btk pleads, it's hot, and other assorted things

what a news day! it was one of those crazy busy days that news people live for, because everything big is happening. btk pleaded guilty...he was the last person you would suspect would commit such awful crimes. kansas didn't have the death penalty during the time he killed these people, so he'll get a life sentence. what horrible crimes. let's see...the supreme court says the ten commandments in courthouses are shoving christianity down people's throats, but outside on a monument at a state capitol is okay. i'm still shaking my head and trying to figure that one out. i wonder what it means for the case in alabama a couple of years ago, and for students who put a copy of the ten commandments in their lockers at school.

sounds like the heat is finally going to break by the end of the week. thank goodness. last week i did stories on the heat and this week we're doing different news angles on the drought. at least the weather always provides a steady stream of stories. we're also working on two animal cruelty stories. they're horrible. i won't even describe what happened to these animals it's so bad. as a dog owner, it's disturbing. those animals didn't do anything to them.

not much else here. more to come.

-k

that's not normal...

so i go on the air this morning at 6:05 for my first newscast of the day, get through three stories, and i can't breathe. not just wheezing from allergies, i can't breathe. i was gasping for air and lightheaded. got in to see my doctor late this morning and she says i had a bronchial spasm and could be developing asthma. i was surprised because i've never been diagnosed with asthma, and aside from my allergies i've never had health problems like that. it's really strange. so the doctor gave me an inhaler, and i was on my way.

i had to leave work early today to go to the doctor, but at least i got some stuff done before i went. saw on the ap this morning that two million dollars in health grants were handed out to departments all over the state to combat west nile. lasalle county got $15,000. it's bad that even mosquitoes are a hazard now. they used to just be a nuisance.

we had the heritage tractor adventure here over the weekend. good time. 350 vintage tractors riding through the streets. a lot of the participants were from out of state. i interviewed two people from michigan, one from indiana and one from iowa. there were people from as far away as texas and even canada.

not much else happening here.

-k

rain on the way? i hope so

just got home from church a little while ago. they prayed for rain. we need it. yesterday there was a huge thunderstorm that blew up outside peoria and was moving this way. it went west of us and we didn't get anything out of it. sounds like the remnants of that tropical storm might get us tomorrow. we need some serious rain.

not much happening here. we finally got our air conditioner and it's been running almost nonstop. it's off right now because it's not quite so hot outside and there's a little bit of a breeze, so i opened the windows and turned the fans on. by next weekend it's supposed to be 70 degrees.

sounds like that case in aruba has really turned into a debacle. one of the kids in custody is the son of a soon to be local judge and the talk is that he won't be prosecuted even if he's the one that killed her. they still haven't found the girl's body, or at least aren't admitting to it. there's a lot with that case that isn't being said and that people may never know.

we're gearing up for another busy week here. i have meetings all this week, and there's a tractor show going on today in town. they're having a parade! that's always a good opportunity for pictures to put on the station website.

not much else happening here.

-k

i hate hot weather

You know, now I realize why I'd rather be too cold than too hot. At least when you're too cold you can put on a sweatshirt, tun on the electric blanket and warm up. When you're too hot you can take three lukewarm showers and eat ice and still be miserable. I called today and checked on air conditioners people were selling on our "swap shop" show on WSPL. Some of them wanted as much as it would cost for us to buy a brand new one, which is what I think we should do. 87 Saturday, 90 yesterday, and I think it's at least 90 today. Predicted high of 93 tomorrow. I guess it is June.

Had an interesting weekend...woke up at 3 AM Saturday morning to Rosie staring off into space, panting heavily. Thought she was hot so I went to get her some water. Not only did she not look at the bowl of water I put on the floor by her, she didn't look at me either. She had a seizure and was coming out of it when I woke up. She got sick, was disoriented, was having a hard time breathing and was unresponsive to either of us. Scott got lunch meat out of the refrigerator to give to her...and she didn't want it, which never happens. She loves lunch meat. So we paged a vet here in Streator and got her in at 4 AM. She's doing much better. She laid around all day Saturday and hardly ate or drank anything. Yesterday and today she's been better. Idiopathic epilepsy, apparently. Dogs can just have seizures at random.

