IVCC Board Approves Plan For Ottawa Center

A satellite IVCC campus in Ottawa continues to take shape. The college board last night approved design work and a business plan for the building.

The Centrue Bank office will be renovated to include four classrooms, lab space, a registration center, and counseling and financial aid office space. Most if not all general education classes will be offered at the Ottawa building along with citizenship, English as second language and GED courses. Classes will be day and night.

The college still has to work out a lease agreement with the city of Ottawa.

Boy dies after being taken from Lake Thunderbird beach

A nine year old boy is dead after emergency responders were called the Lake Thunderbird beach in Putnam County.
A 911 call was made just after 3pm Thursday about a boy that was unresponsive.
The boy was take to Perry Memorial Hospital in Princeton. From there he was flown to St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria where he was pronounced dead just before 6pm Thursday.
Police haven’t said how the boy became unresponsive, just that it’s under investigation by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and the Peoria County Coroner’s Office.

Cops 4 Cancer returns to Cedar Point

Food, drinks and live music- sounds like a popular way to spend Saturday during the summer. That’s what you’ll find in Cedar Point Park for the annual Cops 4 Cancer fundraiser.
Money from the event goes to Illinois Valley Community Hospital’s Special Procedures Unit and Illinois Valley Hospice.
Tickets are $20 each in advance and $25 at the door. Admission includes food and drinks. Scheduled to play are The Craigs, Road Angel, and Tremble Dog.
Cops 4 Cancer runs from 1pm until 10pm Saturday.

Ribbon cutting and open house Saturday for new Puntam County School

The stores are stocked with school supplies, a sign that the new school year is quickly approaching.
They’re getting ready for it in Putnam County with an open house for their new primary school. The new building replaces the old Hopkins School that had to be torn down due to tornado damage in 2004.
It’ll house pre-k through second grades.
A ribbon cutting ceremony is Saturday at 11am. It’ll be followed by guided tours from 11:15 until 2pm. Tours will leave from the gym every 15 minutes.
You can find the new grade school in Granville.

Hotel planned for busy Ottawa intersection

The empty piece of land at the corner of Etna Road and Route 23 in Ottawa will soon have a new hotel on it.
Ottawa Building Inspector Mike Sutfin says representatives with Janko Financial Group are finishing their site plan for a new Fairfield Inn at the site. Sutfin expects a September groundbreaking.
The property includes three outlots that Sutfin thinks will be restaurants. He hasn’t heard what restaurants they could be.
The site has been empty since the old Budget Inn Suites was demolished last year.