New $10,000 prize added to huge Amboy Depot Days fundraiser

Every festival in the Illinois Valley has a 50/50 drawing but nothing comes close to the drama and cash involved with the Amboy Depot Days. Organizers somehow have an idea to make the jackpot even bigger.

Besides the 50/50 winner getting half the pot which last was $149,000, a second winner will get again win a car which this year will be 2016 Chevy Malibu. Something new this year is a “third place prize” of $10,000.

50/50 tickets aren’t on sale yet for the depot days which happen in late August. Money raised with last year’s big pot went to groups like the Amboy Fire Department, Special Olympics, and the Lee County Shop with a Cop program.

Republican Congressman wants everyone on same page in fight against terrorists

Of the few things in life that are certainties, you’d probably say one of them is that politicians will disagree. However, shouldn’t they all be in agreement on something like national security?

Adam Kinzinger, U-S Representative for Illinois Valley, proposed a bill to promote that agreement, one day after the deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels. It would require the President and other Cabinet members to give Congress a long-term plan for how they plan to fight groups like ISIS, and they’d be required to update the plan at least every 2 years.

He says the purpose of the bill isn’t to restrict the President; he just wants everyone involved to be on the same page. Kinzinger thinks the bill will create a dialog between both branches and even between parties. He says because Congress approves the use of military force, they should be in agreement with the President and with each other.

Teenage girls hurt in separate La Salle County crashes

Within just a couple of hours, two 17-year-old girls were hospitalized in crashes in La Salle County.

Deputies just before 11 Friday morning responded to a single car crash on a county road northeast of Grand Ridge. A young girl is accused of looking at her phone and then driving off the road. She went into a ditch, hit a guide wire and utility pole. She was taken to OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa.

A couple hours later, deputies responded to a crash involving one car on a county road near Dana. The teenage driver lost control on some gravel and had her car go airborne and roll over. She was taken to the OSF Center for Health in Streator.

Guilty plea in Streator stabbing case

A Marseilles man has admitted to stabbing another man multiple times.

Twenty-year-old Curtis Smith pleaded guilty this week to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He stabbed a man several times last March in Streator. The victim survived.

Smith will be sentenced in La Salle County Court in May. He’s currently free on bond.