Big Decision Looming For Dwight Correctional Center

An important vote on the future of the Dwight Correctional Center will happen next week.

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability will vote next Tuesday in Springfield on the proposed closure of the Dwight prison.  The commission’s recommendation is non-binding so Governor Quinn and lawmakers don’t have to agree with the recommendation.

The state commission will also vote on closing Tamms Correctional Center, Illinois Youth Center at Joliet, and Peoria Adult Transition Center.

Notre Dame faculty want bishop to renounce remarks

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – More than 130 University of Notre Dame faculty members have signed a letter saying the Catholic bishop of Peoria, Ill., should renounce remarks comparing the policies of the Obama administration to those of Hitler and Stalin or resign from Notre Dame’s board of trustees and board of fellows.

The South Bend Tribune reported Wednesday the letter to Notre Dame’s president and the trustees chairman urges them to distance Notre Dame from the remarks earlier this month by Most Rev. Daniel Jenky.

A university spokesman says it doesn’t comment on the personal views of board members other than to say they don’t necessarily reflect those of the university.

An aide to Jenky has said he was offering historical context and comparisons to prevent a repetition of historical attacks upon religions.

Musical review scheduled for Prairie Arts Center

Add a little song and dance to your weekend with a musical review at the Prairie Arts Center in Princeton.  “On the Corner of 42^nd Street and Memory Lane,” includes numbers from “Cinderella,” “The Sound of Music,” and “Oliver!”.

Performances are at 7:30pm Saturday and at 3pm Sunday. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

La Salle agrees to three-year contract with ambulance service

It’s been a little more than a year since the City of La Salle hired a company to staff an ambulance service ran by the La Salle Fire Department.  So far so good if you ask Fire Chief Andy Bacidore and members of the city council.

Paramedic Services of Illinois has been resigned to staff the ambulance with six paramedics.  A three year contract was approved Tuesday night.

The city will pay $351,000 for the service in year one, $362,000 in year two and $373,000 in year three.

PSI also handles billing for ambulance calls.

Some Claim Cult Has Moved Into Princeton

An old nursing home in Bureau County is now home to a controversial religious group that some call a cult.

Love Holy Trinity Blessed Mission bought the old Orchard View Rehab and Healthcare building just west of Princeton.  When the county owned it is was called Prairie View Nursing Home.

Love Holy Trinity is based in Chicago and with ties to Madison, Wisconsin and Dubuque, Iowa.  In Dubuque, they came under fire after a girl left her family right before starting college to move into the mission’s convent in Chicago.  That prompted the Dubuque archbishop to tell Catholics not to associate with the group because he thought the girl didn’t move on her own freewill.

Dioceses of Madison and Rockford have also told church-goers not to associate with Love Holy Trinity.  In 2005, Chicago Cardinal Archbishop Francis George banned the group from meeting in Archdiocesan facilities.

A message left with the religious group hasn’t been returned to AM 1220 WLPO.

Gun range hearing to resume Monday

Even the court system has sick days.  After the lead attorney for the Buffalo Range Shooting Park called in sick Wednesday, the hearing on the controversial gun range was postponed until Monday.  Before the lawyer was sick, it was expected the defense would call its final witnesses Wednesday.  The state rested its case Tuesday.

Testimony about a state injunction keeping the gun range closed has been going since earlier this month.  The state claims stray bullets from the range have just missed hitting several people at either Buffalo Rock State Park or along the I&M Canal trail.  Officials with the gun range say the errant bullets are coming from somewhere else.

Peterson Tells Ottawa Court He’s Ready For Trial

CHICAGO (AP) – Drew Peterson is ready to go to trial.

Joel Brodsky, Drew Peterson’s attorney, says the defense has  told the Third District Appellate Court in Ottawa they won’t fight  a recent higher court ruling allowing prosecutors to use previously  excluded hearsay statements.  Legal wrangling over the statements from Peterson’s drowned ex-wife Kathleen Savio and missing fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, has postponed Peterson’s trial for nearly two years

The jailed Peterson was charged with killing Savio in 2004 after his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, disappeared in 2007.