The Weekly Post
Thursday March 15, 2018 Vol. 6, No. 3 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
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PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Elmwood, Illinois Permit No. 13
“We Cover The News of West-Central Illinois With A Passion” Serving the fine communities of Brimfield, Dahinda, Douglas, Duncan, Edwards, Elmore, Elmwood, Farmington, Kickapoo, Laura, Monica, Oak Hill, Princeville, Williamsfield and Yates City
Illinois has produced famous politicians The Gettysburg Address. Hull House. The nation’s first African American president – and first lady. All are due to Illinois’ bumper crop of political figures. Here, in alphabetical order, are some leaders from our state: For The Weekly Post
A social worker and a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, Addams was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She ran Hull House, a settlement house for immigrants in Chicago, and cofounded the American Civil Liberties Union. She died in 1935 in Chicago. I-90 in Illinois is named after her. Jane Addams
Clinton’s 2016 Democratic nomination for president culminated a lifeHillary Rodham Clinton
By BILL KNIGHT
By JEFF LAMPE
Local volunteer fire chiefs agree on at least two things. The job they do is very rewarding. But it’s also increasingly harder to find people to join them as volunteer firefighters. In what most chiefs agree is a widespread trend stretching back several years, the number of volunteer firefighters is declining across the board
ELMWOOD – When the City’s Joint Review Board for its two Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts meets at 4:30 p.m. Monday (March 19) in the Council chambers at City Hall, reports will show the TIFs together have a balance of less than $7,000. Fiscal Year 2017 receipts for TIF 1 (the Fairground Acres area) were $783,408, and its expenditures were $817,864, leaving a balance of $6,253; FY 2017 receipts for TIF 2 (the business district, also extending north on Magnolia) were $88,391, all of which was spent in a transfer to TIF 1, leaving a balance of $435. In TIF districts, property taxes are frozen, usually for 23 years (although Elmwood’s Business District TIF was set up for 10 years), and any new tax revenues from that area come from the County Treasurer into a fund to finance reimbursements for city-approved development expenses. The Illinois Tax Increment Association (ITIA) says, “When the TIF district expires, the For The Weekly Post
President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy at his inaugural parade in 1981 (above) President-elect Barack Obama kisses his wife, Michelle, on his 2008 election night (right).
time of public service, including terms as U.S. secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady. Raised in Park Ridge, she moved to Arkansas in 1975 and married Bill Clinton, who became the 42nd U.S. president.
Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon gives a speech in 2002 (left), while General Ulyssess S. Grant leans on a post in 1864 (right).
Born into a working-class Irish family in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood, Daley worked in the Union Stockyards to pay for law school. He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, then became Chicago’s 38th mayor with a Richard J. Daley
21-year tenure that ended with his death in 1976. His son, Richard M. Daley, followed him as Chicago mayor from 1989 to 2011.
A native of Pekin, Dirksen helped steer the U.S. through the turbulent 1960s. As U.S. Senate minority leader, the Republican held a crucial role in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He died while in office in 1969 and is buried in Pekin. Everett Dirksen
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Local fire chiefs face shortage of volunteers Weekly Post Staff Writer
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while the average age of those volunteering is on the rise. “I’ve spoken with Princeville’s new chief, Logan-Trivoli’s chief, Farmington’s chief and Brimfield’s chief and, like us, they could all use more people,” said Bob Tannock, chief of the Elmwood Fire Department. “The last couple years it has been going down a bit here and there.” Yates City Fire Department Chief
John McKinty said the problem appears to be universal. “It’s the same everywhere you go,” he said. “It seems like it’s just the younger generation, it’s harder to get people to volunteer to do that. “And our average age is getting older. When I got on 27 years ago, the average was in the 20s. The average age now is 37.” Continued on Page 14
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Few contested races in primary By JEFF LAMPE
When Weekly Post voters head to the polls Tuesday, March 20, between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., they won’t have many local candidates to choose between. Even the one contested local race pits two foes who are fairly like-minded. The Republican primary race for the District 16 seat on the Peoria County Board is between incumbent Brad Harding of Trivoli and Rosefield Township Road Commissioner Matt Windish. Both candidates seek to rid the Peoria County Board of subsidizing Heddington Oaks Nursing Home, a measure Harding said costs the Board Weekly Post Staff Writer
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