Oakwood Cemetery tours to honor local women to take place this weekend

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By Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

MACOMB- A special tour of the Oakwood Cemetery in Macomb will take place this Memorial Day weekend.

Local historian John Hallwas will be conducting the tour Saturday at 10 AM and 1:30 PM and Sunday afternoon at 1:30 starting at the Mausoleum.

The tour is being presented by the Social Service Memorial Committee of the Macomb chapter of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs.

Committee Co-Chair Marilyn Pastorelli joined K100’s morning show Friday morning to talk about the tour.

She says that the tour will help pay for a memorial for seven women that are buried at the cemetery.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased right before the tours start.

Sciota spanker will be first in area to register under “Andrea’s Law” registry

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Richard Cook; Image courtesy McDonough County Jail

By Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

SCIOTA- A man from Sciota accused of spanking a young girl for pleasure will serve some time in county jail, but also will have to add his name to a new statewide registry for felons.

48 year old Richard Cook pled guilty this week to Unlawful Restraint and Domestic Battery.

He was sentenced to 160 days in county jail and 2 years probation.

He got credit for 2 days already served and with good behavior, could be released from jail in early August.

Charges of Predatory Criminal Sexual Abuse and Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse were dismissed.

Cook is accused of spanking a girl between the age of 10 and 14 in April of last year and harming her in the process.

Cook will also have to register under the state of Illinois’ brand new Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry for ten years.

Cook is the first convict in McDonough County to have to register under that program, which was launched in January of this year as part of “Andrea’s Law”.

The law was named after Andrea Will, a former Eastern Illinois Student who was strangled to death with a phone cord by an ex-boyfriend in 1998.

Cook will not have to register as a sex offender because the charges he pled guilty to were not sexual in nature.

Illinois Senate passes budget bills

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State Senator John Sullivan, from ILGA.gov website

By Kim Howard, Illinois Information Service/Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

ILLINOIS- The Illinois Senate is passing some budget bills for the upcoming fiscal year.  Kim Howard with the Illinois Information Service has more.

Rushville Democratic State Senator John Sullivan praised the passing of the bills, saying in a statement that he supports a budget “that confronts our fiscal realities with honesty and without resorting to gimmicks.”

Spoon River College preparing for Bower Road and U.S. 136 project

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By Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

MACOMB- The City of Macomb is going to need a little more space from Spoon River College’s Outreach Center than it had originally planned to complete the U.S. 136/Bower Road intersection project.

McClure Engineering’s Eric Moe says they’ll need a little more easement when contractors begin work on the intersection in the late summer or early fall.

Moe also stated that traffic studies show that more students and visitors to the Outreach Center will likely enter through the Bower Road side entrance than anywhere else.

Board of Trustees Vice Chairman Dave Maguire heard Moe’s pitch with the rest of the board at Wednesday night’s board meeting in Macomb and says the college is ready to help however it can.

Maguire was told by Moe that whoever is contracted for the work might need some parking lot space to store equipment, which he says will probably not be a problem.

The majority of the Outreach Center has yet to be renovated and the college hopes to move its entire Macomb campus to the rest of the building once the renovations are done.

We’ll have more on those renovation plans in the near future on Prestige Radio.

Illinois lawmakers pass “Facebook” bill

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By Kim Howard, Ilinois Information Service/Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

ILLINOIS- Facebook hasn’t had a good week in the stock market, but users of Facebook in Illinois scored a privacy victory this week when Illinois lawmakers passed the “Facebook” bill.

Kim Howard with the Illinois Information Service has more.

Macomb School District Superintendent retiring after next school year

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By Tom Willenbring, Prestige Radio News Director

MACOMB- The Macomb School District will be looking for a new superintendent after Dr. Alene Reuschel announced her intention to retire after the next school year.

Reuschel made the announcement at this week’s school board meeting.

Reuschel tells Prestige Radio News that the decision to retire was based on family reasons and that the talks about raising the retirement age for pensions was not a factor.

Reuschel considered retiring after this school year, but felt that she needed to stay on to give the board enough time to find her replacement as well as finish up initiatives that she helped launch.

David Messersmith will be retiring from his post as Superintendent of the Bushnell-Prairie City School District at the end of next month mostly due to talks of raising the retirement age for state pension payments.

Reuschel was the superintendent at the Macomb School District for five years.

She actually began her teaching career as a student-teacher in the Macomb School District after graduating from Western Illinois University.