By AARON FREY For The Weekly Post GALESBURG – Caitlin Evans came home one day and had a question for her parents. Who is Doogie Howser? As Evans gets set to graduate today, May 19, from Carl Sandburg College’s associate degree nursing program at only 17 years old, it’s understandable that she’s drawn comparisons to the teenage doctor played by Neil Patrick Harris on the 1990s sitcom. “Someone called me that, and I had no idea (what it meant),” Evans said. Thirty-year-old pop culture references are among the few things Evans isn’t well schooled in. When she was 13, Evans took…

Rambling through central Illinois, counting the days until the final season of “Peaky Blinders” airs on Netflix on June 10. • • • The restaurant roulette wheel is spinning in Elmwood, where the Uptown Cafe is soon moving to the former Cerno’s location at 118 E. Main St. Occupying the space vacated by Uptown Cafe at 110 N. Magnolia St. will be a Mexican restaurant operated by Dana Cardenas of Havana. Cardenas is seeking a liquor license from the City of Elmwood and plans to call her restaurant Mi Ranchito. Opening is likely slated for July. Margaritas on Magnolia anyone?…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Arriving late with vehicle nets jail time for man HANNA CITY – Tardiness with his new girlfriend’s vehicle resulted in the arrest of a man north of Hanna City, according to authorities. Dolan R. Motes, 52, was taken into custody about 8 p.m. April 27 after he returned to his girlfriend’s residence in the 13800 block of W. Cottonwood Rd. west of Edwards. The 53-year-old woman told a Peoria County Sheriff’s deputy Motes drove to work in her 2010 Jeep Cherokee…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post Bluebells blanket two sides of French Creek in places. Never mind that, in a few weeks, they will be replaced by a sea of stinging nettles. For now, the scene is one of beauty. Similar spring glories abound, with plants of all sorts flowering and tractors turning our fine soil into a crumbly quilt of black and brown. So it goes in spring, a season of hope when many of us fill a primal urge by getting dirty while putting plants in the ground. Mother’s Day is usually a safe time to start…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Alarm but no robbery at Elmwood Casey’s ELMWOOD – Despite initial appearances, the Casey’s convenience store in Elmwood was not robbed last week. About noon on April 27, Elmwood police officer Mike Darrah and a Peoria County Sheriff’s deputy were dispatched to the store at 811 W. Main St. The hold-up alarm there had been triggered, according to an Elmwood police report. When Darrah arrived at Casey’s, he noticed three company trucks in the parking lot and employees working at the…

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Police reports • EDWARDS – Ronda S. Frye, 51, of Edwards was arrested April 22 after she was charged with two counts of forgery, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s report. • A mailbox at a residence in the 5600 block of North Kickapoo-Edwards Road was destroyed sometime between 8 p.m. April 10 and 7 a.m. April 11, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s report. The mailbox was among others in a row. Another mailbox was damaged. Homeowners did not hear…

By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post Marisa Unes showed a flair for the dramatic Saturday in girls softball action for Brimfield-Elmwood. The Lady Indians outfielder belted a walk-off, two-run home run on a 1-2 count to beat Havana, 6-4. Brooke Sumner had doubled to lead off the inning against Havana (5-2) and scored on Unes’ four-bagger. Sumner also scored in the bottom of the fifth inning after singling. That made a winner of Maddie Hessing, who allowed four hits in seven innings, fanned six and walked three. Also collecting hits were Ella Florey (double), Kierra Johnson, Hessing and CJ Troxell. On…

By PHIL JOHNSON For The Weekly Post After racing to a 12-0 start, Brimfield-Elmwood baseball suffered its first loss of the spring Tuesday in a 3-2 home loss to Illini Bluffs. With the game tied, 1-1, Illini Bluffs scratched two runs in the third on a single, walk, hit by pitch, groundout and wild pitch. B-E managed five hits, with Jude Strahm going 2-for-4. Caleb Tyre took the loss in three innings of work and Drew Kieser pitched four frames of shutout ball. On Monday, the Indians turned a close Prairieland Conference game against Peoria Heights into a blowout with an…

Athletes ready for season to heat up By JEFF LAMPE For The Weekly Post Mother Nature is not a track fan. How else to explain the cold, wet, windy conditions that have plagued the start of outdoor season. The challenge for athletes is to survive the cold and thrive once it gets warm. Here’s a look at local teams. Elmwood-Brimfield The sun finally shined, briefly, on a track meet Tuesday at Elmwood, where the Trojans hosted the ICAC event. Thomas Harmon headlines returnees for the Trojans boys squad and is a top candidate to medal in the 800 after placing second…

Rambling through central Illinois, pondering what fungi gossip about. • • • The more the years pile up, the more small victories matter. So it was with considerable happiness that I laid out the facing page, where you can read a column by Jeanne Harland. You may recall Jeanne from years past when her writings appeared in this paper. You may also recall we mounted an attempt to bring Jeanne out of retirement. And thanks to all of you convincing readers, she has done just that. Watch for her columns once a month. … Speaking of columnists, gardening writer Ron…