Rich Egger

Macomb police said they arrested a Western Illinois University student for Wednesday night’s hoax phone call to 911.

Chief Curt Barker said Alvin Montgomery, age 25, was taken into custody outside Bayless Hall. Montgomery is charged with disorderly conduct, making a false 911 call, and attempted obstruction of justice.

Police said the final charge was filed because Montgomery tried to delete information from a cell phone.

This week on Emphasis, Rich Egger’s guest is Steve Berry, Associate Professor of History at the University of Georgia. He was in western Illinois to give presentations at Monmouth College, Knox College, and Western Illinois University.

Macomb police surrounded a home for five hours Wednesday evening, believing someone might be barricaded inside. But it turned out they were sent to the home on a prank call.

The 911 center received the call from 509 West Murray around 6:00 pm. Police Chief Curt Barker said the caller was a woman.

Western Illinois University sent out an alert Wednesday evening stating “Police responded to a 911 call re: person w/gun in an off-campus house in the 500 block of W Murray St.”

As of 9:00 pm, police were saying little about the incident. Trooper Dan Hill, Safety Education Officer and Public Information Officer for Illinois State Police, District 14, said law enforcement had established a perimeter, and officers were continuing to gather information and resources.

He said some houses in the area were being evacuated as a safety precaution.

How much is a paperwork mistake worth? In the case of a Macomb road project, the answer is about $125,000.

The project calls for improvements to the intersection of Bower Road and Route 136. The work will be paid for by the city, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and a grant through the Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP).

The original low bid of $969,922 came from Laverdiere Construction.

The Shop Talk panelists discuss a recent item on the Forbes website that lists reporters and announcers among the 13 surprisingly low-paid jobs.

The magazine used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It found the mean annual income for reporters and correspondents is $43,640. The bottom 10% make $20,000.

The mean annual income for radio and television announcers is $40,510. The bottom 10% make $17,150.

Galesburg police say they are still investigating a dog attack that killed a seven-year old boy.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 affected Americans in many different ways. For poet John Mann, it completely changed the focus of his writing.

“My previous work, I basically wrote nature poems. They were fine. I like them. But looking back on that pre-9/11 work, it strikes me as fairly conventional,” Mann said.

“These new poems had a greater intensity for me and were more firmly engaged with history and the political process and the things we were going through.”

Rich Egger’s guest on Emphasis is Janine Cavicchia, Director of the Women’s Center at Western Illinois University. They talk about Women’s History Month, which takes place during March.

“Women have always been a part of history, but they haven’t always been a part of the history textbooks and lessons and common knowledge,” Cavicchia said.

The new Macomb School District 185 superintendent won’t wait long to begin work.

Dr Patrick Twomey will start in Macomb on May 1 as assistant superintendent before becoming superintendent on July 1. Twomey said this will allow him to work with retiring Superintendent Dr Alene Reuschel.

“This will give us an opportunity professionally to spend a little bit of time together during that transition time to make it as smooth as possible, which will do nothing but benefit the kids of the district,” said Twomey.