People’s Bank & Trust has announced four key promotions at its branches across the area.

Susan Palliser has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Consumer Banking in Waverly and Palmyra. Palliser joined the Bank in October 2011 as a Consumer Banker and was later promoted to Consumer Banking Officer.

McKennah Dugger has been promoted to Consumer Banker in Springfield. Dugger joined the Bank in May 2018 as a part time teller in the Waverly office. Dugger was promoted to a Customer Service Representative position in 2020. In her new role, Dugger will be responsible for providing individualized and comprehensive banking services to consumer banking customers in the Springfield branch area.

Jeff Grimmett, AVP Consumer Banker in Waverly, Springfield and Palmyra has taken on a new role as an AVP, Consumer Banker in Taylorville, Springfield and Morrisonville. Grimmett is a native of Waverly and has been with the Waverly branch since 2004.

In the Operations Department, Angela Horath has been promoted to AVP, Deposit Operations. Horath originally joined the Bank in 2015 in Altamont as a teller and was later a Customer Service Representative. She took a year off in 2020 and returned as a bookkeeper in June 2021. Horath currently works in both the Altamont and Pana branches. In her new role, Horath is responsible for the administration and implementation of the bank’s bookkeeping/operations department.

Haylee Ishmael, a part time teller in Pana has taken a full time bookkeeping position in the Deposit Operations area. Ishmael joined the Bank in April 2022.

Peoples Bank & Trust is a locally owned and managed independent community bank with ten offices located in Pana, Taylorville, Altamont, Tower Hill, Charleston, Springfield, Morrisonville, Palmyra, Waverly, and White Hall. Peoples is a full service bank offering customer service to consumers, small business, and farmers in Central Illinois. People First Bancshares, Inc., with corporate offices in Pana is the holding company for Peoples Bank & Trust.

The MacMurray College Alumni Foundation has announced some important completed research into MacMurray College’s involvement in World War II.

Coordinator of the MacMurray College Archive Collection and Jacksonville Area Museum Curator McKenna Servis has completed the research that focuses on the college’s complete involvement in the war effort. MacMurray was still an all-women’s college at the time so the focus is completely about women and the war effort, making it unique.

According to a press release from the Association, highlights of the research include a website full of stories and vintage photographs about MacMurray students at WarTimeMac.wordpress.com. The research includes a statement from then-President Dr. Clarence P. McClelland about the evolving role and greater responsibilities women needed to assume during the war effort; information about students who left the college to assist and volunteer in the war effort across several different national facets like the Women’s Army Corp and the Women Air Force Service Pilots or WASPs, and a special page devoted to Hazel Sugawara.

Sugawara was a young woman of Japanese descent who lived in Seattle, who along with her family was relocated to one of the U.S. Internment camps in Idaho and was brought to MacMurray College as a part of the relocation of Japanese-American students. Photos of her and her families internment are also included in the collection.

MacMurray Foundation Chair David Ekin says that Servis’ research highlights the history of the now-closed college’s national importance and shows the need for further potential research into the records and archives of the college’s past. Ekin will be joining AM1180 WLDS for “What’s On Your Mind” later this month.

A Quincy woman facing first-degree murder charges after a 2020 car crash killed four people has chosen a bench trial for her case.

39 year old Natasha McBride appeared in Adams County Court yesterday with her attorney, Public Defender Todd Nelson, before Judge Tad Brenner. According to Muddy River News, McBride waived her right to a jury trial and Judge Brenner set aside three days for the trial after deliberations on the length between the state and defense.

A status hearing has been set in the case for April 4^th.

McBride allegedly ran a traffic light at Fourth and Broadway in Quincy while speeding on August 14, 2020 after allegedly being under the influence of drugs and alcohol . McBride’s vehicle collided with a vehicle driven by Stephen Hendricks of Rushville at the intersection. Hendricks’ wife and passenger, 54 year old Jennifer Hendricks of Rushville was declared deceased at the scene a short time later. The crash also killed Hendricks’ three grandchildren aged 4 and under.

The case has gone through a series of pretrial motions and discovery of evidence over the past two years, including having a 17^th charge against McBride dropped in December after an appellate court ruling.

