Stocks Swing to Solid Gains After Election Night

If you haven’t checked on stocks since election night, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Despite Dow Jones futures being down more than 700 points while election results were tallied, Wall Street seems to like the idea of a Trump presidency. That appears to be the case after one day anyway, as the market was up more than 250 points on Wednesday.

Steve Witek with LPL Financial says big moves are typical around elections, which are uncertain. Witek went on to say some other factors have been helping the market along.

One of the bigger factors is the potential for a lack of gridlock, as Republicans won the House, Senate, and Presidency.

Two Alleged Heroin Dealers Busted on Election Day in Streator

While you were in the voting booth Tuesday, a drug enforcement team was taking down two alleged dealers.

The Tri-DENT drug team made the arrests as part of a several month investigation into narcotic sales in the Illinois Valley. Twenty-six year old Derek Dill and 32-year old Jennifer Almanza were taken into custody shortly after 2:00.

According to agents, Dill and Almanza had allegedly sold heroin to undercover agents multiple times in Streator and Ottawa. Dill was arrested for 2 counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance while Almanza was arrested for 1 count.

They were both taken to the county jail in Ottawa where they’d need $50,000 to get out.

Peru Lawyer Picked for 13th Judicial Circuit Vacancy

A number of offices have been decided by voters in the past 24 hours, and a group of judges also decided who would be the latest to join their ranks.

The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit judges announced today they’ve selected Michelle Vescogni as the newest judge for the 13^th Circuit. Vescogni, currently a Peru attorney, will be filling the seat left by Judge Daniel Bute, who retired last month.

She is currently practicing private law for the Vescogni Law Office. She’ll be able to assume the office once she’s able to clear her current caseload.

Illinois Valley PADS in Desperate Need of Key Items

As the colder weather starts to roll in, homeless shelters are still looking for several crucial items.

The Illinois Valley PADS are in “desperate need” of bottled water, juice boxes, powdered juice drinks, and foam and liquid hand soap. They’re also looking for non-alcoholic decongestants and sinus medications for both adults and children.

You can drop off donations weekdays between 7:00 and 3:00.     If you don’t want to do the shopping, they’ll also accept gift cards.

Funeral services are set for longtime Peru mayor

Funeral services are now set for one of the longest serving mayors in Illinois’ history.

Visitation is Thursday afternoon and Friday morning for 87-year-old Don Baker. The actual service is Friday morning at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Peru.

Baker was mayor in Peru from 1965 to 2009. During his time in office retail boomed in Peru and the city also saw a mall, airport and hydroelectric plant get built. Baker Lake is named in his honor.

For the full obituary for Baker, click the obituary link on Classic Hits 103.9 WLPO.com.

Solid voter turnout across the Illinois Valley

Voter turnout in the Illinois Valley was right on par with recent presidential elections.
In La Salle County, this year’s voter turnout was 70 percent, up from 66 percent in

November of 2012 and 69 percent in 2008. In Bureau County this year’s turnout was 69 percent. That’s down from the 2012 presidential election number of 71 percent but a higher turnout than in 2008 when the voter turnout was 64 percent.

Putnam County continues to lead the way in the Illinois Valley for the highest percentage of registered voters actually casting ballots. This year’s turnout percentage was 74 percent, just below the November 2012 turnout of 75 percent but a higher turnout than the 2008 general election percentage of 72.

Mixed reviews in Waltham about building a new school

Not surprisingly, it appears voters in the Waltham School District are okay with building a new school as long as it doesn’t come with a tax increase.

The district put forth two separate advisory referendum questions. The first question asked if the district should build one new Waltham School building to replace the current north and south buildings. That question had 785 no votes compared to 556 yes votes.

The second question asked if the district should build a new school without increasing tax rates. Overwhelming voters were fine with this idea. There were 901 yes votes and just 432 no votes.

Big money tax vote passes with L-P High School voters

Tuesday marked a big day for the future of L-P High School.

If you live in the high school district you’ll soon start paying more in property taxes to the school district after 51 percent of voters supported a $38 million referendum to renovate, alter, repair and equip parts of the high school. Specifically money would remove asbestos, add sprinklers, increase handicap accessibility, secure entrances and renovate classrooms and labs.

L-P Superintendent Steve Wrobleski took to Twitter to say “Thank you to the L-P community for supporting our building referendum. We look forward to the next steps in transforming our iconic building!”

The final vote total was 6,620 for the referendum and 6,426 against it.

Election return debacle leaves many frustrated in La Salle County

Have you ever wanted to show off your new phone or computer only to have it not work? You may have experienced a part of what LaSalle County went through Tuesday night.

LaSalle, like most counties, had hoped to put their election results online live. However, after switching to a new site a few weeks ago, you got error messages instead of vote totals on Election Night.

County Clerk JoAnn Carretto says “the general public is not happy” with the miscue, but she says your anger shouldn’t be directed at the county. They say the issues were with the vendor who hosts the website instead of a problem on their end. Because of that, Carretto says she “doesn’t know” when the issue will be fixed.

Long ousts Skoog in the 76th District

After almost pulling off the upset in 2012, Republican Jerry Long has rallied to win in 2016.

The union trucker from Streator defeated Democratic incumbent Andy Skoog in the 76^th District State Representative race.  Long won the seat that covers La Salle, Bureau, Putnam and part of Livingston County by nearly 600 votes. Long’s official vote total is 23,078 to Skoog’s 22, 486.

He only lost to then State Representative Frank Mautino by 300 votes in 2012.  Skoog eventually was appointed to replace Mautino last December when Mautino became Auditor General.