Washington Watch
From local government to local businesses, WCBU is covering the top stories from Washington.
Support for expanded Washington coverage comes from a partnership between the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) and the Google News Initiative (GNI).
Do you have a question about something that's happened or going to happen in Washington? The answer is at your fingertips. Ask Steve Stein, an award-winning journalist who has covered Tazewell County communities for 20 years. Share your question here.
WCBU
History was made Monday in Washington during the city's bicentennial year. Lilija Stevens, the first female mayor in the city's 200-year history, was sworn in by Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman.
Latest Washington News
- Two years after a narrow defeat, a referendum to build a new Lincoln Grade School passes easily
- New Washington mayor promises more community input, early focus on hiring a new city administrator
- Washington candidates, referendum supporters chat with residents
- Washington mayoral candidates make their pitch at cordial, crowded forum
- Washington amphitheater debate creating as many questions as answers
- Should Washington allow backyard chickens? Council will discuss the possibility again
Washington City Council
-
Steve Stein/WCBUPaula Johnson was appointed Monday to the Washington City Council to fill the seat left vacant by Lilija Stevens, who was elected mayor last month. -
Steve Stein/WCBUWashington joined the grocery sales tax crowd Monday. The City Council voted 6-2 for the city to impose a 1% sales tax on groceries starting Jan. 1 to replace the state's 1% grocery sales tax.
Latest News
-
The second draft of the Dee Amphtheater feasibility study presented to the Washington City Council on Monday had drastically different — and decidedly more negative — net operating income projections. -
The developers of a proposed $12-million, 5,000-seat amphitheater on 20 acres of city-owned farmland in Washington made another pitch for the project Monday in front of about 100 residents who packed the City Council's meeting room at Five Points Washington. -
Washington residents will get an opportunity to weigh in on a proposed $12 million amphitheater project on city property that would be built by a private foundation. -
A divided Tazewell County Board on Wednesday approved a guaranteed maximum price agreement with construction manager P.J. Hoerr for the construction of the county's Justice Center Annex. -
The health department's new Pekin campus at 1800 Broadway Road opened before Thanksgiving. -
A new mayor and two new members of the eight-member council will be elected. There are no candidates for a council seat that will be open. -
In this week's episode of Out and About, Dr. Mae Gilliland of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois chats with Josh Schnetzler, theater manager at Five Points Washington, to get an inside look at The Wizards of Winter show coming on Dec. 5. -
It's the dream of 1971 Washington Community High School graduate Jim Hengst, who wants to donate $12 million to build the amphitheater in honor of his late wife Dee and name it for her. Dee died in 2021. -
The city council on Monday approved a 30 miles per hour speed limit on Freedom Parkway from McClugage Road east 1,200 feet, and a 40 mph speed limit from that point to North Cummings Lane. -
The health department says the victim suffered an onset of symptoms in mid-October and died soon thereafter.
