Demolition scheduled to begin Monday at former gas manufacturing plant

A building that’s been south of downtown La Salle for more than 100 years is scheduled to start coming down Monday.  The former manufactured gas plant is between Canal Road and the I and M Canal.  Years ago it was used to turn coal into gas.

Ameren doesn’t own the land but is responsible for the removal of the ground contamination.  Since October, workers have been removing coal tar from the ground and asbestos from the building.

The old brick building is coming down and its basement removed and backfilled with clean clay.  The air is being monitored for benzene.  The demolition will take several weeks.

Health insurance and new fire truck are on the Peru City Council agenda

From fire trucks to pickelball, the Peru City Council has a lot on the agenda for Monday night. 

The city’s new fire truck is ready but it’s costing about four thousand dollars more than what they originally thought.  The council could agree to take out a six and a half year loan for $530,000.

The council could also agree on a new employee health insurance plan.  Rates are increasing.

And the council could agree to spend up to $8,000 to change the tennis court at Sunset Park into a pickelball court.  The pickelball court at 28^th Street park is being returned to a tennis court after a couple of years of neighbors complaining.

The Peru City Council meets at 7:30pm.

Tornado impact is still being felt

A seventh person has died from injuries from the recent tornadoes in Illinois.
 
     Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll says 82-year-old Rosamund Allison of the north-central Illinois community of Washington died Thursday at a Peoria hospital.
 
     Relatives told reporters she’d been injured when winds pulled her from her home and dropped debris on her.
 
     The National Weather Service says two dozen tornadoes hit the state on November 17th. More than 2,400 homes were damaged or destroyed. The tornado that hit the community of Washington stayed on the ground for more than 46 miles.

ACA apparently helping high meds cost

Thousands of Illinois residents with high medication costs are seeing some gains from a provision of the Affordable Care Act. The federal government announced figures earlier this week on how the law is closing the prescription drug “doughnut hole,” a spending level that isn’t covered by Medicare.

Actor Paul Walker dies ironically

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) – Paul Walker, the star of the “Fast & Furious” movie series, has died in a car crash north of Los Angeles. He was 40.
 
     His publicist says Walker died Saturday afternoon.
 
     A statement on the actor’s Facebook page says he was a passenger in a friend’s car, and that Walker was in the area to attend a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.
 
     The statement says “We … are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news.”
 
     The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department says deputies found a car engulfed in flames when they responded to a report of a collision in the community of Valencia. Two people who were found in the car were pronounced dead at the scene.
 
     The Santa Clarita Signal reports a red Porsche crashed into a light pole and tree and burst into flames.
 
     Walker was working on “Fast & Furious 7” at the time of his death. He also starred in the suspense drama, “Hours,” which is set for release this month.

Holiday shoppers eat and spend

Thanksgiving Day is eating into Black Friday shopping.
 
     Shoppers spent $9.74 billion at stores in the U.S. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that’s typically the busiest shopping day of the year. That’s a 13.2 percent drop from a year ago, according to data released Saturday afternoon by retail research firm ShopperTrak. However, combined spending over Thanksgiving and Black Friday rose 2.3 percent.
 
     A few retailers opened stores on Thanksgiving for the last few years. This year, at least a dozen major retailers did so, with some opening earlier in the day. That led some analysts to question whether the Thanksgiving openings would take away sales on Black Friday.
 
     Online sales on Thanksgiving Day also rose, climbing 19.7 percent compared with a year ago, according to IBM Benchmark data.