The 76^th annual Kiwanis Pancake and Sausage Day was a major success.

Event chair Luke Worrell says that final numbers are near some of the best the club has seen in a decade for the event: “It was a crazy, crazy day. Thank you to the community for the incredible support. I think our final number was 4,935 meals served. That’s the most in 9 years.”

Worrell says the new set up at the Morgan County Fairgrounds mostly went off without a hitch: “Honestly, I think it would have been silky smooth. We did have one of our old, grizzled veteran sausage cookers go down. So, there in the heat of battle, we were left with 3 instead of 4 sausage cookers, which made us run low on sausage near the dinner time hours. Other than that, I think everything was very well received. I can’t thank the [Morgan County] Fair Board enough. I don’t even want to think about what it would have looked like. I don’t know where else in town we could have done this, and that’s no slight to any other venue here in the community. But just for what we needed, the layout, the fairgrounds were amazing. Of course, we are going to iron out a few kinks but it was a great event.”

Worrell says that the fairgrounds also allowed for greater numbers with the drive-thru. In years past, the Kiwanis could only serve drive-thru customers from 4-7PM to accommodate for the Routt and MacMurray dismissal and dinner schedules. This year, the drive-thru ran all day, and at one point had served more customers than the dine in option.

Worrell says that with the new venue comes the possibility of a new date on the calendar in the future: “In the past, we always had to use Spring Break at Routt and MacMurray as a scheduling time frame. Obviously, out here at our new home at the fairgrounds based on their scheduling, we are not shackled to a school Spring Break schedule anymore. It could conceivably change. What a blessing the weather was this year. That was huge. It was so gorgeous outside so people didn’t mind waiting outside. We can remember a few of these past years where you would not want to wait outside for 30 minutes to get a table. So, the date could change in the future.”

100% of the proceeds from the March 10th event will go right back into the community for initiatives for children.

State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer has been a regular voice of opposition to the Pritzker Administration’s budget proposals and the state’s Sanctuary status and immigrant programs during the current session of the Illinois General Assembly.

Davidsmeyer, who co-chairs the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA), says the the state is facing a significant budget problem both in the current fiscal year with a possible $737 million shortfall, as well as in FY26 which begins on July 1: “[State] Democrats are currently pushing crazy legislation that would make our policies and our budget problems even worse. Let’s start with illegal immigration. Due to the failed Biden Administration open border policies, we have more than 530,000 illegal immigrants in the State of Illinois. Let me be clear that without these open border policies, we wouldn’t be having these ICE raids that are going on right now. The Democrats’ sanctuary state policies and giveaways to illegal immigrants are incentives for them to come. If you build it, they will come; and they have. I have again filed legislation to repeal the TRUST Act and end Illinois’ sanctuary state policies. What are Democrats doing? They are doubling down on their failed immigration policies.”

Davidsmeyer says some of the Democrats’ legislation would further restrict local, county, and state law enforcement’s ability to aid federal immigration authorities to seek illegal immigrants in the state.

Earlier this month, the State Auditor General released a report of an audit on the state’s noncitizen health care plan. The audit showed that the program outstripped its original estimated price tag and cost the state of Illinois $1.6 billion through last summer. The report also found more than 6,000 people enrolled in the state-funded programs were classified as “undocumented” despite actually having social security numbers. Some of those people were green card holders who would have instead qualified for health coverage like Medicaid or traditional insurance. The audit, which was requested by lawmakers in 2023, came a week after Governor J.B. Pritzker’s budget address. The governor’s plan would defund a portion of the program aimed at noncitizens aged 44 to 64, while leaving in place the smaller program for noncitizen seniors aged 65 and older.

Davidsmeyer has accused state Democrats of trying to expand the program despite the price: “House Bill 3780 would provide universal healthcare for all individuals residing in the State of Illinois regardless of immigration status. I can only imagine the tens of billions of dollars that this program would cost. Keep in mind that just last year the cost just for state employee healthcare went up over a billion dollars, and they are expecting it to go up another billion dollars this year. That’s just state employees. Rather than working with Republicans to find relief for hard-working taxpayers and bringing down the cost of living, Democrats are once again looking to raise taxes.”

