NORMAL — Earthrise Energy announced Thursday its establishment of a $22,200 grant to fund four scholarships for students pursuing a certificate in renewable energy skills at Heartland Community College in Normal. The Arlington, Va.-based company launched its RISE Grant program to help fund local initiatives that champion excellence in education, protect the environment and support the communities where Earthrise Energy […]
Business
Copper Creek Contractors threatens libel suit vs. Ford County Chronicle
GIBSON CITY — An attorney for a Mahomet-based contractor hired in 2022 to install a spray-foam roof at Gibson City Hall has threatened to sue the Ford County Chronicle for libel and slander if it does not immediately retract a story it published about the firm’s owner’s unfulfilled promises to the city council to replace that roof — which is […]
Pontiac Bancorp Inc. has annual meeting
PONTIAC BANCORP INC.After annual meeting of stockholders, area bank’s directors, officers elected at annual organizational meeting
PONTIAC — Pontiac Bancorp Inc. — the parent company of the Bank of Pontiac, which operates branches in Paxton, Melvin and Piper City — experienced another year of solid financial performance in 2023, Chairman of the Board Bill Kauffman reported to stockholders during its annual meeting on Monday, April 15, at Pontiac Township High School. “The past 12 months have […]
Earthrise Energy moving ahead with solar farms in Ford, McLean counties
GIBSON CITY — Earthrise Energy wants Ford County residents to understand its plan for the development of a proposed solar farm in the area. To that end, the natural gas plant operator headquartered in Arlington, Va., held an open house on Monday, April 8, at the Kruse Center in Gibson City, where citizens could learn the details of the proposed […]
SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Power Planter Inc. seeing success, growth
RURAL LODA — The old saying, “Grandpa would be proud,” might be a bit cliché, but to Greg Niewold’s grandfather, it would be a gross understatement. In 2013, a then-30-year-old Niewold assumed control of the company his grandfather Wayne Niewold founded — Power Planter Inc. — on the sixth-generation Niewold family farm in Wall Township west of Loda. Under the […]
Paxton Main Street ‘honored,’ ‘elated’ to join Illinois Main Street program
PAXTON — The nonprofit organization Paxton Main Street has been accepted as a member of the Illinois Main Street program, and community leaders could not be more pleased. “Honored” and “elated” were two words that Paxton Main Street’s executive director, Donna Pepper, used to describe her organization’s response to the news that arrived on Tuesday, April 9, and was publicly […]
Ford County Chronicle eyes three-peat in Illinois Press Association contest
BLOOMINGTON — If “A, B, C” really is “as easy as 1, 2, 3,” as The Jackson 5 once said, then the Ford County Chronicle should have no problem winning Divisions A, B and C in the Illinois Press Association’s annual Excellence in News Contest in Years 1, 2 and 3 since joining the association, right? Not exactly. While Michael […]
CELEBRATING COMMUNITY: Chamber bestows awards, hears goals from new president
PAXTON — The Paxton Area Chamber of Commerce transitioned to new leadership and celebrated a couple of its outstanding member businesses by bestowing awards upon their owners during the organization’s annual meeting Thursday, March 28. After Austin Curtis departed the president’s post and Dawn Stack, the chamber’s former vice president, took the helm, Stack recognized Andy Hudson, owner of Hudson […]
Proposed CO2 pipeline reduced in size, says Gibson City firm seeking ICC permit
SPRINGFIELD — Within the 28,000-plus words of rebuttal testimony from 10 witnesses filed by One Earth Sequestration LLC in its pending case before the Illinois Commerce Commission on Wednesday, March 27, the company revealed its plans to reduce the length, diameter and capacity of its proposed carbon dioxide pipeline in western Ford and eastern McLean counties while also reducing the […]
‘COMING SOON,’ jokes sign at Andy Hudson’s downtown Paxton building
PAXTON — Featuring lettering with Purdue University’s school colors of black and old gold and with an altered image of a mustachioed Andy Hudson, the “Coming Soon” sign hung Friday inside the front window of the former Doug’s Compounding Pharmacy building in downtown Paxton — vacant for more than a year — is supposed to be a joke. Well, kind […]
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