Last winter, one community’s future hinged on former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s word. In Spring 2008, he announced that the second largest employer in Livingston County Illinois would close. The fate of the Pontiac Correctional Center fell onto the lap of Blagojevich’s successor after he was removed from office on charges of corruption. Current Governor Pat Quinn made a lot of local people happy when he announced that the prison would stay open. Stephanie Delong, a business owner and wife of a Pontiac correctional center employee, talks about the roller coaster of the Governor’s decision.

Stephanie Delong’s story was part of State of Your State, an early spring series that explored how Illinois residents were faring before the Governor prepared to deliver his first budget address.