By 25 News BLOOMINGTON – A District 87 board member has officially resigned after his conviction and sentencing for repeat drunk driving. Superintendant Dr. David Mouser says that during the current 2022-2023 school year, Fitzgerald Samedy attended two meetings – in August and November. He pleaded guilty December 2022 to aggravated DUI and driving with a revoked…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Your utility bills are too high, and the Illinois Freedom Caucus says it’s Gov. JB Pritzker’s fault. “It’s just another attack on the middle class and seniors on fixed incomes, you know electric bills have been exploding under Gov. Pritzker’s radical agenda to destroy Illinois,” said State Rep. Chris Miller…… MORE
Illinois Democrats are pushing a proposed child tax credit.… MORE
The Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Peoria and Normal will soon close.… MORE
By 25 News GRIDLEY – A food and ingredient manufacturing company with a facility in Gridley pleaded guilty February 3 to a charge that it manufactured breakfast cereal under insanitary conditions that was linked to a salmonella outbreak in 2018. A release from the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs says Kerry Inc. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – You can just fill in the blank. The gulf in access to health care means Blacks are far more likely than whites to die of … This time it’s HIV and AIDS, as lawmakers and supporters called for more funding to target Blacks who need to know how to stay…… MORE
By 25 News LIVINGSTON COUNTY – Only months after successfully prosecuting a high-profile triple murder case, Livingston County State’s Attorney Randy Yedinak will soon become a judge. The elected judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit picked Yedinak to become an associate judge for Livingston, McLean, Woodford, Logan and Ford Counties. Yedinak will replace Associate Judge…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – You can’t write the story of wrongful convictions without at least one chapter about Illinois. And the police officers of tomorrow will perhaps erase the state’s shameful legacy. The director of the Police Training Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mike Schlosser, says many wrongful convictions result from…… MORE
By 25 News NORMAL – Faced with community opposition during an election year, the Normal Town Council overwhelmingly voted down plans to convert a restaurant into the town’s second cannabis dispensary for recreational use. Also Monday night, the council approved an annexation agreement west of town that leaders hope will meet increasing needs for new…… MORE
By 25 News NORMAL – A man from Normal convicted late last year on 10 counts of child pornography was sentenced Monday to 28 years in prison, having waited in jail for five years to face trial. However, Jeffrey Martin’s legal troubles are not over as he awaits trial for sexually assaulting a woman older…… 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…