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Good news for drivers in Washington County, Illinois. Eastbound I-64 has reopened after being closed for several hours due to a toxic spill near Centralia.

Fire crews had evacuated residents near the interstate Tuesday evening after a tanker truck hauling toxic material began leaking. Authorities say the evacuations were just precautionary.

Eastbound I-64 was closed for several hours between mile markers 61 and 69 while the material was offloaded to another truck and the road was washed down. The interstate reopened a little before 3:00 a.m.

Arnold councilwoman Christine "Cricky" Lang has died. Lang passed away yesterday at her home.

She'd represented the first Ward on the Arnold City Council for the past three years.

Lang had had a kidney transplant 10 years ago, but needed another one. She was at the top of the transplant recipients list when she died. She was 44 years old.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Energy Department has announced it is going ahead with phase two of central Illinois' FutureGen clean-coal project.

In announcing the agreement with FutureGen Industrial Alliance on Monday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the department is committed to demonstrating carbon capture and storage technologies.

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance is a group of coal and power companies planning to refit a coal-powered power plant in Meredosia with technology that removes carbon dioxide from coal and stores it underground. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas linked to climate change. The project has $1 billion in federal funding.

The alliance and the Energy Department claim the project will help pave the way for other cleaner and more sustainable advanced coal-burning power plants.

Initial plans to build a plant near Mattoon fell through.