Relay for Life Team planning a Black Friday fundraiser

As you carefully draft a black Friday strategy, make time for coffee and donuts.

Team ODAAT of Relay For Life of Upper Illinois Valley plans to be up early Friday with two mobile coffee units near the popular stores in Peru.  They’ll be serving donuts and freshly-brewed McDonald’s coffee for a suggested donation in the parking lots of K-Mart and Rural King from 2 AM through 6 AM.

Peru ready for new ward map

The neighborhoods in Peru have grown and changed and it’s left some wards more populated than others.  By law, there can’t be more than a 10% fluctuation between wards.  The law also says a precinct shouldn’t be divided between two or more wards.

And with that, Peru must remap.  To do so, the city council has hired Bruce Harris and Associates, the company that helped La Salle County draw new county board districts.

Mayor Scott Harl says the company will give them a couple of options and the city council will decide on the map.

Harl says if an alderman is drawn out of their ward, they’ll finish their term as an alderman at large and would have to run for re-election in their new ward.

State gets USDA grant

Illinois and five other Mississippi River states are getting more than $6 million in rural health care grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the grant for $520,000 to Illinois on Friday.

water pump…….hacked?

Homeland Security authorities say they’re investigating the failure of a water pump near the capital city of Illinois. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman wouldn’t comment yesterday on media reports that the failure was the result of foreign hackers. A trustee for the Curran-Gardner Township Public Water District outside Springfield says there was no interruption in service to its 2,200 rural customers when the pump failed this month.

tons of food collected

Forty-five hundred pounds of canned and boxed food was collected Saturday at our fifth annual “Fill the Mayflower” at Hy-Vee in Peru. While the Illinois Valley Food Pantry was distributing their Thanksgiving food, LaSalle County Broadcasting – AM 1220 WLPO, 99-3 WAJK and 96-5 The Wolf – was helping the pantry with the next holiday. LaSalle Troop 20, Peru Troop 123 and the Peru Pouncing Panthers 4-H club helped load trucks provided by Stevenson Transfer. The YMCA was sponsor. A donation of 500 dollars in food was made by one individual. Even the St. Ambrose Ladies basketball team helped.

rollover in Putnam County?

The Putnam County Sheriff’s office is not releasing details on what’s believed to have been a rollover accident on Route 89 near Mid-American Growers Saturday evening. A caller to AM 1220 WLPO said she was routed on to another road from Route 89 around 6pm Saturday. The caller claimed to have heard police speaking about the incident.