Sheriff Employee Terminated, Bradley Explicit Content Arrest, and Local Crashes - Thursday, July 30th, 2026

This episode of the WVLI News Update with Rob West provides comprehensive coverage of top local news, public safety reports, health guidance, and community events across Kankakee County and surrounding areas.

Key topics covered in this episode:

• Kankakee County Sheriff Personnel Action: An employee is no longer employed by Kankakee County following a social media video capturing insensitive remarks at a local bar. Sheriff Mike Downey issued a public statement addressing standards of professionalism and community partnerships.
• Bradley Police Department Arrest: A 25-year-old Bradley resident was arrested and booked into the Jerome Combs Detention Center for allegedly displaying sexually explicit content to a minor during a video call.
• Regional Traffic Accidents: Updates on a two-vehicle crash involving an SUV and a semi in Momence and a three-vehicle collision near Manteno on Route 50.
• Public Health Updates: Details on the nationwide cyclosporiasis outbreak and current West Nile virus monitoring in Kankakee County, including preventative advice from Health Department Administrator John Bevis.
• Law Enforcement Compliance Operation: Results from a joint enforcement detail conducted by Illinois State Police checking parole and sex offender registration compliance across the region.
• Community Events & Fairs: Highlights and event schedules for the Kankakee County Fair, the Jasper County Fair, and the Kankakee Municipal Band's "Golden Jubilee" concert featuring conductors Bob Evans and John Evans.
• Healthcare Education & Lottery Updates: Information on a CNA clinical training partnership between Iroquois Memorial Hospital and Kankakee Community College, along with updates on the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots.
• Regional Sports Roundup: Recaps for the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago Cubs, plus updates on the Chicago Sky and Chicago Bears training camp.

Listen to the full episode for all the details and complete reporting on each of these stories.

Listen to more great shows on the WVLI Podcast Network:

This One Time in Kankakee  (Narrative Storytelling)

Kankakee Valley Community Happenings  (Businesses & Non-Profits)

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_04 0:42

Kiki County Sheriff's Office employee is out of a job that following a negative video about them that surfaced on social media Tuesday, Jake Lamore has the details.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Rob, according to a press release, the video shows the off-duty Sheriff's Office employee engaged in a conversation at a local bar where they made insensitive and derogatory remarks inconsistent with the values, professionalism, and standards expected of the Sheriff's Office employees. As a result of the incident, the employee is no longer employed by the County of Kankakee. Also in the press release, Sheriff Mike Downey stated, We have worked diligently to build and maintain strong relationships founded on trust, respect, and collaboration with all members of our community, including the Kankakee County Hispanic Partnership and the local NAACP. We want to be absolutely clear that the behavior displayed in this video is unacceptable, does not reflect the values of this agency, and will not be tolerated under any circumstances. I'm Jake Clamore.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Bradley Police reporting the arrest of a 25-year-old man for allegedly showing sexually explicit content to a minor. According to reports, Nathan Lau of Bradley was arrested after showing a female juvenile sexually explicit content during a FaceTime call sometime on July 21st. Lau booked to the Jerome Combs Detention Center Tuesday for distributing harmful material to a minor. There were no grand prize winners in last night's Powerball drawing that makes tomorrow night's jackpot worth an estimated $707 million. Someone in Florida did hit the big jackpot when it comes to Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing. That drawing had been worth an estimated $800 million. Experts say the odds of winning one of these jackpots about one in $290 million. Traffic crash in Moments Wednesday afternoon sent one person to the hospital. Illinois State Police say it happened about 130 yesterday afternoon on 9,500 East Road at Route 17 in Moments. It involved an SUV and a semi. Driver of the SUV taken to a local hospital with injuries. No word on their condition or the cause of the crash. Cyclosporiasis, the parasitic infection that's linked to a nasty intestinal illness, has now spread to 45 states. Mark Mayfield reports.

