This One Time in Kankakee

In November 1961, Kankakee County witnessed an unprecedented legal showdown when sitting Sheriff Carl McNutt was arrested inside the courthouse. Facing 13 grand jury indictments—ranging from official misconduct to a vice conspiracy—McNutt's refusal to resign triggered a historic constitutional standoff that forced the Illinois State Police to step in and supersede local authority. In this epi...

What happens when a routine farm chore becomes a sudden battle for survival? In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we sit down with local farmer and volunteer firefighter Willy VanWassenhove to hear his extraordinary story of resilience. On September 20, 2024, while adjusting a load of hay on the side of the road, Willy was struck by a vehicle at highway speed, pinning him and crushing hi...

In this narrative episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we travel out to Hopkins Park, Illinois, to meet military veteran Jake Lee. On Mother’s Day weekend in 1991, a mischievous afternoon inside the family van took a near-fatal turn when the transmission accidentally engaged. What followed is a sequence of events so mathematically improbable it defies belief—involving a torrential downpour, a pe...

"This one time in Kankakee... bodybuilding brought me back to life." In this gripping bonus episode of This One Time in Kankakee , Kaelin Patterson shares the most harrowing chapter of his life. On August 28, 2008, at the intersection of Theodore and Larkin in Joliet, Kaelin was struck and run over by a drunk driver. For five minutes, his heart stopped. He was clinically dead. What follo...

What happens when a single viral video transforms a devastating rare medical diagnosis into a half-million-dollar community miracle? In this feature-length episode of This One Time in Kankakee , host Jake LaMore sits down with local residents Hollie and Jesse Erickson for an incredibly raw, moving, and ultimately triumphant conversation about their youngest son, Bedford. When Bedford was just a to...

This episode of This One Time in Kankakee explores a pivotal moment in local history: the October 1872 fire that destroyed the county's first permanent courthouse. Drawing on historical research by Jack Klasey of the Kankakee County Museum, the narrative reconstructs the events of a windy Friday night when a landmark limestone building was nearly lost to the flames. The episode details the ch...

What makes a gym more than just a place to sweat? In this special bonus episode of This One Time in Kankakee , Kaelin Patterson shares the story of Ken Castongia —known to the "Morning Crew" at Fit Body U as the Fitness Godfather. Ken was a man living with Parkinson’s, but he refused to let his diagnosis define his spirit. Kaelin, a long-time employee of Fit Body U, recounts his friendsh...

In the summer of 1997, Tom Klonowski was in his mid-twenties and just starting his journey as the owner of Pizza by Marchellonis in Bourbonnais, Illinois . It was a Friday night in August when a routine order for a pepperoni pizza turned into a life-altering encounter with a man the local press dubbed "The Pizza Bandit." In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , host Jake LaMore sit...

On this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , host Jake LaMore turns the microphone on himself to share a hilarious and humbling "rookie mistake" from his early days in broadcasting. Travel back to Valentine’s Day 2015. Jake was only three months into his career as an on-air personality at Milner Media in Bourbonnais . What started as a simple food delivery order quickly turned into a h...

In this special bonus episode of This One Time in Kankakee , host Jake LaMore sits down with Navy veteran Kaelin Patterson for a raw, verbatim account of the 1999 Bourbonnais Amtrak crash. On March 15, 1999, Amtrak’s City of New Orleans collided with a semi-truck driven by John R. Stokes, who was hauling 18 tons of steel. The resulting derailment claimed 11 lives and left a community in shock. Kae...

What does it take for a 14-year-old girl to raise over $100,000 for her community? In this deeply moving episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we sit down with Alexis McCullough and her mother, Cassandra , to discuss the journey behind the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument at Marcotte Park in Bourbonnais. Following the sudden loss of her father, Colonel Mark McCullough , Alexis transformed her...

“This one time in Kankakee... I went to jail for hunting.” In 1959, Lou Perakis was a seventeen-year-old Greek immigrant living on the South Side of Chicago. When his older brother, John, decided to head south for the opening day of pheasant hunting season , Lou tagged along for what he thought would be a simple Saturday morning in the country. Instead, a series of events near Aroma Park led to a...

