Thousands of Illinois Valley residents reported power outages as of Thursday afternoon following severe thunderstorms on Wednesday night.

A late Wednesday afternoon storm damaged multiple power lines in Seneca, leaving 463 residents without electricity.

The Putnam County Public Library District will host several programs and events in July.

The Marquette baseball team hopes to stay hot when it faces St. Joseph-Ogden (38-2) in Friday’s IHSA Class 2A semifinals at 7 p.m. on Illinois Field in Champaign. The Crusaders, which are coming off back-to-back 1A state championships, enter the contest with a 37-3 record.

After a previous announcement in April that the target completion date was moved from the middle of May to the beginning of August, the latest announcement from the Board of Education is that the project is on track to be done by the stated Aug. 1 target date.

The Voluntary Action Center of Northern Illinois recently announced the appointment of Rick Burchell as the organization’s next executive director.

The City of La Salle started the La Salle Today Podcast, with two episodes already in the books.

The Streator Chamber of Commerce recently recognized Poco a Poco as its June Member of the Month as the annual music festival celebrates its 10th year in the community.

Annie from Shaw Local Radio interviewed Meredith Donahue of Puntnam County Community Theater for their production of Aladdin Jr. The production is this weekend

The Tri-County, Three Rivers East and Little Ten announced all-conference teams, plus more in the NewsTribune sports briefs.