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PEORIA — A South Peoria home was demolished after sustaining major damage from a fire Thursday morning.Damage to the home was estimated at $65,000 and it was deemed unsafe, according to Battalion Chief Michael Morgan.Morgan said the department received multiple calls shortly after 9 a.m. of a fire at 2215 W. Garden St., including from 72-year-old resident Barbara Tennon, the sole occupant of the house. Tennon was uninjured and out of the house before [...]

As the city and world get nastier, we cluck our tongues and wonder what went wrong.How did this happen? This isn't like it used to be. We used to have hope and promise. But everything seems scarier everyday. Who is to blame? Maybe look in the mirror.That suggestion comes from a retired teacher. She has watched society crumble, starting long ago with its littlest members. And she thinks parents started a vicious cycle years ago.The [...]

PEKIN — City police remain the primary investigators in the case of a woman they say was kidnapped Monday in Pekin and found shot dead in Peoria a day later.Until they determine where Laongdao Phangthong, 28, was killed, prosecution of her estranged husband will be the focus of the Tazewell County State's Attorney's Office, a Pekin police spokesman said Thursday."We've obviously been working very directly" with that office, said Pekin police Public [...]

PEORIA — The Peoria County Board courts committee on Thursday recommended approving the public defender's budget for only four months next year, which will allow time to see if the county is getting what it needs from that office.During the meeting to review their portion of the 2014 budget, members of the committee agreed to the partial funding to insure legal services for those who can't afford an attorney wouldn't be disrupted. But the move allows for possibly [...]

PEORIA — After the better part of a year of searching for a new general manager, the Springdale Cemetery Management Authority narrowed its list of possible hires to one."I think we're at the end of the process," said Bob Manning, chairman of the management authority. "We went through the list and whittled it down. We now have an individual in mind."According to Manning, the decision on a new general manager will be announced at an open executive session [...]

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Infrastructure investments now being undertaken by Ameren Illinois should mean improved service to customers and also job opportunities for hundreds of workers. "We're bringing on more than 600 new workers in the next few years to implement a variety of projects to upgrade the grid," said Ameren Illinois President and CEO Richard Mark. The St. Louis-based utility plans to replace and refurbish underground distribution cables and gas pipelines, fortify [...]

WEST PEORIA — In 1987, Neal Auto Parts raised a white, two-door, 1982 Buick Regal onto a platform welded across the middle of an eye-catching 50-foot arch planted deep into concrete in front of the Farmington Road business.On Thursday, that Buick came back down to earth."Tires are flat," joked Dan Condre, of Hardin Signs, as the car immediately settled on its four metal rims, not the four tires probably devoid of air since the early 1990s.

Lawmakers adjourn after Black Caucusstalls anti-gun billSPRINGFIELD — A push to fight crime by imposing stiffer penalties for having guns on urban streets came to a halt Thursday when black lawmakers in the Illinois House used a procedural measure to stall proposed legislation, saying the bill was too focused on locking up young men. The House adjourned shortly after, and the Senate followed a few hours later after failing to address a [...]

PEORIA — A Peoria man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a preteen girl nearly three years ago.Torlando D. McDonald, 29, of 2137 S. Seibold St. told Circuit Judge Steve Kouri that he didn't assault the girl and asked for a lesser sentence. Kouri commented he thought the jury in July got it right when they found McDonald guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault.Prosecutors alleged during the three-day trial that [...]