New cocktail lounge planned in downtown La Salle

The redevelopment of downtown La Salle continues with a cocktail lounge now being planned near the corner of Marquette and First Street.

The La Salle City Council has approved a development agreement with GHG Holding, LLC led by Gretchen Gonzalez of Hennepin. Gonzalez plans to turn the building at 126 Marquette Street into a bar and lounge with apartments on the second floor. She also will improve the façade of the property.

To help her along, the city plans to reimburse her upwards of $186,000 towards the costs of opening up her lounge. She’s hoping to have the business open this year.

The property used to be Safe-Rite Staffing.

La Salle settles huge medical bill with OSF Healthcare

Like it or not, if an inmate needs medical attention, he or she will get it with taxpayers footing the bill.

The city of La Salle has worked out a medical settlement between itself, La Salle County and OSF Healthcare in Peoria. Three years ago the La Salle PD arrested a man on a La Salle County warrant. Before taking him to the county jail, the man injured himself intentionally while at the La Salle police station. He was eventually treated at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

Not long after, OSF sent the city a medical bill for over $270,000. The city balked and OSF sued. Last night the city council agreed to a settlement where the city and La Salle County will each pay a little more than $18,000 to OSF.

Attorney Jim McPhedran called it a fair settlement while Alderman Boo Herndon said McPhedran did a “fine job”.

Deadline approaching to take advantage of summer school at IVCC

If you want to take summer school at Illinois Valley Community College, don’t forget to pay for it.

Summer tuition is due by 7 o’clock tomorrow night. If you miss the deadline, you could get dropped from your class or classes. If you’re getting financial aid, you should call the cashier’s office.

Summer school at the Oglesby campus starts May 23rd and June 6th at the Ottawa Center.

Manhunt underway for man who exchanged shots with police officer

The most wanted man in Illinois may be 35-year-old Dracy “Clint” Pendleton.

Pendleton is being tracked down after exchanging gunfire Saturday night with a Mahomet police officer near Champaign. The officer took a gunshot to his arm while Pendleton may have also been shot.

Pendleton is said to be white, 5’10”, 155 pounds with blue eyes and blond hair. He could be driving a stolen 2007 GMC pickup truck with Illinois registration. Troopers think he could be carrying an AK-47. He’s wanted for attempted murder of a police officer.

Sadly, a 26-year-old woman is dead after she got into a crash Saturday night with a state trooper in Decatur. Kelley Wilson from Decatur was pronounced dead Sunday morning at Decatur Memorial Hospital. The trooper who was rushing to the call of Pendleton and the Mahomet officer exchanging shots at the time of the crash.

The trooper’s name and condition have not yet been released.

Conservation Police crack down on fishing along Dee Bennett Road

There was a short foot chase over the weekend involving a fisherman and a conservation police officer.

The officer went to Dee Bennett Road across the Illinois River from the Starved Rock boat launch to check on a group of fishermen on private property. Thirty-three-year-old Patricio Sanchez-Arias of Chicago allegedly ran from the officer with fishing pole in hand. He eventually came back after being talked into it by his friends.

Sanchez-Arias was ticketed for resisting a peace officer, trespassing, fishing without permission and having no fishing license. He was given a court date.

The spot Sanchez-Arias was fishing at has been a popular spot for fishing but its private land. Conservation Police and the La Salle County Highway Department have had to clean up garbage along the Dee Bennett Road shoreline for the past several years.

Weekend fall victims at Starved Rock State Park get released from the hospital

If you’re headed out to Starved Rock State Park today, keep in mind the trails and canyons will be slippery.

On Saturday morning, 50-year-old John Ryner from Galesburg was knocked unconscious after slipping and hitting his head at the base of La Salle Canyon. He was flown to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria where he was released Sunday afternoon.

Sunday afternoon, paramedics were called back out to the park for a 7-year-old boy from Walnut who was bleeding from his head and a leg. The boy apparently slipped while off a trail and tumbled down about 25 feet to a trail below east of Eagle Cliff. He was taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru where he was treated and released.

Utica and Marseilles paramedics handle separate crashes

No one was hurt in crash Monday morning on “cemetery hill” in Utica.

The call for firefighters went out just before six about a crash with lane blockage on Route 178. A truck was involved in the crash.

State Police meanwhile haven’t released details about a rollover on westbound Interstate 80 near Marseilles late Sunday afternoon. The crash allegedly involved a hit and run.

Hydrant flushing and water main issues creating water

You may have woken up with dirty water or no water at all in Peru.

City crews were out repairing water main breaks on 2nd Street, Water Street and near American Nickeloid. Water is completely off in some parts of the affected areas.

For other parts of the city you may have water but it’s dirty. The city started flushing hydrants Sunday night and will continue flushing into Friday morning.

If you’re water is dirty, just let the faucet run until it clears up.

Weekend violence roundup in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) – In Chicago, violence can literally happen anywhere at anytime it seems. A man sitting at his kitchen table was killed when a bullet pierced his front door and shot him in the head in Chicago.

Fifty-eight-year-old Andres Rivera was pronounced dead about a half hour after he was shot Saturday nnight on the city’s southwest side. Police don’t believe Rivera was the intended target.

Police are investigating two other weekend shooting deaths. On Saturday night, a 26-year-old man was pronounced dead after he was found on the sidewalk on the city’s West Side. Sunday, a 35-year-old man in a car traveling on North Lake Shore Drive was shot by someone in another car.

Police say no arrests have been made in any of the cases.