Illinois ranks low in arrest rates for driving under the influence, according to a recent report.… MORE
Category Archives: Local News
Connect Transit set to launch new mobile app
At the cost of over $75,000 over three years, Connect Transit bus riders will soon have a new application to pay for bus fares.… MORE
Illlinois Ag Director resigns over controversial 2012 email
Illinois Department of Agriculture Director John Sullivan has resigned after he apparently knew about a 2012 email from former top lobbyist Mike McClain over an alleged “rape in Champaign.”… MORE
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin: ‘Iran threatening to attack our four U.S. embassies’ never came up in briefing
Expect the Democrats’ drive to remove President Trump from office to pick up steam this week, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in Springfield Sunday.… MORE
Illinois to begin replacing pickup truck plates in 2020
Trucks in Illinois with older license plates will soon need new plates, Secretary of State Jesse White announced Friday that his office will begin phasing out the oldest B-Truck plates beginning this month.… MORE
Crop yields are down and the quality questionable
The numbers are in from a planting season you might describe as disappointing but not surprising.… MORE
Bill filed in Illinois to bar private pay for public employees after Gov. J.B. Pritzker shells out $3 million for staffers
A state lawmaker said Republicans will continue to push legislation to curb what he called a bad precedent that Gov. J.B. Pritzker set when he decided to supplement the pay of state employees with private dollars.… MORE
Restoration work is complete on Eternal Indian statue
Restoration work is complete on a northern Illinois landmark.… MORE
Expecting a volatile economy, most public retirement funds dial back return expectations, increasing pressure for taxpayers
The stock market has come a long way in the past decade, but many public investors have dialed back expectations for investment returns in the coming years, a move that’s seen as fiscally prudent, but one that can mean bigger bills for taxpayers.… MORE
Police probing armed robbery at Casey’s in Fairbury
Police are investigating a hold up that happened at a gas station over the weekend in Fairbury.… MORE
Blogs
Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
Is federal mobilization the answer?
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…