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OTTOWA - Clutter is all around us. It’s the clothes scattered throughout the kids’ bedrooms, stacks of paperwork piled high on our desks at work, even fast food wrappers strewn around in the backseat of the car. While society may lead us to believe that we need more “stuff” to make us happy, in reality it’s making us more anxious, frazzled and often times depressed. “I look at clutter in two different ways," says Loni Nolte, a behavioral medicine provider for OSF HealthCare. "I look at the clutter we carry around in our heads, when our thoughts are racing and overwhelming to us. I also look at it as the physical component when we have stuff hanging around needlessly, overtaking our functional space – a counter where we need to cook, a sink where we need to be able to use water and worst case people storing stuff in their ovens, which is pretty scary to think about. When we get busier or we have emotional attachments that aren’t feeling

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PEORIA - The latest surge in COVID-19 cases is easing across Illinois and other parts of the Midwest, but the arguments around wearing masks to curb the spread of the virus rage on. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced February 9 the state’s indoor mask mandate in most public places will be lifted at the end of the month, but will remain in place for schools for the time being. Some school districts across the state have taken the matter into their own hands, filing a lawsuit saying local boards of education should have the say on whether to require kids and staff to mask while at school. A judge in central Illinois issued a temporary restraining order in favor of those districts Feb. 4, striking a major blow against masking and COVID-19 vaccination requirements in schools. The Pritzker administration has since filed for an appeal. Among the arguments made by those who filed the lawsuit are claims that requiring masks does nothing to curb the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

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Our Love Story: The Couple: Justin and Taylor from Brighton Date Met/Started Dating: October 8, 2011 Briefly Describe First Date: Dinner and Runescape until 4 am. Date Married: November 8, 2015 Name Something You Enjoy Doing Together: Spending time with our kids, xbox, and movie nights. Share Advice For A Happy Relationship: If he can't out DPS you, he’s not the one.

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Our Love Story: The Couple: Michael & Haley from Wood River Date Met/Started Dating: January 1, 2015 Briefly Describe First Date: We went to Pizza Hut in California. Date Married: September 17, 2016 Name Something You Enjoy Doing Together: We love going fishing and spending time with our fur babies. Share Advice For A Happy Relationship: Never stop believing in one another it’s never just the partner's job you have to work together. When times get tough lean on one another and pray together.

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Our Love Story: The Couple: Taylor & Erica from Jerseyville Date Met/Started Dating: April 20, 2014 Briefly Describe First Date: After 3 months of spending every day together, he finally took me on a date to Applebees followed by a trip to the movies. Date Married: March 5, 2019 Name Something You Enjoy Doing Together: Cruising backroads, making the wildest plans for our future, planning our dream home all while raising 3 beautiful, brilliant humans. (2, 4, & 6 years old) Share Advice For A Happy Relationship: Marry your best friend.

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URBANA – A properly constructed and maintained water well can provide many years of trouble-free service, but over time, wells can deteriorate or become damaged, allowing surface contaminants to enter the water in the well. In addition, groundwater can become contaminated. Safe drinking water is crucial. Public water systems must monitor water’s safety at least monthly. For private well owners, testing falls on the homeowner. University of Illinois Extension's Doug Gucker recommends annual inspections and testing. "Spring is the best time to test your well’s water," Gucker says. Illinois receives its largest amounts of rainfall from April through June. During periods of higher rainfall, surface water may pick up contaminants, such as bacteria, nitrates, or pesticides. "If the upper part of your well has any cracks or leaks, this contaminated water could find its way into your well," says Gucker. "Additionally, you should test the well’s water after the wel

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COLLINSVILLE - With spring approaching, that means planting season is right around the corner. Learn more about gardening and how to prepare your garden during our Weekend Gardener virtual event, held on Saturday, March 5, 2022. The topics discussed will include Extending Your Harvest, Container Gardening with Fruit, Thinking Beyond Flower Color in the Garden, and IPollinate Project. Learn about different techniques to help extend the gardening season into colder months, the pros and cons of container gardening, which fruit species are best suited to container gardening, and general management practices. Presentations will begin at 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, and noon. You may participate in all or selected individual sessions. The registration deadline is February 28, 2022. To register, head to go.illinois.edu/WeekendGardener . For more details, please contact the Extension office at 619-344-4230. If you need disability accommodations to participate in this program, please call the

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GILLESPIE - Libraries are a community’s source of information and all libraries take this job and develop it in various directions. Libraries use books, encyclopedias, magazines, the internet as sources of information. Some libraries have an “in-depth” collection of genealogical and historical materials. These libraries are blessed with a larger budget and space to house these materials. The Gillespie Public Library has a limited amount of these materials yet is often contacted to see if there is information about persons buried in the Gillespie City Cemetery. Until recently, the library could unfortunately not provide much help to these people, some of whom had traveled quite some distance. The Gillespie City Cemetery was established around the same time the city was, around 1853. Records of who was buried there, and where, were not kept accurately by any one source. Sometime in the ’90s the local genealogical group attempted to remedy this and started a list

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Over the last 96 years, the escapades of Al Capone, Chicago's legendary gangster and mob boss, became inescapably entangled with the legends and lore of Route 66. After all, Capone rose to fame – or infamy – during the mid-1920s, and U.S. Highway 66 was born as part of the federal numbered highway system in 1926. But more importantly, Chicago was the designated original eastern terminus (at Jackson Boulevard and South Michigan Avenue) of Route 66, and the City of Chicago was Capone's adopted home city. Sitings of Capone and his associates were commonplace along the length of Illinois' highways, especially between Chicago and St. Louis, during the Prohibition years (1920-1933). Illegal booze manufactured in carefully-hidden stills ruled the underworld and made deadly enemies of rival gangs. The SMC Cartage Company garage at 2122 Clark Street in Chicago stood three miles north of Route 66, but the horrific event that took place there on Valentine's Day in 1929 became part o

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A Chiefs fan and a Bengals fan are working together to get their loved one's memory to the Super Bowl.

This trove contains many fascinating early images. According to a couple of history of photography websites, George Eastman, the founder of the Kodak Company, invented film to replace the apparatus and chemicals that professional photographers were using.  If that weren’t enough, he also created a way to make photography less expensive and available to amateurs. […]

COLLINSVILLE – An Illinois State Police (ISP) District 11 Trooper arrested Juan Martin Mercado, a 30-year old male from Peoria, who was wanted for questioning for Predatory Criminal Sexual Abuse involving a 14-year-old female and was also a suspect in a parental abduction of a five-year-old female. On February 12, 2022, ISP District 11 communications received a call from the Peoria Police Department about trying to locate a GMC Yukon that was driven by Mercado. At approximately 3:02 a.m., a District 11 Trooper observed a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle in question and conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 70 near Packers Avenue in St. Clair County. The driver, Juan Martin Mercado was taken into custody without incident and the five-year-old female was taken into protective custody. Mercado was transported to District 11 headquarters and custody was turned over to the Peoria Police Department. The juvenile is in the process of being reunited with her loved ones.

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"The Super Bowl is everybody's big day. We are all pumped and ready to make more money, " said Laroy Worthy, the owner of an Imo's Pizza.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Between the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day celebrations, stores are packed and shoppers are busy getting some last-minute shopping done. The weather may be cold, but weekend plans are heating up. Valentine's day is fast approaching. You know what that means, flowers. "A lot of red roses, that's the main thing, [...]