Peoria, Peoria County | featured news

Nicholas Benefield of Mossville Boy Scout Troop 50 earned the rank of Eagle Scout in September 2012.

More than 150 years after the USS Monitor sank off North Carolina during the Civil War, two unknown crewmen found in the ironclad's turret when it was raised a decade ago were buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Sportsman Channel says it's deeply saddened by the death of one of its TV hosts who traveled the world in search of big game and shared his adventures on his program "A Rifleman's Journal."

One area of state government that's not facing cuts under Illinois's worst-ever budget is its support for passenger rail service.

A fire at a barn in Bloomington has destroyed half a dozen classic cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The eight senators meet in private several times a week, alternating between Sen. John McCain's and Sen. Charles Schumer's offices. They sit in arm chairs arranged in a circle and sip water or soft drinks as they debate temporary workers and border security. In a capital riven by partisanship and gridlock, they are determined to be the exception and actually get something done.

For Mina Meyer and Sharon Raphael, two women in their 70s who fell in love more than four decades ago and have been married for more than four years, the U.S. Supreme Court's pending consideration of a law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like theirs is about more than civil rights. It's about buying a new roof for their California home, replacing their 2005 Toyota Camry, and ensuring Meyer doesn't take a financial hit if Raphael dies first.

Family members of the young woman killed in a lion attack at a Central California animal park say they believe no rules were broken and the volunteer worker's death was a tragic accident.

Investigators think the 550-pound male African lion lifted the door of a partially closed feeding cage with its paw and killed 24-year-old Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a bigger enclosure area Wednesday, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden has said.

A newspaper known for unflinching coverage of the Catholic church scandal was rebuked by a bishop in its own backyard after calling for his ouster in a battle that illustrates tensions between U.S. bishops and groups that call themselves Catholic but aren't sanctioned by the church.

After 16 years in the same house, Dan Ford decided his bare front yard needed a lawn ornament.

Gnome? Bird bath? Cowboy silhouette? Booor-ring.

“Some people want gazing balls in their front yard,” Ford, 47, says with a shake of the head. “Not me.”

So he decided to reach out and touch something original: He got a phone booth.