News

Talking trash

Published by admin on Thu, 09/24/2020 - 12:23pm

Residents in the village of Coal City will have two days of trash pickup next week, as the town transitions to a new waste hauler.

On Wednesday, the Village Board entered into a contract with Environmental Recycling and Disposal Service and the terms of that agreement take effect Thursday, Oct. 1.

The change in providers will result in a handful of changes including pickup dates, recycling and yard waste collection.

Diamond, Coal City all in for Halloween

Published by admin on Wed, 09/23/2020 - 9:03pm

Halloween will happen in the villages of Diamond and Coal City this year, barring an executive order from the governor.

At their respective meetings this week, the Diamond and Coal City Village Boards set 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 for trick-or-treating.

Diamond Mayor Terry Kernc said she was contracted earlier this month by Carbon Hill Mayor Rich Jurzak on the topic of trick-or-treating. After some discussion and thought she came up with a proposal for all three communities to come together on a unified plan to ensure children could safely trick-or-treat.

Calling all quilters

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:09pm

The work of talented quilters will be showcased to a much larger audience for annual Coal City Public Library quilt display that will be done virtually for 2020.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the library is unable to have the display throughout the building, so the event will be online. Thus, the library is asking quilters to share photographs of themselves with quilts they would like featured.

Return to in-person instruction is just a week away

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:07pm

Students have one more week of remote instruction before in-person classes resume at Coal City High School.
The school doors have been closed to students for one week and will not re-open until Wednesday, Sept. 30.
As previously reported, the temporary closure was recommended by the Grundy County Health Department due to concern with a potential outbreak of COVID-19 at the school.

Petitions circulating for local elections

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:06pm

Representatives for municipal, township, library, school, park and fire districts began circulating nominating petitions on Tuesday for the consolidated election in April 2021.
Candidates have until mid-December to collect the signatures necessary to get their names on the ballot. The number of signatures obtained from registered voters within the district, community or township they are seeking to represent is based on the number of votes cast in the prior consolidated election.

Post 1336 honors community veterans

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:04pm

On a sunny Sunday in September, St. Juvin Post 1336 Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW] conducted a belated ceremony honoring 14 U.S. military veterans whose names were added to the west face of the Community Veteran's Monument located on the Coal City Intermediate School campus.
The monument now has 1,101 names of community veterans dating back to the Spanish-American War.
Pontiac Granite Company recently etched the names along with a Wall of Honor header at the top of the south face of the monument.

Eight years and growing

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:03pm

Eight years ago this month the first video gaming machines were turned on in Illinois. In that time the state has collected over $2 billion in revenue.
If that seems like a lot of money to you, consider the $31 billion players pumped into the machines in those eight years, minus the three and one half months the machines were off during the pandemic.
In the last full month [February] of gaming prior to the pandemic shut-down the machines took in $594.4 million. When they went back on-line in July, the amount played was up by $40.2 million to $634.6 million.

Haunted Lolli Land to provide Halloween fun

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:02pm

Grundy County Heroes & Helpers will host a COVID-19 sensitive Halloween event to collect toys for children in need for Christmas.
Haunted Lolli Land drive-thru toy drive will take place Saturday, Oct. 10 at First Christian Church, 455 W. Southmore Rd., Morris. Registration is required for the event that runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Record keeper

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 6:00pm

Pam Noffsinger is the keeper of the village record. It’s a position she takes seriously, and rightly so.
It’s been 22 years since she first took office in Coal City and for a majority of that time she’s been on a search for what she refers to as the town’s “history.”
When she assumed the clerk’s duties in 1998, Noffsinger recalls how she was handed a ledger, a little black book filled with ordinances and resolutions, yet something was missing.

Reed-Custer 255U sees 11 COVID-19 cases so far

Published by admin on Tue, 09/22/2020 - 5:41pm

Cases of the novel coronavirus were inevitably expected to crop up at school districts having in-person instruction, and Reed-Custer School District 255U is no exception.
The Reed-Custer district has seen 11 cases since the start of the school year one month ago on Aug. 18. It is currently believed that none of the cases have been connected to the school.