News

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos has hired the first Latina executive director to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office has reached an $850,000 settlement with a LaSalle County chemical company that dumped thousands of pounds of a likely carcinogen near the Illinois River. 

The Peoria Police Department has made an arrest in the shooting death of 42-year-old Eddie Wren.

The Peoria Public Library will host an expert on Illinois-Missouri French Creole history over the weekend.

Dennis Stroughmatt, a native of southeastern Illinois, is one of only about 20 known people left to speak a specific dialect of French Creole once widely spoken in what is now Illinois. 

Stroughmatt's performance folktales and fiddle tunes are meant to inspire Illinoisans to take an interest in the region's history.

A pair of new exhibits make their big debut tomorrow at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

The Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art sent photography from famous 20th century artists like Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe and Sally Mann to Peoria. 

The works usually don’t leave New York City. Museum curator Bill Conger said the 80 works on display are precursors to contemporary artistic photography. 

Peoria native Shaun Livingston is retiring from the NBA.

Three century-old weekly newspapers in Tazewell County are no more.

Or rather, they're now all one. 

The East Peoria Times-Courier, Morton Times-News, and Washington Times-Reporter merged with the relatively new Woodford Times to create the new "Times-News Reporter."

In an unsigned note to readers, the new GateHouse publication said readers will continue to receive their free paper on Wednesdays.

"Thank you for your continued support of our brand of journalism - reliable, accurate and community-focused news," read the note. 

A 42-year-old man is dead after he was shot in the neck Thursday evening in Peoria's East Bluff.

A registered sexual offender from Canton was arrested for soliciting sex from an underage girl.

The Canton Police Department said Jeremy Mentzer, 28, began talking to the girl on Sept. 2 via social media. Police said he was using a fake name.

Detectives posed as the juvenile girl and got Mentzer to agree to meet at a predetermined location. He was arrested by police when he arrived. 

He was arrested for indecent solicitation of a child, a class 2 felony. 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul says any deal with Purdue Pharma for the role it played in the nation's opioid addiction crisis must hold the Sackler family, owners of the company, accountable.

A tentative settlement with Purdue Pharma announced Wednesday would have Purdue file for a structured bankruptcy and pay as much as $12 billion over time, with about $3 billion coming from the Sackler family.

In addition, the family would have to give up its ownership of the company and contribute another $1.5 billion by selling another company, Mundipharma.

The Peoria Fire Department is moving forward on plans to construct a new fire station on the city's South Side.

A former Dunlap music teacher arrested on sexual abuse charges in Colorado allegedly sent more than 41,000 texts to an underaged female student over a six-month period. 

Peoria At-large City Councilman Zach Oyler has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery charges.

Oyler’s jury trial is set for Jan. 13. He's next due to court for a status hearing on Oct. 16.

Oyler’s trial was pushed back because his attorney, Robert Hanauer, has a federal trial to attend to this fall.

The councilman was arrested at his home in July. He’s charged with domestic battery and interfering with a report of domestic battery. Both are Class A misdemeanors.

Hanauer and Oyler declined to comment after Wednesday's hearing.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is applauding the Trump administration’s announcement that it will seek to ban flavored vapes.

In recent weeks, six deaths and 450 hospitalizations were linked to e-cigarette usage. One of the deaths was in Illinois.

“Vaping targets kids. They’re introducing flavors that can be mixed with this vaping experience that appeals directly to children and teenagers in this country," he said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday. 

The proposed federal ban comes after a vaping meeting at the White House this morning . 

The City of Peoria should have a new fire station on the city’s South Side a year from now. 

The Peoria City Council last night took a partial step toward the legal sale of recreational cannabis.

A LaSalle Democrat is challenging Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) for the 16th Congressional District in 2020. 

Dani Brzozowski is the chair of the LaSalle County Democratic Party, a small business owner and community organizer. 

A self-described "Army brat," Brzozowski worked throughout Illinois and Indiana before returning to her hometown. 

She said the country's major issues are affordable healthcare, the environment, and job creation.

Tazewell County will be home to one of 40 new dementia care sites in Illinois.

A small but vocal group of local residents came out Tuesday to offer their input to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on new coal ash regulations.

A rural Edelstein man pleaded not guilty Monday to the murder of a Peoria County woman.

The Illinois Supreme Court will fully fund the salaries of county probation officers for the first time in over a decade.

Over the summer, public schools across Illinois received kits designed to help staff members respond in the event of life-threatening injuries. Each kit contains Nitrile gloves, a MicroShield mask, QuikClot bandages, and a tourniquet — just enough supplies to help save one person from bleeding to death. Schools can receive up to five more free kits if they train more staff on a curriculum called STOP the Bleed.

The Peoria Public Schools Board of Education approved a 3 percent raise for Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat at Monday's meeting.

The board voted to approve the raise, along with a $5,000 one-time bonus. School board president Dan Adler said the three percent raise was contractually required.

Kherat made nearly $275,000 in combined salary and benefits annually in the 2017-18 school year. In January, the board voted to pay her $1.3 million in compensation over the next five years in a new contract.

Former WEEK-TV anchor Maggie Vespa's response to a man who told her to dress like a "normal woman" on social media is getting nationwide attention.

An East Peoria man was fatally electrocuted in an accident involving a bucket truck on Saturday.

Tazewell County Coroner Charles Hanley said East Peoria firefighters and Tazewell County Sheriff's deputies responded to the 300 block of Terminal Road in rural East Peoria just before 11 a.m Saturday to find a tree-trimming bucket truck on fire after it touched an overhead electrical wire. 

Two Central Illinois attorneys have applied to fill the vacancy left on the bench by newly appointed Peoria County State's Attorney Jodi Hoos.

Attorneys Christopher Doscotch of Princeville and Gabriel Casey of Morton have applied to serve as a judge in the Tenth Judicial Circuit. 

Hoos resigned as a circuit judge at the beginning of this month to take over the top prosecutor's job formerly held by the late Jerry Brady. 

The Tazewell County Democrats gauged interest in the party’s 2020 presidential candidates at this year’s Pekin Marigold Festival.

More than 50 percent of the 153 voters who participated opted for former Vice President Joe Biden or U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in an unscientific straw poll. 

“Many people were a little overwhelmed by the number of choices on the table, but they were excited to have an opportunity to weigh in, however informal it may be," said Tazewell County Democratic Central Committee Chairwoman Brittany Miller. 

Bradley University is high on the list in a new Best Colleges Rankings from U.S News and World Report.

The publication ranks Bradley as the 4th best regional university in the Midwest, and the best in Illinois. Bradley was also ranked as the most innovative school and the best school for veterans in the Land of Lincoln.

The school also had the best-rated undergraduate engineering program in the state. 

“It’s so nice to have an outside source like this to recognize all the work that we’ve put into what we do here at Bradley, said spokeswoman Renee Charles.

Tazewell County Board Chairman David Zimmerman is running for a fifth term. 

Zimmerman, a Morton Republican, was first elected as board chairman in 2008 after serving 12 years on the board. 

He touts keeping Tazewell County's tax rate low, trimming county employment by 10 percent and capping the Pekin landfill among his successes. 

Zimmerman, 58, is an Illinois State University graduate. He's worked as a pharmaceutical representative for 32 years. 

The election is next year.