Davidsmeyer has pointed out that there is little state Republicans can do as far as the policies are concerned due to the super majority that Democrats hold in both chambers of the General Assembly as well as all of the executive offices in the state.

When it comes to Governor Pritzker’s claims of balanced budgets during his time in office, Davidsmeyer says that the governor has been lucky over the past 6 years: “One-time dollar amounts have fallen into his hands that have luckily balanced his budget. We are past that point. COGFA is saying those one-time dollars are not coming in. That is who is telling us that this year we are $500 million short. Next year, we are going to be $775 million short, so the reality is we have to focus on the issues that we are here for and not some of this crazy, crazy stuff like making obesity a protected class or something of that sort. The reality is that we have to pass a balanced budget.”

He says it starts with the state setting the right priorities first: “We’ve got billions in unfunded pension liability that we are paying the bare minimum on. We’ve got the developmentally disabled PUNS list that we are barely making positive impact on. We’re barely keeping up with our court orders to take care of the individuals that can’t take care of themselves. Meanwhile, we are spending $15 billion more today than we were when Governor Pritzker came in. We have to get it under control. This is not a slush fund. We have to focus on the important things.”

PUNS is a database that registers individuals who want or need Developmental Disability Waiver services (i.e. Community Integrated Living Arrangements, Home Based Supports, Child Group Homes) funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Developmental Disabilities. As funding is available, individuals are selected from PUNS and invited to apply for waivers. The court orders Davidsmeyer refers to is the Ligas Consent Decree which went into effect in 2011 and has come under review in the state’s court in recent years.

Davidsmeyer joined State Representative Mike Coffey of Springfield on Tuesday to introduce a package of legislation by State Republicans to stop illegal immigration in the state and to repeal or revise portions of the TRUST Act. The Act, which created Illinois as a sanctuary state in 2017, was signed by former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner. Davidsmeyer says the act is misguided: “I am sponsoring legislation, HB1317, to repeal the Illinois TRUST Act, which was a misguided law that prohibits local law enforcement from working with our federal counterparts on illegal immigration. It’s time to end Illinois’ sanctuary state policy. I’ve also filed House Bill 1456 to end the massively expensive free healthcare for illegal immigrants, the HBIA/HBIS program, with an estimated $1.2 billion budget deficit. We simply cannot afford this budget buster anymore.”

Representative Coffey has also filed legislation that would allow Illinois counties to individually opt out of the TRUST ACT. He says counties would be able to adopt individual resolutions to fit their own needs: “This bill gives individual counties the right to set standards that are best suited for their residents and their businesses. Last year, I visited the [southern] border to see our border problem firsthand and listen directly to border agents and agencies and nonprofits handling the thousands of migrants flooding across the border of Texas. I heard from officials from poor counties on the southern border without the funds or the resources to pay for the influx of migrants, and from organizations helping families navigate the aftermath of human trafficking and drugs. In Illinois, especially in this tight budget year, we need to prioritize resources and offer counties a path to opt out of bad state policy and allow local law enforcement to work with our federal partners to protect public safety.”

The immigration bills sponsored by the GOP are likely not to receive committee hearings or debate as State Democrats have said that repealing rights of immigrants is non-starter for any negotiations on reforms.

The District 117 Board of Education passed a resolution Wednesday night to set up the payment method for the new school in the Murrayville-Woodson area.

The resolution says that the new building is going to be built on the basis of expanding kindergarten and pre-kindergarten space rather than as a health-life-safety need. With that designation, Superintendent Steve Ptacek says it guarantees that property tax revenues will not be used to build the new school: “Now that the [State of Illinois] has opened this up, it allows the school to be built without a referendum. What we have been saying to the community is there won’t be a property tax extra payment added on for the new building. If we went the route of the Health-Life-Safety bond, we could say that but we did have [adding property tax] as an option. They passed a new law that with forcing full-day kindergarten throughout the state and putting money into Early Years and Pre-K that if you are expanding your kindergarten space, which we are putting in two kindergarten classrooms expecting growth compared to Murrayville-Woodson, and we are creating an actual dedicated Early Years space in the new building instead of just using a temporary space that we have been using in the current building. We are with this passed resolution able to build the new building but we are not able to use property taxes for it. This is going to limit the district to just the alternative revenue bonds, which is our sales tax bonds, that we have done all of our other buildings with and excess fund balance.”

