WIUM Local

The latest demand from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will require Colchester to cap the wells that used to provide the city's drinking water. Since 2005 the city has been buying its water from Macomb.

Mayor Danny Bice said the five wells are in Troublesome Bottom.

He said, “Those wells are just sitting there, you know. We're not ever going to fire them back up. So the EPA came in two weeks ago and did an investigation and we've got to cap them permanent to be in compliance.”

Two public meetings Sunday gave voters the chance to evaluate the pros and cons of a proposed consolidation of the Abingdon, Avon and Bushnell-Prairie City school districts.

The Committee of 10, which supports the consolidation, held its meeting Sunday afternoon at Avon High School.

Rushville will be required to spend little of its own money to replace more than 500 traffic control signs.

Mayor Scott Thompson said the county engineer has worked with the city on a grant application for nearly two years and the effort has finally paid off. The grant will cover 90% of the cost of replacing the signs and sign posts.

“It would have been virtually impossible for us to come up with the funds to do this on our own,” Thompson said. “Now we have the opportunity to do this, be compliant, and really for the cost of labor we're getting free signage.”

The tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri last year killed 161 people, injured nearly one-thousand and destroyed a quarter of the city.

A nurse who helped care for the injured says frequent drills and revisions to response plans saved lives.

Marilyn Welling works at St. John's Hospital. She said the city was preparing for a disaster drill when the tornado struck in May.

She said, “If you do drill and you have your command center, you have a plan in place that tries to be as comprehensive as possible, you can prepare. It will make a difference.”