Coronavirus problematic for Illinois farmers
By Ben OrnerCapitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD – Soybean farmers in Illinois cannot catch a break. After a promising trade deal with China last month gave farmers hope amid an intense trade war, the deadly Wuhan coronavirus currently overwhelming China is also damaging its economy. The country’s economic slump is now sowing fears that China might not be able to buy all of the $32 billion of U.S. agricultural goods it promised for 2020, including soybeans from Illinois, America’s top soybean-producing state. “This kind of big shock to their economy diminishes their demand for a lot of primary products” like soybeans,…
Primed for postseason
Lady Rebels poised to place second in LTC By Gary Steward WYOMING – Monday night the Stark County girls basketball team took on a good, young ROWVA-Williamsfield team and came away with a 61-27 victory. Olivia Hopp threw in 19 points for the Lady Rebels, Riley Menssen had 14 and McKenzie Stahl contributed 10 to lead SC in scoring while Kelsey Berchtold and Lexi Davis controlled the boards with good defensive efforts. The Lady Tigers struggled to score and Abby Stowe and Jenna Woodside each had six points to lead the attack. The Lady Rebels own a 21-8 season record…
Doss donates $100,000 for new stage
By Carol Townsend GALVA – Fund-raising for a permanent stage at Wiley Park is no longer necessary following Monday. Thanks for that goes largely to Jane Doss, owner of Galva-based Preferred Home Health Care. Doss presented a check for $100,000 to Mayor Rich Volkert at Monday night’s Galva City Council meeting for the stage the city will be putting in Galva’s Wiley Park. Galva will host the music series this summer for the third year. Doss’s donation and $10,000 from another anonymous donor will be enough to fund construction of the permanent stage. Doss gave the money as a memorial…
Murray offers memories of cheese-making days in Stark Co.
By John A. Ballentine TOULON – Doug Murray is the last of his kind in Stark County. A life-long dairyman and milk producer, Murray recently sat down with The Prairie News to discuss the history of Toulon area cheese making and Kraft’s influence on the county. Murray retired from milk producing last fall and was the last farmer to have a dairy herd of cows in Stark County. According to E.H. Shallenberger’s 1876 book, “Stark County and its Pioneers”, the Toulon cheese manufacturing company was organized in December of 1874 with cheese production beginning in the spring of 1875. It…
Many local crimes tied to drugs and behavioral health
By BILL KNIGHTFor The Weekly Post The Peoria Sheriff’s Department’s comprehensive crime statistics for 2019 show fluctuations in some property crimes, crimes against people, and traffic enforcement, and Peoria County Sheriff Brian Asbell sees a few common threads that contribute to incidents. First, the eight Peoria County townships in The Weekly Post’s circulation area where the County was the main responding agency demonstrate a few noteworthy changes in a few places: • Thefts in Princeville and Princeville Township fell from 14 in 2018 to 3 last year. • Traffic citations were up slightly in Brimfield and Brimfield Township, from 16 to…
Local schools out on electric buses
By BILL KNIGHTFor The Weekly Post ELMWOOD – Elmwood schools apparently won’t be getting a new, free electric bus from money from the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from the shutdown of the E.D. Edwards power station in Bartonville. The Review Board considering grant applications from funds set aside by Edwards owner Vistra Energy asked to have Elmwood removed from consideration, keeping school districts closer to the site, according to Superintendent Chad Wagner at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. Farmington, Princeville and Dunlap also were excluded, said Williamsfield superintendent Tim Farquer. His school is still under consideration for the grant. “We’re…
Scattershooting
Of relocated cats and losing our religion By JEFF LAMPE Rambling through central Illinois, hoping Andy Reid gets to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday. The other day in Toulon, I ran into Wendy Cunningham of Laura, who was a participant in our cat relocation project a few years ago. You may recall the project: my sons and I spent a summer trapping feral felines and then transporting them to anyone who wanted a cat for their barn or shed. Well, Wendy’s report was not encouraging. It seems the cats she got took off immediately and were never seen…
