A Springfield man who recently pleaded guilty to his role in the January 6^th Capitol Riot had a minute order issued by a federal judge in his case after the man’s comments in a recent State Journal Register interview.

U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued an order Friday instructing defendant 41 year old Thomas Adams Jr. and prosecutors to explain why the guilty findings the judge entered on Tuesday last week in a stipulated bench trial should not be overturned in light of Adams’ comments to reporter Steven Spearie of the SJ-R for an interview the following day.

Adams was found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding and aiding and abetting others in committing obstruction of an official proceeding, both felonies, and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor.

Adams told the SJ-R he wouldn’t change anything he did that day, and claims he didn’t do anything: “I still to this day, even though I had to admit guilt [in the stipulation], don’t feel like I did what the charge is.”

In a brief order Friday morning, Mehta gave both sides one week to provide reasons “why the court should not vacate Defendant’s convictions of guilt in light of his post-stipulated trial statements” included in the article. The judge also attached a copy of the news report. Politico reports its unclear how Mehta obtained the SJ-R report. Politico says a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington declined to comment Friday on Mehta’s order and Adams’ public defenders also have not responded to a request for comment.

Adams’ sentencing hearing has been set for June 16^th . Adams faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on the obstruction charge, plus financial penalties of up to $250,000.

The trial date for for Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Robert Adrian before the Illinois Courts Commission is going to be set next month.

Muddy Rivers News reports that on Thursday last week, attorneys on both sides of Adrian’s case pushed for a November trial date because of ongoing conflicts of scheduling. The Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board filed a complaint on June 17^th last year against Adrian after he vacated the conviction of then-18 year old Drew Clinton in a felony criminal sexual assault case in October 2021. Chief Judge of the 8^th Circuit, Pike County Judge J. Frank McCartney later removed Adrian from presiding over criminal cases on January 13^th last year in the fallout of that decision.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lewis Nixon who coordinated the hearing for the Illinois Courts Commission on Thursday was concerned about waiting almost a full year to hear Adrian’s case. Nixon set a March 9^th pretrial hearing date so that the parties in the case can come to an agreement for the trial’s start.

Adrian testified under oath before the Judicial Inquiry Board in April last year about the Clinton case. The JIB’s complaint said Adrian explained his decision to reverse his finding of guilt in the sexual assault case was based upon the evidence and his conclusion that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the victim could not give consent. Adrian also allegedly testified that his reversal was not an effort to “thwart the law.” The JIB alleged in its complaint that Adrian’s testimony was false, and Adrian knew it was false when he made the statements violating several rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

If found guilty by the Illinois Courts Commission of violating the code, Adrian could be reprimanded, censured, suspended, or permanently removed from the bench.

Adrian won retention to the bench at the November General Election. Adrian claimed during his retention campaign that public protests and national criticism he’s drawn for his decision in the Clinton case was a national smear campaign meant to get him to leave the judiciary.

McCartney recently reinstated Adrian to his former duties with the felony criminal court in the 8th Judicial Circuit on January 1^st.

The Jacksonville Youth Engagement Program (JYEP) is seeking to partner with organizations to bring activities to Jacksonville youth with an emphasis on those at risk. The program aims to build access to life and job skills, mental health, spiritual, emotional, social and educational development through after school and summer sports, arts, cultural and leisure activities. Geographic boundaries include students within Jacksonville School District 117.

Applicants are being sought from organizations that will provide programming for after school activities during the school year and/or during the summer. Grants will be awarded in April and are expected to range up to $5,000 annually and may be renewable.

Organizations that are interested applying should submit a proposal to the Jacksonville Youth Engagement Program by March 15^th at 5PM to Lori Hartz via email at hartz.lori@mhsil.com to receive application materials.

Priority will be given to organizations who partner financially in the project through cash and/or in- kind contributions.

A Hull woman will be spending some significant time in the Illinois Department of Corrections stemming from an arrest this past Fall.

