•October 24, 2018• Philip and Nina Martin will host a piano recital in their home at 2 p.m. November 3 to benefit the Moultrie County Beacon and the Moultrie County Counseling Center. Admission to the event is free and open to the public, but a free will offering to benefit these nonprofit agencies will be collected. … Read More
•October 24, 2018• The Sullivan/Okaw Valley football team finished its second straight year without a win. SOV lost its last game of the season 48-0 to Central A&M in Moweaqua Friday night. The Raiders scored 28 points in the first on four running touchdowns, including three runs of at least 30 yards. Central A&M scored 20 points in the second quarter and held on from there. SOV finished the season 0-9 overall and 0-7 in the Central Illinois Conference. … Read More
•October 24, 2018• By Jim Nowlan NP Guest Columnist Much of Downstate Illinois (the vast 94-county region outside the 8 metro-Chicago counties) appears to be dying. Recently at mid-day, I went out onto the three-block main street of my county-seat town—and there wasn’t a solitary auto on the streets of my once-lively little burg! Mid-size cities like Peoria and Decatur have also been hurt, by the flight of flagship corporate offices to Chicagoland. Several downstate public universities have seen enrollments implode, their host communities twisting in the wind. The population loss that Illinois suffered in recent years is almost wholly … Read More
•October 24, 2018• Okaw Valley Community Unit School District invites all veterans and their family members to a Veterans Day program at Okaw Valley High School in Bethany Friday, November 9. … Read More
•October 24, 2018• In Sullivan Wednesday, October 31 starts off with Safe Trick or Treating at marked locations from 4-6 p.m. The Sullivan AmBucs costume judging parade kicks off at 6:15 p.m. from the Sullivan square. Costumed participants will be judged during the march around the square with prizes awarded in various categories. Trick or Treating townwide is from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, October 31 in Sullivan. Bethany town wide trick or treating is from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Weds., Oct. 31. Lovington Park Board Halloween judging contest is Oct. 27 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. with trick or treating … Read More
•October 24, 2018• Another Sullivan Chamber and Economic Development Oktoberfest is in the books with a good crowd attending the annual event on the square in Sullivan last weekend. The Chili Cook-off Results— Judges Choice went to Ace Hardware in Sullivan. … Read More
•October 24, 2018• By Roger Ruthhart IP Guest Columnist Saukenuk was well-known as one of the largest Native American villages in North America, but one of its residents, the warrior Black Hawk, was even better known. Although born in Saukenuk, which was located where Rock Island stands today, his father Pyesa and mother Summer Rain and other relatives could trace their ancestry back thousands of years. According to their oral traditions, both the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes were living in Canada 12,000 years ago at the time of the last glacial retreat. Many centuries later they were displaced from their … Read More