The Henry County Boad met on Thursday night and Henry County Board Chair Kippy Breeden was our guest on People to People on Friday with a full wrap up of the meeting. This included a visit from Henry County Director of Economic Development Jim Kelly who shared the good news that the COVID-19 Relief Fund Loans have been completely doled out to local businesses. This means that many local businesses will have extra capital needed to stay in business, pay employees and enrich our local economy for years to come.

Sinnissippi Centers 1 Year into COVID by Regional Media

The Henry and Stark County Health Department are continuing to track positive tests and keeping a close eye on the numbers in our area. Yesterday, Dr Anthony Fauci warned of a potential 4th wave of COVID-19 infections that could already be underway so it's important to stay vigilant. The Health Department on Thursday that there are now a total of 4,403 confirmed positive probable cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. That is up 6 cases from numbers released on Wednesday afternoon. In Stark County, there was one new case of COVID-19 on Thursday and that brings the pandemic total in Stark County to 549 confirmed positive probable cases of COVID-19. Today, the Henry and Stark County Health Department are hoping to vaccinate as many as 1000 Henry and Stark County residents with a drive thru first dose clinic this afternoon at Black Hawk College.

Has your business taken full advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program? There is still time. Mark Riewerts and Nichelle Morey from the State Bank of Toulon joined WKEI on Tuned In Thursday morning to talk about helping business owners navigate the Paycheck Protection Program and the newly available funds from the Federal Government via the most recent stimulus package. Nichelle also shared several charty efforts that the State Bank of Toulon is working on at this time.

Actor Leonardo Nam is known for his roles in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Westworld. Now, he has a new horror anthology movie opening on Digital On-Demand Services on March 19th called Phobias. The film is a creepy story about a doctor experimenting patients in an attempt to weaponize the fear that drives their various Phobias. The film tells 5 stories with several different directors all with the same theme of fear and specific kinds of strange phobias. Regional Media's Sean Kernan caught up with Star Leonardo Nam for this chat about Phobias.

JC Heerdt is warning everyone to be extra careful with their security setting on social media apps like Facebook to avoid falling victim to scammers.

Illinois Valley Cellular’s Marketing Director and Tech Specialist is celebrating ten years with the company. Appearing on Wake Up Princeton! on WZOE, JC says scammers are looking to take advantage of you and your friends online. IV Cellular has helpful information available at their website. JC explains everything from hacking to cloning, phishing scams and data breaches. The articles and tips are under the News tab.

Illinois Valley Cellular’s current promotion offers new customers up to $400 credit for switching over to IV Cellular. You can currently also get $250 off Limitless Plus rate plans. More details on the current specials are available at ivcdifference.com.

JC says IV Cellular has also been busy giving back to the community, donating to Club Ladd as part of Habitat for Humanity. They’ll also be working with the Bureau County Fair and Marshall-Putnam Fair in addition to becoming the official wireless provider to the new area baseball team the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp.

More information on Illinois Valley Cellular is available at the Facebook page or by visiting Ivcellular.com.

News out of the Kewanee Budget Meeting this week found the City of Kewanee, due mostly to the Cares Act, has a budget surplus. That comes with some caveats as the Cares Act may dictate how that money can be spent. That said, there was other good news as COVID-19 did encourage more people to shop locally during the pandemic leading to solid retail sales and sales tax numbers. This will allow for the City of Kewanee to make a few needed upgrades as Kewanee City Councilman Steve Faber explained on Wednesday's edition of Tuned In.

Today on Kewanee Back When, Dave Clark and Sean Kernan look at the history of history in Kewanee. Few cities the size of Kewanee have inspired so many people to chronicle and keep alive the history of their city whether it is the wonderful organizers of Kewanee's murals, the history of our Kewanee Historical Society and the team that has kept that going all of these years. Kewanee inspires people to want to know more about it and on this edition of Kewanee Back When, we honor those who keep history alive.

Rock River Hospice and Home by Regional Media

The Henry and Stark County Health Department are encouraging those in the 1B and 1B Plus category to get vaccinated. More clinics and more shots are coming and the sooner this group is finished, the soon clinics for everyone can begin and the goal of getting more people vaccinated can further our return to normal. But that can't happen until these clinics are filled up. RaeAnn Tucker joined WKEI on Tuesday to talk about getting the 1B and 1B Plus Clinics filled and vaccinated and about what comes next after you've been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, the numbers are still being released everyday. On Tuesday, the Henry and Stark County Health Department announced 8 new confirmed positive or probable cases of COVID-19 while Stark County added no new cases. Today, the Health Department will release the latest Recovery Rate Data which includes the number of active, ongoing cases of COVID-19 in bot counties.