The Putnam County baseball team has holes to fill, but coach Chris Newsome said the Panthers have a good nucleus of returners and newcomers eager to step up.

Putnam County Junior High School won its own eighth-grade regional volleyball championship, defeating Seneca 25–22, 25–8 on Thursday, March 12, in McNabb. The Lady Pumas (17-6) will meet Wethersfield for the sectional title at 6 p.m. Monday at Seneca.

The Putnam County softball team has a small, young roster but the Panthers "have the potential to do some really good things" with most of their starting lineup back.

The Illinois Valley is full of historic homes and the history behind them. Finding a home built prior to the Civil War is rarer than you think in Northern Illinois. Here are some of the oldest homes in Putnam County procured by photo editor Scott Anderson.

At the time of the alert, a severe thunderstorm with radar-indicated rotation was located over Lake Wildwood, about 8 miles northeast of Lacon, and moving east at 35 mph.

The Putnam County seventh-grade volleyball team defeated Oglesby Washington 25-23, 15-25, 25-20 to capture their own 2A regional championship on March 5. The Pumas (15-9) will play Kewanee Wethersfield at 6 p.m. Monday in the Seneca Sectional.

Smoke and charred timber burned from a large brush fire that broke out near the 12000 block of West Bottom Road on Monday, March 2, 2026 near Granville. The fire was elevated to the second alarm as the flames spread further west. Over 150 acres of timber burned along the Illinois River during the incident.

Students from JFK School, Putnam County Junior High, La Salle-Peru Township High School, LaMoille School, Ottawa High School and DePue, attended the 20th annual Edible Car Contest on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby. IVCC's Edible Car Contest always coincides with National Engineering Week.

St. Bede fell behind 11-4 but used an 11-0 run to take a 33-21 halftime lead on the way to a 58-45 regional quarterfinal win over Putnam County.