Ottawa Police Arrest Two for May Wal-Mart Theft

Two men from Joliet and Coal City can add the Illinois Valley to the list of places they’re allegedly in trouble.

Ottawa Police had been looking into a report of a television and Bluetooth earpiece that were stolen from the Ottawa Wal-Mart last month. They received arrest warrants Wednesday for 34-year old Justin Ziegler and 29-year old Morris Gray.

Gray was arrested at his Coal City home by the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department. Ziegler was already in custody today, serving time in the Kane County Jail for the pair’s involvement in a retail theft in Batavia.

Ziegler is charged with one count of Burglary and one count of Retail Theft. Gray was taken to the county jail in Ottawa on one count of Retail Theft. The bond for each, for these crimes, was set at $15,000.

Rezin Calls “Purely Political” Budget Impasse a “Slap in the Face”

You may know someone who has been affected by the lack of a state budget, and they probably had some harsh things to say about it. At least one state lawmaker shares their frustration, calling the continuing stalemate “a disgrace.”

State Senator Sue Rezin made that comment in a statement after the latest legislative session ended without a budget in place. The Republican Rezin blamed Democratic leaders in the General Assembly for what she says is “reckless behavior and purely partisan antics.”

She also referred to the impasse as a whole by calling it “wrong and a slap in the face to all Illinoisans.”

Illinois is currently the only state in the country that hasn’t passed a budget for the last fiscal year, which was supposed to start July 1^st. Rezin says she plans to work through the summer to find common ground and pass a “truly balanced budget.”

Arrest made in robbery on the I & M Canal in Ottawa

Ottawa Police think they have the man responsible for a late night robbery.

Twenty-five-year-old Lucas Brown of Ottawa was arrested yesterday for robbery and theft. He’s accused of robbing from several people who were at the Toll House on the I & M Canal Friday morning. When Brown was arrested, officers say they found things taken in the robbery.

He’s sitting in the county jail now needing $7,500 bond. Brown was just let out of prison on parole in October after doing time for drugs. He also has a prior conviction for burglary.

Peru school bus headed to a field trip gets into a crash

A field trip was delayed a bit for a group of first grade students in Peru.

One of two buses carrying Northview Elementary students, staff and parent chaperones was hit by a car Wednesday morning on Route 251 in Peru just north of Interstate 80. Peru Elementary Superintendent Mark Cross says the driver of the car turned into the bus.

Two of 42 students on the bus along with both drivers involved were taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru. The students were taken to the hospital as a precaution according to Cross.

Another bus showed up and took the remaining students to their planned field trip at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Millbrook.

Grain storage building burns near Lowell

An old grain storage building went up in flames south of Lowell.

Firefighters responded to the fire just before 11:30 Tuesday night along East 8th Road in La Salle County. An old structure that hadn’t been used for grain storage in a long time was gutted.

The cause of the fire is thought to be weather related.