Illinois, Peoria County | featured news

Gov. Pat Quinn launched the newest lottery program to benefit Illinois veteran's organizations Monday with stops in four cities.The new $2 scratch-off ticket will fund grants for organizations statewide that provide services to military men and women as part of Veterans Cash, a program that has raised more than $11 million for Illinois veterans since 2006 through lottery ticket sales."We want to make sure our [...]

The nation's newest state, if rural Colorado residents had their way, would be about the size of Vermont but with the population of a small town spread across miles of farmland. There wouldn't be civil unions for gay couples, new renewable energy standards, or limits on ammunition magazines.After all, those were some of the reasons five counties on the state's Eastern Plains voted on Election Day to approve the creation of a 51st state in the [...]

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese students are flocking to U.S. colleges and universities, helping to drive the number of international students studying in America to record levels.Similarly, all-time high numbers of American students are studying abroad, although there are far fewer and they tend to do much shorter stints than students coming to the United States.The findings are in an analysis being released [...]

A local man was found dead after a one-car accident Sunday morning on Hickory Point Road, according to authorities.Jacob Polston, 18, of Metamora was identified Monday as the victim of the crash, according to Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman.Woodford County Deputy Coroner Jeffrey Price said the Woodford County Sheriff's Office received a call Sunday of a rolled-over car a third of a mile north of Illinois [...]

A crop-dusting pilot is being fined $750 for mistakenly spraying almost 80 teenagers with fungicide as they detassled corn in eastern Illinois this summer.The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1aA1wu6 ) the pilot was fined for violating the Illinois Pesticide Act during the July 25 accident.A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture says the fine [...]

PEORIA — While indicating that family finances are in better shape, Peoria-area families have concerns about where the economy is headed.Those concerns could mean a less-than-robust holiday shopping season, noted Bernie Goitein, director of survey research at Bradley University's Foster College of Business.Consumer confidence in the future declined among households in the five-county Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to the Bradley survey. [...]

EAST PEORIA — A house fire was quickly put out Sunday morning at 202 Chicago St., but not before it caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage.According to East Peoria Assistant Fire Chief Rick Ward, the Fire Department received a call at 7:21 a.m. and quickly arrived at the scene six blocks from the fire station. By 7:28 p.m., the fire was put out.The fire gutted the back bedroom of the house, but did not damage any other part of the house. One of the [...]

MORTON — Kindall Nelson cried the first time she got food at the Harvest Food Pantry in Morton."Nobody ever thinks you are going to be that person in line who can't get food for their kids," said Nelson, a 34-year-old single mom with four kids. "Everybody has stereotypes in their mind of what kind of people go to the food pantries and kitchens, what type of people are homeless. The whole experience was very humbling for me."Today, Nelson is back on her [...]

PEORIA — A South Peoria man faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly twisting the arm of a 3-month-old baby, causing a fracture, according to a recent indictment.Justin E. Lilly, 20, 928 S. Matthew St., was indicted by a Peoria County grand jury on charges of aggravated battery and aggravated domestic battery. The indictment has little information except that the allegations occurred on Oct. 26 and that the little girl suffered a fracture.His bond [...]

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Journal Star publishes a weekly list of major road construction projects in the Tri-County Area.Information about highways and interstates statewide can be found at the Illinois Department of Transportation's website, www.dot.il.gov. Additional local road information can be found at www.gettingaroundpeoria.com.Tazewell CountyMorton: Reconstruction of the [...]