Road conditions

Sunday morning’s snow fall has melted away in town and on main roads in La Salle County.  IDOT considers most roads in Bureau, La Salle and Putnam Counties to be clear.  Less traveled roads could still be patchy with ice and snow.

Crash east of Streator

Speed and alcohol are factors that likelyl caused a 25-year old Streator woman to crash her vehicle east of the city about 5:20am Saturday. LaSalle County Sheriff’s office says Faith Barnes was on North 14th road near East 19th road, a mile east of Streator when the accident occurred. She was treated for injuries at St. Mary’s Hospital and released. Barnes was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and DUI. She posted bond and received a court date.

Park snow closures

The big snowstorm has some parts of area state parks closed to the public. The I&M Canal State Trail is closed at Buffalo Rock State Park west from the Buffalo Rock Access parking area to Campsite D and 2.5 miles east of Utica due to washouts and safety issues. The proposed Archery Deer Hunting area remains closed as well. In Hennepin, the canal snowmobile trail is open. However Lock 3 to Bridge 4 is closed due to flood damage and Lock 26 to I-80 is impassable. At Illini State Park in Marseilles, River Meadows, Ancient Oaks and Wildcat Bog day use areas are closed. Sunrise Council, a CCC shelter, is in disrepair and closed too.

Rezin – no scholarships

Like her predecessor, State Senator Sue Rezin is saying no to the state’s General Assembly Scholarship program. The Morris Republican says freeing up the scholarship money won’t automatically solve the budget shortfall, but will put the state a step closer to closing the gap. When Gary Dahl stopped doing the scholarship program, he estimated the program to cost over 12 million dollars. Rezin says Illinois universities are using left with the burden to cover the scholarship costs when the state never reimburses them.