By 25 News MCLEAN COUNTY – One person is dead, and another is in the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 55 overnight. Illinois State Police say it happened on I-55 Southbound near LaGrange Road, or mile post 146 near McLean, just before 2 AM. The crash involved a box truck and a truck-tractor…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – A proposed record-high Bloomington city budget for the next fiscal year includes for the first time a full budget of about $2 million to book shows at taxpayer-owned Grossinger Motors Arena. The indoor arena built to help revitalize Downtown Bloomington has lost money since it opened in 2006, and the…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – State Farm is reporting “record” underwriting losses for its auto insurance companies – $13.4 billion. Despite that, the Bloomington-based insurer says its mutual automobile insurance company remains financially strong – ending 2022 with $131.2 billion compared with $143.2 billion at the end of 2021 and $126.1 billion at the end…… MORE
By IIS Radio SPRINGFIELD – County estimates are out for 2022 Illinois corn and soybeans. The state really made a strong showing when it came to soybean production says crop statistician Mark Schleusener. “McLean County ranked first in the U.S. with 21.2 million bushels,” said Schleusener. “Other high soybean producing counties in Illinois include Iroquois,…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – No one was hurt Sunday night after a house fire sparked up at 905 W. Olive St. in Bloomington. According to Bloomington PIO Frank Friend, neighbors called them around 9:45p.m. when they reportedly saw smoke coming from the back of a three-story house. This is located a few houses away…… MORE
By 25 News NORMAL – A student at Normal Community High School is receiving attention on the national stage for his work advocating for racial and social justice. According to a release from the Bloomington NAACP, Bradley Ross Jackson received an NAACP Image Award for Youth Advocacy Friday night, becoming the youngest recipient of the…… MORE
By 25 News WOODFORD COUNTY – A Woodford County man is charged in a sex abuse case dating back to the summer of last year. A grand jury indicted Jordan Hamilton, 26, on one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a girl who was between 13- and 17-years-old between early June and early August…… MORE
By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – A Heyworth man will spend about a month in the county jail for harassing jurors in his domestic violence trial. Steven Abdullah, 32, and his wife reportedly yelled at jurors and held up signs when they came back for a second day of deliberations in February of last year. One…… MORE
By 25 News NORMAL – A woman has filed a federal lawsuit against “unknown” Normal Police officers alleging they violated her constitutional rights by using excessive force and falsely arresting her while investigating an apartment fire in early February. The lawsuit says college student Taylor Brown agreed to answer officers’ questions at the police department…… MORE
By 25 News EL PASO – A mother in the El Paso-Gridley School District wants justice after a school bus driver grabbed her son’s head, which was caught on video. The bus driver was disciplined, but the district says she is still driving in McLean and Woodford Counties. The video shows the driver yelling at…… MORE
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.” …
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…
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…
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…