Area under winter weather advisory

If you still need to make a last minute trip to the stores or hit the road to visit family, the weather may not be making your drive easier. 

The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for freezing drizzle until noon Thursday for much of northern Illinois. 

A winter storm watch will be in place from this afternoon through Thursday morning. 

And with all of that snow and rain plus the melting of snow already on the ground, there’s a flood watch for Thursday.

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New Cockfighting Details From Earlville

An alleged cockfighting ring in rural Earlville could’ve been going on for at least five years.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says officers worked their way into the operation just east of Interstate 39 and learned of a large cockfight set for Saturday.  Attendees allegedly agreed to pay a thousand dollars to enter up to five gamecocks in the fight.  Once the fights were supposed to start, 50 officers surrounded the barn and arrested 10 people including the property owner, 51 year old Rudolfo Villanueva of Earlville.

Dart believes the cockfighting ring provided thousands of dollars in illegal cash to hundreds of people, many from Chicago.  He thinks some of the proceeds were used to fund illegal gun and drug purchases.

Because of their condition and how they were raised, officials euthanized all the gamecocks on-site.

Contract Dispute Could Affect Local Cable

If you were watching the Bears on Sunday, you may have seen a scrolling message saying the channel you were watching is going off the air.

An ugly negotiations battle between Mediacom and Sinclair Broadcasting has three local channels in Illinois in danger of going dark.  Sinclair owns WYZZ, a fox affiliate in Peoria.  WYZZ is channel 14 on local cable in the Ottawa-Streator area.  That station along with ABC stations in Champaign or Springfield could be shut down if a new contract isn’t agreed to before the years up.

Mediacom claims Sinclair is in the wrong, even starting a website called “unfairSinclair.com”.  Sinclair officials are referring people to specific tv channels when asked about the dispute.

Electric Rates Going Up In Oglesby

While your property tax bill is going down, your electric bill could be going up if you live in Oglesby.

At their last working meeting, the Oglesby City Council talked about raising electric rates by a cent across the board.   However last night Electric Commissioner Don Finley says he’d like to do a half cent increase instead and gradually work in a larger increase over time.  He asked the attorney to put together a rate increase structure for next month.

Finley says the last time electric rates were increased in Oglesby was 1996.

House And Pets Lost In Fire

A rural Seneca home was destroyed by fire yesterday morning.

The fire was called in at 4:53 yesterday morning at the home of Don and Barbara Brandt.  The address is 1225 South Kinsman Road.

Two cats died in the fire, otherwise there were no injuries.

Investigators think it was a chimney fire.