This newscast aired at 10:04am on 5-22-2025 on WGLT.
From the WTLT newsroom, I'm John Norton. The Olympia School District wants the McLean County Clerk's office to immediately send out corrected property tax bills. The bills the county recently mailed to property owners miscalculated because it did not include the referendum that Olympia voters approved last year. Superintendent Laura O'Donnell said.
She does not want the county to wait until next year to recoup the money. This was
revenue that we were counting on, and we don't think it's fair to our taxpayers to see a rate increase the following year when they voted for the $5.50 rate.
O'Donnell says the district would be short $1.5 million without the tax revenue.
Several Unit 5 teachers asked the district to create a phone-free school day during last night's board meeting. Raymi Gerrard is an English teacher at Normal West High School. She says teachers can't police phones and maintain a productive classroom at the same time.
Writing upwards of 5 referrals a day is simply not sustainable for teachers. Please do the math. We are not exaggerating. This is truly our reality.
Unit 5 is still accepting feedback on its cell phone policy.
The town of Normal has been working with Home Sweet Home Ministries on how best to break up and disperse a homeless encampment. Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District, or Binward executive director Tim Irvin says sewer construction in the auto zone encampment area needs to start this summer. We are looking at basic.
eliminating that overflow, so we're going to be installing some larger sewer infrastructure capable of handling additional sewage and our interceptors. The enchantment disbursement is scheduled for June 1st, and Home Sweet Home will continue to provide services to the dispersed residents.
And police say an uptick in what they call hybrid gangs is contributing to a spike in juvenile gun violence in Bloomington and normal. Normal police officer Brad Park is a department spokesperson. You know what we see with these with these younger, um, hybrid gangs is they're not quite as.
Organized, but they still are causing a lot of issues. Both police departments run summer youth academies to fuel positive interactions with public safety officers. The chance of rain through the day today, otherwise cloudy and a high near 60 degrees. I'm John Norton, WGLT News.