38 year old Carmella I. Birchum pleaded guilty in two separate cases last Tuesday in Pike County Court. Birchum, formerly known as Carmella Bills, pled guilty to a count of possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams.

On July 29^th of last year, Birchum was arrested along with 53 year old James M. Gardiner by Pike County Sheriff’s Deputies at a residence in the 600 block of Elm Street in Hull after the serving of a warrant. Birchum was charged with the methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia in the arrest.

In this case, Birchum was sentenced to 9 months of conditional discharge and a $500 county fine.

Birchum and Gardiner were re-arrested at the same residence in Hull on the evening of September 6^th after a reported disturbance. Birchum was again charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

In this case, Birchum was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, along with a $500 county fine. Birchum was given credit for 21 days served in the Pike County Jail.

Birchum was re-arrested by Pike County Sheriff’s Deputies on Tuesday of last week on a possession of a controlled substance charge and has been lodged at the Pike County Jail since her court date.

Gardiner has bonded out for his offenses and has failed to appear in Pike County Court for arraignment on charges for both arrests, according to online court documents.

Local Lego artists were honored by the Jacksonville Area Museum over the weekend.

The “Building with Brick – The Art of Lego” first-time exhibit at the Jacksonville Area Museum concluded its two-month run on Saturday. Members of the public were able to vote for their favorite displays during the run.

Carter Meyer won first place in the children’s category for his “Treehouse” entry. Noah Middleton and his “Coliseum” won first place for kits, and Danny Devine won in the original Lego category for his creation “Baby T-Rex Rescue.” All three top winners received $100 Lego gift cards, and all of the children who entered received participation gifts. A total of 490 votes were cast by visitors for their favorite Lego entries.

Jacksonville Area Museum Board Chair Allan Worrell said in a press release that the exhibit was considered a huge success and plans are already being made to bring back the display during the 2023 holiday season.

15^th District Congresswoman Mary Miller says she’s boycotting President Joe Biden’s State of the Union tomorrow.

Miller made the announcement on Saturday on conservative news outlet Breitbart. In an official announcement from her office today, Miller pointed to what she called “lies” about a number of issues including energy prices, immigration, and the Chinese balloon incident from this weekend among others for her reasons in boycotting the speech.

Miller told Breitbart and said in her announcement today that she intends to share her tickets with Air Force Colonel Mark A. Hurley of Sherman, who retired from the military after declining to take the COVID-19 vaccination.

As of early Monday afternoon, Miller is the only Republican to publicly announce plans not to attend Biden’s speech. After the address, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is expected to provide the Republican response to the State of the Union.

An email and call to Miller’s office by WLDS News last week for an interview has not been returned.

Popular Jacksonville photographer Cory Garner is moving to a location on the former MacMurray College campus.

In an announcement on the ElCrow Photography & Design Facebook Page this afternoon, Garner says that he is partnering with the new owners of the Midwest Athletic Center, John & Rachel Rohn, to move his photography business into a larger space in the center. The MAC, as its called, is the former Bill Wall Gymnasium of MacMurray College.

Garner says the larger space will allow him to offer dance mini photography sessions at any time during the year to better fit the schedules of the areas dancer. He also says that it will give him a broader opportunity to design and perform photo sessions for sports banners along with simply adding more options all around for photography sessions: “I’ve also got other cool plans in the works for the space and once I figure out what my needs are I will be looking at renting it out to other photographers as it was done in the past. This spot is incredible and I have been in love with it from the very first time I saw it. I could not be more excited.”

Garner went on to thank his current landlords George & Gina Hamilton for the lease over the last two years at his current space at Suite B, 301 East Court Street: “About my current space, it is amazing in its own right and George and Gina will be looking for someone to take it over once I have vacated. They are such great landlords and I hate leaving for that reason.” Garner took over the space after Warmowski Photography left the space.

ElCrow Photography & Design has been capturing Jacksonville and the surrounding area’s photographs since March 2019. No timeline on when the move to the new space will occur was given in the announcement.

