On July 8, Amber Blake, former secretary-treasurer for International Association of Machinists Local Lodge 124, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to three years of probation for making a false entry in union financial records in order to conceal her theft from the Channahon (near Joliet) union. She also was ordered to pay restitution in the sum of $34,159 ($15,000 of it due by this September 11) and a $5,000 fine. Blake had pleaded guilty in December after being charged the previous month. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.