Area Kmarts and Sears stores to remain open

You’ll still be able to go shopping at the Kmart and Sears stores in Peru.  Sears Holdings Corporation Thursday unveiled the list of stores that will close and none of them are in Illinois.

The company is blaming the closures on poor holiday sales. Sears Holdings had reached an agreement with Illinois lawmakers to keep its headquarters in Illinois.

Sears will receive 15 million dollars in tax breaks during the next 10 years. The tax breaks depend on the company’s ability to maintain more than 4200  jobs at the Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates.

“Hometown Hero” receives $5,000 check

A few friends and Illinois Valley Animal Rescue Volunteers watched as a Peru woman who’s dedicated a lot of her life to strays received some compensation for her work.

Chris Ellberg was recently named the Culver’s Hometown Hero, receiving the most votes out of 1000 people nationwide.  Culver’s CEO and co-founder Craig Culver was at the Peru restaurant Thursday morning to thank her and present her with a $5,000 check.

Ellberg says she’s using the money to replace the van she uses when rescuing dogs.  She says she was looking at cars Thursday morning.

Ellberg was nominated by IVAR volunteer Tricia Gray.  Owners of the Peru Culver’s, Bob and Marisha Maier also expressed their thanks for the work Ellberg does.

Driver Busted For Heroin In Ottawa

If you’re driving under the influence, it’s probably not great idea to have the flashers on.

Ottawa Police went to check on a car with its flashers on that was allegedly drifting on and off Interstate 80 late last night. They ended up arrested Ryan Frantz of Dahinda for unlawful possession of a controlled substance and DUI of drugs. He’s accused of having heroin.

Frantz was taken to the county jail.

New State Law Affects La Salle Veterans Home

Beds at the La Salle Veteran’s Home could be filled by non-veterans under a new state law.

Both the House and Senate unanimously passed a bill that says any natural parent or spouse of a veteran killed in the line of duty that has lived in Illinois for at least a year before applying to a veteran’s home can be admitted if there are vacant beds. These survivors are called Gold Star Families.

The bill does say that veterans will still get priority if there are vacancies.

Fire Breaks Out In Streator

A fire broke out last night at an abandoned home on the south side of Streator.

Firefighters went to a home in the 300 block of South Park Street just after 5:30 last evening.  The fire was contained to the basement area although there was smoke damage throughout.  No one was injured.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office was called in to help investigate a cause of the fire.