Ptacek says the resolution is the first step in the process as required by the state under the new law. The school board pulled a resolution on Wednesday night from the agenda to purchase property on which the new building would be built.

Ptacek says that action on a property purchase is pending, possibly happening before the next regular scheduled school board meeting in April. He said to “stay tuned” for an alert for a special meeting in regards to questions about a real estate purchase.

The Village of South Jacksonville’s Board of Trustees are unhappy with the service provided by Morgan County Animal Control.

The trustees discussed the annual renewal of the agreement between the village and the county last night.

The trustees accused the Morgan County Commissioners of pawning questions about the contract off on Animal Control Director Lisa Ladely, according to Village Treasurer and Office Manager Mindy Olsen. The trustees said they found the service inadequate in a number of ways including the fact that animal control officers only operated 8:30AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday.

Trustee JW Coleman laughed at the idea saying that stray dogs and cats don’t operate on banker’s hours, calling the $11,000 annual renewal “ridiculous.” Trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart said that the draft of the contract, which she said didn’t look like a contract at all, appeared to be written more like a letter without any legal binding language or set regulations that a normal contract or intergovernmental agreement would usually contain. The agreement said that beyond the normal business hours, animal control would only respond on an emergency basis. Stewart said that the emergency definition was not contained in the language of the document, and appeared to be up to animal control’s discretion.

The trustees were told by Village Police Chief Eric Hansell that Animal Control only deals with domesticated animals and not wild ones. He says that his department usually has to deal with wild animals on their own as well as domesticated animals after hours, often time having to put the captured animals in his own squad car. Hansell says that, by law, the only after hours calls that animal control has to take is in situations where a bite to a person has occurred.

Village President Dick Samples says that village residents aren’t getting what they pay for: “It’s $10,000 being spent that we get nothing out of. It’s just giving [the county] $10,000 on a very limited return on an investment, so to speak. If you pay the $10,000 (and that’s what they are going to charge us), they are only going to be there 8AM-4PM Monday through Friday. So, what do you do on the weekends? You’re back to doing it yourself.”

Samples says that the village is not equipped to handle the costs of operating its own animal control: “Not at this present time. I guess we are going to get equipped to handle it.”

Village Treasurer Olsen says that another attempt to engage with the commissioners on the issue is going to be made before getting Village Attorney Rob Cross involved on what the village has the ability to do as far as amending or changing the agreement. Olsen suggested during the meeting that several of the other municipalities in the county are likely in similar situations.

Schuyler County authorities arrested a Rushville man Thursday on multiple child pornography possession charges.

44-year old Billy R. Ruple, Jr. is currently lodged at the Schuyler County Jail and has been charged with 12 counts of reproduction of child pornography by the Schuyler County State’s Attorney’s Office.

No further information on Ruple’s arrest is available. He is scheduled for a first appearance in court this morning.

UPDATE March 23, 2025: The Illinois Attorney General’s office has announced they have brought the charges against Ruple, who was identified as a security and therapy aide for the Department of Human Services Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility. The Attorney General’s office charged Ruple in Schuyler County Circuit Court with two counts of dissemination of child pornography, each Class X felonies punishable by up to 30 years in prison; and 10 counts of possession of child pornography, Class 2 felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison. Ruple is currently detained at the Schuyler County Jail, and his next court date is scheduled for Monday, March 31.

Raoul’s investigators, along with officers from the Illinois State Police (ISP), Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office and Rushville Police Department conducted a search of Ruple’s residence in the 100 block of Anderson St. in Rushville on March 20. Ruple was taken into custody after investigators discovered evidence of child sexual abuse material. At the time of his arrest, Ruple was employed at DHS’ Treatment and Detention Facility, which houses sexually violent offenders. Under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, a person must have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder to be held at the TDF.

Raoul’s office is prosecuting this case with Schuyler County State’s Attorney’s office.

Illinois College fell slightly short of its fundraising totals from last year during 8^th annual All In 4 IC day of giving on Wednesday.

The college received donations from 1,100 donors generating just over $608,000. Last year, over 1,200 donors raised $642,650.

