(WAND) — Severe weather swept through central Illinois to begin the week on Monday.
Through all the heavy rain, hail and damaging winds left behind came some lovely photos of the clouds and rainbows after the storms moved on through. WAND News has compiled an album of all the photos from the storms and their aftermath.
Check out our album below and submit your own photos by clicking the camera icon or visiting wandtv.com/sendit.
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A fire at the vacant old Balmoral Park racetrack in Crete, Illinois, sent smoke billowing over several south Chicago suburbs Sunday morning.
Around 6:30 a.m., flames raced through the structures on the old racetrack grounds. Fire departments from several suburbs, as well as Northwest Indiana, were called in to help.
Balmoral Park dates back to 1926, when it opened as Lincoln Fields. The racetrack hosted both thoroughbred and harness races over the years.
A fire also damaged the grandstand at the racetrack during renovations in 1952, forcing the races for the 1952-53 season to move to Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney. Balmoral in turn picked up some races in 1986 after a fire destroyed the grandstand at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights the summer before.
Balmoral Park was hosting only harness racing when it closed at the end of 2015. The property was purchased the following year by Horse Shows In The Sun as a hunter-jumper horse show venue, but this only lasted a few years and the property has stood vacant ever since, reports noted.
Illinois football is building what looks to be a pretty solid class of 2027, and they are all in-state commits thus far.
The Illini have four players pledged for 2027. The national recruiting ranking is creeping up, too. Bret Bielema has us sitting at No. 57 in the country, which is a big improvement from the sub-No. 80 we were just weeks ago.
I love that Bielema is securing top talent, and they are all from the state of Illinois. Well, we could be adding another in-state talent in the near future.
On Saturday, according to 247Sports, Bennett Konkey is now going to be taking an official visit to Illinois. The visit will be on the weekend of June 12.
Konkey is a big-time recruit. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound wide receiver from Geneva High School in Illinois is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 737 player in the class of 2027. He is also the No. 87 wide receiver in the country and the No. 26 player coming out of Illinois.
As of right now, Illinois is his only official visit that is set up. He has scholarship offers from some big-time programs like Duke, Wisconsin, and Iowa State, but Illinois seems to be on the inside track to land this kid.
There is a lot to love about Konkey’s game, too. The biggest thing that pops off the screen is his speed. He is a track athlete, so he can burn down the field. Having a nice big body helps at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds. That combination of size and speed is dangerous.
What is great about Bielema’s recruiting right now is that he knows the important positions. Having a good quarterback and offensive line is crucial. That quarterback also needs weapons.
Collin Dixon is going to be an All-Big Ten wide receiver this season. You can go down the line and point out some crucial pieces out wide in 2026. Hudson Clement and Brayden Trimble will be big this season. New additions Alex Perry and Ty Robinson will also have a say in snaps.
In 2027, Perry, Robinson, and Clement will depart, among others. That should give someone like Konkey the runway to see snaps and maybe even some starts as a freshman.
I think this kid has a chance to be a really good player at the next level. He isn’t one of these little scrappy type of slot receivers. Konkey is someone who can play out wide or in the slot. His versatility is phenomenal, and my hope is we can land him and continue building.
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