WIUM Local

It's doubtful Illinois' pension crisis will be resolved soon.

Legislative leaders and the governor met Thursday, June 21 to discuss whether the state or local school districts should pay retirement costs for downstate and suburban teachers. The state picks up the tab now, but it doesn't pay for Chicago teachers' retirement benefits.

After the meeting, top lawmakers said they're going to spend five weeks studying school funding equality. Then they'll work on what to do about Illinois' hugely underfunded government pensions.

Jill Brody filed a formal complaint with the Macomb School District in late March under federal Title IX law. Superintendent Alene Reuschel responded that the district is in compliance. Title IX law requires “equivalent” treatment of male and female athletes.

Brody appealed Reuschel's finding in May.

Reuschel says,  “She can ask the board to review that decision. And there's a time frame and so once the board has reviewed, and within that time frame, the board will eventually direct me to respond to Dr. Brody their decision.”

The board has until mid-July to respond.

“Kelly” Wagle lived a charmed life. In the 1920s he had become successful as a bootlegger in Colchester which was “dry” for much of the decade. He had escaped the clutches of the law many times.

He left Brent's Restaurant and started to walk the two blocks to his home. An assassin pulled up in a Ford coupe and fired three shotgun blasts that ended Wagle's charmed life. Wagle died at 9:15 p.m. April 8, 1929.

Documentary filmaker Ryan Walker has been fascinated by Wagle's sordid story.

The former Clark County Courthouse in Kahoka, MO stood for roughly 140 years and it was starting to show its age.

Court proceedings had to be moved to a nearby building over safety and security concerns while the foundation was starting to shift.  There were also accessibility issues and limited space.

Talk of restoring or replacing the facility had been out there for years.  In fact, the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation started including the Clark County Courthouse in its list of Most Endangered Historic Places in 2005.

Safety and liability concerns led the city of Keokuk to replace the original “Rocket Slide” in Kilbourne Park with a newer model several years ago. 

There were aspects of the original slide that no longer met federal standards.

Nels Olson of Wisconsin bought the Rocket Slide in the hopes of restoring it and installing the slide on his own property.

With that, people in Keokuk seemed to lose track of the slide, until it ended up on the reality television show, American Restoration.

The Western Illinois University Foundation is donating a two-acre site to the city of Macomb. The plot is along West Adams Street, just south of the Old Macomb Cemetery.

Now that aldermen agreed during their June 18 meeting to accept the land, the McDonough County Historical Society can develop it into an entryway for the cemetery.

President Gordana Rezab told aldermen the Historical Society has consulted with landscape specialists who suggested creation of a wooded area and a restored prairie.