New location, new name, same dance company.

That is what people can expect from Just Dance Home of Water Street Dance Co.

Owner and instructor Gina Kennedy recently decided to move the studio, which has been known as Water Street Dance Co., from its location on the corner of Water and Harrison streets on the Peoria Riverfront to Washington’s Cherry Tree Shopping Center.

Buttery topping for popcorn. Dark chocolate or cinnamon pear flavored toppings for desserts.
Sounds fattening, but it isn’t.

These are just some of the all-natural olive oils and balsamic vinegars offered at Olio & Vino in Peoria Heights.

Stephanie Bernardi-Brott opened the new business Aug. 3.

About a year after a first meeting with Washington Mayor Gary Manier, Dave Paskert finally announced Monday night at the city council meeting, his plans to purchase and revitalize the Sunnyland Plaza.
Paskert, of Chase Real Estate Group, has managed the plaza for the out-of-state owner for four years and recently formed the new company P-Six Sunnyland in order to purchase the 12-and-a-half-acre plaza.

Paskert’s plans to revitalize the plaza and attract new businesses hinge on the reconfiguration of the 39,000 square feet left empty after Sullivan’s Food went out of business in 2004.

Goodwill Industries is known for its assistance to those in need. The company that has helped individuals find work since 1902 has recently taken on a new role to help match the unemployed or underemployed with employers in need of workers.

Goodwill has become a subcontractor for the “Put Illinois to Work” program, a statewide initiative of Gov. Pat Quinn to create jobs and provide employment experience to those hardest hit by the recession.

Realtors are getting involved to help home buyers and sellers find more energy-efficient resources as energy costs and concern for the environment rise. The National Association of Realtors created the Green Resource Council in the spring of 2008 to train realtors on ways to go green and to pass the knowledge on to home buyers and sellers.

Glenn Essig, of WRC Inc. Realtors, earned the Green Designation from the National Association of Realtors Feb. 26.

After 10 long months, the owners of Kep’s Place in Washington  say they are looking forward to breaking ground and rebuilding the popular bar and restaurant in a bigger and better way, and giving it a new name.

“We knew from the beginning that we wanted to rebuild,” said Brook Heider, co-owner and manager. “You should see something going up within the next two weeks.”

The establishment was nearly fully destroyed June 28 by a fire which caused about $600,000 worth of damage. It was ruled a spontaneous combustion fire started by greasy rags in the kitchen area.

Area home builders heard about the “unintended consequences” of building regulations March 23 in East Peoria.

Senior economist Elliot Eisenberg presented a program at the Home Builders Association of Greater Peoria.

TimesNewspapers, which publishes the Washington Times-Reporter, has announced the start-up of a brand new publication, called the Woodford Times.

Beginning May 5, TimesNewspapers will begin delivering the Woodford Times to almost 5,000 households in Germantown Hills, Metamora and Eureka.

Sunnyland resident Cindy Miller said she has never known her hometown without the “staple of existence” that is Harold’s Hamburgers.

Harold’s doors closed permanently Saturday after 40 years in Sunnyland.
“Harold’s holds a lot of memories for me,” Miller said. “It’s weird to think that my youngest, who is 3, won’t have a memory of Harold’s.”

In an effort to meet the economic challenges of the past year and increase tourism in the area, the city of Washington plans to renew its membership with the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in April.

“It’s good that Peoria looks at Washington as a regional player,” said Washington Mayor Gary Manier.

Manier said the agreement is a “year-to-year thing.”

Google fever has hit metros across the nation as they vie for the chance to be home to the Internet heavy-hitter’s newest venture, Google Fiber Optics, an experiment that proposes to make Internet access better and faster. With a campaign to bring ultra high-speed Internet connectivity to Peoria, what does that mean for surrounding towns such as Washington?

“I think it’s obviously a benefit to the entire Central Illinois area if we are successful in this initiative,” said Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

RadioShack is looking to expand, and Washington is one of the top five locations in the state of Illinois where the corporation is hoping to open a store.

“Due to the growth, the population and the good size of the city, it would be a good place for us to open a store,” said Bill Bartels of RadioShack Corp. “Washington is one of the top five, maybe better than that, locations where we do not have a store.”

Washington’s only tattoo and body piercing studio will be allowed to continue its operations, despite a newly passed ordinance which has tighter regulations on home-occupied businesses.

The amended code was proposed  Feb. 15, after a Sept. 21 city council meeting during which angry neighbors voiced their concerns about having such a business operating on a residential street.

Marla Boley said her husband, Frank, always wanted to own three things in his lifetime: a bar, a church and a fire truck.

He came closer to achieving his goal when he and Marla bought the former First United Methodist Church building at 104 S. Elm St., just off the square, in 2003.

Since then, they have been brainstorming about what to do with the 8,000 square feet of available space.

When it comes to the fate of Route 8 and the dilapidated Sunnyland Plaza, the people have spoken, and city officials are listening.

In a collaborative effort between the cities of Washington and East Peoria and the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, a survey was conducted to see what people in the community would and would not like to see in Sunnyland and their ideas for improvements.

City council members heard the first reading of a proposed ordinance to amend home occupations regulations at the Feb. 15 meeting.

Planning and development director Jon Oliphant said he compared Washington’s regulations with other Tri-County cities and suggested four primary changes to bring the city in line with surrounding cities’ ordinances.

For the first time, Washington residents have a chance to learn from some of the Peoria area’s best and brightest at the Washington Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Academy.

The academy is modeled off the Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce’s R. David Tebben Community Leadership Academy, which Candy Liggin, office manager at the Washington Chamber of Commerce, attended last year.

Charlotte King, owner of Tidbit’s Mercantile on the square, said moving her shop to Washington felt like she was coming home.

“I was born in Washington but moved to Peoria when I was 5,” she said.
Now a Germantown Hills resident, King celebrates one year of being open on the square today.

Joining together to make their voices heard, area chambers of commerce have planned a trip to the state capital next month.

The chambers in Chillicothe, East Peoria, Morton, Pekin, Peoria and Washington have created a coalition called the Central Illinois Regional Chambers Legislative Effort.