Former Bureau County nursing home scheduled to close

A nursing home once owned and operated by Bureau County will be closing because it’s losing money.  People living at Orchard View Rehab and Health Care Center have been told they’ll need to relocate.

The Bureau County Board decided in 2006 to sell the former Prairie View Nursing Home to Peterson Health Care for $1.8 million.  At the time, county officials said the home had become a financial drain.

Cindy White is the vice president of Peterson Health Care.  She says the company has loss over $3.3 millions since buying the home and they haven’t been able to make it financially viable.

A closing date has yet to be set.  Employees are being given the chance to transfer to other nursing homes with openings.  They say their relocation team is working with the affected families.

Ottawa And Streator Reverends Leaving Their Parish

There’s a major shakeup happening with Catholic Church leadership in Streator and Ottawa.

The Reverend John Prendergast of St. Michael the Archangel Church in Streator is leaving to become pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Washington.  Reverend Phillip Halfacre of St. Patrick’s in Ottawa will leave his job and fill Prendergast’s spot in Streator.  The changes take effect June 15^th.

In a church bulletin, Prendergast says he first approached Bishop Jenky in 2007 about being reassigned.  With the church consolidation done, Prendergast says it’s time for a new pastor in Streator.  He says Halfacre had asked Bishop Jenky to be assigned to St. Michael’s whenever it became available.

The bulletin didn’t talk about who will replace Halfacre in Ottawa.

Crash Sends Two Ottawa Women To Hospital

Two women were hurt in a crash Thursday morning in downtown Ottawa.

Priscilla Hartwig of Ottawa was southbound on La Salle Street when she crashed into Florence Veasy also of Ottawa.  The impact of that crash sent Veasy into a car driven by Amber Norman of Ottawa.  Traffic was rerouted for a short time after the crash.

Hartwig and Veasy were both taken to Ottawa Regional Hospital for minor injuries.  Hartwig was ticketed for disobeying a traffic control device and driving without proper insurance.

State Jobless Rate Falls Again

CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois’ unemployment rate fell to 8.7 percent in April, improving for the 15th consecutive month.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security released the new figures on Thursday. The April rate was down one-tenth of a percentage point from March and is the lowest jobless rate since February 2009, when it
was 8.6 percent.

Illinois added 9,900 jobs in April but there still were 575,300 Illinoisans without jobs. The national unemployment rate for April was up slightly, to 9 percent.

Local Theater Group Battles Back From Devastating Storm

A little over two weeks from the one-year anniversary of a tornado, the theater scene is back in Streator.

Marking their comeback from the June 5^th storm that damaged the Engle Lane Theater, Community Players of Streator present “Pop!”,  a variety show paying tribute to the 50s, 60s and 70s.  “Pop!” opens Sunday with a 2pm matinee.  There will then be 7:30 performances next Monday thru Saturday.

The play is directed by Doug Bartelt of Streator.  The cast of 30 has people from Streator, La Salle, Long Point, Ottawa, Peru and Toluca.

Tickets to “Pop!” will be available at the theater.

Ottawa Police Start School Supply Drive

With another school year nearly in the books, time to look ahead to next semester.

The Ottawa Police Benevolent & Protective Association has started its annual fundraising effort for their “Back to School Shopping Project”.  The officers each year take needy children to a local store in August and buy them school supplies.  The charity last year helped over 100 kids from 60 families.

If you can donate to the fundraiser, call Officer Brendan Donahue at Shepherd Middle School in Ottawa.