By WMBD-TV NORMAL – A Wednesday evening kitchen fire in an Normal apartment injured one person and displaced two, the fire department reported Thursday. According to a news release from the Normal Fire Department, firefighters responded to 103 W. Willow St., shortly before 10 p.m. on a report of a stove fire. When they arrived, they…… MORE
HB 1286 awaits full Senate action.… MORE
On Wednesday, the Board of Trustees sat through a presentation from Studio GC, a Chicago-based architecture firm to explain the details of the situation.… MORE
By WMBD-TV BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) will soon welcome its newest appointed member, Bloomington mayor Mboka Mwilambwe. According to a City of Bloomington press release, Governor Pritzker appointed Mwilambwe for the position. “As the Mayor of Bloomington, Mboka Mwilambwe works tirelessly to advance the needs of his constituents, overseeing a growing…… MORE
By Jake Fogal SPRINGFIELD – A bill in the Senate that would provide a $500 state income tax credit for volunteer firefighters is picking up steam in the final week of session down in Springfield. The proposal asks for the state budget to include an income tax credit, which would support Illinois’ dire need for…… MORE
By Jake Fogal BLOOMINGTON – The Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency came to a close last week, but that does not mean the virus is going anywhere, according to a local health official. Jessica McKnight with the McLean County Health Department says just because the Public Emergency has ended, that doesn’t mean you can’t get…… MORE
A state lawmaker’s challenge to the assault weapons ban passed last year is in the hands of the Illinois Supreme Court.… MORE
A Bloomington man recently released on parole from the Illinois Department of Corrections is back in custody, this time on a slew of child porn charges.… MORE
By Jake Fogal TOWANDA – The McLean County Coroner’s Office has released information regarding a fatal crash that occurred late Monday night on Northbound Interstate 55 near milepost 170 in the Boyd Wesley Park Pond in Towanda. County Coroner Kathy Yoder pronounced 60 year-old Rick Plourde of Bloomington, dead at the scene. Preliminary autopsy opinion…… MORE
By WMBD-TV PONTIAC – OSF Healthcare announced Monday that it would stop delivering babies at its hospital in Pontiac, instead routing patients to Bloomington. In a news release, the healthcare network said the change is due to a sharp decline in the number of children born at OSF Healthcare Saint James – John W. Albrecht Medical Center This,…… 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…