Illinois
Illinois farm family featured in regional Super Bowl commercial
A farming family from the Peoria area will be featured in a commercial to air during Super Bowl 58, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sunday on WMBD-TV.
The Leman family of Eureka, Illinois, is set to appear in the regional commercial along with at least five other farming families throughout the state. Produced by Illinois Farm Families, the 30-second spot — part of the IFF’s “We are the 96%” campaign — is designed to highlight that nearly all of the state’s farms are family-owned.
“I hope people can see that the same families who have been responsible for growing their food in the past are still responsible for growing it today,” Chad Leman told agweb.com. “But, we’ve had to grow a little in the meantime so the next generation has room to move in.”
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Who is the Leman family?
Vernon Leman began farming the main Woodford County farmstead in 1949, according to IFF. The farm has expanded with each new generation, starting with crops and then moving on to pigs in the 1970s and then onto selling seed to fellow farmers in the 1990s. Three generations of Lemans work the farm now, including Chad and Staci Leman’s daughter, Tessa Leman, a former two-time Journal Star small-school girls basketball player of the year and recent graduate of Illinois State University.
“The next gens don’t have to come back to the farm, but the values and work ethic they learned growing up on the farm will benefit them in whatever path they pursue,” Chad Leman told agweb.com. “No matter what our daughters pursue in life, we hope they carry with them a fondness of the time they spent on our family farm.”
The Lemans will appear in the commercial alongside four other Illinois farming families: the Boucher family of Livingston County; the DeSutter family of Knox County; Bunting family of Livingston County; and the Marr family of Morgan County.
How can you see the Illinois farmers commercial?
The commercial will air in television markets in Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign, Quad Cities, Quincy, Rockford, Springfield, St. Louis and southern Illinois markets, including the Evansville, Indiana, and Cape Girardeau, Missouri, markets. Following the on-air debut, the full commercial can be viewed on Illinois Farm Families’ Facebook page and Wearethe96.org.
The IL Corn Marketing Board helped spearhead the commercial for the second year because “consumer education is important to IL Corn,” said Lindsay Mitchell, director of communications and marketing for IL Corn and IFF Coalition member.
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“Closing out the ‘We are the 96%’ campaign with a second Super Bowl ad felt like the exact right way to conclude such a fantastic campaign,” she said.
Tammie Sloup of FarmWeek contributed to this story. Information in it was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.
Illinois
Powerful tornadoes leave behind devastation in Illinois
Illinois
Storms bring damaging winds and heavy rains to central Illinois
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Multiple rounds of severe storms impacted central Illinois on Wednesday bringing damaging wind gusts and very heavy rain. Our area was sparred from the worst of the tornadoes, but areas south of I-72 were not so fortunate with damage to homes and injuries reported.
An outflow boundary from our morning storms struggled to get any further north than highway 136, which was about 30 miles south of what was anticipated early this morning. This kept the risk of strong tornadoes just south of our local region, though we still had plenty of rain and instances of large hail and gusty winds roll through central Illinois.
The worst of the wind came with the storms in the morning. As the severe storms moved through the area they produced measured gust of 60-70 mph with localized gusts estimated to be around 80 mph. The winds resulted in tree, powerline, and structural damage from Knox through McLean County.
Storm Reports
Galesburg – Tree and power line damage
Williamsfield – Roof partially torn off building
Princeville – Tree damage
Dunlap – 60 mph wind gust
Bellevue – 60 mph wind gust
Germantown Hills – Trees down
Roanoke – 60 mph wind gust
El Paso – Power poles snapped
El Paso – Multiple semis and campers rolled on I-39
Gidley – 70 mph wind gust
Chenoa – Semi rolled on I-55
Dunlap – 1.0″ size hail
Metamora – 1.0″ size hail
Armington – 1.0″ size hail
Rain reports
West Peoria – 4.37″
Lexington – 4.00″
West Peoria – 3.98″
Washington – 3.97″
East Peoria – 3.47″
Dunlap – 3.40″
Goodfield – 2.47″
Towanda – 2.43″
Peoria (PIA) – 2.24″
Lewistown – 2.20″
Galesburg – 1.84″
Chillicothe – 1.52″
Pontiac – 1.27″
Illinois
Thousands of Illinois residents report power outages amid storms
Historic tree dating back to Abraham Lincoln damaged in Springfield
It may be the last living tree standing when Abraham Lincoln and his family lived in the Springfield neighborhood from 1844 to 1861.
More than 30,000 Illinois residents reported power outages Wednesday morning amid severe storms and destructive winds.
The National Weather Service forecast two rounds of severe weather throughout the day, issuing a tornado watch early Wednesday morning across central Illinois.
Where were power outages reported in Illinois?
More than 35,000 of the more than 5.8 million customers tracked on PowerOutage.com reported outages Wednesday, as of noon.
The majority of these outages were concentrated in west-central Illinois in Warren, Henderson and Woodford counties.
More than 93% of the customers tracked in Henderson County and nearly 60% of those in Warren County were impacted by outages.
Less widespread outages were also reported in DeKalb, Mercer, Knox, Menard, Jefferson and Gallatin counties.
Electric service company Amaren was by far the most impacted utility provider, followed Commonwealth Edison Company and Corn Belt Energy Corporation.
Illinois power outage map
Report power outages in Illinois
Illinois residents can report power outages in their area at PowerOutage.com.
Illinois power outage tracker
To track where power outages have been reported and where they have been restored, follow the USA Today power outage tracker.
Chicago weather radar
Central Illinois weather radar
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