Missing kayaker found dead
UPDATE (4 p.m.) The Peoria County coroner says 45-year-old Sarah Gray died of rapid hypothermia and drowned.
Gray, an experienced kayaker, according to Coroner Jamie Harwood, set off on the Illinois River at about 3 p.m. on Thursday to travel down to the Peoria RiverPlex.
The Peoria County Sheriff s Office said it responded to the missing person report at around 7:30 p.m. at the 9200 block of Cross Street.
A search was conducted Thursday, with the Peoria Fire Department entering the river. The OSF LifeFlight helicopter was also launched to assist, but the search was unsuccessful.
Jan 9, 2021
TRAVERSE CITY (AP) Michigan, Illinois and a federal agency have agreed on funding the next phase of an initiative to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes by strengthening defenses on a Chicago-area waterway, officials said Thursday.
The two states and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will share pre-construction engineering and design costs for the $858 million project at Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois. The structure on the Des Plaines River is a choke point between the Illinois River, which is infested with the invasive carp, and Lake Michigan.
A plan approved by the Corps in 2019 calls for installing a gantlet of technologies to deter approaching fish, including electric barriers and underwater speakers that would blast loud noises, plus an “air bubble curtain.” A specially designed “flushing lock” would wash away carp that might be floating on the water as vessels pass through.
The search for eagles on the Fox River
A large group of people scour the skyline for eagles at the Carpentersville dam Saturday. The program In Search of Eagles was held at three dams. Representatives from Friends of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, McHenry County Conservation District and McHenry County Audubon helped search for eagles and identify other birds using the river. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
Jeff Wade, a volunteer from the McHenry County Audubon Society, scours the skyline for eagles and other birds at the Carpentersville dam Saturday. Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
Updated 1/9/2021 1:11 PM
Everything was perfect, including the brisk sunny winter weather Saturday. But Jeff Wade, with binoculars in hand and a spotting scope close by, wasn t finding what he was looking for.