- [Laura] Wheelan-Presley Funeral Home & Crematory have been serving Quad City families and veterans since 1889.

Wheelan-Presley Funeral Homes are located in Rock Island, Milan, and Reynolds, and are proud supporters of WQPT.

(upbeat music) Alternatives is a proud supporter of WQPT and has been serving our community for 40 years.

Alternatives provides professional guidance to maintain independence and quality of life for older adults and adults with disabilities.

(upbeat music) - Illinois is trying to reunite you with your own property.

Every year, the State Treasurer's office tries to get you to do just a little bit of snooping to find out if the state is holding onto property that actually belongs to you.

Probably not, right?

But hold on a minute.

Illinois says it has $34 million, more than 200,000 unclaimed pieces of property for Rock Island County residents alone.

We talked with Illinois State Treasurer, Michael Frerichs, about the I-Cash program and money that's owed to you.

Well, this really is an ongoing annual event.

I mean, you're trying to always get people to find their missing millions, to find the treasures they don't know.

This has been going on for a long time.

How successful has it been, though?

- Well, this has been consumer protection that has been going on for over 50 years, but since coming into office, we've taken steps to work with members of general assembly in a bipartisan fashion to make it easier for people to claim their money, and so as a result, we have tripled the number of claims we pay out annually and smash records returning over $1.3 billion to people in this state.

- Now does this money, is this always gonna be sitting somewhere in the state coffers or is there a deadline where you didn't claim it after 30 years, it just becomes a part of the general fund?

- We will hold onto it forever.

Now, there is some money that have not been claimed.

We will invest that for the benefit of our pension system, but if someone wants to come and claim 20 years from now or their children or grandchildren want to come 50 years from now, we will still pay out what belongs to them.

- So what do you say to people each year that they should be looking under their names, but are you also saying, "Hey, maybe look under mom and dad's or grandma's or your aunts' and uncles' as well?"

- Exactly, a lot of money comes into our office because someone has passed away, and they didn't tell all their family members about all their accounts and where they had stashed money, and so go to our website at illinoistreasurer.gov, check for yourself.

Check for your parents or grandparents.

check for your family members, your brothers your sisters, your cousins.

Wouldn't it be a great thing to do to call them and say, "I've been thinking about you, and I found money for you."

(Jim laughs) Turn this money because when we put it into your viewer's hands, and they then in turn spend it at Quad City' businesses or restaurants, that money circulating throughout the economy does more good for our state than it does sitting in a bank vault in Springfield.

- Now, as you well know, it's more than just money that's sitting in those bank vaults.

I mean, you're taking possession of that as well.

I mean, is there cases where it's jewelry or certain types of property or even deeds to things?

- Most certainly, people store valuables in bank safe deposit boxes, but they don't always tell their spouses or their children about them, and when they pass away, they frequently go unclaimed.

They get turned over to us, and it's our job to reunite them with their owners or their heirs.

We find a variety of interesting things there and encourage people to check and see if maybe there's something that you are missing or the family was missing by checking out our website.

- Now, Illinois is not unique.

I mean, every state is doing some type of program like this, and, of course, you know that there are people that live out of state, of course.

I mean, you got family members elsewhere.

Is that pretty much what you're saying as well?

Is that try to trace back where your family has lived in the past, which states, and maybe check there as well?

- We try and help people who've moved out of state to claim their money and people come in to help them find old money elsewhere, but this is the last place it was where it was surrendered.

You know, we find about one in four people who visit our website, find we have something that belongs to them, and the average amount last year was about $1,000, so well worth your time and effort, but in addition to checking for yourself and family, you can also check for a business, for a non-profit, for your church.

We love writing checks to those organizations as well.

- Well, because it is their money, of course, but you were talking about the fact that, and I don't mean to be crass about it, but in some ways, the state does make money off of this money because you can invest in it.

So in a way, it's win-win because not only does the state feel good about returning money that's rightfully those people's property, but the state is also at least able to make a little money off of that money.

- I do this, we make efforts to return as much as possible because it's good for our citizens, and when we get that money circulating throughout the economy, it's good for our state, and also, I just enjoy it, giving away hundreds of millions of dollars, it's like I get to play Santa Claus 365 days a year.

It's a great job.

We'd like more people to claim their money.

- Your office says the I-Cash program has 24,000 names in Rock Island County alone.

24,000, that's a huge number.

- It is a huge number.

