By WMBD-TV & Jake Fogal NORMAL – A 15-year-old girl is dead after a medical emergency at Normal Community West High School on Thursday. According to a news release from the Normal Police Department, officers initially responded to the high school on a report of a student having a medical emergency at approximately 9:51 a.m.…… MORE
By WMBD-TV BLOOMINGTON – Congressman Darin LaHood visited Bloomington on Thursday as the city prepares for another project. After more than 25 years in the making, Bloomington leaders said they’re ready for the Hamilton Road Project. It’s part of a bigger concept, the southern transportation corridor, which is found in city planning documents dating back…… MORE
By WMBD-TV NORMAL – Heartland Community College is planning for its future. The college’s Board of Trustees allotted $35 million for general obligation debt certificates. This will be money Heartland can use towards projects including, but not limited to, renovations to their Workforce Development Center and its Hawk Cafe and the Advanced Manufacturing and Technical…… MORE
By WMBD-TV BLOOMINGTON – In July, Dr. Scott Denton was awarded the Life Saving Partner Award by the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Network. “I was giving a lecture about why forensic pathologists can help save the living in organ donation. Which is something I don’t get to do often,” said Denton. “So, I…… MORE
A 47-year-old La Salle man died in a crash early Tuesday afternoon.… MORE
More than a dozen students were injured and taken to an area hospital injuries after a two-vehicle collision Wednesday in Downtown Peoria.… MORE
Former President Barack Obama returned to his hometown Tuesday night to help launch the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, and to mark the continuation of his own political legacy.… MORE
By WMBD-TV and Jake Fogal BLOOMINGTON – Toys for Tots of McLean County is introducing a “Santas of Summer Parking Lot Party.” “We’re in the Midwest. What do we do best in the Midwest? Let’s throw a parking lot party,” Coordinator Troy Zeigler said. The organization is hosting a free party this Saturday at Lil…… MORE
By WMBD-TV BLOOMINGTON – With a location already open in Peoria, another central Illinois city now also gets to have an escape room business. Escapetown opened its Bloomington location this past Thursday, providing residents with a fun and tricky way to spend their time. Groups have a 60-minute time limit to solve the puzzle and unlock…… MORE
EYM Chicken Operations and its parent company, Yum, shut down multiple Illinois KFC fast-food locations earlier this week, implementing mass layoffs of its employees statewide.… 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…