Peoria, Peoria County | featured news

EUREKA — A 23-year-old signed away the next 45 years of his life by pleading guilty Friday to first-degree murder in Woodford County Court.“Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” and “Guilty” were the only words spoken by Rayshawn Lamar Johnson during his court appearance before Circuit Judge John Huschen. Johnson confessed to police as recently as two weeks ago that he shot and killed 74-year-old Oakley Mitchell at his rural Secor home in early August. [...]

PEORIA — Look for a focus broad, attractive, dynamic themes when Sam Gappmayer takes the reins at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.Peoria Riverfront Museum officials announced Friday they had chosen Gappmayer — currently chief of a Colorado Springs, Colo., museum complex — to take over the position of president and CEO on Dec. 2.During a meeting Friday with the Journal Star editorial board, Gappmayer stressed his interest in “doing programming that's relevant to the [...]

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday he has selected former Chicago schools CEO and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Paul Vallas as his running mate for 2014, calling him a longtime reformer and expert on fiscal and education issues who will be a lieutenant governor "for the common good.""I've known Paul Vallas for 30 years and he's never been shy about fighting for education, reform and opportunities for working people," Quinn said in an emailed [...]

Rising from the ashes of 9/11, the new World Trade Center tower has punched above the New York skyline to reach its powerfully symbolic height of 1,776 feet and become the tallest building in the country. Or has it?A committee of architects recognized as the arbiters on world building heights is meeting Friday to decide whether a design change affecting the skyscraper's 408-foot needle disqualifies it from being counted. Disqualification would [...]

The state of Illinois is spending more than $600,000 to get the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site in shape for the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's death in 2015.Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday he approved the spending for the work. The repair work means the tomb in Springfield's Oak Ridge Cemetery will be closed from Dec. 1 until early March. Quinn says its "vital" that the tomb is kept in top condition to accommodate the thousands of [...]

Authorities in the central Illinois community of Decatur say they arrested a dozen people after a series of shootings last weekend.Five separate shootings were reported on Sunday afternoon and evening. One person was injured.Police say the 12 are facing charges for weapons and violence and several others are facing drug charges.Decatur Police Deputy Chief David Dickerson [...]

A lane of Interstate 74 will be shut down here Saturday.The right lane of westbound I-74 will be closed between Morton Avenue and I-474 Saturday, from sunrise until possibly late at night, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The closure is likely to cause significant delays and traffic backups, IDOT said.The closure is necessary to pave the outside shoulder of I-74. The work is part of I-74 [...]

Some parents are scratching their heads over less restrictive head lice policies that allow children with live bugs in their hair to return to the classroom.And some school nurses are no longer sending home the dreaded "lice note" to other parents with kids in the classroom, alerting them to the possibility of lice in their own child's precious locks. The policy shift is designed to help keep children from missing class, shield children with lice [...]

Speakers recall Ronald Reagan, opening of Eastern EuropeEUREKA — Students, alumni, veterans and residents gathered Thursday on the campus of Eureka College to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, one of seven speakers, talked about how he followed international politics as a kid from the Cuban Missile Crisis onward and called himself "a child of the Cold War."

PEORIA — A 24-year-old man formerly of Peoria was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday evening while in town to visit his dying grandmother.The victim had exited a CityLink bus about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday at Prospect Road and Frye Avenue and started walking east on Abington Street, according to a police report. Two males then approached him from behind, and one of them pointed a handgun at the victim, demanding his money.The victim surrendered his iPod but told [...]