Afternoon news update: June 23, 2015

Northern Illinois is again recovering after yet another rash of tornadoes – the second in less than three months. Monday, reports of five tornadoes touched down in Lee and Grundy Counties. Governor Bruce Rauner has since declared Lee and Grundy counties to be a disaster area. A survey team from the national weather service found an approximately quarter mile wide path of tornado damage of at least EF-2 intensity, but has just begun looking at the worst damage in Woodhaven Lakes campground in Lee County south of Sublette.
Emergency officials in Coal City say they believe everyone is accounted for after that town was slammed by what appears to have been a tornado. Dozens of homes and other buildings are damaged and a few people have minor injuries. Governor Bruce Rauner says it's a "miracle" no one was killed in the Grundy County town.
Nine juveniles have been arrested after breaking into Flinn Middle School early Sunday morning, causing significant damage to school property. The break-in occurred shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday Police say the vandals damaged and defaced computers, books and security cameras. Charges in the nine juvenile arrests have not been released.
40-year old Blayne F. Higgins, of Rockford, has been arrested for Monday night's shooting at a Rockford bar. He is charged with Aggravated Battery with a Firearm and is being held in the Winnebago County Jail. The victim is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. The shooting was the result of a fight inside the bar that spread to the parking lot. The victim was shot in the stomach.
You can now make online reservations to fly to Fort Collins, Colorado, and Newark, New Jersey out of Chicago Rockford International Airport on Elite Air Ways. Flights begin August 27^th and are available on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays. Just log on to elite air ways.com to book your flight.
Illinois lawmakers are looking at the end of the state’s fiscal year right in the eye, but yet no budget has been approved. Governor Rauner has threatened deep cuts to many state agencies and programs. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has been through government shutdowns, and he’s warning both state lawmakers and the governor to avoid that possibility as the budget battle continues. Durbin isn’t placing the blaming on either Gov. Bruce Rauner or the Democratic legislative leaders for the lack of a budget with a week to go in the current fiscal year. Having served in Congress through 3 major federal shutdowns, Durbin warns allowing something similar to happen on the state level would be “a disaster.” “I hope people who are involved in negotiation can rise above their differences, and make sure that our government continues, at federal and state levels, to provide essential services,” Durbin said. Durbin says he doesn’t have federal solution to helping Illinois if no budget is in place. While lawmakers are supposed to have a budget signed into law by July 1, government operations may be able to continue for a short while before two major obstacles: one on July 15, which is when state workers are scheduled to be paid, and on August 10, when schools should be receiving their first major state aid payment.

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