Ottawa

If the warm weather isn’t enough to make you feel like summer is near, maybe ice cream will help. Tones Cones, 523 W. Main St., Ottawa, opens Saturday for the season serving soft serve ice cream. 

An Ottawa native with Grammy Award-winning music credits will return to his local roots as a guest performer in two of the three Illinois Valley Community College ensemble concerts next week.

Mobile home tax bills in La Salle County are due on Thursday, May 1.

Know anybody who’s bought a new car this year? Worries over tariffs helped give auto sales a boost and, along the way, helped a few cities begin the year with sales tax revenue records.

Green Street in Ottawa will be closed again from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, April 25, as crews continue work on the box culvert headwall.

In honor of Earth Day this week, the Ottawa Downtown Association is inviting community members to participate in Operation: Clean Sweep from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 26.

A radio play adaptation of "My Favorite Wife," Healthy Kids Day, Earth Day, a Doors cover band and a car show are among the activities in the Illinois Valley this weekend.

The Ottawa Special Events Committee has announced the schedule for its 2025 Music in the Park concert series, bringing live music to Washington Park every Saturday evening this summer.

A La Salle County grand jury convened Tuesday and returned the following indictments.

An Ottawa man was ticketed for his role in a three-vehicle crash April 15 on Route 71 that injured three.

The next history lecture at the Ottawa Historical and Scouting Heritage Museum will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 27. 

Marquette Academy Elementary in Ottawa announced its honor roll for the third quarter of the 2024-2025 school year.

La Salle County Health Department is launching the Residential Sharps Disposal Program to provide residents with a free and easy way to dispose of medical needles.

The longtime location of Goetsch’s Fresh Fruits & Veggies Farm Stand is for sale putting the farm stand’s future in jeopardy.

First United Methodist Church will host its 20th annual spaghetti lunch and dinner on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at the 100 W. Jefferson St. in Ottawa.

The Ottawa YMCA, in partnership with OSF HealthCare, will host the Spring Into Health Family Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at 411 Canal St, Ottawa.

Ottawa Township High School Drama Club will present “Almost, Maine,” a collection of short plays that explores love, loss and the human heart, each with a compelling couple at its center.

The Pop-Up Players, a nonprofit traveling community theater troupe based in the Illinois Valley, will be staging three performances of an all new radio play adaptation (complete with retro commercials and live sound effects) of the classic, 1940 comedy “My Favorite Wife."

Reddick Library in Ottawa will be hosting a sourdough class for adults Thursday, April 24.

Here is the list of couples of who applied for La Salle County marriage licenses from April 1 through April 16, 2025.

Hundreds participated Saturday in the Easter egg hunt at Allen Park in Ottawa sponsored by the Ottawa Special Events.

Covering April 20 through April 26, here's a schedule of high school sporting events in the Ottawa/Streator/Seneca area.

The Ottawa High School music program is among the best in the state.

An electronics recycling event will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 21, in the parking lot at 814 Columbus St. in downtown Ottawa.

La Salle County Associate Judge Michelle A. Vescogni is now a circuit judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit, which also includes Bureau and Grundy counties.

The La Salle County Sheriff’s Office has a new chief deputy and undersheriff.

Here is the list of couples who applied for La Salle County marriage licenses from March 17 through March 31, 2025.

Ottawa firefighter Kevin Stewart graduated from the Illinois Fire Service Institute Fire Academy.

The La Salle County Friends of Extension & 4-H will host a drive-thru fundraiser, featuring Stone Jug BBQ at 4 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the La Salle County Extension Office Parking Lot, 1689 N. 31st Road in Ottawa.

A 14-year-old boy from the Hinckley-Big Rock area fell about 25 to 30 feet Thursday in La Salle Canyon at Starved Rock State Park.

Immanuel Lutheran Church in Marseilles will host a barbecue dinner to support the new PADs homeless shelter in Ottawa from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, at 227 E. Bluff St.

An Ottawa woman was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for disseminating child sexual abuse images.

There are more Easter egg hunts this weekend, including a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt in Hennepin and an underwater egg hunt in Princeton. The Easter bunny is even planning to skydive into Skydive Chicago on Easter Sunday.

Fifth and sixth-grade students at Central Intermediate School in Ottawa put their entrepreneurial skills to the test on Wednesday during their Lemonade Day My Way event in the school’s auditorium.

Three people were injured, one critically, following a multi-vehicle crash Tuesday on Route 71 near Hank’s Farm restaurant in Ottawa. The crash pulled away some first responders tending to a fire.

Ottawa firefighters said a Tuesday afternoon fire at 1617 Sycamore St. was an accident. No injuries were reported.

The south side of Ottawa contains some historically significant homes – several could crack the National Register of Historic Places – but not enough to declare South Bluff a historic district.

Students operated their startup businesses Wednesday during the Central Intermediate School Lemonade Day My Way in Ottawa.

Poco a Poco hosted two events April 5 at Park Presbyterian Church in Streator – its annual sampler fundraiser, selling $100 tickets to attend an intimate afternoon of mini concerts, visual arts displays, interviews and sampler desserts, and a public jam session for musicicians.

A skydiving Easter bunny, Easter centerpiece workshop, adult egg hunt, bunny run and underwater egg hunt are among the activities in the Illinois Valley this weekend.

The Grundy County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that it has arrested a 17-year-old who had allegedly stolen a firearm in Peru after a pursuit that ended near Arby's on Route 6 in Morris.

Nicolaus Phillips says police had no business questioning him about an Ottawa shooting death without a lawyer present. Prosecutors say it’s a moot point because Phillips waived his rights. Who is correct? A La Salle County judge will settle that Friday, May 16.

The Ottawa City Council recognized National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, honoring those who work with Ottawa Central Dispatch for their years of service.

The Starved Rock Country Community Foundation recently played a role in the 38th Annual Teen Showcase at Illinois Valley Community College.

Illinois Valley Community College sophomore Emma Coss of Ottawa has been recognized as one of the nation’s outstanding community college students and will receive a $1,500 scholarship as a 2025 Coca-Cola Academic Team Gold Scholar. 

A garage fire on St. James Street between Douglas Street and Ottawa Avenue in Ottawa was extinguished without any injuries on Monday night.

Ottawa’s Green Street will be reduced to one lane of traffic Wednesday, April 16, as contractors continue with construction of the box culvert.

Laborers Local Union 393 members participated in the spring beautification project at the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial in Marseilles, cleaning out old mulch and installing new mulch, trimming trees and replacing old flowers.

The next Starved Rock Civil War Round Table is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, in Room 420 at Ottawa High School, 211 Main St.

The La Salle County Board wants to regulate wind and solar farms and has asked Springfield to tear up an existing law that limits its authority to do so.