Weather
Friday: 65 percent chance of rain. High 46. Low 40.
Saturday: Cloudy. High 49. Low 41.
Sunday: Cloudy. High 50. Low 41.
Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, Dec. 31 Annual Luminary Candlelight Celebration, 5-6:30 p.m., Knox County Humane Society, 1855 Windish Dr.
Knox County Sheriff
Incarceration can put a strain on families to the point of breaking.
This year the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is integrating an Angel Tree for the children of incarcerated parents. It is their goal to provide Christmas gifts on behalf of incarcerated parents and the Sheriff’s Office. This is to extend the gift of love and happiness to the families and loved ones from those who are in the Knox County Jail.
If you would like to help the Knox County Sheriff with their mission to provide gifts to 34 children on their Angel Tree, it would be a blessing. There are 15 name cards left.
The Angel Tree is located in the lobby of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Please bring your gift back to the Sheriff’s Office and select a child’s name from the tree to send your gift to. Please provide them to the ladies at the front desk. They would like to provide each child with at least a $25 gift card to Walmart or Target. Any contribution to the children will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for helping with this mission and have a Merry Christmas.
Psalms 127:3 NLT Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Knox County State’s Attorney
Donald Denniston was sentenced 45 years for February 2021 arson.
Loving Bottoms Diaper Bank
In November Loving Bottoms Diaper Bank distributed: 57,055 diapers, 959 packs of wipes, 459 period kits, and 1,240 senior incontinence products. This means that 1,140 babies received needed diapers, there were 1,377 worry free period days, and 62 seniors received needed incontinence products.
Mel Foster Co.
As a company with a long history of giving back to the communities it serves, Mel Foster Co. is proud to announce the results of its Think.Buy.Be.Local Small Business Week challenge. Each year, Mel Foster Co. encourages its agents and staff to support local businesses in the neighborhoods where they live, work, and play during Small Business Saturday and throughout the preceding week.
To help promote the small businesses they love, the agents and staff snapped a photo of themselves shopping, posted to Facebook, and tagged the local business and Mel Foster Co. To encourage participation and further support local businesses, Mel Foster Co. purchased gift cards from local businesses and the agent/staff member shopping and taking photos was entered into a company drawing for each posted photo.
Mel Foster Co. agents and staff supported over 175 small businesses during Think.Buy.Be.Local week. Lynsey Engels, president of Mel Foster Co. Real Estate Brokerage, stresses the importance of buying local. “Large companies won’t notice your purchase over the next couple of months, but small businesses will, and it might even change their life. We are a local, family-owned business, so we understand how important it is to shop locally and use local service providers. When we all support each other with our business, we build a stronger community where more businesses and families can thrive. It’s not something we just get on board with one day of the year or even one week each year. Supporting fellow small businesses is an important part of our culture, and we strive to Think.Buy.Be.Local throughout the year.
OSF
On December 13 OSF HealthCare St. Mary Medical Center hosted a blessing and dedication of the new radiation oncology services at 3375 N. Seminary St. on the OSF St. Mary campus. The blessing was held in the lobby of the OSF Medical Building.
OSF St. Mary is pleased to announce that radiation oncology services for patients with cancer will begin in January.
The first phase of construction to install a temporary radiation oncology unit will be completed before the end of the year. This system will be in place for two years until the permanent system is installed.
They are also pleased to welcome Matthew Carpenter, MD, to their Ministry. Dr. Carpenter has provided radiation oncology care for patients in the Galesburg area for several years. He will begin serving patients at OSF St. Mary in January.
In addition, these new services will be offered by Dr. Carpenter and their new radiation oncology team as an extension of the progressive, state-of-the-art services brought to our region with OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute in Peoria, which is scheduled to open in February.
Adding radiation oncology and Dr. Carpenter’s expertise to their service offerings will help ensure patients in the Galesburg area are able to receive a full range of cancer care services close to home.
Pho Lover
Pho Lover is now open for breakfast from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Here is a sneak peak at their current menu:
Egg Sprouts Pancakes $4.99, Custard Bun (6) $3.49, Custard Tart (4) $3.49, Crystal Shrimp, Dumpling (8) $5.49, Steamed Twisted Roll (6) $3.49, Red Bean Bun (6) $3.49, Sesame Ball (6) $3.99, Water Chestnut Cake (6) $3.99, Steamed Shumai (6) $4.99, Fried Shumai (10) $3.99, Steamed Pork Bun $3.49, Coconut Dumplings $3.49, Taro Bun (6) $3.49, Stuffed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf (2) $3.99, Vegetable Bun $3.45, Barbecued Pork Buns (3) $4.50, and Taro Cake (3) $3.99.
Pizza Hut
The Pizza Hut location at 1555 East Main Street in Galesburg is permanently closed. All operations were consolidated into the Pizza Hut location on Fremont Street.
Reserve Artisan Ales
The Vault and Reserve Artisan Ales have new Sunday hours. They are now open 12-5 p.m. on Sundays. These new hours will allow customers to now rent out the taproom for smaller events like showers and birthday parties. Inquire about pricing at https://www.honeybook.com/widget/the_vault_185777/cf_id/60ba481c22a8800031948539.
Save a Lot
The former Save A Lot at 900 East Main Street is listed for $700,000. In November of 2022 Sun Garden Place, LLC-Main Street sold the property to Guru Nanak Property Iowa, LLC for $560,000. Initially it was indicted that the property would remain a grocery store. However, the current owners no longer plan to pursue bringing a grocery store to Galesburg.
Skate Palace
Mayor Peter Schwartzman is starting a fundraising campaign to raise $60,000, so that Michael Spinks can replace the floor at Skate Palace. Schwartzman has pledged $1,000 to get it started. Instead of using a website that would take a percentage of the funds raised, Schwartzman is taking care of all donations to ensure they go directly to Spinks. You can make a donation by sending a monetary gift to Venmo @Peter-D-Schwartzman, Paypal drearth1@gmail.com, or mailing cash or a check to 1104 North Broad Street, Galesburg, Illinois 61401.
St. Mary’s Square
On December 4 the Galesburg City Council voted 7-0 to move forward with the demolition process of the dilapidated former St. Mary’s Hospital, most recently St. Mary’s Square Living Center property located at 239 South Cherry Street.
According to city administration, the property has seen a significant increase in criminal activity over the last year. Large sections of copper pipe have been removed by trespassers, and Galesburg Police have responded to 33 calls to the property and have made multiple arrests.
After an inspection of the property the city building Inspector sent the required 15 day notification to the listed owner of the property requesting compliance. No contact has been made. Kartrina Zhong, who oversees KXZ Properties LLC of Provo, Utah, is the owner of the property.
There have been four administrative adjudication cases in the prior six months for property maintenance and board up orders that have resulted in $5,750 in unpaid fines and fees.
The city is spending around $500 to $1,000 every two weeks in board up fees to try to secure the property. The city’s board up contractor has welded multiple metal doors shut to try and curtail some of the issues.
There has been no water service to the property since August of 2014. There are several upper story openings that allow weather infiltration, the building has five feet of standing water in the basement due to non functioning sump pumps, and large pieces of limestone facade are coming loose and falling off.
October fiscal year 2022 property taxes payable in 2023 have not yet been paid.
Demolition costs are estimated to be $750,000 to $1 million.
Despite the city starting the demolition process this property is listed as for sale. It is listed with an asking price of $2.2 million. It sold in 2021 for $507,677.
VNA Community Services
The certified SHIP Counselors at VNA Community Services have been working tirelessly during this year’s open enrollment season, and they’re thrilled to announce that they’ve managed to save Knox County seniors over $75,000.