Peoria, Peoria County | featured news

The postseason beat goes on for Peoria High.

Central built a double-figures lead in the first three minutes and played a deep rotation from there in a 62-48 victory over Galesburg in a Class 3A boys basketball Peoria Sectional semifinal on Thursday.

Dyricus Simms-Edwards sat alone in a corner of the Bradley Braves locker room Thursday night. Most of his teammates were gone, but Simms-Edwards remained in uniform, not wanting to take it off. He hopes the Braves will be invited to a postseason tournament so he can play again. And again. And again.

Willy Oliver might be the only man in Peoria who loves to pay his bills.
 

He also loves cleaning up around the house because as one of the first residents to move into Harrison Homes Phase 3, he knows that these responsibilities weren’t easy to come by.

It all started in November when Nolan Keane, 28, a Kewanee native, proposed to Morgan Carstens, 26, his longtime girlfriend from Toulon, during a trip to Disney World.

A burst of hiring last month added 236,000 U.S. jobs and reduced the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. The robust gains suggested that the economy can strengthen further despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.

The February jobs report issued Friday provided encouraging details: The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in four years. Job growth has averaged more than 200,000 a month since November. Wages rose. And the job gains were broad-based, led by the most construction hiring in six years.

Cardinals have set Tuesday as the start date for the conclave to elect the next pope, signaling that they were wrapping up a week of discussions about the problems of the church and who best among them might lead it.

The conclave date was set on Friday afternoon during a vote by the College of Cardinals. Tuesday will begin with a Mass in the morning in St. Peter's Basilica, followed by the first balloting in the afternoon.