Tri States Public Radio

12/31/2024

Our top story of 2024…

1. Western Illinois University Layoffs

As WIU President Kristi Mindrup said, “this is the difficult year.” First, at the end of June, 36 contracts for non-tenure track faculty were not renewed. In August, the Board of Trustees authorized a staff reduction. The administration then said, in order to ensure financial sustainability, WIU would eliminate 57 more faculty positions, including 40 tenured and tenure-track faculty members, and 32 staff positions. Among those who received layoff notices were all of the university’s library faculty. Board Chair Carin Stutz said the current administration took bold decisive actions the board advocated for to ensure WIU has a stable and sustainable financial future.

Western Illinois University is laying off all of its library faculty as the administration strives to close a multi-million-dollar budget gap.

12/31/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024

2. Manufacturing Highs & Lows

Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Company appeared to be on the verge of closing, leaving its 130 employees without a job. But in May came the news that the tool manufacturer would be acquired by Iowa-based Marshalltown Tools. The state of Illinois announced a $5 million dollar grant to help the company complete the purchase. That’s not the only manufacturing success story of 2024. Twenty years after Maytag closed in Galesburg, that factory will now be fully occupied again. In October, the city council approved a development agreement with Western Smokehouse Partners. The company’s expansion into the former Maytag building is expected to generate up to 180 manufacturing jobs. Elsewhere in the region, Case New Holland announced its Burlington factory could close in the coming years as the company looks to streamline operations, leaving 350 people there without jobs.

Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing Company has been in town for 155 years. The new owners hope to keep it there for at least another 155 years.

12/31/2024

.We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024.

3. Inside Jails & Prisons

In October, Illinois prison employees staged demonstrations across the state, including at Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg. They say drug use inside prisons has skyrocketed in recent years, with correctional officers exposed to fentanyl-coated envelopes and other substances coming in through the mail.
Also in Galesburg, youth detained at the Mary Davis Home filed a federal lawsuit alleging the conditions and treatment of youth there, including extensive solitary confinement, violate their constitutional rights. A federal lawsuit was filed against McDonough County in October over the beating death of an inmate in the county jail late last year. The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by the daughter of Darrell Hocker, says his constitutional and civil rights were violated when he was housed in a cell with a man known to be violent and mentally ill.

Union members say there have been more than 30 assaults on staff at Hill Correctional Center so far this year, and drug use inside the prison is skyrocketing.

12/30/2024

We are counting down the top stories of 2024.

4. MDH Leadership

Former President and CEO Brian Dietz signed a separation agreement with McDonough District Hospital in February. That was after employees complained in anonymous letters to the hospital’s board and to community leaders that Dietz’s leadership style was creating a toxic work environment. Chief Financial Officer Bill Murdock served as interim President and CEO, then was appointed to the position by the board in May. Murdock is working to grow MDH, improve its financial margins, and address employee concerns by being more transparent.

Bill Murdock is striving to keep employees in the loop and to collaborate with competitors.

12/30/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024.

5. A Standoff in Macomb

Two Macomb police officers were shot in September while attempting to serve a warrant at a residence near the campus of Western Illinois University. The shooting closed the WIU campus and led to a nearly 20-hour standoff involving local, state, and federal officers before the suspect surrendered.

The officers were shot while serving a search warrant.

12/29/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024!

6. A New Library for Galesburg

It was a dream decades in the making. And in April of this year, it finally came true when Galesburg’s new 68,000 square foot library opened its doors. The new library was funded by a $15 million grant from the Illinois State Library and more than $4 million raised locally. It replaces what was meant to be a temporary location after the city’s Carnegie Library burned in 1958. TSPR was there for all the new-library excitement, from the final countdown to the doors opening to the book brigade that helped move collections to the new building.

Lombard Middle School students passed around 600 books from the current library to the new one.

12/28/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024.

7. Rushville Bus Crash

On Monday, March 11, an unthinkable tragedy in Rushville: five people were killed when a school bus collided with a semi truck carrying sand. Those killed included three young children. Hundreds of mourners — many wearing the purple and gold colors of the Schuyler-Industry School District — later gathered for a candlelight vigil.

Mayor Jeff Ervin called the turnout a testament to the community.

