The Woodford County Sheriff’s Office is accepting applications for a full-time 911 dispatcher. Applications are available at the sheriff’s office, 111 E. Court St., Eureka.

STATE

Schools approve IHSA football postseason changes

Beginning in 2021, the IHSA will assign football teams to eight or nine team groupings (i.e. “districts”) based on classification and geography. Previously, schools did not officially know their postseason classification until the completion of the regular-season.

The IHSA will assign each school’s regular-season games against their district opponents. Districts will be set for two years, allowing home and away scheduling within the district. Schools will have the autonomy to schedule their non-district opponents for any open weeks, but those non-district games will not count toward playoff qualification. The district assigning process will be similar to how schools are assigned to regionals and sectionals in other IHSA sports and activities. 

The main goals of the change are to limit the constantly reshuffling conferences, and to de-emphasize the drive to win five regular season games.

The IHSA announced that the proposal passed by a vote of 324 to 307, with 69 “no opinion” votes.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS

ICC gives answers online to financial aid questions

Illinois Central College is partnering with Financial Aid TV (FATV) to offer students new resources for getting their financial aid questions answered. FATV includes an online video library of more than 2,000 searchable videos students and parents can view to find information about personal finance, the financial aid process and types of financial aid available at the college. Enrollment is now open for spring and summer 2019 semesters. The spring semester begins Jan. 14.

ICC also has launched an online virtual assistant or chatbot, named “Cosmo.”  This virtual assistant interacts through an online “chat” system and accesses a vast knowledge base to customize its responses. If the chatbot is unable to answer a question, a transcript of the inquiry is sent by email with the student’s contact information to a financial aid office staff member for follow up. Both resources also are mobile-friendly, accessibility compliant, and available on ICC’s financial aid web page, icc.edu/admissions/financial-aid/

The online portal and chatbot are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. Hours for the financial aid offices on the East Peoria and Peoria campuses are listed on the ICC Financial Aid web page at icc.edu/admissions/financial-aid/. For questions, contact ICC Financial Aid Office at 309-694-5311.

MORTON

An escape room offers challenges

The Morton Public Library will be the site for an escape room, and participants may register now to play.

An escape room is a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints and strategy. Unveil the secret challenge hidden within the room in the given time limit to successfully escape the room!

The challenge: This January, players who enter the Escape Room will become lab assistants to Dr. Elmore Korsakow who is working on a formula to allow readers to recall every book they’ve ever read.

After testing the formula, Dr. Elmore realized that while it worked it meant that he could never enjoy re-reading his favorite novels. Rather than destroy the formula he has decided to lock it away from the world. Your challenge will involve scouring the lab trying to find the hidden formula so you can help him fix it!

The escape room is for players 13 years of age and older in groups of two to six players. Each group will have 45 minutes to solve the clues to escape the room. An adult must be present if a player is younger than 13.
Various time slots are available Jan. 2-Jan. 12.

Registration is required. Go to mortonlibrary.org to register for a time slot or call the library at 309-263-2200.

PEKIN

Celebrate the arrival of new year at noon

Children and parents can celebrate the coming of a new year much earlier in the day with a Noon Year’s Eve party. Festivities are planned for 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Dec. 31 at City Church, 335 Sabela St., Pekin. There will be a short religious service followed by a balloon drop and lunch. For more information, call 309-349-3677.

Library book drop is open for business

As clean-up work continues, the Pekin Public Library, 301 S. 4^th St., has announced that its book drop is open, and patrons can return books without penalties. Patrons had been asked to return books to neighboring libraries.

Progress continues to be made to repair damage caused by flash flooding following a severe storm earlier this month. Carpets in the Youth Services and floors in the Adult Services sections of the library are among the recently completed cleaning jobs.

–Tazewell County News Briefs–