Stabbing In La Salle Leads To Prison Sentence

A La Salle man is off to prison after admitting to an attempted armed robbery.

26 year old Brandon Atkinson was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to a March 17^th stabbing on 1^st street in La Salle.  He and Julian Molina were arrested for trying to rob a 17 year old boy from Mendota by stabbing him multiple times.  Molina is accused of holding down the victim and was sentenced to boot camp earlier this month.  Atkinson was given a much stiffer sentence because of a prior criminal history.

The teen was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria for treatment.

Semi Burns On I-80 Near Princeton

A semi carrying produce near Princeton burned last evening.

Princeton firefighters got an initial call at 5:05 Thursday evening about a semi fully engulfed in flames on Interstate 80 just a couple miles west of Princeton.  Crews were on scene for over two hours dealing with the fire, hot temperatures and traffic control on I-80.  One firefighter was injured and taken to Perry Memorial Hospital for evaluation.  No one in the semi was hurt.

Princeton Fire Chief John Petrakis says the cause of the fire is under investigation.  Damage estimate is 450 thousand dollars between the semi, trailer and produce.  The semi is owned by Wolfe Trucking in California.