Local Headlines

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Today is the first Barack Obama Day. A law signed last year marks Aug. 4 in honor of the 44th president. Saturday was Obama’s 57th birthday. The Hawaii native began his career as a community organizer in Chicago. He served in the Illinois state Senate from 1997 to

TONICA – A garage is destroyed and a home sustained some damage after a fire in Tonica Friday night.   After 9 p.m. a call was received of a fire in the 500 block of South First Street.  Oglesby, Standard, and Utica departments assisted the Tonica Fire Department with mutual aid.  The

DEKALB –  Police are telling people to be on the lookout for out of the ordinary behavior after several burglaries were reported in southern DeKalb County.  The DeKalb County Sheriff’s office says several outbuildings were burglarized in the area of Chicago Road between Shabbona and

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner has rejected legislation that would prohibit retailers from charging fees on rebate cards. The Republican vetoed the measure Friday. It would have banned merchants and banks offering rebates to consumers from charging maintenance or dormancy fees

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum will debut a new exhibit detailing the 1908 Springfield Race Riots. The exhibit will be unveiled Saturday evening as the 110th anniversary of the event approaches on Aug. 14-15. Historian Carole

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge overseeing the murder trial of a Chicago police officer in the 2014 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on Friday decided to hold off deciding whether the trial’s location should be changed. Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan said he will wait until

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois children must ride in rear-facing child-restraint seats in automobiles until age 2 under a law Gov. Bruce Rauner signed. The Republican OK’d the measure for small backseat passengers Friday. Rear-facing restraints are recommended by the American Academy

LOSTANT – One car ended up in a field and another was damaged in a collision with a hit and run driver Wednesday in southern LaSalle County.  According to the LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office before 7 p.m. on Illinois Route 18 southwest of Lostant a Rochelle woman was traveling east

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed laws designed to cut back on a growing and costly backlog in determining Medicaid eligibility for nursing home residents. The Republican signed legislation Thursday that allows banks to share financial information with the state about

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced today that the unemployment rate held steady at around 4 percent in June and nonfarm payrolls increased by over 18,000 jobs over-the-month, based on data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. LaSalle, Putnam and Grundy