Closure Ahead For Part Of Route 251

Getting from point a to point b on Route 251 in Peru could be tough starting Monday.

Route 251 will be closed off underneath the Route 6 overpass so that crews can repair two damaged steel beams.  Route 6 will be unfazed and you’ll still be able to use the Peru and La Salle exits off Route 251.  Only the area directly under the overpass will be closed.

IDOT’s Tom Hufnagel says the closure should last only two weeks.  He says damage to the beams is over a year old.

No response to Ottawa senate debate proposal

If you were looking forward a proposed debate between the Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Ottawa, you’ll have to just remember the Lincoln-Douglas Debates instead.

Congressman Mark Kirk, the GOP’s candidate in the race for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat, had asked Democrat State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias to hold a series of debates starting with one in Ottawa Saturday.  It would have fallen on the anniversary of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate that was held in Ottawa.

The Kirk for Senate campaign says Giannoulias has not responded publicly to the proposal and has declined other invitations.

Calls by AM 1220 WLPO News to Giannoulias’s campaign have not been returned.

Canadian company buys United Steel Deck

A Canadian company is giving a closed plant in Peru a second life.

Canam Group has bought two United Steel Deck plants- the one in Peru and one in New Jersey.  United Steel Deck was owned by Commercial Metals Company who in February announced they were getting out of the joist and deck business.  Employees in Peru were told they would be loosing their jobs.

Ron Grant is operations manager in Peru.  He says Canam took over Tuesday.  He says they’ll be moving towards reopening, but couldn’t give a time line of when it would happen.  They’ll be known now as Canam Steel.

Peru Mayor Scott Harl says it’s a great thing for Peru that it’s being occupied again.

Land annexation for new Ottawa school approved

An annexation agreement for over 40 acres of land south of Shepherd Middle School was approved by the city council Tuesday night.  The land has been purchased by the Ottawa Elementary School District to build the new Central Intermediate School.

As part of the annexation agreement, the school district will be responsible for all the maintenance of the roads in the annexed land.

The council also placed on file the approval of a conditional use permit for the new elementary school.  School officials hope to start moving dirt on the new school next month.

Fall semester begins for IVCC

You could notice more traffic on Route 71 between Ottawa and Oglesby Wednesday.  It’s the first day of the fall semester at Illinois Valley Community College.

College President Jerry Corcoran says he’s really excited because overall enrollment is ahead of last year’s pace.  The number of credit hours being taken is also up.

Over 4,000 students have signed up for classes, but Corcoran says it’s more important to look at the headcount at about the 10^th day in.

It’s also the first day for classes at the Ottawa Center campus where nearly 400 students will be taking classes.  Corcoran says a little over one third of the Ottawa Center students have never taken classes at IVCC before.

Portion of I-80 EB in Bureau County reopens

A stretch of eastbound Interstate 80 in Bureau County has reopened after being closed overnight for a trailer that had overturned.

IDOT reopened the road between I-180 and the Spring Valley-Ladd exit shortly before 7am Wednesday.

The trailer had been parked on a soft-shoulder and overturned Tuesday night.