrowers enrolled in SAVE will be placed in interest-free forbearance while the administration continues to defend the plan in court.

“Today’s ruling from the 8th Circuit blocking President Biden’s SAVE plan could have devastating consequences for millions of student loan borrowers crushed by unaffordable monthly payments if it remains in effect,” Cardona said. “It’s shameful that politically motivated lawsuits waged by Republican elected officials are once again standing in the way of lower payments for millions of borrowers.”

The GOP lawsuits pander to those who resent what they consider a handout hurting society or who complain of the unfairness since they paid off their student loans.

That ignores how much more expensive it is to attend college, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Accounting for inflation, today’s average annual tuition is more than $14,000; 60 years ago, it was about $4,600. The total yearly cost (including books, room & board, and required fees) is $27,000, NCES says; in 1983 it was $11,400, a 57% increase.

“Across all types of schools, the cost of college has increased more than 135%, or about 2.3 times, between 1963 and 2021,” NCES shows.

Others object to helping borrowers because it’s against the American ideal of “meritocracy.” But meritocracy is hardly applied uniformly; wealth passes to families and privileges to the “connected,” deserving or not, and other “legacy” benefits.

Concerning student loans, meritocracy mythmakers contrast the GI Bill because that benefit was earned (an “entitlement”), and critics complain that SAVE offers free money to irresponsible borrowers and taxpayers will pick up the tab.

First, it won’t cost the public. The Congressional Budget Office said the financial effect would be $230 billion over the next 10 years, true, but the relief is for money that doesn’t really exist.

Consider a little logic and math. Say a student’s savings and part-time job wasn’t enough and it was necessary to get a $20,000 loan to finish college. Borrowing from Sallie Mae, one of the country’s main student lenders, the borrower pays 9.9% interest on a 20-year loan. An amortization schedule means the monthly payments would be $191.68. After 10 years, the borrower has paid $23,001.60 – $3,000 more than the loan value. So, even if the balance is forgiven outright, the lender’s recovered its loan amount plus thousands of dollars.

No one is really losing or spending any money. SAVE and similar relief changes monthly obligations and “erasing” money that didn’t exist – the original loan amount is paid.

Next, many 20 year olds may not appreciate the decades-long implications of high-interest loans or changing job markets, so it’s not unreasonable to help those trapped in circumstances beyond their control – AND let the monthly payments instead be put toward a better furnace, reliable car, house or everyday expenses, contributing to their communities and country.

SAVE would let people use their previous monthly payments to plow into local economies as new consumers, and such grassroots financial assistance would be far cheaper than the $700 billion bank bailout of 2008.

By the way, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Scotland and Sweden, college is free. Also, 76 countries worldwide have universal health care.

Seeing all that, it’s understandable to think, “Hey! What about US?”

Storm warning: Climate change has moved Tornado Alley into Illinois

Twenty years ago, Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford was a Roanoke teen at home midday on July 13 when he heard a weather alert about a “super cell” moving through the area.

“I’d just gotten back, so I rode my bike to get my sister at the swimming pool – where it was still sunny, so people were still swimming,” he told the Community Word. “By the time we got back home, you could see the rotation in the sky, so we went downstairs and I got her and our pets settled, and I went out to look – which you’re not supposed to do – and watched it roll in.”

Before the tornado passed, it caused an unknown amount of damage, the National Weather Service reports, but it destroyed the 250,000 square-foot Parsons Manufacturing plant, where about 140 workers sheltered in concrete-reinforced bathrooms. Steel beams and metal siding from Parsons were blown almost a mile east, There were three injuries total, NWS says, none at Parsons.

“At the time, I didn’t appreciate what had happened,” Ford added. “Now, in the [weather] community, that tornado is still one of the most talked-about in the state.”

Hours after Ford reflected on Roanoke, Illinois sustained dozens of tornado “pathways” and six confirmed twisters, according to the NWS – already making 2024 the second busiest year for tornadoes, after 2011.

Dropping from thunderstorms, tornadoes are rotating funnel clouds of dust and material swept up by violent winds, gauged from EF0 to EF5 in severity.

Last year, Illinois had more than 125 tornado reports, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leading the country in 2023. Since 1950, the number of severe tornadoes has steadily risen, too.

* In the decades since 1950, tornadoes have causes thousands of injuries and hundreds if deaths in Illinois, according to data from the University of Illinois’ Department of Atmospheric Science.

* The most frequent months for tornadoes in Illinois at April-June, but they’ve happened every month.

