DECATUR â The holidays may be over, but that hasnât stopped Christmas shoppers.
With the holiday landing on a Friday, that left the rest of the weekend for shoppers to snatch up the bargains on holiday items for use next year, even before the Christmas tree was taken down.
Now living in Chicago, Miranda Archer, 26, returned to Decatur for a family holiday.
She and her grandma took a trip to a local department store on Sunday knowing they could find at least one holiday bargain.
âI was looking for tissue paper,â Archerâs grandma Linda Gross said.
âI didnât plan on buying anything,â Archer said.
DECATUR â Gasoline prices are climbing slightly just as some people are turning to road trips for the holidays.
In Decatur, the average cost of a gallon of regular gas as of Tuesday was $2.54, compared to $2.15 a month ago, according to AAA.Â
But the reason for increased price is not due to the season, said Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, a phone application that tracks real-time gas prices from âmillions of volunteer price spottersâ and other gas stations across the country.
âThey have been on the rise recently as it relates to the rise in the price of oil, which is going up seemingly on optimism that the coronavirus vaccines that have been released will eventually inspire more confidence in getting out and spur gasoline demand,â De Haan said.
SPRINGFIELD â Four weeks after the Thanksgiving Day weekend, the so-called âsurge upon a surgeâ in COVID-19 cases has not materialized and, in fact, infection rates and hospitalizations from the disease have continued to decline.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Monday that 4,699 new confirmed and probable cases of the disease had been recorded over the previous 24 hours out of 86,454 tests performed. That brought the seven-day rolling average case positivity rate down to 7.5%, the lowest it has been since Oct. 31 and the second consecutive day that number has been below 8%.
As of Sunday night, 4,460 people in Illinois were being hospitalized with the disease, including 981 patients in intensive care units, with 546 of those patients on ventilators.
DECATUR â Voters in Decatur could soon be faced with a ballot question asking them if they would be willing to pay more in taxes to support the cityâs police and fire departments.
A discussion item on Monday eveningâs Decatur City Council agenda looks at the idea of floating a referendum on the April ballot to gauge public interest in a special tax to support more âpublic safety staffingâ along with rising cop and firefighter pension costs.
But while itâs always polite to ask, City Manager Scot Wrighton tells council members in a briefing note the law states they donât have to get citizen permission before going ahead with the new tax.
Simot ja Siskot ry:n kampanja tuotti Turussa yli 8 600 joulukorttia ikäihmisille ts.fi - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ts.fi Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.