Samuel Reno will be competing for a chance at a share of the National Merit Scholarship this spring. The list of the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists in the 64th annual National Merit Scholarship Program was recently announced and Reno made the list.  These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition…

By Tony Hooker It’s been said that great ideas can come from many sources. Such is the case with Sondra Burwell’s Hugs and Mugs Cafe in her special education class at Villa Grove Elementary School. I recently caught up with Burwell, a VGHS graduate, to talk about where she came up with the idea, the…

By Kayleigh Rahn For Tuscola’s Bill Noble and Dendi Gould, life is best lived on two wheels rolling down two-lane back roads. With no limit on distance, from Florida to Tennessee, the couple will take off with a crew of two or 20 to see the sights and experience the wind. Noble has been riding…

The Villa Grove City council met on Monday, Sept. 9 for their regularly scheduled meeting, with all members present, minus Alderman Blaney. After all in attendance recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Cassandra Eversole-Gunter asked for approval of the minutes from the regular and closed session meetings of Aug. 12, and all approved. The minutes…

By Caleigh Parsley Students Bryant Price and Mikayla Helmuth started at IGA in Tuscola. Bryant is stocking and facing shelves, and Mikayla is bagging groceries.  Thursday, Sept. 5 Tuscola’s National Honor Society (NHS) held the first meeting beginning with officer reports: Bryona Lee for leadership, Courtney Kramer for service, Lauren Farley for scholar, and Carli…

Local filmmakers Cindy and Kirby Pringle will show their two new documentary films at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Douglas-Hart Nature Center. Kirby will show his 14-minute film, “Planet Milkweed,” at 2 p.m. Cindy’s film, “The Imperfect Caterpillar,” will be shown at about 2:20 p.m. and is 12 minutes long. The couple will…

Summer was a time of learning for local teacher, Darcey Voyles. The Tuscola  Community High School English teacher was selected to attend the 2019 Summer Institute held annually at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Voyles paid the Institute tuition herself but was awarded a grant for travel expenses, available through the Museum in…

Guitars and banjos will ring through the autumn air on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Vault Art Gallery’s “Bluegrass Jubilee and Art Fest” in Tuscola. Local bluegrass band Strings Attached will perform from 1-2 p.m. in the parking lot behind the downtown Tuscola business. In addition, the art gallery will host its regular “Bluegrass Jam…

By Kayleigh Rahn The city’s proposed Ervin Park improvements have hit a speed bump. The project is slated to be completed as one of the state’s Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant programs. The matching grant of $328,000 will cover resurfacing of the park’s basketball and tennis courts and new lighting structures on…

Telephone-based mass notifications systems are used by thousands of public safety agencies across the US to warn citizens about local emergencies, hazards and other threats.  Now Douglas County announces that they have selected Hyper-Reach to help bring this same life-saving capability to the area. Hyper-Reach is a state of the art mass emergency notification system…