Updated: November 14, 2026, at 4:32 p.m. CST
Originally published: November 14, 2026, at 9 a.m. CST
PEORIA, Ill. — Residents in parts of Peoria and East Peoria were cleared to return home around 1 p.m. Saturday after authorities finished searching the BioUrja Renewables plant and found no additional devices. The criminal investigation into Friday’s threat continued. [1][2]
The one-mile evacuation area around the plant at 1 Edmund St. had included portions of Peoria’s South Side, downtown and the Warehouse District, along with areas across the Illinois River. [3]
While the evacuation was still in place, India, a VOTP News follower, described uncertainty over the information reaching people in the area. She said she first learned about the situation around 3 p.m. Friday.
“Our concern is the lack of information we are provided,” India wrote. “It’s pretty much a waiting game at this point.”
Police previously said BioUrja reported the threat at 1:08 p.m. Friday. A suspicious package was found around 2 p.m. and deemed a credible threat at about 6:45 p.m. Police announced the evacuation shortly after 7 p.m. Bomb technicians rendered the package safe at about 9:12 p.m., but the evacuation continued while crews searched the rest of the property. [3]
Peoria Police Chief Brad Dixon acknowledged the disruption.
“We displaced people’s lives. We moved people out of their homes,” Dixon said, according to WCBU. “Certainly we could’ve done better.” He described the response as a learning experience. [1]
India also called attention to the South Side’s history.
“The south end is very historic,” she wrote, pointing to “urban renewal and redlining” in the area’s past.
Local government records document both.
Peoria County’s Joint Commission on Racial Justice and Equity describes how Black families faced systematic barriers to buying homes and choosing where to live beginning in the 1930s. Its history includes a 1938 map that graded neighborhoods by color, with red areas labeled “hazardous.” [4]
The county says that during the 1930s and 1940s, most of Peoria’s Black community was confined to substandard housing along North Washington Street and southwest of downtown near what is now the Carver Center. It also identifies railroad and highway construction among the ways racial divisions became embedded in the city’s geography. [4]
Urban renewal brought another form of displacement. An April 22, 2025, city proclamation recognized Southtown as a neighborhood where people arriving during the Great Migration found work, housing and community. It acknowledged that redevelopment in the late 1960s and 1970s demolished hundreds of houses and displaced thousands of people, erasing stretches of neighborhood streets. [5]
The Peoria Historical Society’s “Place and Displacement” project preserves photographs and memories of that community. In an interview published by Illinois Humanities, the society’s executive director described Southtown as a working-class neighborhood with a large African American population whose homes were cleared for redevelopment. [6]
At Saturday’s midday briefing, Dixon said the plant search covered an area equivalent to about 44½ football fields. Multiple floors, catwalks and silos complicated the work. Before the search ended, he said investigators would proceed methodically and could not promise a return time.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said their investigation remained active. ATF officials said agents, K-9 handlers and explosives specialists were assisting. Dixon declined to identify the precise type of device or discuss suspects.
The Coast Guard, which had restricted vessel traffic on the Illinois River between mile markers 160 and 164, also lifted its restrictions at 1 p.m. Saturday, according to WMBD Radio. [7]
Asked why people could still enter parts of the evacuation area, Dixon said crews could not staff every intersection. Some people lacked the means to leave, he said, and police were helping with transportation, medication and concerns involving animals.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said volunteers delivered food, toiletries and other supplies to people sheltering at Manual Academy. EastSide Centre was designated as a shelter in East Peoria. [3]
“Communication is key, coordination is key,” Ali said.
At the midday briefing, officials had not announced a suspect or motive. Dixon said analysis of the package’s contents was ongoing.
Sources
[1] WCBU: Evacuation lifted after completed search
[2] 25News: Peoria and East Peoria lift evacuation orders
[3] WCBU / NPR Illinois: Incident timeline and evacuation area
[4] Peoria County: History of Racism in Peoria
[5] City of Peoria: April 22, 2025, Southtown proclamation
[6] Illinois Humanities: Peoria Historical Society’s Southtown project
[7] WMBD Radio: Evacuation and river restrictions lifted
Additional reporting includes Saturday’s news briefing and an account supplied to VOTP News STL by follower India.
