WGFA NEWS for Friday, September 25, 2009 >
WX > New rainfall amouts Friday could range from .25 to a half-inch in Illiana. An afternoon T-storm is likely, 60% chance. High near 73. A 50% chance of rain Saturday, Sunday, mostly sunny high near 78.
- Prep football tonite on WGFA: St.Joe at Iroquois West and Watseka at Momence…. 0n 94.1 -
> Citizens and governmental bodies are crying out to the Iroquois County Board about a proposed budget that cuts into several departments, especially the county sheriff’s department, which stands to lose 6-8 road deputies. A proposed budget, already endorsed by the board’s Finance committee, heads to the full County Board October 13th.
A 9 am meeting Tuesday, October 13th is at the Administrative Center in Watseka.
The Board’s Finance members say money isn’t there and it’s going to be worse in another year.
> A judge’s decision could come today on whether Brian Garrett is mentally fit to stand trial for the stabbing deaths of two Sheldon men. The 27-year-old Garrett faces 4-counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of 48-yr-old Robert Wood and 62-yr-old Ralph Elsey. Then men were killed June 6th at a Sheldon home they shared. Both men, according to court records, died of multiple stab wounds.
Iroquois Circuit Judge Gordon Lustfeldt is on the bench for the 9:30 am fitness hearing. Watseka attorney Dale Strough represents Garrett, who has already been considered “unfit,” according to a psychiatrist. Should the judge rule Garrett is unfit, State’s Attorney Jim Devine said he’ll ask for Garrett to be transferred to a secure treatment center. The defendant would have to be ruled “fit” to stand trial within a year’s time in order for the criminal trial to proceed.
> New jobless numbers were released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Services. The Iroquois County rate in August was 9.7%, up from 9% in July. The Ford County rate jumped from 9.3 in July to 10.6% in August. Livingston County is listed at 10.7 in August, down from 10.8 in July. The unemployment rate for the Kankakee-Bradley metropolitan area jumped to 12.5 percent in August, up from 11.7 in July. Kankakee County’s unemployment rate in August of 2008 was 9.2%.
For last month, Rockford had the highest rate of unemployment of the 12 metro areas in the state with 15.1 percent. A year ago, Rockford’s unemployment rate was 9.7 percent. The remainder of the top five includes Kankakee-Bradley 12.5 percent, Decatur 12.4 percent, Danville 12.1 percent and Peoria 10.9 percent.
The jobless rate in Illinois was 9.9 percent in August, down from 10.4 percent in July. The U.S. jobless rate for August was 9.6 percent.
> A 1-year-old boy is McLean County’s fourth confirmed case of H1N1 influenza, according to the McLean County Health Department. The boy was hospitalized but is not severely ill and was expected to be released today, according to health department spokeswoman Jan Morris. Since May, a 55-year-old man, a 17-year-old woman and a 49-year-old man have tested positive for the novel virus. None of them needed to be hospitalized and all recovered. Statewide, 425 people have been hospitalized since H1N1 emerged in the spring. Seventeen of those people have died. Meanwhile, there are other suspected – but not confirmed – cases of H1N1 but how many isn’t known because only confirmed cases must be reported to the health department.
> Flu vaccination clinics are underway in Ford and Iroquois counties. The Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department has received its shipment of the seasonal flu vaccine and the acting-director of Community Nursing Services, Cathy McEwen, said they don’t expect any shortages to occur. She said the aeasonal flu vaccine will not be effective against the H1N1 flu. McEwen said the health department will schedule H1N1 vaccinations once the shipment of that vaccine is received–most likely in mid-October. The seasonal flu vaccine–this year–is recommended for everyone.
To schedule an appointment or for more info, contact the respective offices in Paxton at 217-379-9281 or in Watseka at 815-432-2483.
“Your Illiana News Source” — 94.1 FM, WGFA
