Thursday, November 6, 2025

The state of Illinois is paying tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney.  Cheney died this week at the age of 84 due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.  Illinois is honoring him by flying Flags at half staff throughout the state until sunset on November 13th.  Cheney served as the nation’s 46th vice president under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.

Kankakee Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group agents arrested two men Tuesday morning after a months long cannabis trafficking investigation.  According to a press release 26 year old James T. Tsirikos of Saint Anne and 27 year old Corey Q. Felton of Bourbonnais were both taken into custody around five fifteen Tuesday morning. Tsirikos was arrested at O’Hare airport and was found in possession of approximately fifty two hundred grams of suspected cannabis as he returned on a flight from California. Felton has been charged with intent to deliver over 500 grams of cannabis. Search warrants executed at three different properties throughout Kankakee County in connection with the two men turned up over eleven thousand five hundred grams of suspected cannabis. KAMEG was assisted by several agencies during the investigation.

Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais will welcome students from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights after the college closes next year. Olivet announced Tuesday that it has established a transfer partnership to welcome Trinity students into the Olivet community should they choose to continue their undergraduate education at Olivet’s Bourbonnais campus. Trinity’s board of trustees voted to close the campus in Palos Heights in Spring of next year due to financial struggles caused by declining enrollment, post-COVID-19 losses, increased competition and shifting donor priorities.

As the governmental shutdown continues and there continues to be talk about reduced or eliminated SNAP benefits, some are concerned about how to feed their family. Maria Vail is the Executive Director of the United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties and she says local food pantries are seeing an increase in people using their services

Vail adds there is help if you find yourself in need of food

Vail says if you want to contribute you can make donations directly to those food pantries as well or monetary donations can be made by using the United Way’s Health Impact fund at MyUnitedWay.org

It’s kind of hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is just three weeks away. Rob West recently spoke with Sue Smith, Turkey Talk-Line expert with Butterball Turkey and she says it’s time to think about buying that turkey

If you have any questions you can get ahold of a turkey-talk like expert at 1-800-Butterball

Next Tuesday is Veteran’s Day, and Friday night, the hockey team from Olivet has a special evening planned for area vets. Olivet Hockey Coach Bjorn Lindgren says veterans will be admitted free to Friday night’s Military Appreciation Night match with Northern Illinois at Ice Valley Center in Kankakee

Coach Lindgren says they have several special events planned for the evening

Veterans get into the match for free, it costs five dollars for everyone else. The puck drops at seven Friday night at Ice Valley Center near KCC on Kankakee’s south side.

There’s another of those Secret Food Pantry Mobile Pop-up events scheduled for the Village of Bourbonnais today. This one scheduled to run from 11 til noon today at the location on Briarwood Lane. They do ask for a five dollar donation that gets you into a drawing for  a 50 dollar gift card. Organizers of the event ask you show up no more than a half hour before it starts and that you follow the route outlined by Bourbonnais Police. You can find that route and more information on the Village of Bourbonnais’ website or it’s Facebook page