Wallace Academic Team heads to state tournament

A local grade school is backing their academic team as they prepare for the state scholastic bowl tournament.  Wallace School’s academic team is one of only two public schools in the Elite 8 state class A competition.

They have a team record of 65-6 and are coached by Bill Keene.  They will compete Friday afternoon at the Peoria Civic Center.

Oglesby reminds dog owners to renew tags

          Is your dog’s tag current?  In Oglesby, all dogs six months or older are required to be registered with city hall.  To get a tag for your dog, you’ll need to show proof of a current rabies vaccination and pay $5.  The tag fee increases to $10 after July 1.

          The city has arranged a vaccination clinic with McNabb Veterinary’s mobile clinic on Saturday, May 18 at McPhedran Park.  Fees vary.

Mushroom hunting festival returns to Ottawa

          The hunt will be on for morel mushrooms this weekend in Ottawa.

          The 3^rd Annual Midwest Morel Festival runs Friday and Saturday.  The festival will include a championship hunt, morel auction, an educational class on the do’s and don’ts of morel hunting along with a farmers market in downtown Ottawa.

          Tom Naumann of Morel Mania says the outlook is good for mushroom hunting.   There are cash prizes for the top hunters.  The hunt on Saturday will be at an undisclosed spot outside Ottawa.  It’s Ottawa to anyone.

          To sign up for the morel hunt this Saturday, call the Ottawa Visitor’s Center. 

 Learn more by listening to an interview with Naumann at the AM 1220 WLPO news page.

Power outage closes IVCC and LPHS

Power outages were causing problems in La Salle and Oglesby Wednesday morning.  The outages started just before 9:30am as workers with Ameren were switching operations back to normal at the La Salle substation.  Leigh Morris with Ameren says as they were doing that a circuit breaker opened and caused the outage.

Homes and businesses in Oglesby and La Salle were affected.

So was Flint Hills Resources in Peru.  Plant spokesman Jake Reint says the plant experienced a power surge and then an outage.  He says that caused one of the processing units shut down and discharged styrene into a containment area.  He says they didn’t believe there was a risk to the public.  As of noon, the plant was still down.

The power outage and odor of the styrene caused LP High School and Jackson School preschool to be cancelled for the rest of the day.

Illinois Valley Community College also cancelled the rest of the day and night classes at the Oglesby campus due to the power outage.  The Ottawa Center remained open.

Gas Prices Go Up Across The Illinois Valley

Apparently April showers bring rising May gas prices.

As the calendar turned, many gas station employees were changing their price of unleaded gas from $3.49 a gallon to $3.69 a gallon in the Illinois Valley.  According to GasBuddy.com, the cheapest gas in the area right now is in places like Marseilles, Grand Ridge and Ottawa where it’s selling for just over $3.60 a gallon.

Illinois’ average of $4.04 a gallon is nearly 50 cents higher than the national average.