I guess the reason I never covered an inquest before next week has to do with the fact that our previous coroner never bothered to tell us when there was an inquest. So when the coroner we have now got elected in November, we went to him right away and asked him to notify us in advance. He said he did. So he has one, he calls us, and we're there. Up to now, the newspaper always seemed to know when they were, and I suspect our "competition" (which is a 1-man newsroom, but whose news director has been there since the invention of radio) knew, too. But we never seemed to.
The coroner's office in nearby Henry County is always good about letting us know when they come up, too.
We seem to be able to work better with the Peoria County Coroner's office than our own coroner. You'll have that, I guess.
Apparently WJBC has the coroner's office in McLean County well trained. They not only put their inquest schedule online...but also information on how to file an FOI request! Very cool. J
