Downtown Utica hosting a gathering to help fight cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and you’re invited to help fight the dread this Sunday in Utica.

The 2nd Annual Angel of Hopefest is Sunday from noon until 4 in downtown Utica. There will be live music, food, drinks and artwork for sale. While it doesn’t cost anything to go, donations will be accepted on behalf of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

For more information on Angel of Hopefest, click Angel of Hopefest

Detours planned around busy railroad crossing in Ottawa

Getting in and out of downtown Ottawa on the north side will be an adventure starting on Monday, October 12th.

That’s the day CSX Railroad will begin tearing up a railroad crossing on Columbus Street or Route 23 near the Wendy’s and Shell station. South and northbound detours will use stretches of Route 6, La Salle Street and Marquette Street to get you around the closed crossing.

Work on railroad tie replacements, grade crossings and the approach to the tracks will take up to ten days. CSX is also replacing crossings at Old Chicago Road, Champlain Street and Boyce Memorial Drive.

Medical helicopter lands on I-80 after rollover crash near Ladd

For the second straight day, traffic on a stretch of Interstate 80 in Bureau County had to be shut down because of a crash.

Just before two Thursday afternoon, a car rolled into a ditch while going eastbound on I-80 near the Ladd and Spring Valley exit.  There were two injured including Bridgann Overmann of Marion, Iowa who was flown from the scene to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria. In order for Overmann to be taken by a helicopter, state police shut down eastbound I-80 so the Life Flight helicopter could land on the interstate.

Back on Wednesday morning a semi rollover west of Princeton had westbound traffic taken off of I-80 for over six hours.

Fatal crashes begin adding up in the Illinois Valley

With three-fourths of 2015 now in the books, La Salle County is still below last year’s pace for fatal crashes on state roads.

According to numbers from the Illinois Department of Transportation, 13 victims have died in a dozen fatal crashes so far this year in La Salle County. That’s below last year’s pace when 19 crashes took 23 lives.

In Bureau County, three crashes have claimed three victims so far this year. Last year saw four deaths in four different crashes in Bureau County.

After going all of last year without a fatal crash, Putnam County has had one this year.

Statewide, the death toll has reached 741 in 681 crashes. That’s 57 more deaths than at this point last year.