Ottawa Police offering to help with school supply shopping

Names are now being accepted for the annual “Shop with a Cop” program in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Police Benevolent and Protective Association is looking for less fortunate children to take back to school shopping. Parents, family members, friends, and teachers can submit the name of a child to the Ottawa PD by Friday, August 14th. A time will then be set for the child to go school supply shopping with an officer on August 20th.

Last year police took 100 Ottawa children school supply shopping.

Trio from Ottawa faces heroin charges

Three people from Ottawa are in trouble after allegedly getting caught with heroin.

The Ottawa Police Department executed a search warrant yesterday on a house in the 800 block of Chapel Street. Gerald Telford was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, heroin, with the intent to deliver.

Two other people living in the house, Clinton Munson and Julie Hughes, were both charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, heroin.

Telford, Munson and Hughes were all taken to the La Salle County Jail. Bond for Telford was set at $1,000,000, while bond for Munson and Hughes was $10,000.

Food donations will help restock food pantries in La Salle County

A countywide summer food drive has rounded up over 900 pounds of food.

The La Salle County Medical Reserve Corps set up food collection sites in June and July. Thanks to you, each pantry in La Salle County will get over 80 pounds of non-perishable food. Collection sites included Hy-Vee, Krogers, Sav-A-Lot, Walgreens, CVS, Sullivans and the La Salle County Health Department office.

The Medical Reserve Corps is a volunteer group that recruits and trains other volunteers to help out during emergencies.

The state and village of Mark settle a sales tax lawsuit

Some serious road improvements could be coming to Mark.

The village through its attorney Scott Schweickert has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Revenue for $448,000. The village claimed the state improperly kept $560,000 in sales tax revenues from the village and gave those dollars to another a city because of an audit of the Belt Railway Company.

Schweickert says settling at 80% of the value of the lawsuit is an “excellent result” and Mark’s Village President Frank Niewinski says he’s pleased with the agreement. He wants the settlement money to be used for street improvements.

The village has also agreed to end a separate lawsuit against the state.

La Salle woman killed in crash at the Osage Curves

A head-on collision has taken the life of a 33-year-old woman from La Salle.

Kari Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene of a two-vehicle collision Wednesday night on Route 6 at the Osage Curves. A young passenger of hers was taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru.

The other driver, who hasn’t been named yet, was flown to St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria. The second driver is accused of crossing into Ryan’s lane, leading to the crash.

A stretch of Route 6 near the accident scene was closed for a short time.

Thousands expected to come to Marseilles for the annual Spartan Race

Over 10,000 people are expected to descend on Marseilles for the grueling Spartan Race.

The two-day event is August 15th and the 16th at The Cliff’s Off Road Park on Route 6. If you’re brave enough, you can try the “Super Spartan” course which is 8 to 10 miles long and has almost 30 obstacles. There’s also a “Sprint” course of 3 to 5 miles with around 20 obstacles. The obstacles include mud, water, hills, barbed wire and fire.

While the course is outside of Marseilles, the competitors will park in the city and be bused to the park. You should be ready for heavy traffic and delays on the 15th and 16th on Bluff, Sycamore, Main, and Commercial Streets.

Extra police officers have been hired to handle traffic. The city doesn’t plan on having any street closures.