Peoria County | featured news

The game will go on.Washington (12-0) will visit Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (12-0) in a Class 5A football state semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Tears streamed down Hayley Reneau's face as the Washington senior stood amongst the devastation of Sunday's tornado.Shocked and saddened, she searched for answers.

WASHINGTON — Washington Mayor Gary Manier got his first look at the magnitude of the damage to the community during a helicopter tour just after sunrise Monday morning. "Unfortunately, as the sun got brighter, you could see more of the devastation," he said.After surveying parts of the devastated community Sunday after the storm, Manier said even he didn't realize how extensive the carnage was until he saw it all at once."This looks bad, but [...]

WASHINGTON – Authorities will continue to request identification from residents as recovery efforts continue in Washington, where no one has been reported missing in the wake of Sunday's tornado damage, Police Chief Don Volk said Monday."At this point, we are going to deny access to the areas that we know are severely damaged or destroyed," Volk said at an afternoon news conference in the parking lot of Tractor Supply Co. at 1750 Washington Road. "We are reducing [...]

PEORIA – Residents who lost some key documents in Sunday’s tornado can obtain copies for no charge from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.For the next 30 days, Tazewell and Woodford county residents — as well as those in the other five counties declared state disaster areas by Gov. Pat Quinn — can get duplicate certificates of title, duplicate vehicle registrations, duplicate driver’s licenses and duplicate state ID cards from [...]

WASHINGTON At 11:05 a.m. Sunday, a tornado ripped apart Washington like never before.At 6:48 a.m. Monday, the sun rose above Washington like every morning.Not that a massive recovery is that simple. It's not like a musical or magic or any other make-believe.But dawn couldn't come fast enough for some Washington residents milling around the western edge of destruction. A new day brought promise, a chance to take a look around and get to [...]

Chad Allaman lost his house in the tornado that devastated Washington. But it doesn't appear he's lost one of his schools.During the storm Sunday, Central Intermediate School sustained slight to moderate damage, Allaman said Monday. The superintendent of Central School District 51 expects all public schools in his community to remain closed through Wednesday, at least.School officials are to meet daily to assess when to open again, according to Allaman.

WASHINGTON — With so many homes being damaged or destroyed by Sunday's tornado, an unprecedented need for shelter has arisen. That's where the kindness of strangers comes in. All throughout central Illinois, people are helping anyway they can.On Monday, Crossroads United Method Church in Washington and WoodView Commons in East Peoria were open to people seeking a place to stay.The fact that his church would need to help out was immediately [...]

WASHINGTON — A small kitchen fire was put out within minutes of firefighters responding to a call Monday. Authorities responded to 116 Vine St. on a call from a neighbor on a fire. Once on the scene, they were able to control the fire within 5 to 10 minutes, according to North Tazewell Fire Department Chief Rick Ragan. He said the cause of the fire was unknown, but it started in the front of the stove oven in the kitchen. The homeowner was not home and [...]

PEORIA — Testimony is expected to begin Tuesday in the trial of a Peoria man accused of trying to shoot a Peoria police officer who was chasing him last year.Tony M. Harris, 18, of 2106 W. Wiswall St. is charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly shooting at Officer David Logan on Aug. 17, 2012.The attempted murder count has a minimum sentence of 20 years behind [...]