The Never Forget exhibit dedicated to the firemen and police officers who lost their lives during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City will be on display for six days at the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino in East Peoria starting Aug. 24.

STATE

Motorists should heed rules about school buses

School will be back in session soon, and the Illinois State Police are reminding motorists of some laws concerning school buses. When a school bus has its stop arm out, it means motorists have to stop.

A person convicted of passing a school bus with the stop arm extended gets his or her driver’s license suspended for three months for the first offense and one year for the second, if the second conviction occurs within five years. The fine for a first conviction is $150 and $500 for a subsequent conviction, according to the Illinois State Police.

Patience is a virtue, especially when a bus remains stopped at a railroad crossing when no train is in sight but flashing lights are on. The bus cannot cross until the flashing lights stop unless a police officer comes to the scene and watches as the bus crosses.

The fine for using a non-hands free cellphone in a school zone is as much as $500. Teen drivers under the graduated driver’s system cannot use any cellphone, hands-free or not, in a school zone.

MORTON

High school gets national ranking

Morton High School is one of 24 in Illinois named to Newsweek’s 2016 list of the best public high schools in the country. Newsweek ranked Morton High 467 out of America’s Top 500 High Schools.

Newsweek’s rankings of the best public high schools in the country stand apart from other attempts to rank school performance. Newsweek says it uses legitimate and objective measurements to put together its annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achieve a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how well high schools prepare students for college.

All other Illinois high school in the rankings is located north of Interstate 80, in the suburbs, and/or is a selective enrollment high school.

Village is spraying for weeds

A contractor for the village of Morton is spraying for weeds for approximately two weeks. The work is scheduled to begin Aug. 22.

The targets of the spraying are weeds along curb and gutters and curbside sidewalks on all village streets. Residents who do not want the area adjacent to their property sprayed should remove any grass or weeds from those locations. Also, residents should call the village at (309) 266-5361 so that the contractor can be told which addresses to avoid.

EAST PEORIA

Exhibit dedicated to 9/11 first responders opens Aug. 24

A mobile exhibit, Never Forget, which pays tribute to the first responders who were killed Sept. 11, 2001, will be in East Peoria starting Aug. 24. For six days, the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino will host the exhibit created and funded by the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

It will arrive Aug. 23, escorted by a phalanx of area first-response agencies on Interstate 74. An opening ceremony will be held the next day at the casino, 21 Blackjack Blvd., East Peoria.

The exhibit is dedicated to the 414 New York firefighters and police who sacrificed their lives responding to terrorists’ assaults by hijacked planes on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. In total, 2,606 people died at the towers.

Siller was one of the 343 firefighters who died trying to rescue occupants of the towers. Off duty when the attacks began, he donned his heavy gear and, with traffic blocked, ran three miles from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the towers, where he later perished when the towers collapsed.

The exhibit is a high-tech, 53-foot tractor-trailer that unfolds into a 1,000-square-foot exhibit floor. In it are features and artifacts for interactive education of that historic day, including steel beams from the towers, videos and recordings of first-responder radio transmissions.

Visitors will be guided by several active FDNY firefighters who responded on 9/11.

The exhibit will run through Aug. 29 and admission is free, but donations will be accepted. The foundation uses donations to construct homes to meet the special needs of badly wounded veterans. The casino is open 24 hours a day.

–Tazewell County News Briefs–