SPEAKER_05 3:00

There have been 6,700 lab-confirmed cases so far, with the CDC saying it's investigating more than 11,000 others. It also says at least 423 people have been hospitalized, but there have been no deaths. The outbreak, which is caused by ingesting food or water that contains cyclospora bacteria, began three months ago. The Federal Health Agency says the only states that haven't reported any cases are Maine, South Carolina, Montana, New Mexico, and Hawaii. I'm Mark Meefield.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Kankakee County Health Department says while several cyclosporiasis cases have been reported in Illinois, there have been no reported cases so far in Kankakee County. Kankakee County Fair continues today at the fairgrounds just south of Kankakee. Jen Bauer, office manager for the fair, has a rundown of today's events.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Today at the Kankekee County Fair, admission is $10 with children ages five and under free. Livestock and judging competitions include the 4-H Horse and Pony Show and swine, goat, beef, rabbit, and sheep shows. The carnival opens at 3, offering unlimited ride wristbands between the hours of 6 and 10 PM. Tonight's grandstand feature is the Extreme School Bus Figure 8 demo. Don't miss the Jurassic Kingdom, Ninja Experience, and Kid Bucks Game Show performing throughout the day. Enjoy back pages live in the Budweiser Pavilion tonight. Hope to see you at the Kankey County Fair, where it's a tradition. All grandstand shows are free. Going on now through Sunday.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

You can find the full fair schedule at Kankiki County Fair's website. A three-car crash near Mantino sent three people to the hospital yesterday. Illinois State Police say the crash happened on Route 50 at 11,000 North Road, just north of Mantino, about 1040 yesterday morning. The road had to be closed down for about an hour to clean up the wreckage. No word on the condition of the three people involved or the cause of the crash. Iroquois Memorial Hospital in Wazeca says they have partnered with Kankiki Community College to train future certified nursing assistants. In a press release, IMH says KCC students have spent the last month completing clinical experiences at the IMH residence home and progressive care unit. Michelle Fairley, Vice President of Patient Health, said providing quality clinical experiences is an important part of IMH's mission to strengthen the future health care workforce. Kankakee Municipal Band Summer Concert Series continues tonight, 7 o'clock at the Falzer Band Shell in Bird Park. Conductor Bob Evans gives us a rundown of tonight's concerts.

SPEAKER_06 5:34

The theme for the concert is Golden Jubilee, a Half-Century Celebration. This is my celebration of 50 years of teaching and directing bands. Special guest conductor will be our son John Evans. Both of us marched in the 2026 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena as members of the 360-piece band directors marching band. The first half of our KMB concert will be the music that we played in the Rose Parade. The second half will be classic concert band music. Our vendor is candy and cake. So bring your lawn chair to Don Paul's or Banshell for a truly historic celebration of music, food, and fun.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

The free summer concert series runs through August 6th. Illinois State Police and local law enforcement recently conducted what they call a joint enforcement detail checking on parole and sex registry compliance of convicted violent offenders against youth. The ISP says compliance checks were done on July the 22nd, found eleven convicts that had failed to register, nine who were non-compliant who were located, eight who were arrested, and 136 who were found to be compliant. Among those found during the detail, a 66-year-old sexual predator who had been noncompliant in his registration since August of 2024, and a 78-year-old sexual predator who had been listed as compliant, but that was found to be false.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

We have the capability of sending birds in if there's a belief that they could be suspicious of potentially having passed from the West Nile virus from the mosquitoes, no birds.

SPEAKER_04 7:34

And even obviously no human cases, Viva Sad, that there are a few things that you can do to help alleviate the threat of West Nile.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Things you can do to prevent our very non-fusion easy when mosquitoes are more prevalent. Definitely reducing any containers around the property that might be trash or something like that that can collect water that would allow for the breeding of the mosquitoes so that you break up that life cycle of the larvae into a mosquito, and then reporting anything in regards to uh complaints to the health department, dead birds, so that we can investigate that.

SPEAKER_04 8:07

Beavis added that while Illinois, one of the main states, taking a hit from the cyclospora outbreak, so far there have been no confirmed cases of the parasite in Kankakee County. Jasper County, Indiana Fair continues today at the fairgrounds just outside Rensselaer. Fairboard President Gary Brosh has a rundown of some of today's events.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Totally tailored. We'll have 4-H poultry and turkey, waterfowl, judging at 8, horse and pony at 9. We have Suprema Showman on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the show arena.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Jasper County Fair runs through Saturday at the fairgrounds just outside Rensselaer. In sports, the Sox and Cards both won yesterday. The Cubs lost. Sox beat the Yankees 6-5 in 12 innings. The Cards beat the Cubs 3 2 and 10. Same four teams had it this afternoon. Chicago Sky hosts the Connecticut Sun tonight. And the Bears continue training camp today. First public session, though, coming up tomorrow. That is a look at news and sports here on this Thursday. Have a good rest of your day. Be safe, everybody. I'm Rob West.