John Looney Was The Prototype For Gangsters Who Would Follow

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• By Roger Ruthhart Rock Island Argus John Looney was the original Quad-Cities vice lord and also one of the nation’s earliest organized crime leaders. Looney was a thin, cold, gaunt, sort of dour-looking man with haunting eyes. He wore the same baggy, dirty suit every day and ate raw liver on toast. He ran for the Illinois State House as a Democrat and lost. His bitterness over the defeat launched his career as the undisputed godfather of the underworld. He controlled a vast and unmatched empire of extortion, bribery, booze, gambling and prostitution. There were downtown shootings, … Read More

Obituaries 4-11-2018: Kay Heady 

News Progress Posted on by

Kay Heady  Kay Heady, 77, of Newton passed away Wednesday, April 4, 2018 in HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois. Funeral services celebrating Kay’s life were held at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 8 in Crain Funeral Home in Newton with Pastor Garth Whewell officiating. Burial was in West Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Newton. … Read More

Obituaries 4-11-2018: Dean Wilson 

News Progress Posted on by

Dean Wilson  Dean M. Wilson, 101, of Decatur, passed away at 3:14 a.m., Monday, April 9, 2018, in his home. Graveside services will be Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m. in Marrowbone Township Cemetery in Bethany, with the Rev. Dr. Timothy Kovalcik officiating. Mr. Wilson was born May 15, 1916, in Hanoverton, Ohio, the son of Ashley S. and Anna Bertha Moore Wilson. He graduated from Muskingham College in New Concord, Ohio in 1937, earning a degree in Economics.  Dean was a World War II veteran, achieving the rank of Lieutenant and was the Communications Officer on a destroyer minesweeper called the USS Southard DMS … Read More

Lovington Board Prepares for Clean up Day

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• The Lovington Village Board met in special session March 26 discussing issues  regarding the village water leak adjustment calculator. The regular meeting on March 12 included clean up day and townwide garage sale discussions. President Roger Walker noted he has a problem with leak adjustments from unoccupied homes when pipes freeze and burst. “Because of the water leaks we have had, we need to do something that will help us,” Walker told the board. … Read More

St. Teresa Tops Sullivan Baseball

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• The Sullivan baseball team dropped a Central Illinois Conference game against St. Teresa in Decatur last Thursday. Sullivan took the lead in the first inning with a run and added on a run in the third inning, but the Bulldogs scored three runs in the third to take the 3-2 lead. St. Teresa scored four in the bottom of the sixth inning to win the game 7-2. … Read More

Swimming Awards

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• At the Sullivan-Okaw Valley Swimming Banquet on March 21, the following awards were received: Brodie Goss: Team Captain and High Point Sectional; Justin Helmuth: Most Improved; Anna Wooters: Most Improved and Sectional High Point; Natalie Drury and McKenna Kull: Co-Captains. … Read More

Redskins Softball Team Tops St. Teresa

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• The Sullivan softball team split a pair of games this past week. The Redskins defeated St. Teresa last Thursday but lost to Windsor-Stewardson Strasburg, Saturday, April 7. Against St. Teresa, Sullivan took the lead early and did not look back. The Redskins scored seven runs in the first inning, four runs in the second inning and four runs in the third inning.  … Read More

Timberwolves Defy Weather for Two Wins

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• By Jason Brown NP Sports Despite the rain, high winds and snow, the Okaw Valley baseball team slipped in two games last week. The Timberwolves toppled rival Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond 10-0 in Bethany and knocked off Greenfield 10-5 Saturday. The two wins extended OV’s winning streak to 7-0 to start the season. Against ALAH, OV scored three runs in the first inning and three in the fourth inning to take a 7-0 lead. The Timberwolves tacked on two runs in the fifth inning and a run in the sixth to end the game. Trey Yarnell and Austin Harshman each … Read More

Publishing Autobiographies Was an Unexpected Calling

News Progress Posted on by

•April 11, 2018• By John Cash for the News Progress Sometimes your calling in life is not what you would expect. When Scot England graduated from Sullivan High School in 1983, his ambition was to work for the Sullivan radio station. England did and went from radio to television and even tried politics and sports writing at the News Progress before he moved to Nashville, Tenn. to find his calling. A WAND TV newscaster for 10 years, England had always been attracted to the Country Music City and accepted an anchor position with RFD TV in Nashville but discovered four … Read More