Mt. Vernon Register-News

State News

July 15, 2009

Sears Tower name change to be official soon

CHICAGO (AP) — Known as the Sears Tower since it opened in 1973, the tallest building in the United States is set to change its name to Willis Tower.

The London-based insurance brokerage Willis Group Holdings will make the name change official Thursday with a ceremony at the downtown Chicago skyscraper. Willis is leasing 140,000 square feet and moving 500 employees to the building.

The new name isn’t the only recent change at the tower. Last month, owners announced a $350 million greening effort, along with plans for a 50-story luxury hotel. For tourists, glass-bottomed enclosed balconies on the 103rd floor were opened earlier this month.

Sears Roebuck and Co. was the original tenant before leaving in 1992. A real estate investment group now owns the 1,450-foot, 110-story skyscraper.

Text Only
State News
  • Flight attendant helps land plane in Chicago

    Officials say a flight attendant who has a pilot’s license helped land a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when a co-pilot became ill.

    June 15, 2010

  • Blagojevich trial resumes

    Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial is back under way with his former chief of staff, Alonzo Monk, still on the stand.

    June 15, 2010

  • Quinn to deliver State of the State address SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn faces a tough job in delivering his first State of the State address.

    January 13, 2010

  • Dozens back in prison after state parole crackdown By JOHN O’CONNOR

    AP Political Writer

    SPRINGFIELD (AP) — More than 100 parolees released from prison early are back behind bars because of an extraordinary crackdown by a Quinn administration stung by denunciations of a secret program that freed 1,700 inmates weeks ahead of time.

    January 13, 2010

  • Three new Illinois swine flu deaths SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Illinois health officials are reporting three new deaths and 67 new hospitalizations linked to the swine flu virus.

    January 8, 2010

  • Icy hazards persist through U.S., deep into South By KATE BRUMBACK

    Associated Press Writers

    ATLANTA (AP) — Snow and blustery winds blew into the already-frigid East on Friday and drivers as far south as Georgia were urged to stay off icy roads.

    January 8, 2010

  • Racial disparities seen in state swine flu deaths CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois officials say swine flu hospitalization and death rates for blacks and Hispanics are higher than the rates for whites.

    December 4, 2009

  • Winter’s here, yet Illinois corn harvest drags on CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Ken Beck isn’t much of a golf fan, but the 48-year-old corn farmer was a little relieved to have Tiger Woods’ troubles to discuss.

    December 4, 2009

  • 5 staffers at Granite City school district in trouble GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) — There's plenty of misbehavior at schools in the small southern Illinois community of Granite City, but it's the staff — not the students — who keep getting into trouble.

    December 3, 2009

  • Eastern Illinois soldier dies in Afghanistan GEORGETOWN, Ill. (AP) — Friends and relatives of U.S. Army Sgt. Kenneth Nichols say the eastern Illinois soldier died Tuesday in Afghanistan. He was promoted just a day earlier.

    December 3, 2009