A lot of people don't go and check out our website.

They feel like I look after my own money, and your viewers might, but maybe there's someone who owed them money, who sent a check to the wrong address or they sent it in an envelope that looked like junk mail, and it got thrown away.

Just because you didn't get that check or you didn't cash that check doesn't mean they get to keep it.

It still belongs to you, and we will fight on your behalf to get that money, and we hope that you'll go to our website and check and see if we have something for you.

- Now, you keep pointing out the fact that you have given out a large amount of money.

I mean that people have tracked it down, but I'm assuming that this pot of money, so to speak, is continually being added onto.

So what happened in the past 12 months?

I mean, did- What I'm saying is, are you getting ahead of the game?

Are you giving out or are you getting more coming in than you're actually giving out at this point?

- We have more coming in, but we also are increased in the amount we give out.

We've smashed records since coming into office.

We returned over $200 million last year, but there's still work to be done.

One of the hardest parts of my job is giving away money, and people think that sounds like a joke, but, you know, if you get a letter in the mail from our office, and we send everyone letters, that says, "The state only wants to give you money," a lot of people think that must be a scam.

We've called individuals, and they've hung up on us saying, "I'm not gonna talk to an identity thieves," but this is a real program.

We never charge you to claim your own money.

If someone's reaching out asking you to pay them for it, that's not us, that's a scam.

We do this as a service for our citizens.

- That's a good point.

I mean, are you a little worried because I mean, thank heavens, people are being cautious, and think that it's a scam.

Have you gotten a number of reports of people trying to be Santa Claus instead of you actually being it?

- Oh, most certainly.

I, myself, received a letter in the mail saying that the State of Illinois had unclaimed property from me and for a low fee, they can help me return it.

Now, I laughed at that because I knew what was true, but we know they look at our website and try and piece together people's addresses and try to use this as a way to take money from people, but if it's from us, it's legitimate, and we don't charge a dime.

- And plus the website is easily accessible.

You know that it's a state-run website.

Is that what you're suggesting is that's the place to start?

- The easiest way is to go to our website.

You can go to illinoistreasurer.gov and click on I-Cash or go directly to icash, I-C-A-S-H.illinoistreasurer.gov.

It's a simple database.

Put your name in there.

Put the names of your family members or businesses or social organizations you belong to.

Please, help us return more money.

- Let's switch gears a little bit, but still talk about state money.

Of course, your major job is to be making sure that Illinois's fiscal health and investments are going well.

Tell me about today's economy and how it is either helping or hurting the coffers of Illinois.

- Well, I would say that having balanced budgets, paying down our backlog of bills, paying more into our pension system is good for our longterm health.

If we can continue to do this for several more years, Illinois can turn the corner, but in this environment with inflation, we have had low interest rates, it's made it more difficult for us to earn interest income.

The Federal Reserve is raising rates that will help us to bring in more money.

You know, a big part of my job is to invest the state's money, and we know that every dollar we can make in interest income is a dollar that the general assembly doesn't have to raise in taxes or a dollar in cuts they don't have to make to important programs like our schools or roads or bridges.

- Well, and these investments, of course, are so important, but they're also, let's say politically tinged as well.

You talk about investments either in Russian industries.

You know where I'm going with this or Chinese industries.

How closely do you keep an eye on that and where does Illinois money not get invested?

- Yeah, so with state funds I'm in charge of investing, we're very cautious and conservative in our approach.

We don't invest in Russian securities or in Chinese securities.

With our pension funds, there are small amounts invested in firms domiciled in Russia, and we are making efforts to divest from those funds, to get out of those.

You know, what Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine is reprehensible, and although we can't fight him directly, we can do things to help cripple his economy and hinder his ability to wage war, and that's something we're always looking to do.

- How difficult is it right now to disinvest, so to speak?

- Now, it is difficult because no one wants to buy these securities.

They know that there isn't a market for them, and so basically, that involves writing off some, but we didn't have very much invested in Russia so that's not gonna hurt our pension fund too much.

It's a small price to pay to help our friends and allies in Ukraine and throughout Eastern Europe.

- Two other areas that you look at investment, and you think of the State Treasurer's office, one is, of course, a college savings plans, and the other one is what's been developed for seniors.

Let's talk about the college savings plans.

Are those still a good investment?

And I'm sure you're gonna say yes, but I mean, there's so many different ways that parents can invest these days for their children's future.

