“Taste of Home” returns to LPHS

Tired of cooking the same old meals?  You’ll learn 10 new recipes during the Taste of Home Fall Recipe Show Saturday at LP High School.

Guy Klinzing, a Taste of Home Cooking School chef, will walk you through the recipes step-by-step while cooking them onstage in the auditorium.

Doors open at 11am with the show at 2pm.  Many area businesses will have booths set up. General seating tickets are $12 and are available at the door.  A dollar from each ticket will be donated to the Illinois Valley United Way.

The Taste of Home Cooking School is sponsored by Miller Group Media with includes AM 1220 WLPO, 96.5 the Wolf, 99.3 WAJK, The Newstribune, Agrinews and Ottawa Delivered.

Oglesby and La Salle announce leaf vac schedules

It’s a good weekend to start raking your leaves.  Leaf vac services begin Monday in La Salle and Oglesby.

In Oglesby, rake leaves to the curb but not onto the street and make sure that leaves aren’t mixed with trash.  The vac will be around Monday-Friday depending on where you live in the city.   The service will continue through November 17.

Crews in La Salle will be out with the leaf vac Monday through Friday.  To have your leaves picked up by the vac, rake them to the curb but not into the street and make sure it’s free of garbage and sticks.

If you normally have your garbage picked up on Mondays, the leaf vac will be by on Tuesday and Wednesday.  If you have your garbage picked up on Tuesdays, the leaf vac will be by on Monday.  If you’re a Wednesday route, the leaf vac will be by on Thursday and if you have your garbage collected on Thursdays, the leaf vac will be by on Friday.

Streator Murder Trial Delayed Again

There’s a new retrial date involving a Streator murder case.

44 year old James Alvarado of Streator will have his retrial start January 23rd.  He was supposed to head to trial October 24^th but his attorney Louis Bertrand asked for more time this week and Judge H. Chris Ryan said okay.

Alvarado was originally convicted of gunning down his wife Angela inside their Streator house back in 2007 after finding out about an alleged affair she was having.  However the appellate court in Ottawa ruled last year that a witness statement was wrongly declared hearsay so he was given a retrial.  He’s being held in the La Salle County Jail needing 100 thousand dollars for bond.

Alvarado was originally sentenced to 45 years for the murder.

Police Chief Defends His Officer

Whenever an animal is shot and killed by a police officer, there’s bound to be critics.

Ottawa Police Chief Brian Zeilmann says he’s gotten some calls from a pit bull group questioning why an officer gunned down a pit bull Tuesday afternoon.  The chief says there was nothing left to do but shoot the pit bull since it showed no signs of getting off another dog and had already bitten that dog’s owner.

Zeilmann says the case has been turned over to the State’s Attorney’s Office but he’s not sure the pit bull owner will be charged with anything.  The pit bull owner told police the dog was in a fenced in yard and on a leash but somehow got off the leash and dug a hole under the fence to get loose.

Check Out Fall Colors This Weekend In Utica

The leaves are changing, and you can see just how much at Starved Rock State Park.

The annual Fall Colors Weekend is this Saturday and Sunday.  Guided hikes of the park to see the colors are nine and one o’clock both today and tomorrow, leaving from the park visitor’s center.  You have the option of going on hikes of different distances.

Kathy Casstevens-Jasiek is marketing director at Starved Rock Lodge.  She says leaves are changing more everyday.

If you go to Starved Rock this weekend, be prepared for crowds.  Casstevens-Jasiek says 77 thousand people stopped at the park during Burgoo last weekend.