The Class of 1963 brought in the most dollars, generating over $74,000 from 8 donors yesterday. The Class of 1973 had the most individual donors with 29, donating over $5,300. Outside of Illinois, the State of Florida generated the most donors for the college followed closely behind by Missouri and Indiana.

All In 4 IC provides direct support to the college’s IC Fund to provide financial assistance to scholarships, academics, athletics, and campus life.

The Jacksonville Fire Department was able to contain a fire in an apartment on the city’s west side Wednesday afternoon.

The Jacksonville Fire Department was called to an apartment complex at 6 Gardendale Drive shortly before 4PM Wednesday. Upon arrival, firefighters determined that an occupant to one apartment was outside of the building and reported there was a fire in their kitchen. Firefighters also quickly worked to secure gas and power utilities to prevent any further risks to the remainder of the apartment complex. Simultaneously, teams conducted searches of adjacent apartments to ensure no occupants or pets remained inside. After the searches confirmed the other apartments were clear, firefighters deployed fire hoses and began an attack on the small blaze inside the apartment that was on fire.

Suppression efforts quickly contained the blaze. The occupant of the apartment that had caught on fire told officials that they had been cooking and when she had left the stove and sat down, she noticed smoke began to billow in the apartment and she immediately evacuated.

Firefighters discovered that an electrical coffee maker, an air fryer and another utensil were plugged into a wall outlet and suffered severe damage to the immediate left of the stove, which still had a knob set to on.

Damage to the apartment and contents was valued around $40,500. No injuries were reported. Fire units left the scene shortly after 5PM Wednesday.

The Winchester Board of Education announced on social media last night they had selected a new superintendent.

Jeff Abell, current superintendent at Griggsville-Perry School District, has been selected to be the district’s next superintendent effective July 1^st after the retirement of current superintendent Dr. Kevin Blankenship.

The selection of Abell was after a statewide search by the Winchester School Board over the last 3 months. Abell, a native of Bluffs, previously served as a teacher, athletic director and coach at both Bluffs High School and Winchester High School from 2008-2017.

At that time, he received his administrative licensure and went on to become Principal at Northwestern High School, and then at Meredosia-Chambersburg before becoming Superintendent at Griggsville-Perry in 2022. Abell also served as an assistant basketball coach at Routt Catholic High School.

Abell will now provide oversight into the current situation with the Winchester High School building’s upcoming renovations. The scope of which is to be determined by an upcoming April referendum.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Capital Development Board announced today $8 million in improvements are coming to Lincoln’s New Salem site in Petersburg after several weeks of outcry from local legislators.

The funding, made possible by Governor JB Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, will be used to repair up to 23 log village buildings and update the outdoor theater.

According to a press release, the funding is in addition to the nearly $3 million in improvements that have already been completed or undertaken at New Salem under the Pritzker administration, including a roof replacement and new HVAC controls at the visitor center, stairway construction between the village and the grist mill, a bridge replacement on the Mentor Graham Trail, and a planned major road and bridge improvement project which was not named.

State Representative Wayne Rosenthal, State Senator Steve McClure, and members of the Lincoln League volunteer organization toured the site earlier this month documenting the various states of disrepair the buildings had fallen into.

According to WXEF in Effingham, McClure says he is happy the Capital Development Board and IDNR have prioritized funding for the site.

McClure and Rosenthal are also working to pass legislation designed to help preserve the long-term sustainability of the site.

Jacksonville Police arrested a man early Thursday morning in connection to an incident early Wednesday morning where a woman was found injured after being shot with a BB gun.

Jacksonville police were called at 3:25AM Wednesday to a home in the 700 block of East Douglas Avenue for a woman bleeding after a physical altercation. Upon arrival and after a brief investigation, police determined that the woman had injuries to her chest and face after being shot with a BB gun by a male suspect.

At approximately 1:40AM Thursday, police were contacted by an individual who said they knew information about and the whereabouts of the alleged male suspect in the BB gun incident. At approximately 2:30AM Thursday, Jacksonville Police booked 29-year old Jordan L. Ransom of the 900 block of South Clay Avenue into the Morgan County Jail on a citation for aggravated domestic battery in connection to the incident.

As of this morning, Ransom remain held at the jail awaiting a pretrial detention hearing.