Emergency rail crossing repair will affect Route 23 traffic

Traffic could be a little messy in Ottawa Saturday morning.  Southbound Route 23 or Columbus Street will be closed so crews can fix a broken rail at the at the Illinois Railway crossing.

The emergency repair work will begin at 7am.  Southbound traffic will be moved to a lane of northbound Route 23.  Be careful and expect to wait if you take Route 23 or if you can, take a different route.

EEOC tosses out IVCC dicrimination complaint

“A lack of evidence” has Illinois Valley Community College off the hook for a gender discrimination complaint.  The college received word Thursday that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had dismissed the suit.

College President Jerry Corcoran says that they maintained from the beginning that they did nothing wrong and now their position has been vindicated.

The complaint was filed last May by a former part-time security worker.  It was about the same time that college officials decided to fire their security staff and hire a private company for security.

Absentee Voting A Hit So Far In La Salle County

Absentee voting has been going for a week in La Salle County and “it’s steady” according to County Clerk JoAnne Caretto.

Caretto says 720 absentee ballots have either been turned in or mailed out since last Thursday.  Of those 720 votes, 190 were people voting absentee at the clerk’s office.  Also included in the absentee count are requested overseas and military ballots.

Caretto says absentee voting is well above the pace of the March Primary and on pace with the turnout in the 2008 presidential election.

U.S. Unemployment At Lowest Level In Almost Four Years

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. unemployment rate has fallen below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years.

The Labor Department says employers added 114,000 jobs in September, while the jobless rate fell to 7.8 percent last month as more people found work. The department also revised the numbers for July and August, saying the economy added 86,000 more jobs than first estimated.

Wages rose in September and more people started looking for work.

Illinois Involved In Meningitis Outbreak

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois is among 23 states that received shipments of a steroid linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak.

The Illinois Department of Public Health says there are no illnesses reported in the state. Elsewhere, about 35 people have been sickened and some have died. All received steroid injections, mostly for back pain, a fairly typical treatment. The drug was made by a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts that issued a recall last week and has shut down operations.

The type of meningitis involved is not contagious like the more common forms. This type is caused by a fungus often found in leaf mold.