Utica tornado was a clue on Jeopardy

A La Salle County community was included in a Jeopardy clue on a program that aired Wednesday.

Underneath an $800 clue on Pulitzer Prize Winners, the clue said: “Julia Keller won for her feature about the devastation of the town of Utica, Illinois in 10 seconds by one of these.” A contestant, Jaimie, buzzed in with the correct response: “What is a tornado?”

Keller won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for her three-part story on the Utica tornado that was published in the Chicago Tribune in April 2004.

The tornado hit Utica on April 20, 2004, eight people out of the 16 who had sought shelter from the storm in the Milestone tavern’s basement had died. In the weeks following the tornado, yet another death was attributed to the deadly storm.