Oktoberfest Brings A Taste Of Germany

Champaign police said they were called to the 300 block of Kenwood Road at 11:50 a.m. Sunday. CHAMPAIGN — Police are investigating a shots fired incident on Champaign's west side. Champaign police said they were called to the 300 block of Kenwood Road at 11:50 a.m. Sunday. Crime scene investigators were at the scene Sunday afternoon taking photos of the crime scene.

Last year was a good year for the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area’s (MSA) economy. But a drill-down on the three-county metro area’s principal city shows some red flags of change from 2016 and patterns that don’t parallel with metro area booming economy data. For example: while the region’s population was up, it declined in the city.

I am prompted to write today about creativity, art, culture, imagination, innovation and resources. Some of you are aware that Tom Borrup was in Kingsport to share with many of us his expertise of “How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Art and Culture.” For you to learn more about Borrup’s abilities, I quote from a section of his book, “The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook,” Published by Fieldstone Alliance, Copyright 2005: “Borrup has been a leader and innovator in nonprofit and community development work for over 25 years.

WASHINGTON — House Democrats are expected to re-open the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election if they win the majority in November. But they would have to be selective in what they investigate. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, has said his party would have to “ruthlessly prioritize the most important matters first.” The Republican-led Intelligence Committee was the only House panel to investigate Russian meddling, and its investigation is now closed.

ASTORIA, Ore. — With construction underway in Seaside to build schools outside the tsunami inundation zone and a bond on the ballot in Warrenton in November to do the same, preparing schools for a disaster is in the limelight. But as schools look for opportunities to relocate to higher ground to be safer in an earthquake and tsunami, administrators will face a new task: how to prepare to be a community’s default shelter when disaster strikes. Schools are at the center of the state’s emergency planning strategy.

BRUSH PRAIRIE — The lines were long and parking lots packed at Bi-Zi Farms in Brush Prairie over the weekend, as thousands coursed through the family farm to grab pumpkins for carving before real fall weather sets in. The event only seems to get bigger, proprietor Bill Zimmerman said Sunday afternoon. The farm holds its annual harvest festival the last weekend of September and each weekend in October, he said, and even with construction along Northeast 119th Street in front of the farm, he expected to see about 40,000 guests this year. “We’ve been really shocked.