Power restored to customers in Marshall, Putnam and Bureau Counties

The power is back on to homes in Henry, Bradford and surrounding towns.

Leigh Morris with Ameren Illinois says a rack on a utility pole broke, causing wires to fall onto other wires Monday afternoon.

At the height of the outage more than 1000 customers were affected.

Jewel in Peru closing

75 jobs are being lost in Peru.  The grocery store Jewel is going out of business.  Employees were told about it Monday morning.

Peru Mayor Scott Harl says he heard about the possibility of it closing about a month ago.

Harl says city officials are trying to contact the building owners to see what they plan on doing.  He sees it as a valuable corner and would hope it’s not vacant long.

Mike Siemienas with Supervalu, Jewel’s parent company, says it was a difficult decision but had to be done for the strength of the company.

The last day it will be open is March 2.

The store was an Eagle Country Market for many years before the chain closed in the mid 2000’s.  It later reopened as a Jewel.

Local republicans tapped for Manzullo campaign

The upcoming congressional primary race could leave you with a new representative in Washington D.C.  The redrawn district has Republican Congressman Don Manzullo running in La Salle and Bureau Counties, areas that are new to his district.

He has is picked a few experienced Republicans to help his northern Illinois campaign.  The group includes former LaSalle County GOP Chairmen Frank Kobilsek and Patricia Wagner.   Also included are Bureau-La Salle Tea Party organizers Art Havenhill and Christine Arndt.

Manzullo faces Congressman Adam Kinzinger in the spring primary election.

Two People Displaced After Princeton Fire

A fire broke out above a hair salon in Princeton.

Firefighters were called out to Oh La La’s Salon on North Main Street.  Crews say intense smoke was coming from the attic of the two-story building.  They had the fire under control in about 25 minutes.

Fire Chief John Petrakis says they contained the fire and smoke damage to the attic with some water damage on the first floor.  Two people who lived on the second floor had to stay with family.  No one was home at the time of the fire.

Petrakis says the fire looks accidental.  A stretch of North Main Street near the fire was closed for nearly three hours.

Double Murder Trial Could Finally Happen

While you’ve heard this before, it seems like an accused double-murderer from Seneca is finally set to stand trial.

After a hearing Friday in Ottawa, Judge H. Chris Ryan kept a February 6^th trial date for Keith Mackowiak.  During the hearing, Mackowiak talked about wanting to fire his Joliet attorney and defend himself.  He later changed his mind.  Mackowiak has changed his mind a lot since being arrested including the time he wanted to just plead guilty to murder.

Mackowiak has been in the La Salle County Jail since July 2007 after he was arrested for the beating deaths of Al and Catherine Twardowski in Seneca.  Prosecutors think it was a burglary gone wrong.

Mackowiak initially faced the death penalty until Governor Pat Quinn did away with it.  He now faces life in prison.

Area Inmate’s Death Is Under Scrutiny

The death of a 71-year-old inmate at Kendall County Jail is under investigation.

Jailers found the body of Ronald Brown of Newark around 5 p.m. on Friday. He was in his holding cell. Brown had been in custody since Dec. 22.

There were no other inmates in the cell and foul play isn’t  suspected.

New Ottawa School Unveiled To Public

There were a lot of bumps along the way but the new Central Intermediate School in Ottawa has been officially dedicated.

A large crowd turned out yesterday for the official dedication and public open house at the new 5^th thru 6^th grade school on the south end of town.  Ottawa Elementary Superintendent Cleave Threadgill and Ottawa Mayor Bob Eschbach were among those giving speeches.

The $25 million dollar school was finished in December.  The old Central School was flooded out in September of 2008 and later condemned.  Since then, students went to classes at other district buildings, a church and an old Walmart.

Pair Of Oglesby Companies Not Happy About Tax Assessment

A couple major employers in Oglesby think they’re paying too much in taxes.

Badge-A-Minit and Wire Mesh Corporation are asking to have their property tax assessments lowered.  The Oglesby City Council will talk about their requests at a working meeting today at 5:30.

Also at the meeting, councilmen will talk about DNR work at LeHigh Park, have an electronic waste recycling update and talk about home delivery of liquor licenses.