Illinois Electric Cooperative has announced they are expending their Internet capabilities in Pike County.

According to an article originally published in the January issue of Illinois Country Living, IEC was one of 30 electric cooperatives nationwide that received funds through the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund Phase II auction. The funds awarded to the co-op were made available by the FCC specifically for Pike County.

The funding is made specifically for service providers to subsidize the cost of building new network infrastructure or performing network upgrades to offer voice and broadband service in areas where it is lacking. IEC officials say the CAF funding is similar to rural electrification that occurred in the country in the 1930s or the building of the interstate highway system in the 1950s.

The co-op is working with Ericsson and XtremeLTE as technological partners in deploying the infrastructure to make higher wireless speeds possible in Pike County. This expansion is the first carrier-grade technology the co-op has deployed. The new wireless technology is line-of-site but will offer speeds of up to 100 mbp/s for downloads and up to 20 mbp/s for uploads where available.

The co-op will add six new broadcast locations, including south of Atlas, near Chambersburg, north of Pearl, Milton, New Salem, and near Hull, to go along with existing sites. Fiber optic cable is being run to towers to increase capacity for subscribers. The project is expected to be completed in 2024. The higher-speed internet packages are currently only available in the Nebo area, but the co-op says as more equipment is deployed in Pike County, they will alert customers on their website.

Last night was filled with music, laughter, and awards for Jacksonville Main Street’s annual meeting at The Plaza.

President of Jacksonville’s Main Street’s Board Megan McGuire began the evening by recounting Jacksonville Main Street’s accomplishments over the past two decades. She also wished to thank the night’s venue owners, John & Rachel Rohn, for saving the former Elliott State Bank building: “Many of you know the condition of that this building was in a few years ago and how close it was being torn down. With the help of Mike Hayes, it was not demolished. I think it was like the 11th hour and 30 minutes before they decided that there was a buyer and that we weren’t demolishing this building. Now, with the vision of John & Rachel, this building has been transformed into something beautiful again. I want to personally thank Mike Hayes for saving it and John & Rachel Rohn for making it alive again.”

Illinois Main Street State Coordinator Jim Miller was also on hand for the meeting. He paid a large compliment to Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe and to the city’s commitment to the Main Street idea: “I’m thrilled to be here. Jacksonville truly is an exception community, highly respected in the world of Main Street. Judy is very highly respected absolutely in her 20+ years, and it shows. I’m a big believer that the right directors are in the right communities. Obviously, this is a great fit. I was here two years ago when Jacksonville hosted the State Conference and have seen, of course this building is a significant change, but have seen lots of changes. I think it’s a great community.”

Miller says that Jacksonville has been a model for many other communities in their own revitalization efforts.

Marcy Patterson, Tim Flinn, John Rohn, Bobby Bonjean, and Keri Mason were elected as the Main Street Board trustees for 2023. New officers for 2023 were Liz Tracy as President, Vice President Tom Grojean, Treasuer Tammy Holloway, Secretary Keri Mason, and Past President Ginny Fanning.

A new award was given away this year, known as the White Elephant award to John & Rachel Rohn for helping transform the former Elliott Bank building into a revitalized space once again. Judy Tighe says the 2022 Business of the Year went to a familiar family downtown business: “Our 2022 Business of the Year has been around for a long time. They’ve always been a great supporter of Jacksonville Main Street in a variety of ways – not only monetarily but emotionally. They’ve always been there. They’ve always advocated for us, and we so appreciate it. Yes, last year, they went above and beyond even what they normally do. Please join me in wishing congratulations to the 2022 Business of the Year – Don’s Place.”

Main Street’s 2022 Volunteer of the Year Award went to outgoing board president Megan McGuire.

According to the 2022 year-end report for Main Street, the Main Street District has a 96% occupancy rate that includes 186 businesses, with 15 new businesses starting in the past year. In its 23 years of existing, $63.8 million has been used in a public-private partnership to revitalize the Downtown district.