Local Headlines

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Media personality and political commentator Glenn Beck is pitching in to keep a trove of artifacts related to Abraham Lincoln in the 16th president’s hometown. Beck’s charity called Mercury One has donated $50,000 toward a $9.2 million debt owed for a ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD – New seatbelt and child passenger laws will come into effect in Illinois in just a few weeks. In a new state law that will take effect beginning on January 1st, 2019 all backseat passengers in Illinois will be required to use a seatbelt. According to Buckle Up Illinois,  the ...Read more

OGLESBY – The Illinois Valley Community College Board’s audit-finance committee learned that once again the school had a clean audit of its financial statements. Wipfli LLP auditors reported no weaknesses or deficiencies. The school is currently debt-free, and have reduced operating ...Read more

JOLIET – In a filing under the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, Caterpillar, Inc, now headquartered in Deerfield, announced that beginning in 2019 they’ll be closing their Joliet production facility. Around 285 employees will be losing their jobs by mid-2019 ...Read more

OTTAWA – The 7th grade girls at Wallace Grade School had an impressive season with 22 straight wins, until coming up short in the state championship game on Thursday night. Wallace fell to Lincoln West -Broadwell 52-20, taking second place in the state. Kendall Lowery had 11 points in the ...Read more

STREATOR – A Streator man was charged Friday with filing a false report after telling officers he was robbed at gunpoint. Officials say Christopher Grimm, 31, of Streator, contacted police on Thursday at 10am, saying that he had been robbed of his money by an armed suspect in the alleyway ...Read more

    OTTAWA – Ottawa City Council announced that the Ferracuti mansion on Columbus Street will be annexed into the city and used as a group home for unwed mothers. Jim Downey and Janis Ferracuti, widow of lawyer Peter Ferracutti who died October of 2017, reached an agreement with the city ...Read more

OTTAWA – Certain dog and puppy foods are being recalled due to toxic levels of Vitamin D. According to Dr. Dan Lendy of Chessie Lane Animal Hospital, fat soluble vitamins like A and D have a greater risk of harming your pets due to calcification build-up in the kidneys, ultimately leading ...Read more

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois hunters took nearly 81,000 deer during this year’s firearm deer hunting season. That’s a slight increase over last year. Local hunters in LaSalle, and Bureau County are also hunting more deer than last year. LaSalle County hunters took home nearly 100 more ...Read more