🌱 Car Thefts Increasing + Juneteenth Celebration

It's Thursday, Peoria! Let's get to today's top stories, including:

• Police identified a missing South Dakota man found dead in Peoria.
• A ceremony is held at the Freedom and Remembrance Memorial.
• The city transit service is celebrating Juneteenth.

But first, today's weather: Mostly sunny. High: 92 Low: 58.

From our sponsor:

Today’s Peoria Patch newsletter is brought to you in part by T-Mobile. T-Mobile has invested billions to light up their best network ever, covering 99 percent of people in America with LTE, which helps to keep communities like ours informed and connected. We thank T-Mobile for their support and for making today’s Peoria Patch newsletter possible.

Here are the top 3 stories in Peoria today:

1. A missing South Dakota man was found dead Tuesday in a West Peoria storage unit, 25 News Now reports. Eric M. King had been reported missing over the weekend. The county sheriff’s office is investigating. (25NN)

2. Kia and Hyundai thefts continue to increase in Peoria County, 25 News Now reports. “I think we had over 10 stolen cars this weekend that were stolen with their windows broken out,” County Sheriff Chris Watkins told the news channel. Many of the suspects are juveniles. (25NN)

3. Peoria CityLink will celebrate Juneteenth next week with the unveiling of a specially designed “bus wrap.” The event is set for Monday at the Minority Business Development Center. (WMBD)

Interested in reaching our local readers with targeted messaging that drives traffic to your business? I have a limited number of sponsorships available to introduce our readers to local businesses they need to know. If that's you, then I invite you to learn more and secure your spot now.

Today in Peoria:

• Tot Time at the Peoria PlayHouse. (10 a.m.)
• Dunlap Public Library hosts a foam experiment. (10 a.m.)
• The Illinois SBDC at Bradley University hosts a webinar on "A Franchise as a Small Business." (Noon)

From my notebook:

• A ceremony was held this week at the Freedom and Remembrance Memorial "celebrating a creation of the site honoring those buried at the forgotten Moffatt Cemetery." (WCBU)
• Peoria Fire Department dog Molly helped determine the cause of a residential fire earlier this week on North Indiana Avenue. (WMBD)
• The Star Journal curated a full list of local students named Athlete of the Week this school year. (Paid source: Journal Star)

More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

Featured events:

• T-Mobile Tuesdays: Fresh Perks Every Week (June 20)
• Add your event

That's all for today!

— Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a Chicago-based newsletter writer and partner content curator. She spent five years on the entertainment beat for FF2 Media covering film festivals across the U.S. Her feature articles have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Women's Press Association and National Federation of Press Women. As editor-in-chief of the Lewis University newspaper, she and her staff earned honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and American Scholastic Press Associations. She began working for Patch in 2019.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Peoria Patch newsletter? Contact me at georgi.presecky@patch.com.