Body found in Illinois River still unidentified A3
Hall’s victory sets up a showdown with Princeton B1
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Tenants awaken to fire in La Salle didn’t sound right. Moments later, she was alerting her La Salle neighbors about a fire. “I heard cracking noises in a wall upstairs in apartment 5,” Doss said, while standing on the sidewalk in the 700 block By Craig Sterrett of Third Street, holding her tiny NEWS EDITOR dog, Koby. While she didn’t notice much Jasmine Doss already was smoke inside her apartment, La awake around 7 a.m. Sunday and Salle firefighters arrived at 747 soon after she heard noises that
Owner finding places for tenants to go
Third St. to see smoke coming from the eaves of the old twostory house. Firefighters cut a hole in the roof, found flames in the attic and knocked down most of the fire quickly. However, area firefighters spent another hour tearing into walls and ceilings to try to extinguish all of the fire. “It was in the walls. They’re double-checking to make sure it did extinguish,” fire chief Andy
Bacidore said at the scene. Later Sunday morning, Bacidore said the fire appeared to originate at or in the wires behind baseboard heating in an upstairs apartment bathroom. Bacidore said a police officer who entered the structure to make sure everyone got out OK noticed smoke in that bathroom, as did his first-arriving firefighting crew. Peru, Oglesby, Utica and Spring Valley fire departments
provided assistance at the scene, and Wallace firefighters manned the La Salle station during the incident. The house contains six apartments, and the fire chief and building owner Peter Wang made themselves available to talk with tenants. Bacidore said the building owner let the tenants know he had other units they can See FIRE Page A4
The final run
Large turnout for final Canal Connection, new race in the works By Brett Herrmann
NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
With a mud-spattered backside, Bryan Glass crossed the finish line about three minutes before any other runner. He was the first of the last. Just over 700 runners would finish the annual Canal Connection 10K in Utica on Sunday — a huge turnout compared to the roughly 450 runners who completed the race last year. But this was the final opportunity to run it. Race organizers announced earlier this year this would be the final Canal Connection after 37 years. A state-imposed permit-to-sell fee was recently implemented on the race taking 10% of the gross revenue because the race utilizes the Illinois and Michigan Canal, a state of Illinois owned property. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources previously gave Starved Rock Runners — the non-profit group organizing the race — a waiver for the fee, but this year was different. “Events held at our state parks and historic sites often require overtime staffing and additional upkeep to site facilities,” IDNR deputy director Rachel Torbet said in July. “To help cover that cost and recapture some of the funds required to host these events, IDNR requests organizations and not-for-profits selling merchandise, food or requiring event entry fees pay a permit-tosell fee.” The loss of revenue for the race made the race directors take a second look at how feasible it would be to keep it going. Janine Sobin and Rosanne Abbott said they could poten-
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SPAN WORK The latest on the new Utica bridge
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Jennifer Krzak of Madison, Wis., and others run down the towpath on the Illinois and Michigan Canal Sunday during the final Canal Connection. More than 700 runners completed the annual 10K this year, which is about a 250 runner increase over last year. Race directors said word had spread it would be the final race after 37 years, which drew in more participants than usual. tially lose money on the race, which typically takes months to organize and coordinate between La Salle and Utica. So, Glass will go down as the final champion. The Springfield resident said it was his 18th time coming to the race and his 13th win. He is the course record holder too, but this year the course was a little different. A washout on the canal just east of Split Rock forced the state to close the trail. The hope was that the washout would be fixed in time for the race, but IDNR was unable to get the repairs done in time. Sobin and Abbott were forced to redraw the race route, which cut the city of La Salle out of the race this year. For the first and last time, the Canal Connection started and stopped in Utica as runners did an out-and-back on the towpath. “I loved it,” Glass said. “This
way you get to see everybody. In the past you’re all alone.” Glass brought along fellow Springfield resident Amanda Nelson, who took home the first overall female finisher honors. “I heard a lot about it from him,” Nelson said of Glass. “I said this is where you get your (personal records),” Glass said. And Nelson did by about a minute and a half, she said. The flat course has always been a draw for runners looking to run some fast times. But this year the big draw was that it was the final chance to run it. While plenty of locals signed up on Sunday, there were also plenty of runners who made the trip from all across Illinois and other states in the Midwest. Jennifer Krzak said she came down for the race from Madison, Wis. after hearing about it from family who lives in
Bryan Glass of Springfield crosses the finish line about three minutes ahead of any other runner during the Canal Connection on Sunday in Utica. Glass said he has won the race 13 times and will now go down as the all-time course record holder since this was the last Canal Connection. the Joliet area. “It was my first time for the last run,” she said. And while the Canal Connection won’t exist after its
nearly four decade tenure, there are plans to get another race going. See CANAL Page A2
Trump whistleblower willing to answer GOP questions Lawyer says client willing to share info in writing By Hope Yen
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The whistleblower who raised alarms about President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and touched off the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the person’s lawyer says. The offer made over the week-
end to Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the intelligence committee, was aimed in part at fending off escalating attacks by Trump and his GOP allies who are demanding the whistleblower’s identity be revealed. It would allow Republicans to ask questions of the whistleblower without having to go through the committee’s chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “Being a whistleblower is not a partisan job nor is impeachment an objective. That is not our role,” Mark Zaid, the whistleblower’s attorney, tweeted Sunday.
“We will ensure timely answers,” he said. Zaid said the whistleblower would answer questions directly from Republican members “in writing, under oath & penalty of perjury.” Only queries seeking the person’s identity won’t be answered, he said. Nunes’ office did not have immediate comment. The surprise proposal comes as Trump stepped up attacks on the whistleblower as lacking credibility, tweeting Sunday that the person “must come forward.” The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Trump’s political rivals. The whistleblower’s secondhand account of the call has been providing a road map for House Democrats investigating whether the president and others in his orbit pressured Ukraine to probe political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats are heading into a crucial phase of their impeachment inquiry as they aim to move toward public impeachment hearings later this month. See QUESTIONS Page A2