Rally for Lily brings donated toys to Peoria

A local toy drive is putting smiles on the faces of children being treated at the Children’s Hospital of Illinois. Rally for Lily, an organization formed for Lily Rosploch, held the Toys for Joys toy drive. The Rosploch family went to the hospital in Peoria Monday to drop off the toys. Lily has been receiving treatment for neuroblastoma.

Man arrested after what police call a brief pursuit in La Salle and Peru

A traffic stop that started in La Salle eventually ended in Peru and left a man from Peru facing a serious charge.

Zachary Savitch of Peru was arrested around 2am Sunday for aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude police, a class four felony, and unlawful possession of cannabis, a less serious charge.

Police say they briefly chased Savitch from La Salle to Seventh and Monks Streets in Peru. Savitch was given a handful of ticketed for allegedly running stop signs and speeding. He was being held in the La Salle County Jail with his bond set at $10,000.

Finley will face competition in race for Oglesby mayor

Three people want to be the mayor of Oglesby. Monday is the final day to file petitions for the April 7 election.

Mayor Don Finley is running for re-election and he’ll be facing competition from newcomers David Blair and Tod Misener.

Quite a few people are interested in becoming commissioners. Dom Rivara, Tom Porter, and Dennis Yborra are running for re-election. They face challengers from Randy Popurella Jr., Austin Cullinan, Todd Misener, Shelley Cooke, Carrie Lijewski and James Girton.

Teenager ticketed after an accident near Streator

What is a teenager doing out at 5:30am on a Sunday? La Salle County Sheriff’s Deputies were wondering. A teen from Streator was arrested after sheriff’s deputies say he ran into a yard along Route 18 west of Streator Sunday morning.

Police believe the boy was trying to turn from East 13^th Road onto Route 18 but didn’t see the stop sign and jumped the curb. After that, police say the boy panicked and drove away.

The boy was ticketed for leaving the scene, having an invalid license because of the time of day, failing to report the crash and failure to yield.

La Salle County Highway Department is ready for winter

When the first big snow of the winter comes, the La Salle County Highway Department will be ready.  Thanks to a mild November and December, County Engineer Larry Kinzer says they have about 99 percent of their salt supply in storage. He says there’s around 8,000 tons of salt and sand mix stored away along with 600 tons of straight salt.  Even with horrible winters like last year, Kinzer says they rarely run out of salt.

The county pays the state $59 a ton for salt. Kinzer was able to lock in last year’s price before the price of salt went up.  The mild fall and winter has also helped save money with county workers not putting in overtime.

Registration underway for Penguin Plunge

If you’re going to jump into the river this time of the year, may as well do it for a worthy cause.

The fourth annual “Penguin Plunge” is Saturday, January 3rd at Heritage Harbor Marina in Ottawa. Each “plunger” is asked to raise at least a hundred dollars to take the plunge into the Illinois River. All proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The goal is to raise $100,000.

To sign up, call Heritage Harbor in Ottawa.