Afternoon News Update: Friday August 1

•  A number of road closures near Rockford’s downtown area are taking place on Saturday due to the State Street Mile. For more details, keep checking our website for updates.
• A 15 year old Rockford boy is in recovery after a shooting this morning. It happened around 2 am near the 700 block of Cunningham Street. Officers responded to find the teen with a gunshot wound to his arm. Paramedics transported the boy to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect’s vehicle is described as a silver Pontiac Grand Prix with tinted windows. No arrests have been made.
• Police have released surveillance photos of a Janesville man suspected of stealing from a local liquor store. The theft took place this morning at Campbell’s Five points Liquor Store. Police state the suspect has a light skin tone and was wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt. Anyone with information is urged to call the Janesville Police Department.
• Rockford Police have identified the suspect in Thursday’s shooting that left one man dead as 32 year old Michael Medearis. . Officials say the  shooting took place just before 1pm yesterday in the 4800 block of Javelin Drive, near the intersection of East State Street and Alpine road. The victim, Ramone Bowen died at a local hospital.
• Gas prices are the lowest they have been in the beginning of August in four years. Today’s prices are 20 cents lower. These low prices come after the highest 4th of July gas prices in six years, according to Gas Buddy.com. Analysts predict pump prices could  slide this fall, due to the current energy boom in the U.S.
• The DeKalb County Sheriff has released the cause of death for 22 year old Steven Schultz. Schultz died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was pulled from the river near Route 72 and Annie Glidden Road on July 9. Friends state that Schultz had told them he was on his way to meet a man to buy a gun.
• An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a southern Wisconsin crash that killed two motorcyclists. Twenty-four-year-old Sambath Pal entered the plea yesterday. Authorities say Pal was driving an SUV near Janesville, Wisconsin, last April that crossed the center line on Highway 14 and struck two motorcycles, killing 24-year-old Mitchell Vance and 18-year-old Devin Julius.
• Governor Pat Quinn has announced the completion of a nearly $100 million high speed internet project. More than 1,000 new miles of high-speed fiber-optic broadband infrastructure was installed across 55 Illinois counties. The Governor says it  created around 700 jobs and is part of his Illinois Jobs Now construction program.
• A northern Illinois woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to delivering cocaine to a police informant near a church. The Boone County State's Attorney's Office says 27-year-old Crystal Cepeda was sentenced on Wednesday. Prosecutors say Cepeda delivered cocaine to a cooperating witness in February and March.
• Illinois' two U.S. senators are pressing federal officials to take action against the threat of Asian carp and other invasive species. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Senator Mark Kirk sent a letter Thursday to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. They say urgent action is needed to protect the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin.

Saturday's Road Closures: State Street Mile Race

East State Street will be closed from the corner of North Wyman Street east to Water Street at 3:00 p.m. for set up.  Additional closure of East State from Water Street east to the entrance of SwedishAmerican Hospital at East State and Summit will occur between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m.  Smaller streets that intersect State will also be closed during that time period.