Ongoing construction to affect traffic in Oglesby Wednesday

A couple blocks of Oglesby streets will be closed Wednesday because of ongoing construction.

Starting at 7am, a stretch of West 1^st Street and South Kenosha Avenue to South Columbia Avenue will be closed as Ameren makes upgrades.  The work is part of a larger four corners project by IDOT.

Crews hope the closure only lasts a day.

 

La Salle area families could be affected by Catholic Charities legal battle

Catholic Charities wants the state to give them an exemption when it comes to allowing same-sex and unmarried couples adopting or becoming foster parents.

Celeste Matheson Director is the Director of Advancement with Catholic Charities in Peoria.  She says their La Salle office serves 138 children and has worked with closely with 100 biological parents taking parenting courses.  More homes are under their supervision.

A circuit judge Tuesday sided with the charity, allowing a preliminary injunction after the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said they would end contracts with the agency.

Matheson says they risk loosing state funding for their adoption and foster care programs.  Cases would be transitioned to a different agency.  That was the case in the Rockford area, where the Catholic Diocese of Rockford decided to get out of foster care and adoption services.  Their cases were being reassigned to the Youth Service Bureau in Ottawa.

Explosives Scare In Rural La Salle County

People living near Ransom found an unexpected surprise when cleaning out an old building they planned to tear down.

Investigators say homeowners found eight cases of blasting caps and one case of dynamite.  The La Salle County Sheriff’s Office, Kane County Bomb and Arson team along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms rushed to the scene Monday night and rendered the explosives to be safe.

Several fire departments were on standby at the scene and ComEd cut power until the area was declared safe.

Motorcyclist From Ottawa Remains In Critical Condition

A man from Ottawa is still in critical condition after a motorcycle crash at Starved Rock.

Conservation Police say Micah Towne was passing a car on the curves Saturday afternoon when he was hit head-on by an SUV driven by Nancy Cochran of Ottawa.  Towne was flown to Peoria while Cochran wasn’t hurt.

Investigators say Towne wasn’t wearing a helmet.  No tickets were issued.