Not much happening newswise in the Illinois Valley. There's some interesting stuff at the national level, though. This missing girl case in Aruba is getting more and more interesting by the day. I think she's either been murdered or sold into slavery. When officials ask for an FBI dive team to come in, that's never a good sign. Poor Michael Jackson is apparently in the hospital again...trying to win the jurors' sympathy. The judge would have been smart to sequester this jury, but he didn't. So I guess we'll see what sort of impact that will have on the verdict.

That's all from here.

-K

it's friday!!!

It's the weekend! Yay! This week has gone by quickly, for me at least. This whole year has gone by fast. Unbelievable.

Talked to 38th district state senator Gary Dahl today. He's a new lawmaker in Springfield. Says he's not happy about the way the session ended. This budget is bad. Sure, it's ok to take the money now from the pensions, but 40 years from now it's really going to hurt the state. I wonder if Blagojevich is going to run again in 2006. I'm thinking that he will, but he'll have a lot of Republicans lined up to run against him. It could be one of the nastiest political campaigns we've ever seen. Sure, he's stuck to his guns on not raising taxes, but at what cost? Also worked on a story on property tax bills going out. If you hear a collective groan coming from northeast Illinois, that's why.

We got word today that Scott's cousin Ryan is joining the Navy. He leaves for boot camp September 13th. I'm proud of him. There's something to be said for young men and women who want to join the military. We're both from families who know what it means to serve your country. Best of luck to him.

Not much happening this weekend. We're both off Saturday so I think we'll just do nothing. Sometimes it's ok to do nothing. Next weekend is the Heritage Tractor show here in Streator, so I'll be covering that. Sounds like a really fun event, and it attracts a crazy amount of people to town. There's also the classic car show but I don't think that's until August or so.

The Michael Jackson trial may finally be coming to an end. The jury is finally getting the case today, it looks like. Hopefully it won't take them too long, and then the story will fade and we won't have to hear about it anymore.

That's all for now.

-K

random thoughts, part 1...

Well, it's National Leave the office early day, so that's exactly what I did. I have news for tomorrow anyway. Saturday is National Dog Appreciation day. If you give flowers on Secretaries' Day, and cards on Grandparents Day, what do you give on Dog Appreciation day? A toy? I'll give Rosie a couple extra treats and let her lay in front of the fan all day if she wants. That's what she does anyway. She's such a good dog. She doesn't bark, she's housebroken, and she's lazy the whole day. You'd think a dog as lazy as her would be as big around as a beer barrel from laying around all day, but she isn't. Today is Hug your Cat day, which I don't care about. Plus, every cat I've ever been around would claw my eyes out if I tried to hug it.

It's been an interesting couple of news days. The runaway bride in Georgia pleaded "no contest" today. For those of you who don't know what that means, it means you acknowledge responsibility without pleading guilty. It's the equivalent of pleading guilty and not guilty at the same time. I'm so glad that case is over. It really wasn't newsworthy anymore after she revealed she wasn't abducted after all. I'm glad the Michael Jackson case is almost over too. I'm really sick of hearing about Poor Michael Jackson and how he's such a frail being and sick to death over this trial. Hopefully the jury will get it soon. The whole clamor over this Deep Throat thing has finally calmed down. It's a big historical event, and depending on which side you're on politically the guy's either a hero or the most horrible person on earth. Personally, I don't think he's either. I think he just wanted to get it off his mind.

I've been keeping up with the news on Morrison's and Nashville's web sites. The pictures of the new Nashville grade school are awesome. I'm so glad they finally got a new school, although I know people had to pay out the butt in property taxes for it. Sounds like both towns have a lot going on. Don't know when we'll be back in either one, hopefully soon. Our work schedules are such that we almost never know when we'll be able to do something.

That's all for now. I'll probably post more later.

-K

hi everyone!

Hi everyone! It appears this worked correctly. We thought this would be a great way for everyone to keep up with us and what we're doing. So feel free to stop by! Not much is happening in Streatorland and LaSalle county land.

Scott and Katie (and Rosie too)