Yard waste bag pickup begins next Monday in Peru

It’s time to pickup the leftover leaves from last fall and the scattered twigs and branches. Yard waste pickup in Peru begins Monday. You’ll need to have your leaves and other yard waste in a City of Peru bag. You can buy bags for $1.50 at the city clerk’s office and local stores. Yard waste bags will be picked up on Mondays. Please don’t dump bags at the city garage or compost site.

If you have tree limbs to be chipped, call the Public Works Department to schedule an appointment.   Peru Cemetery spring cleanup also begins Monday.

Missing teens return home

Two teens that were missing for a day are home. 15-year-old Devin Green of Marseilles and 16-year-old Sonya Mason of Earlville returned home Monday afternoon. Family members and La Salle County Sheriff’s Deputies were trying to find the teens since early Sunday morning.

They were considered runaways and were not thought to have been in danger.

 

Heroin related charges for an Ottawa pair

Approximately 10 grams of heroin is what police say they found after searching a house in Ottawa. Officers with TRIDENT Friday arrested Daniel and Tiffany Abbott of Ottawa for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. They were taken to the La Salle County Jail.
Another man that lives with them, Shane Putnam, was arrested for a lesser drug paraphernalia charge. He was given a notice to appear.

Peru man wins big at home, garden and lifestyle show

The annual Illinois Valley Home, Garden and Lifestyle show proved to be a big hit. Especially is your name is William Seremak of Peru.

Seremak won $4,000 to spend at the dozens of vendors who were at Sunday’s show in La Salle. Over 40 businesses had displays.

They included everything from landscaping services to painters.

Brush fire near Utica was about a mile long

It was a long hike for Utica Firefighters called to a brush fire. The fire burned about 50 acres of brush Sunday evening east of the village on the north side of the I and M Canal.

Fire Chief Ben Brown says someone living nearby smelled smoke and reported the fire just before 7pm.  Brown says they couldn’t get a tanker to the fire so they had to carry water in backpacks. The fire was out by 8:40pm.  It’s not clear what started the fire.

 

Sign-up deadline arrives for new health insurance law

CHICAGO (AP) – State officials are making a final push to enroll people in the state’s Health Insurance Marketplace.

If you don’t already have health insurance you must sign up by midnight Monday or face federal tax penalties under the Affordable Care Act. After tonight only people with limited special circumstances will be able to get coverage that meets the federal law’s requirements. Those without insurance can be fined either 1 percent of their income or $95, whichever is greater, when filing 2014 federal taxes.

The new health care law prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions or from dropping those who develop expensive health problems.

LPHS to present “Bye Bye Birdie”

Take a trip back to 1957 with a performance of the musical “Bye Bye Birdie”.

It’s being performed this week at LP High School. The cast includes Josh Rinehart as Conrad Birdie, T.R. Miller as Albert Peterson, and Brittney Marx as Rosie Alvarez.

The performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7pm. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens.