Local Headlines

  EARLVILLE- A dog was rescued after finding himself in a pond Wednesday afternoon.   Hope Shannon had heard her dog Rizzo yelping, and discovered he had gotten himself trapped in a nearby pond.   The Earlville Fire Department was able to enter the water and rescue him in under 15 minutes.

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Ivan Tharp was back on familiar territory at Peoria’s OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois. But instead of arriving as a patient — which he’s been several times over the years — the East Peoria teen was there on official business, with a

CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago’s interim police superintendent is discontinuing a merit promotion system that rank-and-file officers have long complained rewards cops who know influential people at the expense of those who have the skills to do the job. Charlie Beck says in a letter that

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed legislation to open doors to new workers rebuilding Illinois’ infrastructure. The General Assembly last spring approved Pritzker’s $45 billion capital construction plan. The Democrat said that the Illinois Works Jobs

OTTAWA – A Forensic Pathologist testified Wednesday for the defense in the Kenneth Cusick Murder Trial in Ottawa.  Dr. Christopher Milroy, who reviewed Cusick’s late wife’s toxicology and both previous autopsy reports, told jurors that caution must be taken when examining the

BURNS HARBOR, Ind. (AP) — Authorities say a Michigan woman who was a deckhand on an ore boat has died after falling into Lake Michigan at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Indiana conservation officers say 30-year-old Sara Murawski of Kinde, Michigan, had just completed a work trip of  several

ZION, Ill. (AP) — An elementary school principal in the northern Illinois community of Zion has been charged with sexually assaulting a Wisconsin teenager a decade earlier at a high school where he was working as a dean. Curtiss Tolefree Jr., principal at Beulah Park Elementary School, was

PRINCETON – Bureau County will decide on the sales tax on cannabis in the upcoming months. Taxing for both municipalities as well as unincorporated areas will need to be decided on before April 1st, 2020 in order to comply with the state’s deadline for adopting municipal tax ordinances.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois State Board of Education submitted its proposed rules Tuesday for how schools can restrain students who exhibit dangerous behavior, aiming to protect children and faculty from outbursts but banning the use of prone restraints except as a last resort and

  URBANA, Ill. (AP) — A former assistant pastor of an Illinois church was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a teenager in the congregation. Roger VanRaden, 48, was arraigned on sexual assault and abuse charges in a Champaign County courtroom, The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported.