Afternoon News Update: July 30
- A $5000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the suspects from Tuesday's robbery at Janesville's Baymont Inn. The armed robbery took place midnight Tuesday in the 600 block of Midland Road. Police say three masked men approached the front desk clerk and pulled out their guns. Police have released surveillance video of the incident. Anyone with information should contact the Janesville Police Department or Janesville Area Crime stoppers.
- A construction trailer in Rockford went up in flames early this morning. It happened around at East High School. Fire crews arrived to see the trailer fully engulfed in flames. Construction crews working there tell our partners at Eyewitness News they believe the fire was arson. The trailer was estimated at $30,000.
- A Rockford man has been beaten in his home while making a 911 call, informing police of a break-in. It happened yesterday at 800 block of 10th Street. Officials say Robert Hawkins broke into the home using a pry tool. The resident quickly called police, but was attacked during the call. Hawkins faces charges of home invasion and aggravated battery.
- Police have taken a Stateline area suspect accused of a string of armed robberies into custody. Lonell Taylor is charged with armed robbery, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and resisting arrest among other charges. Police arrested him near the area of North Main and Rockton Avenue after observing "suspicious activity." Investigators eventually linked him to an armed robbery at the Subway Sandwich Shop on North Rockton.
- A passenger rail car manufacturing plant in Rochelle has officially opened its expanded facility. Governor Pat Quinn joined Nippon Sharyo Manufacturing to mark the occasion. The plant expansion has created nearly 90 jobs.
- The Illinois State Police announced a massive public safety initiative in Illinois as a part of the 15 state stretch of interstate 90/94 to reduce traffic fatalities and criminal activity prevention. Beginning on August 1, ISP Districts throughout Illinois will saturate areas of I-90/94 with officers targeting speeding, DUI, seatbelts, and distracted driving. Each district including district 16 in Pecatonica will participate and have strong law enforcement presence during the detail.
- The prosecution rests today in the federal trial of a Colorado woman accused of kidnapping her half-sister's newborn in Wisconsin and abandoning the baby in Iowa. One of the prosecution's last witnesses in Kristen Smith's trial Wednesday was FBI special agent Jodi Jewett. She said she was with the parents of the infant, Kayden Powell, in Wisconsin when a colleague texted a photo of the child who had been found behind a gas station in frigid temperatures in West Branch, Iowa.
- A Beloit man convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend should not have been granted a new trial based on his argument that a prescription medicine made him temporarily insane, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Wednesday. The court overturned a state appeals court ruling from last year that gave Donyil Anderson a new trial. He was sentenced to life in prison for the 2008 killing of Stacey Hosey. He also injured Hosey's boyfriend, Branden Beavers-Jackson.
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