- There are many different ways parents can invest for college education, but there's none better than investing in one of Illinois's 529 Programs, and that's because if you invest in an Illinois savings account, run through our office, you can get a tax break, a tax deduction of $10,000 per year per parent, and also when you invest in a 529, you can invest, you can grow that account over time, and when you take that money out for improved higher education expense, you don't pay taxes on the growth and income.

There are other ways you can invest, but they are not as tax preferred.

- And this is a system that's been going on for a long time.

I mean, parents know it full well, but if somebody has a newborn right now, what are you saying?

Do it as soon as possible or even do it while you're planning a family and you don't even have one yet?

- I like to say the best day to start a college savings account is yesterday.

The second best day is today.

You wanna have time for those assets to grow over time.

You can start for a toddler.

You could even start an account before a child is born.

You just start an account and name yourself as the beneficiary with your own social security number, and when you have a child and have a child's social security, you just change the beneficiary.

There are great advantages to saving this way, your state tax deductions, the tax avoidance.

When it goes to a higher education expense, when you take that money out, it really is a way to put a young person on a pathway to success, and it's never too early to start.

- Talk about the opposite end of the age spectrum.

Your Secure Choice Program is ongoing as well.

They're kind of called mobile retirement savings accounts.

That's relatively new in Illinois, is it not?

- It is.

We've had a retirement crisis not just in our state, but in our country for a long time.

About half of working age adults have less than $5,000 saved for retirement.

You cannot have a retirement with dignity.

You can't enjoy your golden years if you have that little saved.

For many people, they think there's just too many hassles, it's too difficult to get started, and we're trying to make it easier through our Illinois Secure Choice Program.

It's a retirement savings vehicle.

Money goes into your own individually-managed Roth IRA, and it's portable from employer to employer throughout the state of Illinois.

We set this up a few years ago.

We now have over 1000,000 people saving for their retirement that weren't before with tens of millions of dollars, and we're signing up more every day.

- Well, once again, and you hear this argument every few months, and you hear it from me every time I talk to you, it seems, as I always ask about the fact that we have an office of the Illinois Treasurer in Illinois Comptroller, and whether or not, in some ways, that could be combined and save the state money.

I mean, I'm sure that you understand the importance of both roles.

Do you think that it is somewhat possible in the years to come that those two offices could be merged?

- I think they could be merged.

I support merging the two offices, but it would require a constitutional amendment, and that's not on the ballot this year, so it'll have to wait a couple more years before the voters, hopefully, will get a chance to vote on that.

- And why do you think it'd be a good idea?

- Well, I think we can find savings out there.

I understand why the two offices were separated in the past to have internal controls, to have checks and balances, but I think there are other ways with technology, with other offices currently in state government, that we could maintain those controls and still find some savings for the taxpayers.

- Illinois State treasurer, Michael Frerichs.

We hope you're enjoying the unofficial start of summer, the Memorial Day weekend.

Laura Adams has plenty of ideas for you, if you don't already have plans to go out and about.

- [Laura] This is "Out and About" for June 3rd through 9th.

Quad City Pride Festival takes place June 3rd and 4th at Schwiebert Riverfront Park, while the Aledo Rhubard Fest celebrates 30 years on the 3rd and 4th.

On every Friday, take in Mercado on Fifth, their summer market, and Truth First Film Alliance presents the award-winning documentary, "America's Lost Landscape: The Tall Grass Prairie" at the Figge, the 4th at 2:00 pm.

"Tomfoolery on Tremont" features the comedy of AJ Grill at Renwick Mansion on June 4th.

The Moline Township Activity Center presents a free summer concert in the park featuring Gray Wolf on the 6th at 6:30.

"Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute Concert" at Village Park in Bishop Hill takes place, the 4th at 1:00, and there's loads of theater.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" continues at Circa '21.

Haus of Ruckus presents "Pants' Labyrinth" at Mockingbird on Main, the 3rd and 4th.

"Tuck Everlasting The Musical", the story of a family who drink water from a magical spring and become immortal at the Spotlight Theater from the 3rd to 11th.

Choral Dynamics present "C'mon Get Happy" at the Orpheum theater in Galesburg, the 3rd through the 5th.

The dark comedy, "Dog Sees God", runs at the Playcrafters Barn Theater through the 12th.

"Sister Act", the feel good musical at Clinton Showboat runs through the 12th, and "Escape to Margaritaville", the musical featuring Jimmy Buffet songs, takes the stage at Timberlake Playhouse through the 12th.

