24-hour swine flu hotline available

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Have a question about swine flu?  The state’s set up a hotline you can call 24-hour-a-day.

     The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Poison Center are teaming up on the project. English and Spanish lines are available.

     The state has had a flu hot line before, but it operated only during the daytime and wasn’t staffed by people who could answer medical questions.

     State Public Health Director Damon Arnold says trained medical staff now can help callers determine when to see a doctor and if emergency treatment is needed. They can answer questions about caring for sick family members and when it’s OK to return to work or school.

     The Illinois Flu Hot line is 866-848-2094 for English and 866-241-2138 for Spanish.

Crash in Bureau County kills man

While a crash in Bureau County that killed a man from Peoria remains under investigation, police have released the names of those involved. 

          77 year old Jessie Veach was pronounced dead shortly after midnight Thursday morning after police say he drove his van into a semi-trailer that was trying to make a U-turn.

Investigators say the truck driver was trying to re-enter Interstate 80 off of Route 40 and was blocking both lanes of traffic. 

The truck driver, Donald Harper of Wichita, Kansas was ticketed for illegal turn.

Peru turns to stimulus related bonds for water and sewer plans

Water and sewer projects are on the horizon for an area of Peru the city hopes to continue developing.  City officials are considering a $2.4 million Recovery Zone Economic Development Bond.  It would pay for projects in the city’s industrial park TIF district.

Springfield Electric and Euclid Beverage are a couple of the companies that have developed in the TIF which has been in place for a couple of years. TIF funds would be used to pay back the bond through 2030.
Herb Klein is the attorney the city uses when dealing with TIF matters.  He explained the idea to the city council during an informal meeting Wednesday night.

This type of bond was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund projects that would promote economic development. The city would not be responsible for paying back all of the interest.

Winter Outlook Is Mixed

Although it’s not officially winter, it’s beginning to look and feel like it.

There’s a chance of snow through the weekend and lows will dip into the teens, so is this a sign of a rough winter ahead?  National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Allsop says the country is in an “El Nino” pattern which means above average temperatures this winter but little or no impact on precipitation.

Allsop says the Illinois Valley is behind on getting its first snowfall of the holiday season.  As evidence, this December 1st was the first December 1st in five years not to have snow on the ground.

Schools Holding Swine Flu Clinics

Students and staff at Leland and Waltham Elementary Schools are getting swine flu vaccines today while nurses will be at Seneca Grade School and High School tomorrow to dish out the vaccine.

If you have a student in the Oglesby School District, they should’ve brought home a consent form yesterday.  Vaccine clinics will be at Lincoln and Washington School’s next Tuesday.

Consent forms need to be returned by Monday.