The Illinois Department of Agriculture is allowing farmers who are veterans or still serving in the military to use this logo to market their products. The program is intended to help veterans and people still in the military pursue second careers in agriculture.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Social Security goes far in area Illinois counties

If you depend mainly on Social Security, you will see your money go farther if you live in either Woodford or Tazewell county. A study by financial education and advising firm SmartAsset says Woodford and Tazewell counties rank No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, of counties in Illinois where Social Security benefits go the farthest.

Putnam County is No. 1.

In Woodford County, the cost of living is $17,582 and annual Social Security income is $19,433. In Tazewell, the cost of living is $17,372 and annual Social Security income is $19,084.

Putnam County leads with a cost of living of $17,283 and an annual Social Security of $19,176.

WOODFORD COUNTY

75% of registered voters cast ballots in Nov. 8 election

A total of 74.64 percent of Woodford County’s 26,862 registered voters went to the polls for the Nov. 8 General Election.

Of those 21,049 voters, 66.59% cast ballots for the Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence; 25.61 percent voted for Hilliary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

EAST PEORIA

Parade kicks off Festival of Lights

Festival of Lights East Peoria Illinois (Folepi) returns for a new holiday season. Folepi’s annual Parade of Lights will start at 5:45 p.m. Nov. 19 at the intersection of east Washington Street and Dolans Lane. The parade will cover three miles of Washington Street, starting on one side of the city and ending just past downtown. The parade will feature floats shaped entirely from LED lights, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the chopper motorcycle, a 70-foot long float of the famous Clydesdale horse team pulling a delivery wagon, Frosty the Snowman, the starship Enterprise illuminated with 48,000 lights, and the 95-foot-long smoke-spewing China dragon.

Folepi’s Winter Wonderland opens at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving night and will remain open through New Year’s Eve, including Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is $10 per vehicle and $150 for full-size charter buses.

For more information about the Festival of Lights and other Folepi events, visit www.folepi.org, www.facebook.com/EPFestivalofLights, www.epcc.org or call (855) 833-5327.

STATE

New marketing logo to help military-linked farmers

The Illinois Department of Agriculture is starting a new program to allow farmers who are veterans or still serving in the military to use a special logo to market their products.

The department said that farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers who qualify can use the Homegrown by Heroes logo on packaging, websites, signs and on social media to set their products apart.

The program is intended to help veterans and people still in the military pursue second careers in agriculture. To be eligible, veterans will need to provide proof of service, a letter of support from a commanding officer and must own at least 50 percent of the operation.

Illinois medical marijuana records set in first year

The number of qualifying patients who can purchase cannabis in Illinois stands at about 12,000, as legal sales reach their first-year anniversary.

It has been nearly one year since legal sales of medical marijuana began in Illinois. The new monthly figures released by the Illinois Department of Public Health show an additional 900 people were approved for the state’s medical marijuana pilot program in October, bringing the number of patients to 12,000. Retail sales reached $4.12 million, including $2.35 million in dry flower sales and $1.76 million in cannabis-infused products.

The number of licensed medical marijuana dispensaries also grew, with 46 now open for business in Illinois. Last month, dispensaries sold 193,204 grams of dry cannabis to more than 6,800 unique patients.

Dispensaries have sold $28.09 million worth of medical cannabis since legal sales began on Nov. 9, 2015, and wholesale sales by cultivation centers now total $18.12 million.

–Woodford County News Briefs–