For more information, visit WQPT.org.

- Thank you, Laura, and getting out and about may mean seeing more local musicians performing on stages throughout the cities.

That includes the very original Jenny Lynn Stacy.

We caught up with her performing some of her own original work on the stage of the Black Box Theater in Moline.

Here's Jenny Lynn Stacy with "I prefer it."

(plays guitar) ♪ Hello is my name ♪ ♪ My heart was much the same ♪ ♪ Thankfully my mind sorted it out ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ Pause between the takes ♪ ♪ Life will give me breaks ♪ ♪ Thankfully my heart sorted it out ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ When you found me, I was feeling cold ♪ ♪ What could you do to me?

♪ ♪ Hell, I do not know ♪ ♪ But I love you, I say it all the time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh, I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh, I prefer it this way ♪ (guitar playing continues) ♪ And I must be accused ♪ ♪ My mind's going to lose it ♪ ♪ Regretfully, I have gone off the trail ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ In time for a better day ♪ ♪ When you found me, I was feeling cold ♪ ♪ What could you do to me?

♪ ♪ Hell, I do not know ♪ ♪ But I love you, I say it all the time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Don't you need me?

♪ ♪ Is this going too fast?

♪ ♪ You're not the easiest to love ♪ ♪ Hell, I do know that ♪ ♪ But I dig you, I say it all time ♪ ♪ And I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh, I prefer it this way ♪ ♪ Oh, I prefer it this way ♪ - Jenny Lynn Stacy at the Black Box Theater in Moline with "I Prefer It".

She was an up-and-coming star making a huge impression in movies featuring stars like Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, and Burt Lancaster, but Jean Seberg of Marshalltown supported groups like the Black Panther Organization.

That drew the attention of the FBI, and it ruined her life, literally.

Now, a new documentary about Jean Seberg has been made.

We talked with Kelly Rundle from Fourth Wall Films about "Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon".

So Kelly, what drew you to the story of Jean Seberg?

- Well, as you know, Tammy and I are making films all the time about Midwestern history, primarily, and Gary McGee, who's now a good friend, approached us with a project he had started in the late '80s on Jean Seberg, and so it kind of fit into what we look for, which is a story that has some kind of local or regional following, but deserves a wider audience, and, really, the more we got into the story, the more interesting it became.

- Well, now, she was born in Marshalltown, so there's your Iowa hook.

- Yeah.

- And then she starred in movies with some of the greats in the '50s.

- Yes.

- And then what happened?

Let's talk about that.

She was an activist, which is actually, you know, part of the title of your documentary.

She was a supporter of the Black Panther Organization at a time when the establishment, particularly the FBI, thought of them as a very evil part of America.

- Yeah, that's true, and I'll back up to Marshalltown just to point out that, as we do in the film, that Jean's activism began in her childhood.

She recognized inequity, specifically for black people in Marshalltown, and at age 14, joined the NAACP.

So I think some people come to activism maybe after they've achieved some notoriety, but in Jean's case, it was just a continuation of things that she had pursued even in childhood.

As you say, she did become a supporter of the Black Panther Party, was initially attracted to them because they were offering a free breakfast program for children, and, as you say, she was targeted by the FBI via a program called COINTELPRO that was in operation between 1956 and 1971.

- And from there, the FBI was feeding some information to news media, particularly in this case, it was to the Los Angeles Times, and the Times went to a columnist, kind of a Hollywood columnist, that put what in the paper?

- Well, yeah, it was, and it's not easy to tell, you know, or to know to what extent the paper or the other media outlets knew whether the story was true or not, but essentially, they were implying that Jean was having an affair with a Black Panther leader and was pregnant as a result, and that was the story that was planted.

- And it's interesting because I did read a recent article by a columnist in the Los Angeles Times taking blame.

- Yes.

- Basically saying, "Hey, this was not fact checked.

It was just basically put in paper."

It was picked up later, I believe it was Newsweek a few weeks later than that, where it actually named her specifically.

she was pregnant at the time.

The fact that it could have been a black man just ruined her reputation, but also she lost the child.

I mean, the tragedy was tragedy upon tragedy, and it really made her suicidal, let's say.

