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A blank COVID vaccination card located at a vaccination clinic in Bloomington.
More than 61,000 people in McLean County are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That s just over one-third of the population.
But do you know how many of our police officers, street crews and other public-facing employees are vaccinated?
Actually, no one does.
Local government leaders say when it comes to staff vaccinations, it s don t ask, don t tell.
Cathy Oloffson is director of Communications and Community Relations for the Town of Normal. She said town staff is generally forthcoming about getting their COVID vaccines, so coworkers can plan accordingly.
“Many coworkers have been very honest about it. ‘I am going to be out. I am getting the vaccine or I might be here, depending on how I respond to the vaccine,’” Oloffson said. “Many people have shared it voluntarily.”
BLOOMINGTON â An Illinois man accused Mars Inc. of placing a needle in his M&Mâs, causing a mouth injury. The FBI called in Mark Cheviron, a polygraph examiner from Decatur, to administer a lie detector test to find the truth.
âIt went all the way to federal court. I testified about that where he finally made admissions that he did it himself,â said Cheviron, a former security director at Archer Daniels Midland who also worked with the Macon County Sheriffâs Department.
Cheviron is retired, but still holds a license and issues some tests.
He s one of the few.
Sarah Nardi / WGLT
A jury in Minneapolis last week found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the death of George Floyd. As the verdict was read, people outside the courthouse and around the world seemed to sigh in collective relief.
Some measure of justice, it seemed, had been served.
Speaking to a crowd gathered Sunday in front of a mural of Floyd on Bloomington’s west side, Cana Brooks said that just as it had for others, the verdict brought her a sense of relief.
The Bloomington-Normal NAACP s Youth Council was one of the organizers of Sunday s event.
Ryan Denham / WGLT
Academics and advocates were not the only ones keenly watching the trial of Derek Chauvin. So were police.
Rick Bleichner is police chief for the Town of Normal. Bleichner says it was good to see justice done with the guilty verdict. Bleichner says he s also not surprised at other officers speaking out against Chauvin s behavior, something that is unusual in police shootings of civilians.
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