I-39 wrong way fatal

An elderly Ohio state man died Friday night the result of two collisions while driving northbound in the southbound lanes of I-39. The names of those involved have yet to be released. Details from County Coroner Jody Bernard indicated state police were first notified by several phone calls of a vehicle entering the southbound lanes of I-39 near Tonica. That vehicle may have traveled some twelve miles northward in the southbound lanes of I-39 before colliding with two vehicles carrying students bound for spring break. The first vehicles four occupants were taken to IVCH, however, those in the second vehicle received no serious injuries. Illinois State Police District 17, their reconstructionist and the County Coroner Continue to investigate.

Local Stretch Of Vermilion Officially Back Open

DNR Director Marc Miller gave the official thumbs Saturday morning to open up to public recreation a nearly three mile stretch of the Vermilion River in Oglesby.  Miller called the agreement with Buzzi Unicem to get the river back open “innovative and unprecedented”.

The state spent around 200 thousand dollars on safety repairs especially in the area of a low head dam where Buzzi ran into liability issues after rafters died.  There is still a 180 foot buffer upstream from the dam and 45 feet downstream from the dam where it’s considered trespassing.

Today’s reopening ceremony was held at Vermillion River Rafting, a business hit hard by the closure.  Owner Bob Herbst thanked Miller and State Representative Frank Mautino for spearheading the deal and promised to be as good a neighbor as he can be.

Fatal Crash Shuts Down Stretch Of Interstate 39

At least one person was killed in a late night crash on Interstate 39.

Police and ambulance crews responded to an apparent head-on collision a couple miles north of the I-39 and I-80 intersection.  State Police are confirming there was at least one death and among other injuries including people having to be extricated from their vehicle.

Traffic was taken rerouted off I-39 for several minutes.

Illinois Lotto Website Crashed During Mega Millions Hysteria

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The Illinois lottery website stopped working for 25 minutes during sales for a record high $640 million jackpot.

Liz Leonard is the spokeswoman for the Northstar Lottery Group that runs the lottery. She says technicians were working on another area of the site which caused the problems. The website was down from about 3:30 p.m. to 3:55 p.m.

There was a notice telling visitors about the technical issues and to check back shortly.

Mega Millions Winner Sold In Illinois

CHICAGO (AP) – The spokesman for the Illinois lottery says three tickets have split the record $640 million Mega Millions jackpot.

Mike Lang says the winning tickets were in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. He says the Illinois winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis. The Maryland lottery announced earlier its winner was from Baltimore County. No details have been released on the winning ticket in Kansas.

Lang says each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes.