Quinn proclaims day of mourning for Connecticut

CHICAGO (AP) – Gov. Pat Quinn has proclaimed Friday as a “Day of Mourning” in Illinois for the victims of last week’s Connecticut school shooting.

A gunman opened fire in a Newtown, Conn., elementary school on Dec. 14 killing 26 people, including 20 children. Quinn issued a proclamation Thursday with all the victims’ names from Sandy Hook Elementary School. He wants Illinoisans to observe the day with a moment of silence at 8:30 a.m.

The governor also asks organizations to ring bells 26 times in honor of each victim.

Winter storm brings strong winds and power outages

It could be a cold night for hundreds of homes in Bureau County that are without power.  Ameren and Corn Belt Energy Thursday night were reporting power outages in Buda, Sheffield, Wyanet, Manlius and neighboring towns.  Corn Belt says they have crews out trying to restore power but that they’re also relying on Ameren transmission feeds.

More outages are reported in southwestern Illinois and Peoria areas.

If you find yourself without heat tonight, Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru is offering their cafeteria as a warming center overnight.

 

Blizzard warning issued until midnight

It will be a good night for staying home.  A blizzard warning replaces the winter storm warning according to the National Weather Service.    Rain will change to snow Thursday afternoon.  The snow could be heavy at times.  Snow accumulations are expected to be between 3 to 7 inches by Friday morning.  There’s the possibility of gusts up to 60 miles per hour.   The blizzard warning is in place through midnight.

Hall Moves Closer To New High School

The school board at Hall continues to push towards a new high school.

According to the NewsTribune, board members last night voted to allow their architect to proceed with the schematic plan stage of a new high school.  This will give a closer look at the designs of individual classrooms as well as heating and plumbing plans.

There still are important votes before a new high school could open as hoped in 2015.  First, state lawmakers have to approve a bill expanding Hall’s borrowing capacity.  After that, the board will decide whether or not to put a referendum on the April ballot asking for 32 million dollars.

To soften the blow to taxpayers, the Hall School Board is going after grant money to use towards the cost of a new school.

L-P Administrators Get New Contracts

Some job security for the people in charge of L-P High School.

The L-P School Board last night agreed to a new five-year contract for Superintendent Steve Wrobleski and a four and a half year contract for Principal Deb Nelson.

Nelson announced last year that she will retire after the 2016-2017 school year.

Memorial Held For Crew Killed In Lee County Crash

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) – Hundreds of mourners gathered to remember a pilot and two nurses killed in a medical helicopter crash near Compton in Lee County.

The memorial was yesterday at Rock Valley College in Rockford for 65-year-old pilot Andy Olesen and nurses, 48-year-old Karen Hollis and 40-year-old Jim Dillow. The three died Dec. 10 when the helicopter crashed in a field after encountering bad weather. The pilot and nurses were headed back to the hangar after abandoning a trip to retrieve a patient at Mendota Community Hospital.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey told mourners the three are heroes and “will be remembered.” Three white flight helmets stood as a memorial.

Escaped Chicago Convicts Still On The Loose

CHICAGO (AP) – This week’s daring escape from a downtown Chicago jail bore striking similarities to the last time anyone broke out of the high-rise facility, nearly three decades ago.

In that 1985 escape, two convicted murderers broke their cell window and shimmied down the side of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. They had a car waiting to take them to Milwaukee.

Investigators say convicted bank robbers Kenneth Conley and Joseph Banks also broke a window before using a rope made of bed sheets to rappel about 20 stories down the building on Tuesday. The FBI says surveillance footage shows they then caught a cab. They had changed out of their orange jail-issued jumpsuits.

The manhunt for Conley and Banks has expanded, and the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward. Their whereabouts remained unknown early Thursday.

Snow and wind making roads dangerous

Strong winds were causing just as many problems for drivers as the snow, at least around the Illinois Valley.  A person with the La Salle County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday that they hadn’t had a lot of accident, just alarm calls likely triggered by the wind.

In Putnam County they had several places were branches were down on the roadway.

IDOT considered the Interstates and secondary highways to be patchy with ice and snow if not snow covered.