Officials investigating Illinois reactor shutdown

CHICAGO (AP) – Exelon Energy officials say they’ve traced a power failure at a nuclear reactor in northern Illinois to an electrical insulator in a switchyard.

Spokesman Paul Dempsey says the insulator failed and fell off Monday morning, causing one of the reactors at the Byron Generating Station to shut down automatically.

He says the bad insulator will be sent to a lab for analysis and officials hope to replace it by Tuesday evening. It’s unclear how soon before the reactor could return to service.

Steam containing low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, is being vented to reduce pressure within the reactor. But federal and plant officials say the levels are safe for workers and the public.

Peru to consider more night-time committee meetings

A lot of the decisions made by your city leaders are done at open meetings, but can you make to those meetings?  The Peru City Council meets at 7:30pm on rotating Mondays and Wednesdays.  Many of their committees meet in the morning or during the work day.

Alderman Rodney Perez would like to see that change.

Mayor Scott Harl agrees.  He says he would like to have committees meeting in the evening so people who want to attend them can.  He believes more discussion takes place in the committee meetings.

Harl has asked the aldermen to give it some thoughts and they’ll talk about it again next Wednesday.

Two Companies In Oglesby Fighting Their Taxes

While most property values seem to be going down, that’s apparently not the case for two companies in Oglesby.

The La Salle County Assessor’s Office has raised the assessed value of Bade-A-Minit and Wire Mesh by almost 400 thousand dollars more than they think they’re worth.  The companies are fighting the assessment at hearings February 10^th in Ottawa.

Standing to lose money in the deal, the city of Oglesby is sending its legal counsel Jim Andreoni to the hearing.  Andreoni says the city could hire its own appraiser to look at the two companies but time is running out.

L-P High School and Oglesby Elementary Schools also plan to send representation to the hearings since they’re very interested parties.

Oglesby Debates Home Delivery Of Alcohol

You’ve heard of pizza and sandwich deliveries, but what about alcohol?

Steve Beckcom runs Lil Bella’s Pizza and has now opened up Brady’s Liquors next to the old Golf n’ Pub in downtown Oglesby.  He wants to deliver alcohol from his store to people living in Oglesby and sought out the city council’s permission last evening.

While a few commissioners were fine with the idea, Commissioner Tom Porter says he was stunned by the idea and never heard of an alcohol delivery service.  Police Chief Jim Knoblauch had the same reaction and says he’s against the idea, wondering how they’d be able to monitor who all was getting the alcohol.

The store owner’s say anyone who uses the delivery service have to first come into the store and fill out a form that gives their driver’s license information.  That person has to be the one who then orders the alcohol over the phone and who answers the door when the delivery arrives.

Mayor Don Finley says neither the state nor city has any ordinance banning alcohol delivery.  The council plans on taking up the idea at a future meeting.

Senator Kirk On The Mend

CHICAGO (AP) – Sen. Mark Kirk is continuing to improve after a major stroke and has been upgraded to fair condition.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital neurosurgeon Richard Fessler says Kirk is alert, talking and responding well to questions.

The Chicago hospital released a statement about Kirk’s progress, a little more than a week after he suffered a stroke
that’s affected his left side.

Peru city council talks about insurance agents

Just like you have car, homeowners, and health insurance policies, the City of Peru has group health insurance, liability and causality insurance policies.

To help them handle their insurance policies, the city has been paying Dick Martuzzo of the Duncan Insurance Office to be their consultant.  Martuzzo will stay their consultant for at least another two years.  The city council Monday night agreed to continue paying Martuzzo $650 a month for the work.

The council also agreed to keep Brennan and Stuart as the agent for the group health insurance policy with Blue Cross Blue Shield.  Alderman Rodney Perez was the lone no vote, saying he thought they should go with Jackson Kahl in Peru instead.

The city council can switch agents anytime they want and it wouldn’t change what they’re paying.