No decision yet for the future of the Red Cross building in Peru

If a disaster were to force you from your home tonight an American Red Cross volunteer would find you a place to stay. It is a service that the organization says won’t change after a consolidation of chapters in Illinois.

Ken Cozzi visited the Illinois Valley Red Cross office in Peru Thursday. He says a lot of people are saying that the Peru building will close, but he says the future of the building on Fourth Street has yet to be determined. For the time being it will continue to be used for blood drives and storage.

Organizational changes affecting the Illinois Valley branch were announced in early October. Cozzi says Illinois is going from having four regions to two. La Salle County will be included in the northern region and in a chapter based in Joliet. Cozzi describes himself as the face of the new chapter.

He says the changes are meant to spend less money on operations and more money on services.

The last employees at the building in Peru will be without their jobs by the end of the year.

Streator Police are looking for a prowler

Lock your windows if you live in Streator. The police are looking for a man went to a home on East Livingston Street and opened a bedroom window.

It happened around 10:30pm Wednesday night. Police say the man reached inside the room but took off after a person inside screamed.  The only description police have of the man is that he had a tattoo on his left wrist that looked like barbed-wire. His hands also looked filthy.

If you have any information, call the Streator Police Department or Streator Crimestoppers.

Update: Streator teen killed in crash

Crisis counselors were available at Streator High School, a day after a crash that killed a student and injured three others.

17-year-old Benjamin Newton of Streator was pronounced dead at the scene on East 18^th Road Wednesday night.  La Salle County Sheriff’s deputies says Newton was one of four teens that were thrown from the car that was found in a field.

Three teens were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Streator.  From there two were flown to St. Francis Medical Center. One was in critical condition while the other was in serious condition.  Their names have not been made public as an investigation continues.

Streator High School trying to cope with fatal crash involving students

Counselors are being made available for Streator High School students after a fatal crash that reportedly involved classmates.

Superintendent Matt Seaton says “our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the students who lost their life or suffered injuries in the accident Wednesday night”. Seaton says they’ve activated their crisis counseling team and met before school to talk with teachers about how to talk about the crash with students. He’s also encouraging parents to talk to their children about how they are dealing with the crash.

All activities at Streator High are canceled Thursday.

Newest Hall of Fame class at IVCC will be enshrined this weekend

A person that may have taught you or sat next to you in class at Illinois Valley Community College might be going down in LPO College and IVCC history.

The LPO-IVCC Hall of Fame is inducting the Class of 2014 Saturday night. Dr. Rose Marie Lynch, a retired instructor, is a member of the Hall of Fame and is involved with the ceremony. She thinks it’s incredible that retired mathematics instructor Lincoln Frost and the late government instructor Joe Mikyska are being recognized for their teaching.

The late newspaper publishers and radio station owners, Peter Miller Jr. and Peter Miller III are also being inducted along with State Representative Frank Mautino, an IVCC graduate, and the 1976 football team.

The ceremony is at six Saturday at LP High School’s Matthiessen Auditorium. It’s open to everyone and there’s no charge for admission.

Learn more about the class of 2014 by listening to an interview with Lynch that’s available at the Classic Hits 103.9 WLPO news page.

Accused bra stealer remains in the La Salle County Jail

A woman accused of trying to steal 24 bras from Victoria’s Secret is locked up in Ottawa.

Latasha Childs of Chicago was indicted Tuesday in La Salle County Court for felony retail theft. She was arrested last month after the Peru officers say they caught her trying to steal over a thousand dollars worth of bras. They found her hiding in a mall bathroom and allegedly found the stolen bras in a shopping bag stuffed inside a mall trash can.

Childs is being held on 40 thousand dollars bond.