WIUM Local

WEST BURLINGTON, IA

West Burlington will soon be in need of a new police chief.  Current Chief Alex Oblein is stepping down effective June 22 to take a similar job in Piedmont, OK.

Oblein has served as West Burlington’s Police Chief since June 2003.

Mayor Hans Trousil says he will make an announcement about how the city will proceed with the search on Wednesday, April 18.

LEE COUNTY, IA

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

McDonough County reported 280 cases of child abuse and 21 cases of child sexual abuse in 2010, the most recent year statistics are available.

Participants at the “Hands Around the McDonough County Courthouse” rally against child abuse promised each other they would fight child abuse.

Diane Mayfield is the Victim Services Director for the Western Illinois Regional Council  Community Action Agency.

Monmouth will disrupt traffic downtown for about six weeks while it  replaces an old water main.

The work will take place near the southeast corner of the town square. It will involve two-and-a-half blocks of blocks of South First Street and a block of First Avenue.

City Administrator Eric Hanson said the city has repaired leaks in the main many times. He said the renovations of several nearby buildings prompted the project.

Carthage residents might soon depend on a high-tech warning system during emergencies.

Fire Chief Gary Smith is proposing the city purchase a phone messaging system, primarily for use during emergencies. He says it would come at a “nominal cost.”

He said, “It would allow us to make one phone call that would go out to all the residents of Carthage, up to three different phone numbers for each residence.”

Macomb hasn't had the money to keep up with needed street work the past few years. Mayor Mike Inman said passage of a half-cent sales tax last year will allow an the city to complete several projects this construction season.

He said,“It'll come out of that, almost without exception, the half-cent sales tax. Folks that voted for that will get to se some of the fruits of their vote come to pass this summer.”

The city will budget $1.25 million for the fiscal year that starts May 1st.

State Senator John Sullivan (D-Rushville) says everything is on the table when it comes reforming Medicaid in Illinois.

Governor Pat Quinn proposed a $2.7-billion dollar cut to the program in his budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. 

Sullivan told a crowd of 50 during a town hall meeting in Hamilton that some savings can be found through the scaling back of programs and the elimination of waste and fraud.