Illinois
Romeoville, Illinois struggles with surplus of road salt
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. (CBS) — Transportation crews were spread out around the Chicago area Wednesday evening, dropping salt to prevent slick areas ahead of the coming freezing rain and ice.
But in southwest suburban Romeoville, there was a rather unusual problem — too much salt to store.
Crews loaded up and out the gates and hit the road to combat the coming freezing rain by about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Before that, grounds foreman Scott Norman spent the afternoon filling up the Romeoville fleet with salt.
But while they’ll need plenty of salt for that purpose, they have a salt surplus because they are buying less each year — and the mild winters leave them with larger stockpiles.
Romeoville Public Works Director Chris Drey said the village has a huge stockpile — 2,000 tons of salt in one of their two domes.
“We have normally been able to dial our salt in pretty well from year to year,” said Drey. “This is just a perfect storm of everything.”
Drey said Romeoville has typically bought 4,000 to 5,000 tons of salt each year. But the past two winters, they have dialed back to 2,000 or less.
The new salt trucks in Romeoville have the technology to turn on and off the spreaders automatically. The village also uses more pre-treatment brine — which saves on salt along with the new spreaders.
But the mild winters are what have the biggest effect.
“Just everything it seems to have either gone north or south of us,” Drey said.
Drey said Romeoville is still under contract to pick up another 1,500 tons of salt from the State of Illinois, but the village currently does not have the space to store it. The village is thus exploring the idea of third-party storage.
“There is a monthly fee for that, so it was not to our advantage to do that,” Drey said.
Drey said the third-party storage was costly.
“I don’t remember the exact dollar amount, but it was definitely not worth our effort to do that at the time,” he said.
Instead, the Village of Romeoville will clear out space near the wastewater slurry, and wait as long as possible to pick up the rest of this season’s salt.
Drey said in the past municipalities would borrow or sell salt, but he thinks a lot of their neighbors are in the same situation.
Their crews were expected to be on the road dropping salt until about midnight.
People ran out of their homes into the cold overnight Tuesday into Wednesday after a fire broke out in an apartment building in the western Chicago suburb of Woodridge.
The fire broke out in a multi-family building at 7900 Janes Ave., near Forest Drive.
Smoke was seen billowing as firefighters stood on the roof.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries fighting the blaze, according to the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District.
Fire officials said several units have major damage, and the families who reside in them have been displaced.
The American Red Cross was assisting the displaced residents Wednesday morning.
STICKNEY, Ill. (WLS) — The future of racing at Hawthorne Race Course in south suburban Stickney is in jeopardy.
The Illinois Racing Board suspended its harnesses racing license. In a letter sent Monday to Hawthorne’s president and general manager, the state agency said the track failed to prove its financial integrity.
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Jeff Davis, president of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association, says the past two months have been rough.
“We don’t really know details, but what we do know is people have not been paid since before Christmas,” Davis said.
Davis says checks started bouncing, which led to races being canceled over the past few weekends.
SEE ALSO | Hawthorne Race Course not offering window betting for Kentucky Derby amid Churchill Downs dispute
“Six weeks ago, they couldn’t cash a $400 check to a trainer,” Davis said.
The remaining three races left this season are unlikely unless Hawthorne owners can prove financial stability. Hawthorne officials have not returned messages seeking comment on the issue. But it is just one of many issues facing the track. There has been an effort for nearly six years to get an approved casino up and running, but the owners cannot find a partner.
“Horse racing in every state now only survives because it has additional forms of revenue from casinos, slot machines,” said Paulick Report Publisher Ray Paulick.
Hawthorne is the only racetrack in the Chicago area and has the right to veto another one built within 35 miles. But those in the industry hope a bill before the state legislature will repeal that.
“The harness horsemen are asking the state legislature to take away that exclusivity, because Hawthorne isn’t in a position to build another track if they can’t keep the one they have going,” Paulick said.
READ MORE | Hawthorne Race Course, Illinois’ oldest horse racing track poised to be first with casino
In the meantime, Davis says he hopes the season can be salvaged.
“It really is sad. It’s a 100-year-old business. They’ve been trying, but I don’t know if they have the ability to actually get done what they’ve been awarded to do,” Davis said.
The Illinois Racing Board will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday, and Hawthorne’s owner is scheduled to give an update on the track.
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Police pursued suspects wanted in an armed 7-Eleven robbery in Cicero, Illinois, on Tuesday morning.
According to police, officers responded to a call for an armed robbery at 35th Street and Austin Boulevard around 3:30 a.m.
Staff told police several armed and masked individuals came into the store, possibly from two vehicles, and fled with cash.
Police identified and pursued one of the vehicles onto 290, but the chase was terminated on 290.
No injuries were reported.
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