On Friday, less than a month after AmerenCILCO said electricity bills would drop starting this month, company officials said they will seek a $226 million delivery-rate hike for all Ameren Illinois utilities.
For an AmerenCILCO residential customer using 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, the rate hike would amount to a $64.31 annual increase. The expected annual increase in natural gas costs would be $37.84.

The fear of Swine Flu may have subsided somewhat in Peoria, but preparations for it have not.
That is the assessment of Tom Stecher, transfer services manager, and Terry Schadt, safety officer for Methodist Medical Center.

On Friday, less than a month after AmerenCILCO said electricity bills would drop starting this month, company officials said they will seek a $226 million delivery-rate hike for all Ameren Illinois utilities.

A charter school in Peoria is either an economic development tool or a union-busting tactic.
Those were the prevailing thoughts at a recent District 150 school board meeting depending on which vested interest had the floor.

“Are you the police?”
The words emerged slurred from the lips of the man sitting at the end of the bar.
He asked the question of the two strangers — both TimesNewspapers editors — because the woman seated next to him was smoking a cigarette in violation of state law.
The man was seated in the small out-of-the-way Main Street bar called “The Basket Case.”
The woman seated at the bar took a long, leisurely drag on a cigarette and looked up at the two strangers.

An invitation from NASA to watch the launch of the space shuttle is not something you can ignore.  So, May 8, I headed to the Kennedy Space Center. 
You know you’re not in Illinois when the directions read: Stop at the Badging Center across from the Air Liquide plant next to the big rocket! 
Within a few hours, I was standing on a distant NASA landing strip, waiting for the seven Atlantis astronauts to arrive by jet from Houston.

U.S. Congressman Aaron Schock, (R-Peoria) on Sunday, came to the defense of North Peoria car dealer Gary Ufting, whose Chrysler dealership on University is scheduled for closure early next month.
Schock said he called the press conference to “express outrage” at the decision of the bankruptcy judge and the Presidential Auto Task Force to close dealerships.

“It’s time for a lawsuit,” said a disembodied voice.
The statement came in a Peoria County Courthouse elevator filled with unhappy property owners after the Peoria County Board voted 13-2 to reappoint Gary Shadid and Nancy Horton to the Peoria County Board of Review May 14.
The vote came after yet another group of citizens complained about the board of review’s operation and an unsuccessful attempt by a few county board members to delay the vote.

Illinois State Police arrested four Peorians on Interstate 74 in Morton Thursday evening ...

Peoria fire chief Kent Tomblin said in fire service there is very little one can predict.
But, he said, in Peoria one thing fire fighters are assured of is that the service calls they answer are going to grow annually, especially in North Peoria.
“We’ve been increasing our responses consistently over the past 10 years,” Tomblin said last week.
“Our territory has increased. And, baby boomers have hit us.”

Peoria firefighters fear little, according to Peoria fire chief Kent Tomblin. But, one thing Tomblin and the men of Peoria Fire Station 16 on Northmoor Road admit they fear is a city council looking for ways to cut a budget deficit.
Tomblin and his men have seen what a council bent on cutting costs have done in the past to the fire department. Prior to last week’s city council meeting Tomblin admitted his fear.
“I’m absolutely afraid about cuts,” Tomblin said. “Every department head in the city has that fear.”

A question is flying around Peoria County regarding the tax bill for commercial property purchased in 2006 by Peoria County Board of Review member Gary Shadid. 
Peoria County Board member Bob Baietto, who represents North Peoria, confirmed that Thursday afternoon.
The question is why is property purchased by Shadid in 2006 assessed $87,470 below the purchase price.
This question is arising just before Shadid faces re-appointment to the board of review — the body that hears property tax protests.
Shadid responded to questions posed by the Peoria Times-Observer, promising to look into the issue.

Peoria police public information officer Doug Burgess said recently this armed robbery case is still under investigation.
Burgess said, police detectives believe the young man initially detained by police moments after the crime, not far from the crime scene, is not the suspect they seek in this case.

Burt was seated at his desk talking to a client when he heard something that did not sound right to him.
“I got up to go see what was happening. My client got up, came toward me with his hands up and said gently, ‘Quiet.’”
Burt stayed quiet.