Squad cars such as this one made have been an unwanted sight to motorists who were stopped by Peoria police for distracted driving. The department issued 43 citations during Illinois’ first distracted driving campaign.

COUNTY

First responders display equipment

Peoria County will hold its 14th annual Emergency Expo from 4 to 7 p.m. June 6, at The Shoppes at Grand Prairie.

Numerous local emergency response agencies will display emergency equipment such as fire engines, medical helicopters, police-armored vehicles, a 29-foot Coast Guard boat and a safety firehouse in the shopping center’s parking lot along War Memorial Drive.

First responders from participating agencies will be on hand to answer questions and offer equipment demonstrations.

The following response agencies are currently participating in this free public event: Advanced Medical Transport, AlignLife, Ameren, American Red Cross, Child and Family Connections, CityLink, Civil Air Patrol, Coast Guard, Highway Department, Illinois American Water, OSF Lifeflight and ThinkFirst, PCAPS, Peoria Area EMS, Peoria City/County Health Department, Peoria County ETSB-911, Peoria County ARES, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, Coroner’s Office, Humane Society, Peoria Park District, Salvation Army, Sheriff’s Office Victim Services, Tazewell County ESDA, Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, along with other area police and fire departments.

For more information, call 309-495-4566.

PEORIA

City’s population loss related to job loss

Peoria’s population is down, not because deaths outnumber births, but because residents are leaving. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city’s population at 112,883 people as of July 1, 2017, a decline of 1.3 percent from 2016 and a 1.9 percent decrease from the last full census in April 2010.

From 2010 to 2016, the Census Bureau estimated Peoria’s population decline at 0.7 percent, indicating that the rate at which people are leaving the city also increased last year.

Peoria’s population decline was the largest among the 50 most populous cities in Illinois, according to the Illinois Policy Institute analysis.

The population loss coincided with a major restructuring that cut more than 16,000 positions at Caterpillar Inc., one of Peoria’s top employers. Caterpillar continues to employ more than 12,000 people in the Peoria area.

Library looking for new executive director

Peoria Public Library will be hiring a new executive director to replace Leann Johnson who is retiring next month, ending a 33-year career with the library.

The board of trustees that oversees operations of the system’s five libraries will begin a search for her replacement and hopes to have a successor in place soon after Johnson’s July 2 retirement.

Before taking the reins as executive director in 2013, Johnson was a department manager and branch manager, and served as assistant director of the system for 17 years. Thrice she served as interim director.

She also played a large role in the $28 million building-and-renovation project that modernized the Downtown library and the Lincoln, McClure and Lakeview branch libraries and constructed the North Branch library. Building usage and check-outs of material increased after that multi-year project.

She’s also president of the Peoria Historical Society’s board.

Police nab distracted drivers for various violations

The Peoria Police Department issued 43 citations during Illinois’ first distracted driving campaign. The increased enforcement was part of the national Distracted Driving Awareness Month effort supported by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

During the two-week campaign that ran April 16-30, the citations included:

• Three electronic communication device citations,
• Four seat belt citations,
• One child car seat citation,
• One DUI arrest,
• Four suspended/revoked licenses,
• Three uninsured motorists, and 
• Five speeding citations.

DUNLAP

Student competes in national spelling bee

Ethan Smith of Dunlap is in Washington, D.C., as one of 519 youngsters between the ages of 8 and 15 competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Ethan qualified for the national bee when he won the regional competition after 11 rounds that all came down to “rheumatologist” — his winning word.

But in preparation for the national bee, Ethan memorized 600 words from the national bee’s study guides. His focus has been on root words so once he’s in the bee, it’ll be easier to figure out the more complicated words.

The competition started May 29 when all 519 spellers were expected to take preliminary tests in the hopes of advancing and placing. The first part of the finals will be aired on ESPN2 the morning of May 31, and the finale and awards will be shown on ESPN later that night.

Only two Illinoisans have ever been named national champion.

Dunlap third in national home buying ranking

Niche, a national real estate survey website, has listed Dunlap as a very good place to buy a home in 2018. Niche ranked Dunlap third in the country, following Wilshire Heights, Texas and Lemont, Penn.

Niche analyzed 15,715 places across the United States to create this ranking. The ranking includes many financial factors such as monthly housing cost, home value to income ratio, cost of living, median home values (and percent change in those home values), and taxes. The data is combined with statistics about the local public school districts, home ownership percentage, and more.

With the median home listed at $264,600, Dunlap ranked first in home-buying value in Illinois. In a separate ranking, Peoria was listed as the 85th best spot to live in the United States.

The Dunlap School District received an A-plus grade in the survey, a strong factor in its third place ranking even though a large majority of its students reside in the city of Peoria. The village of Dunlap only has about 1,300 residents and few new housing developments. The population responsible for the rapid increase of the school district lives mostly in Far North Peoria.

Rounding out the top 10 are Chackbay, La., Bradford Woods, Penn., Lakeview Heights, Texas, Carmel, Ind., Madison, Ala., and, East Grand Rapids, Mich.

The complete study can be viewed at niche.com.

–Peoria County News Briefs–