(Springfield-jm) – The Illinois Department of Public Health Friday reported 26,462 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 123 deaths since August 5. 42 counties including Ford, Champaign and Vermilion Counties are rated at high community level and 48 counties including Iroquois County are at medium community level.
(Springfield-jm) – Governor J-B Pritzker is announcing a more than 34 billion dollar six-year state transportation plan. The Governor says the investment is the state’s highest yet, addressing repairs and improvements across Illinois…
Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker. There’s also money to boost railroad crossing and highway traffic safety and address airport and transit needs. Among the projects funded in this project include $16 million to resurface and widen U-S 150 (Prospect Avenue) from the I-74 interchange (Bloomington Road) to Route 10 (Springfield Avenue) in Champaign. $46.7 million is set aside to resurface 15.3 miles of I-57 and do bridge repairs and bridge deck improvements from the Ford County line to the Buckley interchange as well as from Route 54 in Onarga to U-S 24 in Gilman.
(Champaign-jm) – The City of Champaign is looking to sell three parcels of vacant land it owns and bidding for these parcels is now open. The parcels can accommodate a single-family home and are located at 505 and 606 West Bradley Avenue and 40 East Beardsley Avenue. The City of Champaign attempted to sell these properties in February, but they went unsold. Bids for these properties must be delivered to the Office of the City Clerk, located at 102 North Neil Street, by noon on August 24.
(Buckley–jc) The annual Knight for Christ benefit auction for Buckley based Christ Lutheran school in Buckley is set for Saturday August 27. The event will take place at the Ford County Fairgrounds and start at 4pm. Christ Lutheran High School Executive Director Sandy Spitz says the event will be catered and a professional auction company will help the proceedings…
Christ Lutheran High School of Buckley Executive Director Sandy Spitz
(Mahomet-jm) – Regional blood provider ImpactLife, in partnership with the Mahomet community, will be hosting a community blood drive later this week. The blood drive will take place at the Busey Bank located at 312 East Main Street on Thursday between 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. All donations will take place inside ImpactLife’s Bloodmobile and will last between 45 and 60 minutes. Potential donors must be at least 17 years old or 16 with parental permission and weigh more than 110 pounds. A photo I.D. is required to donate and potential donors cannot have donated blood since June 23. People with diabetes or controlled high blood pressure may be accepted as eligible donors.
(Washington-jm) – Friday's USDA crop report had at least one surprise. Gary Crawford reports…
(Springfield-jm) – As students in Illinois get set to return to the classroom, the state’s schools will have ample opportunity to obtain free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests. The Illinois Department of Public Health announced that they are offering 1 million over-the-counter COVID-19 rapid tests to K-12 public school districts outside of Chicago. IDPH said the tests will be available upon request and are supposed to augment the district’s regular supply for the 2022-2023 school year.
(Springfield-jm) – The application deadline to sign up for home energy assistance is opening soon. 106th District State Representative Tom Bennett of Gibson City explains…
106th District State Representative Tom Bennett of Gibson City.
(Champaign-jm) – Two people were injured in a shooting early Saturday morning.
According to Champaign Police, on Saturday at 3:55 a.m. officers responded to the 1100 block of N. Third Street for the report of a large gathering and a fight breaking out. When officers arrived, they observed a couple hundred individuals congregating throughout an entire apartment complex and along the adjacent roadways; however, according to police there was no active fighting observed at that time. Shortly after arriving on scene, officers reported hearing dozens of gunshots being fired. According to police, one person was seen running from the scene and officers started to chase them. Officers quickly diverted their attention once they discovered a 19-year-old Champaign man with gunshot wounds.
Officers immediately rendered medical aid and the victim was ultimately transported by ambulance to a hospital. While officers were at the hospital, police said a second gunshot victim arrived by personal transport. The victim is a 25-year-old Champaign man and had multiple gunshot wounds.
(Urbana-jm) – A man from Danville has been arrested after he allegedly pulled down a female University of Illinois student’s pants last week as a prank. Kasey Hollis was arrested Friday on a preliminary charge of aggravated battery and was taken to the Champaign County Jail. Officers with the U of I Police Department said they received a report from a student who said a man had approached her from behind, grabbed her pants near the knee area and pulled on them. He immediately ran away. The car’s information was then uploaded into the local automated license plate reader system. On Friday, a UIPD officer received a report from the system that the car had been spotted by an automated license plate reader on U.S. Route 45 heading into Urbana. The officer responded to that area and saw the car entering a gas station on North Cunningham Avenue.
(Washington-jm) – USDA first farmer yield surveys for spring crops like corn, soybeans, and cotton led to adjustments in the August Crop Production forecasts. Rod Bain reports…
