Bible school students donate to Hall Food Pantry

A bowl of cereal in the morning is all you want for breakfast when you’re a kid.  Children whose families receive help from the Hall Township Food Pantry will be getting a special box of cereal thanks to the kids at the Spring Valley Central Church of Christ’s Vacation Bible School.

Students were asked to donate a box of their favorite cereal.  Reverend Chuck Maney delivered over 60 boxes of cereal to the Hall Township Food Pantry this week.

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Man faces harrassment and cyber stalking charges

You probably know somebody who bothers you online, but man is accused of taking it a step too far.  Jerome Kennedy of Peru was arrested Thursday morning for violating an order of protection, cyber stalking and harassment by electronic communication.

He was taken to the LaSalle County Jail.

Fireworks at Baker Lake not impossible but there are safety concerns

If you’ve become a fan of watching Peru’s fireworks along the Illinois Riverfront, you’ll be able to enjoy it for at least another summer.

A company that does fireworks displays scoped out Baker Lake in Peru Thursday to see if they could hold the fireworks there instead of at Water Street.

Since the July 3 fireworks, Alderman Rodney Perez has been asking city officials to look for ways to make the evening more family friendly and less like a beer garden.

While Pyro Tech thought they could hold the display at the lake, they have some safety concerns.  City officials have agreed to keep the fireworks on the riverfront for next year.  Perez says he’ll see if he can get the CSO to move their beer garden.  They’ll also go out for bids for a pyrotechnics company.

Six injured during crash in Peru

Turning onto Intestate 80 from Route 251 in Peru can be confusing especially with the different sets of stoplights.  That intersection was the site of an accident that sent six people to Illinois Valley Community Hospital late Friday morning.

Police say someone was heading south with the green light when someone turning onto the I-80 westbound ramp pulled out in front of them.

Charles Bruno of Spring Valley was given a ticket for not yielding.

As of late Friday afternoon, only two people were still being treated.

Trial For Ottawa Murder Could Be Delayed

A murder trial in Ottawa could be pushed back.

Attorneys for Jamie Lomeli of Ottawa, Louis Lomeli of Sheridan and Joshua Ward of Ottawa are asking a judge to push back their murder trial from the scheduled date of August 8^th.  The public defender for Jason Ward of Ottawa hasn’t asked for a delay but is requesting his client’s trial to be split from the others.

The Wards and Lomelli’s are accused of killing 30-year old Darrio Hunter of Ottawa back on May 2^nd.  Prosecutors say Hunter died of blunt force trauma to the head after being lured to Jamie Lomeli’s home for a drug deal.

Thursday is the next hearing in the case.

Toll Costs On The Rise

CHICAGO (AP) – Tolls could be going up next year.

Officials announced Thursday a plan to increase tolls to pay for a $12 billion project to repair and expand Chicago-area
expressways. Tolls would increase from 80 cents to $1.50 for cash-paying vehicles. For I-Pass users, tolls would rise from 40 cents to 75 cents. The Tollways wants the rates to take effect Jan. 1.

Public hearings will be held next month and the tollway board could vote on the plan Aug. 25.

Fallout Continues After Detasseling Deaths

In response to detasseling deaths of two teenagers from Sterling, Monsanto is changing its ways.

Corporate Spokesman Tom Heschler says irrigation systems in Monsanto fields are now required to be unplugged and turned off, and the irrigator itself moved out of the detasseling area.  Heschler says this needs to be done before workers get into the field.

While the deaths of 14-year olds Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall are still under investigation, Monsanto officials think the irrigator was hit by lightning the night before Garza and Kendall were killed.  Heschler calls it “unprecedented and tragic”.

Storms Cause Power Outages

CHICAGO (AP) – Overnight thunderstorms left some ComEd customers without power in northern Illinois. About 19,000 ComEd customers woke  up to no electricity today.

The majority of the problems were in Chicago, with about 11,500 outages. Northern suburbs saw 3,600 outages and southern suburbs had 3,500. Rainfall overnight flooded some roads and viaducts. It also boosted the total monthly rain recorded at O’Hare International Airport to 10.45 inches.

That makes this July the eighth wettest month ever in Chicago.