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Created: May 13, 2021 07:17 AM
(ABC 6 NEWS) - Prom season is in full swing for high schoolers in our area, and planning these large events has been an especially difficult task this year because of changing guidelines and restrictions.
On Saturday, Austin High School juniors and seniors will have a grand march right in front of Austin High. The march is usually done inside but is outside this year to allow for social distancing and so parents and families can still watch from afar.
Students are split into four different groups each hour before post-prom. But a big change this year, there will not be a dance for Austin students. Instead, the night will end with a seniors-only post-prom at Wescott Filed where seniors can watch an outdoor movie and enjoy food from local food trucks.
Workers in demand; Customers returning to restaurants in Galesburg, but workers aren t
Jane Carlson
From retail to manufacturing, employers are looking for workers and coming up short.
The restaurant industry is among the hardest hit, with some owners shortening hours of service or taking on extra work to keep things running.
“Right now, I do everything,” said Judy Wang, owner of Judy’s Family Cafe.
Wang said she’s in need of a waitress, dishwasher and bus person, and hasn’t been able to fill the positions through word of mouth or posting on social media.
With COVID-19 restrictions lessening and more customers coming in as they are fully vaccinated, it’s hard for the existing staff to keep up.
Jane Carlson
For the Review Atlas
MONMOUTH After two decades of experience in Monmouth’s water department, and 19 as the city’s water superintendent, Roger Blackman will retire at the end of this month.
“It’s nice to know you have delivered, clean, safe, potable drinking water and to know that people can drink it,” Blackman said. “It’s perfectly safe.”
Blackman is retiring after 34 years of working for the city of Monmouth. His first career was as a farmer, operating a small farm at a time when small farmers were struggling.
In 1987, he pivoted to a career in public works, signing on at the Monmouth street department and working there for 11 years.
MONMOUTH The cause of a fire Thursday evening at Monmouth’s Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant remains under investigation.
Firefighters responded about 6:30 p.m. Thursday to reports of an exterior wall producing smoke at the North 6th Street plant, and were on scene until around 11 p.m.
Monmouth fire chief Casey Rexroat said the fire was on the production side of the plant and there was not a lot of damage to the building.
Rexroat said firefighters were able to knock down the fire outside the building fairly quickly, then discovered the flames had spread inside.
With machinery in the way, Rexroat said it was difficult to reach areas and completely extinguish the fire.