By NICK VLAHOSFor The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – On the Saturday evening before Christmas, a usually quiet neighborhood in Elmwood was anything but that. Following a five-hour standoff with at least 30 law-enforcement officers, an Elmwood man was arrested after neighbors provided video evidence he fired a gun from a residence. Christopher R. Coulter, 27, surrendered about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 21 in the 200 block of N. Daniels St. After negotiations failed, authorities used a security vehicle to break open a door and enter the residence. Coulter didn’t put up a fight after that, according to Peoria County Sheriff Chris…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.Police reports • BRIMFIELD – A woman and her teenage daughter were killed in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 74 west of Brimfield. Shortly before 4:30 a.m. Dec. 22, a 2005 Toyota Siena XLE left the westbound interstate at Bell School Road, crossed the eastbound lanes, struck a tree and caught fire, according to the Illinois State Police. Pronounced dead at the scene were Leila Mohamad, 41, and Zilan Sino, 15, the Peoria County Coroner’s Office stated. They were from Columbus, Ohio, and were traveling to Iowa…

Rambling through central Illinois, hoping for more snow. • • • In our pursuit of providing reasons to read this paper, we have added another writer to the mix. Printed below is a column by Richard Koritz, a former DeWitt County state’s attorney. Koritz writes regularly for The Clinton Journal, one of several newspapers sent my way each week. Over the past few years, I’ve started looking forward to seeing The Journal in the mail – mainly so I can read what Koritz has to say, even though I don’t always agree with him. Seems to me being challenged by…

By JEFF LAMPEFor The Weekly Post FARMINGTON – The Farmington City Council on Monday approved a 2024-25 tax levy that is $26,000 lower than last year. “At this point, we feel the city is operating within its constraints and we would like to give as much relief as we can,” Mayor Kenn Stufflebeam said. The city’s total levy is $323,580, with $2.772 million coming from other sources to fund the entire budget of $3.096 million. The council also passed an amended budget for Fiscal Year 2024 after learning that it had not allocated enough money for workers’ compensation and liability insurance…

Princeville administrators discuss IHSA classifications By NICK VLAHOSFor The Weekly Post PRINCEVILLE – Some Princeville School District administrators and board members don’t appear thrilled with how the Illinois High School Association is classifying its non-boundary members. The current statewide controversy regarding the frequency of private schools winning IHSA championships was a topic of conversation when the Princeville board met Dec. 10. Superintendent Tony Shinall said it was the dominant discourse on a recent conference call with counterparts. “There are lots of upset folks around the state talking about (it). It’s not a secret,” Shinall told the board.Private schools won seven of…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.Police reports • PRINCEVILLE – A Princeville man was accused of sexually assaulting girls aged 14 and 15, according to authorities. Jordan W. Gibson, 20, was implicated initially regarding an incident that happened about 4 p.m. Dec. 7 at a residence in the 100 block of W. Spring St. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was notified. Peoria County Sheriff’s Office reports about the incident were redacted almost entirely. Gibson is an uncle of one of the victims, according to Sheriff Chris Watkins. Gibson was…

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Deer were not cooperative Sunday morning as I sat high in a tree overlooking French Creek in scenic Knox County. But the beauty of sitting in nature long enough is that something will usually catch your eye, if you stay awake and attentive and ignore your cellphone. Sure enough, as an otherwise slow morning neared an end, the cackle of a rooster pheasant caught my ears … then my eyes. There not 50 feet away, a gaudy rooster floated into our prairie following a group of 9-10 hen pheasants. Breeding season is months away, but those hens sure acted like…

Farmington planning school enhancements By JEFF LAMPEFor The Weekly Post FARMINGTON – The Farmington School Board on Monday took another step toward facilitating projects designed to enhance and maintain school facilities. The board voted to approve a resolution for the sale and issuance of no more than $8 million in debt certificates for the purpose of improving and repairing district facilities. Farmington Superintendent Zac Chatterton said the district tax rate would not increase as a result of the bond issuance. Chatterton said the bonds are a continuance of enhancement bonds issued in 2018, for which the district still owes $2.6 million….

By NICK VLAHOSFor The Weekly Post GALESBURG – A jury trial is likely in February for a woman implicated in the apparent murder of the former Maquon police chief. Meanwhile, another woman accused of murdering former Chief Richard Young has pleaded not guilty.Both women – Karen Doubet and Marcy Oglesby – appeared Tuesday morning in Knox County Circuit Court. Oglesby, 52, was arrested in October 2022 after Young’s decomposing body was found in a box inside a Maquon storage locker. Doubet, 78, was arrested about two months ago. Doubet made her not-guilty plea in front of Judge Andrew Doyle about 10…