Warm winter with little snow, what's in store next?

Throughout most of the U.S., this winter has been one of the warmest in memory. There has been less snow, too. Are we experiencing global warming or just a periodically warm winter? 

And what, if anything, does this winter portend for spring and summer?

Architectural rendering of new skilled nursing facility planned for West Peoria.  Image courtesy of Jenny Fulton, Director of Strategic Communications for Peoria County.

WEST PEORIA — Since 1848, Peoria County has owned and operated a skilled care nursing home that serves county residents.
The County’s newest skilled care nursing home has been under construction since September of 2011 and is now starting to take shape.

Frontier Airlines Airbus A319.  Photo retrieved from Wikipedia.  

BLOOMINGTON — Less than a month before AirTran ceases its low-cost, non-stop services at the Central Illinois Regional Airport, Frontier Airlines will start a low-cost, non-stop service at the airport.

The bronze bust of President Abraham Lincoln inside the main entrance to Oesterle Library is a replica of an original sculpture created by Gutzon Borglum, best known for his role in creating the memorial at Mount Rushmore.  Photo by News Bulletin staff.

Recent research has uncovered that a bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln displayed at North Central College is linked to the sculptor who created Mount Rushmore.

The Exelon Foundation has become the first major corporate foundation to support the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Partnership School at Aurora University with a $500,000 gift to help create a new national model for mathematics and science education.

 The Fox Valley Park District greenhouse grows and nutures plants that will eventually be transplanted to area parks.  Photo by News Bulletin staff.

Plants are truly amazing. So it wasn’t surprising when a first-grader asked what seemed to be a very logical question.
“Can you grow French fries in your garden?”
Well, no. Actually, yes … kind of.

The City of Batavia is again offering residents the opportunity to purchase a parkway tree as part of its commitment to community reforestation.

Funding comes from the city's Electric Utility, and the program is administered by the Street Division of Batavia Public Works.

Cultivating relationships with employers, employees

Mid-way through FY 2012, Business Solutions is posting net revenues of $225,000, double the projected goal of $100,000 for this year.

Sophomore Northern Illinois volleyball outside hitter Lauren Wicinski of Geneva spent a recent weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo., taking part in open tryouts for several U.S. national teams.

The Huskies' standout was trying out for spots for the U.S. Women’s National Team, U.S. Women’s National A2 Program and U.S. Women’s Junior National Team at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

An early view of the railroad yards near the Fox River in Aurora. This and other historic images are now on display at City Hall.  Image courtesy of Aurora Public Art Commission.

The Aurora Public Art Commission presents “Aurora in Pictures, 175 Years.”

The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 11, 2013 at Aurora’s City Hall, 44 East Downer Place. City Hall is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The legendary Willie Nelson will add a second show in April to his Aurora appearance.  Photo provided by Paramount Theatre.

After selling out Aurora's 1,888-seat Paramount Theatre in record time, country music legend Willie Nelson has just added a second show at the Paramount, Wednesday, April 11 at 8 pm.

SPRINGIFELD — While waiting to hear if he had received the Republican nomination for the president of the United States at an office in downtown Springfield, Abraham Lincoln sat in a bentwood hickory chair, on May 18, 1860.

More than 151 years later, that chair is still in existence. It has had many owners since the 1860s and for the right price you could be its next owner.