Category Archives: Police and Fire

Fire damages storage shed on Main Street in Normal

Fire damages storage shed on Main Street in Normal

Posted on June 21, 2023

By Neil Doyle NORMAL – Firefighters made quick work of a storage shed fire Tuesday afternoon adjacent to the Baba Restaurant on North Main Street in Normal. According to a news release, fire crews were called around 2 p.m. to 1501 N. Main Street after multiple callers reported smoke in the area of Main Street…… MORE

Pekin police investigate reckless homicide after two dead in hit and run

Pekin police investigate reckless homicide after two dead in hit and run

Posted on June 16, 2023

By WMBD-TV PEKIN – A reckless driver has left two people dead in Pekin. According to Pekin police, two people were found near Caroline and North 2nd Streets early Thursday morning. A woman was pronounced dead on the scene. A 46-year-old man was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.…… MORE

Coroner: Man found in Normal died of natural causes

Coroner: Man found in Normal died of natural causes

Posted on June 12, 2023

By WMBD-TV NORMAL – McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder has identified the man found dead in the tree line near Main Street and Raab Road in Normal Friday. According to a Normal police news release, the man was identified as 47-year-old Aaron Marroquin Jimenez. The preliminary autopsy shows that Marroquin Jimenez died of natural causes.…… MORE

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…