Mayor Lay Offs Announced At Oglesby Employer

Advantage Logistics isn’t closing in Oglesby but they are planning layoffs.

Mayor Don Finley says he was told the distribution center plans to lay off 60 workers starting in March.  It’s about a fourth of the entire workforce.  Finley says Advantage Logistics officials told him about the layoffs wanting to squash rumors that they were closing all together.

Just last March Advantage Logistics let workers go after one of its clients Supervalu closed over 800 stores.

Man and woman accused of stealing laptops and baby formula from the Ottawa Wal-Mart

Why would you drive out-of-town to visit a Super Wal-Mart if there’s a store where you live?  Maybe because you’re shoplifting instead of shopping.

Leroy Anderson of Yorkville and Tiffany Sampson of Aurora each face a felony retail theft charge after police say they stole laptop computers from the Ottawa Wal-Mart December 18.

Police say Sampson and Anderson were arrested after returning to the store January 2.  The two allegedly tried stealing $900 worth of baby formula.

Sampson and Anderson were indicted Tuesday.

Restroom remodeling to continue at LP High School

Walk into some of the restrooms at LP High School and there’s a good chance it hasn’t changed much since you last used it when you were a senior.

Several restrooms were remodeled last summer, including the ones on the second floor.  The remaining restrooms will be remodeled this upcoming summer for an estimated $357,000.

The school is also paying about $75,000 to have the parking lots at the Area Vocational Center and auto shop building patched and resurfaced.

Photography contest and show to return to Starved Rock Lodge

In a world full of “selfies” Starved Rock State Park offers frozen waterfalls and bald eagles for curious photographer.  Spend a day taking photos at the park and enter them into the Second Annual Starved Rock Lodge Photo Contest and Show.

This year’s them is “Nature in Focus”.  Kathy Casstevens is with the Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center.  She says you could take a picture of wildlife though if you’re a beginner a still object would be easier to photograph.  The contest and show is Sunday, February 23, from 11am to 3pm at the lodge.  You can enter your work into the five categories- special effects, humorous, wildlife, canyon/landscape and people/hikers.  There will be adult and youth divisions.  Photos should be entered by February 17.  You can find the rules and entry forms at starved rock lodge dot com.

Winners will be announced at the show.  You can also apply to have a display and sales table at the show for $25.

Learn more about the contest by listening to an interview with Casstevens on the WLPO AM and FM news page.

Emergency Construction Planned On Interstate 80

The rough winter weather has taken a toll on Interstate 80, so much so that emergency repairs will start Sunday. Eastbound I-80 from Plank Road to Route 251 is down to one lane because of potholes.

Advanced Asphalt was hired to resurface I-80 between Plank Road and Utica and from the Fox River Bridge east to Marseilles.  Expect to find lane closures affecting both east and west bound travel.  The resurfacing will go as quickly as weather permits.

 

Construction Of New Hall High School On Schedule

According to an architect, work on the new Hall High School is meeting its budget, its schedule and performance goals.

The Hall High School Board last night awarded about $6 million  worth of bids on the new school.  According to the NewsTribune, Vissering Construction got over $5 million of work for concrete and foundations, precast walls and structural steel.

In the next two months, you should see the concrete foundation installed at the new school site along with some structural steel going up.

School officials hope to have the new Hall High School ready by September of next year.

No End In Sight For Utica Sand Mine Hearing

It’s on to a fifth night for a sand mine hearing in Utica.

The joint meeting between the Utica Planning Commission and Board of Trustees didn’t end Wednesday night with a vote so the hearing will restart Tuesday, January 28th.  At some point that night, the sand mine hearing will have reached 24 hours total spread out over five nights.

According to the NewsTribune, several more witnesses are still scheduled to testify about the pros and cons of Aramoni, LLC wanting to mine sand on land they own north of Love’s Travel Stop.  Attorney Walt Zukowski who has been hired by objectors of the sand mine got the okay  to reopen the evidence phase of the hearing and call over a half dozen witnesses including Dr. Crispin Pierce, an associate professor at University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire.

Pierce told the overflow crowd that mining for frac sand can cause cancer and that air quality already in the Illinois Valley is at or near an unsafe level and will only get worse if Aramoni starts mining north of Utica.  He suggested the village install pricey equipment recognized by the federal government to monitor air quality if they approved the sand mine.

Aramoni lawyer Jim Andreoni got Pierce to admit that the equipment he uses to study air quality isn’t recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and wondered why then he suggests the village use air monitoring equipment that he doesn’t even use.

Peru Not The Only Town With Pickleball Issues

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) – A judge in Winnebago County has ruled that pickleball can continue at a Rockford park.

Neighbors of Sinnissippi Park filed a lawsuit in 2012 against the Rockford Park District, complaining about the sound of paddles hitting pickleballs. But yesterday a judge ruled in favor of the park district, saying neighbors should expect noise when they live near a park.

The losing attorney says he feels sorry for his clients because they’re going to have to live with “a nuisance and annoyance.”

In Peru, neighbors to 28th Street Park long complained about noise from pickleball.  The city in December decided to move the courts to Washington Park.

Rural Leonore family is homeless

You call firemen for help, but you may second guess your timing – especially if you are now homeless. A fire started in the kitchen of a rural Leonore one story home Wednesday night with the cook calling for help about 6pm.

Rod Strack is with the Leonore Fire Department. He said there was nothing but four walls left by 8:45pm when the fire was out.

The owner, Todd Dimmig, believed to be in the home at the time, got out safely. However, he and his two sons will need housing assistance. Tonica and Grand Ridge assisted at the scene as did a township truck applying salt to the road.