McLean County

Illinois' medical aid in dying law takes effect Saturday. Terminally ill adults across the state will have the legal option to request medication from a physician to end their lives. In McLean County, it might not be that easy.

The system is similar to notifications set up in Bloomington and Normal, with some overlap, used to share pertinent information county-wide or by quadrant. The county can now send push notifications to automatically alert cell phones in a targeted area of weather and public safety emergencies.

Craig Lutes became the first to work in the newly-established role in August. The Normal-based nonprofit aims to protect the watershed in the Upper Mackinaw River Valley.

More than a year and a half after a dispute over shared sales tax money began, the City of Bloomington, Town of Normal and McLean County have no resolution and no talks scheduled.

Over the 20-year run of the problem-solving court, 200 McLean County residents have graduated from the program. Clients and their team members alike describe it as difficult but worth it.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he doesn't want to see McLean County farmland given up for data centers. He said the state should be pumping the brakes on the industry rather than rolling out the red carpet for it.

In all, 655 phone calls came into Bloomington and Normal emergency call centers during recent thunderstorms and high winds. That volume overloaded dispatchers at certain points, but the system functioned as designed.

The Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program has helped bring free books to 3,800 kids in McLean County since 2023. Dolly Parton, founder of the program and a prominent pop culture icon, died Tuesday at age 80.

Rural McLean County fire departments are getting a look at how drones can help them when fighting fires.

A clean audit of the McLean County Mental Health and Public Safety Fund won't wipe away all the disagreements over how the county spends sales tax money shared by Bloomington and Normal.