12/28/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024!

8. New College Presidents

Monmouth College and Western Illinois University hired new presidents this year, and they’re both women with strong ties to the institutions. Patricia Draves taught chemistry at Monmouth 20 years ago, alongside her husband, an alum. She returned in July to lead the college. After serving as interim since April 1, Kristi Mindrup was hired as Western Illinois University’s first female president in December. She started working at WIU in 1997. She was vice president of operations at WIU’s Quad Cities campus before being named interim president.

The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Kristi Mindrup as the institution's 13th president.

12/27/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024!

9. Keokuk Union Depot Restoration

Keokuk celebrated ongoing restoration efforts at the Union Depot with an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony in November. The 1891 building was used as a passenger depot until 1967. Now, after around $2.5 million in restoration work, the interior and exterior of the depot’s large waiting room again look like they did in the 19th century.

The depot dates back to 1891 and was designed by John Root of the renowned Chicago-based architectural firm Burnham & Root.

12/27/2024

We are counting down the top ten stories of 2024.

10. Guilty Verdicts

In February, a Henry County jury found Daylon Richardson guilty of two counts of murder in the 2022 death of Knox County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Weist near Alpha. In May, Emily Johnson of Gladstone was found guilty of reckless homicide in Henderson County for the 2022 distracted driving crash on the Great River Bridge that killed construction workers Pearson Franklin and Andrew Whitcomb. And in McDonough County, a jury deliberated for only an hour before finding Dylan Lovato guilty of first-degree murder on Aug. 1 in the 2022 shooting death of Ivan Almanza.

The jury deliberated for about an hour Thursday morning before returning its verdict.

12/20/2024

“It’s a dramatic change in some respects, but in many respects it’s not. It’s incorporating many of the aspects of existing Chandler Park, reconfiguring them to be much more user-friendly." - Mayor Mike Inman.

Mayor Mike Inman said the proposal "is not a plan that’s going to sit on the shelf and get dusty."

12/20/2024

"Without librarians, a library becomes rather indifferent to students' information needs, etc. Such a library in effect, says, 'I have the information you need, but I won’t tell you where it is.'” -- Commentator William Thompson.

Commentator William Thompson says he cannot support a university library that has no library faculty.

12/20/2024

This week in Around the Tri States: Lovato motion for new trial denied; Record-setting Giving Tuesday for WIU, Sandburg; Second arrest in Burlington homicide; and other stories.

A weekly roundup of news from around the region.

12/19/2024

After 18.5 years of keeping TSPR buzzing, our engineer Mark Garrett is retiring. Join us in celebrating his amazing work and the start of his next adventure! Mark’s retirement party is from 4 to 6:30 today in the Vallillo/Holtz Performance Studio.

12/18/2024

“We had fun. That’s a big part of it." - Kevin Nichols of the WIU School of Music.

The Western Illinois Museum in Macomb rang in holiday cheer with an atypical concert called “Seasonal Sounds, Reimagined.”

12/18/2024

"Most days, I’m Officer Pearson with the Galesburg Police Department. But when I’m off duty, I’m known to many as “that cat lady”—not to be confused with the “crazy cat lady,” of course." — Commentator Eryn Pearson

For our Women’s Voices series, commentator Eryn Pearson tells us how a career in law enforcement led to a passion for animal rescue.

12/17/2024

The latest episode of our award-winning Welcome to Forgottonia podcast is now available! It's the first in our series of occasional episodes called “Our Voices.” This episode features the owners of a popular food truck, a radiology technologist with a connection to an infamous moment in Major League Baseball history; and a commentary on the similarities between Forgottonia and a Caribbean island.

This is the first in our series of occasional episodes called “Our Voices.” These are stories about people who have perspectives we think you will want to hear. This episode features: · The owners of popular food truck · A commentary on the similarities between Forgottonia and a Caribbean isla...

12/17/2024

“When I am dancing, I'm kind of able to almost embody snow. The quickness of it, the cheerfulness of it, just the joy of it all, seeing the little flurries fall down, it's so beautiful." — Evelyn Nelson of Macomb, who plays the Snow Queen

"The Nutcracker" will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19 and 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20 at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg.