“Family Fun Night” Starts Mardi Gras in Wenona Festivities

Wenona is inviting you to its town celebration through the weekend. It’s a “welcome to the bayou”.  Family Fun Night gets things going Thursday.

Then the festival gets into high gear Friday night with “Battle of the Bars”, 5k Run , Beer Tent, live music, and carnival. It’s a full plate for Saturday in Wenona with barrel races, golf outing, Bicycle poker run, Fishing Derby, Motorcycle show, Night parade of lights and Fireworks.

Sunday there will be a grand parade, 3 on 3 basketball, beer tent, and chicken dinner. You can also catch the Wenona Daze of Thunder and Burnout contest.

Check Forging Suspects Remain in Jail Following Indictment

Despite allegedly passing bad checks in a number of cities, two Streator men haven’t been able to come up with the cash to get out of custody.

A grand jury indicted 41-year old Anthony Carson and 28-year old Nathan Vanorder on one count of forgery apiece yesterday. LaSalle Police arrested the pair after a lengthy investigation into forged checks that had been cashed in LaSalle, Peru, Ottawa, Naperville, and Joliet. They would be caught after police found out about a bad check they were trying to cash in Peru last week.

The two currently remain in the LaSalle County Jail where they’d need to come up with $2,500 cash each to be released. Carson had been on parole at the time of his arrest.

Two Alleged Heroin Dealers Indicted for Drugs and Gun

If you get caught allegedly trying to sell heroin in the Illinois Valley you’d better have six-figures in the bank or you’ll be in jail for a while.

That’s the case for 21-year old Rashad Anchando from Streator and 20-year old Romeo Blackman from Chicago. A grand jury has indicted the two for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, as well as unlawful possession of a stolen firearm.

The two were busted by Tri-DENT drug agents last Friday in Anchando’s Streator home. Police say they found 9 grams of heroin on Blackman, 41 baggies of heroin in the home, and a loaded handgun that had been reported stolen from Mississippi.

They were taken to the county jail in Ottawa where they would each need $100,000 cash to be released.

County confirms first West Nile activity in 2016

The LaSalle County Health Department confirms West Nile virus is in LaSalle County.  Jenny Barrie is with the County Health Department. She said Thursday a crow collected in Peru August 11 tested positive for the virus. It is the first documented West Nile virus activity in LaSalle County.  The culex mosquito – the common house mosquito is the carrier.

Symptoms include fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches.  Symptoms may last from a few days to a few weeks. Four out of five infected people will not show any  symptoms.  The virus, in rare instances, can result in meningitis, encephalitis or possibly death. People older than 50 and immunocompromised individuals are at higher risk for severe illness from West Nile Virus.

Barrie added the Zika virus is transmitted by a different mosquito and it is rarely found in Illinois.