News

Wilmington: The stop that starts your fun

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 8:12pm

Make Wilmington the first stop on your Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor adventure, because you’ll not want to miss any of the fun that’s rolling out in and around the Island City. The 12th annual Red Carpet Corridor, celebrating historic Route 66, is coming to downtown Wilmington for one day only, Saturday, May 5.
The celebration is sponsored by the 13 communities, from Joliet to Towanda, that touch the celebrated road along 90 miles of its run through the state of Illinois.

Mayor breaks tie, brings gaming to liquor stores

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 8:04pm

    Despite public comment against it, and a tie vote of the City Council, a measure that will allow liquor stores to serve alcohol was approved last week.
    Mayor Roy Strong broke the tie to approve an amendment to the Class B liquor license regulations. Full-line liquor stores — Wee-Sip Liquors, Midtown Mart and Angelo’s — hold Class B licenses. The amendment permits them to serve alcohol in glasses that can hold no more than 8 ounces, with a total of 16 ounces being served per person. It does not specify what type of alcohol can be dispensed.

The city of Wilmington is hiring!

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 8:00pm

    The city will be hiring three temporary part-time laborers and one permanent full-time employee.
    The City Council agreed to hire two temporary part-time workers to help the public works department with its summer load — mainly cutting grass and trimming weeds on public property throughout town.
    “This is something we do annually, we don’t want to tie up our few public works guys to help cut the grass all summer long,” Fourth Ward Alderman Frank Studer explained.

Water’s Edge water shutoff Wednesday morning

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:58pm

    City water service at Water’s Edge Estates and neighboring areas in Wilmington will be shut off two full eight-hour days while contractors work on the main near the Kankakee River Drive crossing as part of the Union Pacific’s high speed rail project.
    The shutoffs are scheduled for Wednesday, April 25, and Wednesday, May 2. They are expected to begin between 7 and 8 a.m.

50 years and still going strong

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:29pm

    Dale Watson did what most men working in town did, he volunteered to serve on the fire department. Little did he know at the time just how much he would enjoy helping his community.
    It was 1967 and Watson was working at Boresi’s Service Center when he was approached about joining the Coal City Fire Department.
    As he recalls, “they asked if I’d like to get on and I said, ‘yeah.’”  
    That simple response has led to a half-century career in the fire and emergency medical service, and Watson doesn’t foresee hanging up his bunker gear anytime soon.

GROWS community garden sets planting date

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:28pm

In 2018, the GROWS garden is looking to local area agencies as well as residents of the community to make their garden the best yet. This year there are 18 garden beds total.
All 18 of the garden boxes have been rented out to local community residents as well as partner agencies like senior citizen facilities such as Regency Care of Morris and Dwight Heritage Woods as well as We Care and the University of Illinois Extension, among others.

Arbor Day activities to bring a bit of color to Coal City

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:24pm

    Green is Coal City’s signature color, and with some help the town is bringing a bit of that color back to the village.
    It’s estimated the village of Coal City lost close to 50,000 trees when an EF-3 tornado blew ripped through the  town in June 2015.
    Having seen the impact the storm had on the local tree canopy Spring Grove Nursery, iTrees and ComEd wanted to help the community recover some of its loss, so they teamed up on an Arbor Day project by planting trees in the parkways of storm-impacted neighborhoods.

Prom Walk Saturday afternoon at CCHS

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:24pm

Coal City High School’s prom is Saturday, April 28 and the public is invited to come out and view the grandeur of prom.        
    Beginning at 4:45 p.m. parents of students attending the prom and interested community members are invited to Prom Walk in the Coal City Performing Arts Center. The annual event provides an opportunity for parents and family members to take photographs of their students and friends as they head off to the spring formal.

The survey says

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 7:23pm

As the village of Coal City prepares plans for a $5.4 million makeover of South Broadway town officials wanted feedback from residents and they got it, although not as much as they were hoping for.
    Out of the town’s 5,600 or so residents, 6.4 percent took the time to complete the 11-question survey. Of the respondents, 245 utilized an online form (10 of the respondents did not live within the village limits) and 123 responded to a direct mailer sent by the village to 600 homes.

PACE program inches closer to reality

Published by admin on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 6:05pm

Braidwood’s city leaders said they’re inching closer to finally having PACE transportation service in town.

Plans to lease a PACE van for regional passenger service are in the next phase of completion – getting the city’s drivers certified and ready.

“We went and took the next step, we have our drivers identified and our administrative people are going through the process now. Hopefully, in the next five or six weeks, we’ll have the van here,” city administrator Don Labriola said.