Indoor ice skating coming to Burlington
Mike O’Neil, executive director of Burlington Riverfront Entertainment, manages the city-owned Memorial Auditorium, Port of Burlington, and Depot along the riverfront.
Since he started the job five years ago, he’s been thinking about how to bring ice skating back to Burlington.
“People used to be able to go out to our park here and skate on our little lake that was there,” O’Neil said. “I’m not sure when or why that all stopped.”
O’Neil first considered an outdoor rink along the riverfront, but there were concerns about weather and maintenance.
So now he is looking at a synthetic ice rink that would go inside the riverfront arena.
Though there are still many details to work out, the plan is to have the rink ready next year for the month of January, which typically is the slowest month for other events at the Auditorium.
Galesburg man charged with attempted murder
Galesburg police arrested a suspect in a March 3 shooting at the Belle Isle Apartments.
Brandon Wilson, 37, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The daytime shooting in the 1400 block of North West Street led to several Galesburg schools being temporarily locked down.
The shooting victim was taken to OSF St. Mary Medical Center for treatment of a gunshot wound to the torso.
WIU names provost finalists
Western Illinois University will bring four candidates to campus in March and April to interview for the position of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The candidates include:
- Craig Cobane, founding executive director of Dixis and Peter Mahuran Honors College at Western Kentucky University.
- Shadow Robinson, dean of the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
- Raphael Onyeaghala, dean of the College of Business, Education, and Professional Studies at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall.
- Manoochehr Zoghi, dean of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science at Purdue University-Fort Wayne.
The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs serves as the chief academic officer of the university with responsibility for academic and internal leadership.
The complete schedule of interviews and curriculum vitas for the candidates are online at www.wiu.edu/employment.
Mexican restaurants on the move in Monmouth
With two Mexican restaurants set to open in new locations, the city of Monmouth is adding two new Class 1 liquor licenses to its inventory.
The owner of El MerKadito, Axel Borja, is moving the restaurant a few storefronts north, from 218 S. Main St., to the city-owned former Vaughns Jewelers building at 200 S. Main St.
Gilberto Vasquez purchased the former Hardee’s further north on Main Street. He’s remodeling the building and opening a restaurant there.
Both asked the city to grant new liquor licenses because there were none available.
The city council will vote to make the new liquor licenses official later this month.
Canton to replace lead water service lines
The Fulton County community will receive state funding to replace approximately 226 lead water service lines.
The $1.7 million comes in the form of a low-interest loan from the Illinois EPA’s State Revolving Fund, which provides funding for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater projects.
The state said city is eligible to receive principal forgiveness for the loan, and the full amount of the loan will be forgiven by the EPA.
The state also said that according to the most recent Service Line Material Inventory Report, the city has 517 known lead service lines in the community water supply. Service lines are small pipes that carry drinking water from the water mains into homes.
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