SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – An Illinois man has been crowned The King – of the Elvis impersonators.

Bill Cherry, of Collinsville, took home the $3,200 prize this weekend in Springfield at the “Annual Midwest Tribute to the King Competition” for his Elvis impersonating skills.

He beat 14 competitors from Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Cherry was also a finalist for an international contest during Elvis Week in Presley’s hometown of Memphis, Tenn.

Contestant Fred Kruse, of Florissant, Mo., said getting the right costume is only part of the challenge. An impersonator must also coordinate the moves and voice to really pull off the essence of Elvis.

Cherry takes home a King’s ransom: The $3,200 prize.

Man says city of Detroit razed his fixer-upper

DETROIT – There are thousands of buildings that should be demolished in Detroit. Eric Roslonski said his house wasn’t one of them.

Roslonski filed a lawsuit against the city Monday, more than two years after a house he was restoring suddenly was destroyed.

He said he put more than $30,000 into the property on the east side of Detroit after buying it for $7,000. One day during summer 2006, he couldn’t find 13405 Flanders.

“I drove up and down the street three times – where is my house?” Roslonski said.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Dworin, said the house was taken off a demolition list, then apparently reinstated without Roslonski’s knowledge.

“It happens,” Dworin said.

A message seeking comment was left with the city’s law department, which was closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.

Roslonski is suing Detroit for his losses under a federal civil rights law. He fixed another house on the same street and sold it for $85,000.

I see all these boarded-up and burned-out houses. I’m trying to make the city a better place,” he said.

Compiled from Associated Press reports