Peoria County News Briefs

Chronicle Media

This is a rendering of the Peoria County Veterans Memorial Project, which will be dedicated Oct. 20.

COUNTY

One memorial to be dedicated, another one to be re-erected

While Peoria County’s newest monument is being prepared for its dedication, a 152-year-old memorial is receiving new attention.

The Peoria County Veterans Memorial Project will be dedicated in the courthouse plaza, at 10 a.m. Oct. 20. The memorial will honor veterans of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Gulf, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terrorism, as well as any future conflicts. 

Meanwhile, plans to restore and re-erect the state’s first war memorial are underway.

Shaft, as the monument is known, was dedicated to commemorate the Civil War on Oct. 11, 1866, when 30,000 people gathered on Peoria courthouse grounds for the dedication. It was taken down in 1962 when the current courthouse was built. The monument was disassembled and wound up being lost for decades before pieces of it were found in the 1990s.

The county board is offering a matching grant of $5,000 to restore the monument and re-erected at Springdale Cemetery. Efforts then will be made to have the structure placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

PEORIA

City official to speak at international conference

Peoria’s strategies and proposed green solutions to some sewer overflow problems will be put into the international spotlight.

Public Works Director Scott Reeise will present two articles at the GeoMEast International Conference, to be held Nov. 24-Nov. 28 in Cairo, Egypt.  The articles, “Strategic Assessment for the Sustainable Combined Sewer Overflow Problem in Peoria, Illinois, USA” and “Sustainable and Green Solutions to The City of Peoria Combined Sewer Overflow Problems” were co-written by Mayor Jim Ardis and Dr. Amir Al-Khafaji, professor and CETI executive director and executive council head at Bradley University. Both articles focus on green infrastructure and were accepted after being reviewed by international experts and scholars.

More than 150 experts and scholars representing more than 30 countries will attend GeoMEast. The invitation to present at an international construction and engineering conference reflects the growing interest in Peoria’s green stormwater infrastructure solution. 

Senior Expo at library slated for Oct. 27

The Peoria Public Library Senior Expo will give seniors an opportunity to learn about services and business in Peoria that cater to them. Visitors can browse through various stations such as Greater Peoria Honor Flight, Peoria Charter, the American Sewing Guild, Common Place, Organ/Tissue Donor Program, YMCA, Salvation Army, Grand View Alzheimer’s Special Care Center and University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener and Naturalist programs at the event, which will be held from 1-5 p.m. Oct. 27, in the McKenzie Room at the Peoria Public Library North Branch, 3001 W. Grand Pkwy

Attendees can gain more than awareness and knowledge of community resources and activities. For instance, everyone will be given a goody bag upon entering that includes a list of senior discounts to be found in Peoria. Each attendee will be eligible for prize drawings that include a range of gift cards and services. Winners do not need to be present to win.  

Schock’s corruption trial planned to start in June

The public corruption trial of former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock is expected to begin June 10, 2019. The trial originally was slated to begin in January.

Prosecutors and Schock’s attorneys met in Chicago Friday morning to discuss the case which has seen several twists and turns over the years, with the biggest upheavals coming this summer as a new judge and a new prosecutorial team was put on the case.

Both the judge and the prosecutors are from Chicago but all indications point to the trial remaining at the federal courthouse in Urbana where the previous judge was seated.

Schock, 37, was indicted in November 2016 on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements, filing a false tax return, theft of government funds and falsification of Federal Election Commission filings. The charges allege a course of conduct that began when Schock was first elected to Congress in 2008 and continued until October 2015, about six months after he resigned from office. It’s alleged that he stole more than $100,000 from the government and his campaign committees.

EAST PEORIA

College Night brings more than 60 institutions in one location

Area high school students and their parents are invited to Illinois Central College’s College Night from 5:30-7 p.m. Oct. 17 in the ICC CougarPlex on the East Peoria Campus.

College Night brings representatives from more than 60 colleges and universities from a dozen states, as well as representatives from the armed forces, to one location. College reps will be on-hand to visit with students and their parents about programs, the admission process, scholarship and financial aid opportunities, as well as answer questions.

Those interested in enrolling at ICC may want to attend an ICC Admissions Overview session at 6 p.m. Financial aid representatives will be on hand for one-on-one consultations. Campus Housing will offer tours from 5:30 to 7 p.m. For more information, including a list of colleges and universities attending, visit icc.edu/college-night/.

 

 

–Peoria County News Briefs–