In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we sit down with Dr. Kalisha Hill , the Chief Medical Officer at Saint Mary’s Hospital . While many know her as a local healthcare leader, Dr. Hill stepped onto the national stage in 2020 when she appeared on CNN to provide expert medical analysis on the autopsy findings of George Floyd . We go behind the scenes of that high-stakes interview—from the...

On a Saturday at noon in September 1966, Kankakee experienced a crime that felt like it was ripped from a Hollywood noir film. A gunman ambushed an armored car driver in an alleyway, abducted him, and made off with over $42,000 in cash . But as Kankakee Police Chief Thomas Maass and his team began to investigate, they realized the call was coming from inside the house. The "victim," a yo...

What really happened the night pop star Aaron Carter got into a brawl at a dive bar in Bradley, Illinois? In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , Jake LaMore sits down with local artist and musician Tommy Solis —the man right in the middle of the chaos—to set the record straight on one of the most bizarre nights in Kankakee County history. It was a night that started with 90s nostalgia at T...

We launched This One Time in Kankakee on the WVLI Podcast Network in October 2025, and the stories have been nothing short of wild. In this year-end recap, host Jake LaMore cracks open the vault to count down the Top 3 Most Downloaded Episodes of the year. If you are new to the show, this is the perfect place to start. We revisit the funny, the historical, and the shocking moments that defined our...

Jeff Cross isn’t usually a planner. But for his 30th wedding anniversary, he decided to go big. In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we hear the incredible true story of how a 1990s meet-cute at a Bourbonnais Blockbuster led to a secret flash mob in downtown Kankakee. Hear how Jeff organized 50 friends and family members, dodged suspicious bailiffs while sneaking around the Courthouse bu...

It was the winter of 2001. The muffler had just fallen off, and the rust was setting in. But Nick Stalnos wasn't ready to give up on his 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera. Instead, he grabbed his friends, bought every roll of silver tape he could find, and created a local legend. In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we sit down with Nick to hear the true story behind "The Silver Bu...

What began as a routine trip to the pediatrician at Riverside Hospital quickly turned into a life-altering journey for the Pomranky family. In this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , host Jake LaMore sits down with local mom Jennifer Pomranky to share the powerful story of her son, Mads. Diagnosed with a rare form of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) at just five months old, Mads faced an uphill ba...

In the dead of winter 1938, the tiny village of Bonfield, Illinois, made national news for a bizarre reason: it banned the card game Rhummy. On this episode of "This One Time in Kankakee," discover the strange and true story of the "Rhummy Rebellion." Amid the Great Depression, Bonfield was known as a "sinless village" in Kankakee County, thanks to strict Blue Laws th...

A short preview of what's to come on the next episode of This One Time in Kankakee. Believe it or not, the card game rummy or rhummy was once banned in the Village of Bonfield.  Listen to the full episode this Monday, November 3rd. Click the follow button now so you don't miss out! Send us Fan Mail

What happens when an EGOT winner and Chicago legend unexpectedly shows up to your community theater rehearsal? On this episode of This One Time in Kankakee , we hear the incredible true story from director Andrew McBurnie about the night Jennifer Hudson visited Bourbonnais to see Acting Out Theatre Company's production of Godspell . Andrew shares a behind-the-scenes account of how a passing j...

Welcome to the premiere episode of This One Time in Kankakee , the podcast that uncovers the unforgettable true stories of Kankakee County. Host Jake LaMore kicks off the series with a deeply personal family legend that has been told for nearly 90 years. Travel back to a hot summer day in 1936 Manteno, Illinois . At just three years old, Jake's grandfather, Franklin Weber, was accidentally ru...

What happens when the subject of your news report calls you directly? In this episode of "This One Time in Kankakee," host Jake LaMore sits down with veteran Kankakee radio news director Rob West (WVLI, WFAV, River Country) for a story that blurs the line between journalism and a real-life crisis negotiation. In 2008, after reporting on a bank robbery in Bourbonnais, IL , Rob received a...

Every town has landmarks, but what happens when a group of bored teenagers decides to relocate one? In this episode of "This One Time in Kankakee," we bring you the legendary story of a crime that wasn't the crime, and how a 500-pound plaster cow ended up in a suburban living room. In 2008, Shane Whitlock and his friends, armed with a "borrowed" shopping cart and a severe...