Local Headlines

CHICAGO (AP) — Two reports show staffing cuts and dwindling funding at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in recent years. An Environmental Integrity Project report released Thursday shows the agency’s workforce was reduced by 38% between 2008 and 2018. A November report by the ...Read more

  WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois woman charged in the beating death of her 5-year-old son has pleaded guilty to murder. Thirty-six-year-old JoAnn Cunningham of Crystal Lake entered the plea Thursday in the April slaying of Andrew “AJ” Freund. The Chicago Tribune reports ...Read more

ELGIN – A Kane County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant has been charged with unlawful possession of cocaine. Aaron Feiza, 44, was taken into custody Wednesday after an investigation found he allegedly had drugs in February of 2019. In a statement released jointly by the Illinois Attorney ...Read more

DIXON – Retail and tech giant Amazon has announced plans to build a solar farm in Lee County. Specifics were not announced in the press release put out on Tuesday, but the project is part of the company’s climate pledge. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that “Illinois is proud to have ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge says a relative of John Dillinger who wants to exhume the 1930s gangster’s gravesite needs the cemetery’s permission. Marion County Superior Court Judge Timothy Oakes granted Crown Hill Cemetery’s motion to dismiss Michael Thompson’s lawsuit ...Read more

FLANAGAN – A Flanagan man has died after a Wednesday morning single vehicle crash in Livingston County.   Authorities say 30-year-old Timothy F. McKinley was traveling on 300 East Road near Route 116 when for unknown reasons his truck left the roadway and struck a tree.   He was ...Read more

  OTTAWA – A medical marijuana dispensary in Ottawa will be allowed to sell recreationally come January. Pharmacann, aka Verilife on North Columbus Street was granted the approval at Tuesday night’s city council meeting. According to Mayor Dan Aussem, any medical marijuana ...Read more

  OTTAWA – A made up fantasy. That’s what defense attorneys told jurors at the trial of a former Ottawa fireman accused of drowning his wife in a toilet. The decade long legal battle over whether 52-year-old Kenneth Cusick is responsible for drowning his wife Tracy, began at ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS – A judge will hear an Indianapolis cemetery’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a relative of 1930s gangster John Dillinger who wants to exhume Dillinger’s gravesite to determine if the notorious criminal is actually buried there. A Marion County judge scheduled a ...Read more