- Well, it was extremely upsetting for sure, and Jean Seberg was among a number of prominent people who were targeted by COINTELPRO, but they also targeted more just regular people who might be college professors or that type of person, and then would do similar things to them, and in some cases, people never knew where it came from, but the idea was just to discredit them in any way that they could in the eyes of the public or their friends and family.

- In your documentary on Jean Seberg, how do you see her?

Do you see her heroic or do you see her more as a victim?

- Well, I suppose she's a little of both.

Jean certainly could have chosen not to be an activist.

She could have chosen to ignore racial inequality in America, and she chose not to do that.

She also did her activism quietly.

It wasn't a public show kind of thing like it might be for some other people in her situation.

So that caring about other people was just something that was consistent in her life, and the notion that somebody might be treated differently because of the color of their skin or any other reason was something that really bothered her.

- It is also interesting at the time that this was occurring, we're talking about the late 1950s, and this is a period where America had pretty much gone through the Red Scare.

You know, is it not post McCarthyism, but I mean, those wounds were still very fresh.

- They were, and I think if you think about that period, you know, one of the targets the FBI had was people who were opposed to the Vietnam War.

Early on when it began in the mid '50s, it would've been more of a focus maybe on communism or people interested in socialism.

On the far right end of the spectrum, they targeted the KU Klux Klan as well, but it was mostly what you would think of as left leaning organizations that they were trying to disrupt in any way they could.

- And it kind of drove Jean Seberg out of the country, did it not?

Did she not spend time in France after most of this?

- She did.

She got to France, though, pretty quickly after starring in her first film, "St. Joan".

Her second film, "Bonjour Tristesse" was filmed in France.

That's where she met her first husband, Francois, and he eventually led her to starring in her most famous film, "Breathless" through his friend, Jean-Luc Godard.

- Did she ever come back to Iowa or is it that once she left, she was gone for good, so to speak?

- No, there's a little bit of a myth that Jean never came back to Iowa.

She did come back.

In fact, we talked to Jean's family and friends about that, and she would come back whenever she was able to do so.

You know, she continued to be in Hollywood films up through the late '60s, '68, I think, and then after that, didn't do any more American films, but it's somewhat remarkable that she became both a star abroad and here in the states, and that's kind of unique for an actress.

- It really very much is.

Do you also see her as a strong person or was she fragile?

Because as you say, her activism wasn't really that public.

I mean, she had support.

She had her beliefs, but she wasn't standing on a stage and espousing those things necessarily, and then you get hit with the Los Angeles Times article, the allegations of, as you said, her involvement, perhaps, and a pregnancy from a Black Panther member.

I mean, did she become more fragile or do you think she became stronger because of it?

- I really am an amazed all the time when I think about Jean Seberg.

There's an interview she did with Mike Wallace after her performance in "St. Joan".

It was kind of panned by critics.

The film itself is awful.

I mean, Jean's one of the best things about the film, but she's so young and she's so poised, and, you know, Mike Wallace is interviewing her like she's stole money from the Bank of England, you know?

And I think she had that strength, particularly in a public setting, but I think it would be troubling any of us to be harassed in the way she was.

Their phones were tapped, and people were following her.

I mean, initially, friends and family thought she was just being paranoid.

- Right.

- But that's really what was happening.

- Yeah, I mean, when you hear that, you do think that or you're just being paranoid, and then you look back a couple decades later and even the FBI saying, "Yeah, we should never have done that.

We will never do that again."

It's an amazing piece of history, don't you think?

- I think so, and as we've shown the film around, once in a while, an audience member will ask, "Well, don't you think the FBI's gonna take a dim view of your criticism of their program?"

But, you know, they said it was wrong.

They said they did it.

They said it was wrong and that they weren't gonna do it again.

- How should Jean Seberg be remembered?

- I think she is remembered as a fashion icon, primarily, and I hope that that brings some people to her films.

There's four or five really good films that Jean was in, and she was a working actress, and she was courageous in her choices.

She often went with first time directors.

So she really approached it as an art form, I think.

- Kelly Rundle from Fourth Wall Films on the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device, and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on "The Cities".

(bright music) - [Laura] Wheelan-Presley Funeral Home & Crematory have been serving Quad City families and veterans since 1889.

Wheelan-Presley Funeral Homes are located in Rock Island, Milan, and Reynolds, and are proud supporters of WQPT.

(upbeat music) Alternatives is a proud supporter of WQPT and has been serving our community for 40 years.

Alternatives provides professional guidance to maintain independence and quality of life for older adults and adults with disabilities.