* Tornadoes happen most often between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.

* The total number of tornadoes in Illinois are up since 1950, and the most severe tornadoes vary from year to year, but has a rising trend line.

 

The tri-county area has had three memorable tornadoes. The NWS says Woodford County has had 47 tornadoes since 1950, including the EF4 tornado at Roanoke, where winds were clocked at more than 200 mph as it remained on the ground for 10 miles.

Tazewell County has had 66 tornadoes in seven decades, but though the EF4 tornado that hit Washington in November 2013 was catastrophic, it was part of one of Illinois’ largest November outbreaks ever – 25 in one day. Three fatalities, 121 injuries and more than $900 million in damages resulted from winds in excess of 190 mph, and its 46-mile path continued through LaSalle and Livington Counties.

And in Peoria County, which has had 28 tornadoes since 1950, the EF2 tornado that hit Elmwood about 7 p.m. June 5, 2010, damaged most of the town square, destroying 30 businesses, 10 homes and dozens of vehicles, with an estimated $85 million loss but no injuries.

 

Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini said 70 years’ of data indicate a shift eastward from the area long known as “Tornado Alley” – Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska – to Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana and Illinois.

Meteorologist Chuck Collins at News25 in Central Illinois thinks of increasing tornado activity as a reflection of another shift – “It’s about shifting seasons,” he said.

As remnants of Hurricane Beryl brought showers through the Midwest (and the premiere of the film “Twisters” a week ahead), Collins relaxed at the station’s weather center and said, “I ask Baby Boomers about weather changes. They notice. Winters are mild now. We’ve only had two white Christmases in recent memory.”

Thirty years ago, Illinois used to have an average of 27 tornadoes a year, he said, and now it’s 58 – an effect of the changing climate, he said.

Asked whether he gets pushback to climate-change connections, Collins said, “I talk to a lot of groups, and there’s not any, not like back when Al Gore was talking [in the early 200s, when his Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was released]. Then, there was some ‘does it or doesn’t it exist’ questions. Now most people say climate change isn’t fantasy; it’s reality.”

Technology is another factor in increased numbers since tornadoes are almost invisible until dirt and debris show the funnel.

“Before Doppler radar, radar might not pick up weaker tornadoes, and might pick up other thing – flocks of birds or aircraft,” said Collins who’s worked in weather for almost 38 years, 23 years at WMBD-TV 31 and 14 at WEEK-TV 25.

“Doppler is so much more sophisticated,” he continued. “Instead of relying on visual sightings, we use Doppler to dissect and filter what’s out there – in 3D – and show wind velocity, energy signatures, even debris in the air.”

Information from NWS’ Lincoln office and satellite imagery are much better than relying on Emergency Management Agency spotters or storm chasers to see a tornado and start local sirens.

Satellite images are delivered for broadcast by TV stations’ outside vendors, but Collins and crew issue warnings, too.

“We might see a nasty-looking cell and tell people to seek shelter before the Weather Service,” he said.

Meteorologists ae vulnerable, too, like the November 2013 on-air broadcast of News25 staff instructed to go to their safe place.

“We were warning viewers about the Washington tornado,” he said. “Then it was across the street from the station. We heard it. We took shelter.”

These days, tornado preparedness rarely includes tornado myths, like going to the southwest corner of a basement or opening windows.

“People are generally more cautious now,” Collins said, but as recently as 2011, when Joplin, Mo., was hit by an EF5 tornado that killed 156 people, an early warning didn’t help everyone.

"A National Weather Service survey found a vast majority of those killed did not take immediate action when warnings were issued,” Collins said. “Residents had 20 minutes lead time, but many wanted verification including visual confirmation.”

Preparing means thinking ahead, making plans and bracing buildings. The safest spot in a building is in a small, reinforced room or closet on the lowest floor near the center of the structure.

“The Weather Service can certify a designated location as ‘storm ready’,” Collins said.

Besides mobile-home residents being advised to plan for retreating to a sturdy building, structures with many people are vulnerable, too, from big-box stores and dorms to hospitals and industrial buildings.

The Parsons episode was instructive.

“At the time of the Roanoke tornado, I went to my girlfriend’s house and everyone was OK, but the tornado threw a truck right through a shed,” Ford remembered. Now, he sees the wisdom of preparation.

“Parsons is a great example of how to design buildings to save lives,” not only was there shelter. Everybody knew what they were supposed to do and where to go.”