A Chenoa woman was killed and another person was hurt when a car and a semi-trailer truck collided in the southbound lanes of Interstate 55, just south of Lexington early Friday evening.… MORE
Category Archives: Local News
Man gives up nursing license for stealing patients’ opioid patches
A local nurse who pleaded guilty to entering rooms of nursing home patients and stealing pain-killing opioid patches from their bodies has agreed to surrender his license to be a practical nurse.… MORE
High court ruling on voter registration worries McLean County Clerk candidate
The Democratic candidate for McLean County Clerk believes voters here should be concerned by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling backing Ohio’s attempts to purge voter rolls.… MORE
Local nurse admits stealing patients’ opioid patches
By Howard Packowitz BLOOMINGTON – A local opioid case that drew national attention has resulted in a guilty plea and possible prison time for a nurse who took painkilling fentanyl patches from patients’ bodies at two Twin-Cities nursing homes. James Rellihan pleaded guilty to residential burglary, and faces up to 15 years in prison.…… MORE
Man charged for opioid-induced homicide in Bloomington
One of a dozen opioid-related deaths in McLean County so far this year has led to a criminal charge of drug-induced homicide against a Champaign County man.… MORE
Twin Cities welcome Special Olympics Illinois Summer Games
The Special Olympics Illinois Summer Games kick off this weekend with more than 4,000 athletes competing in Bloomington-Normal.… MORE
Bloomington public works director welcomes planned Veterans Parkway improvements
Bloomington leaders are welcoming improvements to Veterans Parkway the state is planning over the next five years.… MORE
Normal’s Fritzen: ‘State Farm Effect’ forces community to embrace change
It’s called the ‘State Farm Effect,’ and lately it’s created economic anxiety as the community’s largest employer cuts jobs and shuts down its downtown Bloomington office building.… MORE
Unit 5’s Cleary to resign, becomes second board member to leave for out of state job
A second Unit 5 school board member is resigning to take a job out of state.… MORE
McLean County EMS provides ambulance simulator to students
Students looking to become Emergency Medical Service workers in Bloomington-Normal will be able to get some hands-on training in an ambulance.… 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…