McBridge remains held in the Adams County Jail on $5 million bond. The bench trial in the case is expected to begin May 1^st.

A Springfield man who was one of the first inside the U.S. Capitol Riot more than 2 years ago was convicted of federal charges on Monday.

40 year old Thomas B. Adams, Jr. was found guilty of entering a restricted building and obstructing an official proceeding. According to the Washington D.C. Federal court, Adams will remain free on recognizance until his sentencing on June 16^th.

An FBI special agent explained in a court affidavit that authorities first noticed Adams because of an interview he gave to the publication Insider following the riot. The article said Adams trampled over police barricades, made his way into the Capitol and eventually reached the Senate chamber after lawmakers had been evacuated. Adams told Insider that the riot was “a really fun time” and described the scene as “hilarious.”

Adams later confirmed to an FBI agent that he was the person in a photograph holding a Trump flag on the Senate floor.

According to a document filed by Adams’ defense counsel in December, Adams believed he was directed and authorized to engage in the conduct set forth in his indictment under the direction of former President Donald Trump.

Adams could face a federal prison sentence of up to 1 year on the entering a restricted building and between 5-8 years in prison for obstructing an official proceeding.

Morgan County has been chosen as a recipient of emergency food and shelter funds from the federal government.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded Morgan County just a little over $14,000 through Phase 40 under the Emergency Food & Shelter National Board Program.

The selection was made by a host of national non-profit organizations and the federal government. A local board was charged with distribution of the funds that consist of members from Prairieland United Way, local government officials, and clergy.

Under the terms of the grant from the National Board, local agencies chosen to receive funds must: 1) be private voluntary non-profits or units of government, 2) be eligible to receive Federal funds, 3) have an accounting system, 4) practice nondiscrimination, 5) have demonstrated the capability to deliver emergency food and/or shelter programs, and 6) if they are a private voluntary organization, have a voluntary board. Qualifying agencies are urged to apply. Morgan County has distributed Emergency Food and Shelter funds previously with Jacksonville Area Food Center, Prairie Council on Aging, The Salvation Army, The Crisis Center Foundation, Community Child Care & Service Center, American Red Cross, Spirit of Faith Soup Kitchen and New Directions Shelter participating.

Public or private voluntary agencies interested in applying for Emergency Food and Shelter Program funds must contact Karen Walker at Prairieland United Way at the Jacksonville Municipal Building, located at 200 West Douglas Avenue, or by email at karen.walker@prairielandunitedway.org or call 217-245-4557 for an application. The deadline for applications to be received is February 20^th.

Chapin resident Cynthia “Cindy” Staake of Worrell Land Services has earned the highest rank of appraisal licensing in the state.

The Journal Courier reports that Staake has received the Certified General Real Estate Appraiser license, fulfilling two years of education and testing.

According to her biography on the Worrell Land Services website, Staake is a Meredosia native who graduated summa cum laude from Illinois College with a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management in 2020. She was recognized as Outstanding Graduating Senior in Agribusiness Management. Staake also has been selected for the Illinois Farm Bureau’s 2023 Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow program.

Staake lives with her husband Jerrod and their daughter in Chapin. Jerrod Staake farms in Morgan, Scott, and Brown counties.

Staake was able to achieve the appraiser license after directly training under Worrell Land Service owner and accredited farm manager and real estate broker Allan Worrell. Staake has been with the company since February 2020.

The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed a local state’s attorney to the Committee on Jury Instructions in Criminal Cases.

Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright was expired to the committee. Wright, an Illinois College graduate, will have a term that expires on December 31^st, 2025.

The committee studies and recommends new pattern jury instructions on criminal cases or modifies existing jury instructions for best practice. The committee also attempts to make it easier for jurors to serve in local courts by following current law and due process and helping guide jurors to deliberate and reach verdicts in criminal cases.

Wright said in a press release that he is pleased to serve in this capacity for the citizens of the state. He says the opportunity furthers his personal commitment to seek justice on behalf of the people of Sangamon County.

A former Winchester resident was recently elected as a judge to the Las Vegas, Nevada Township Justice Court.

Jessica Goodey, a 2003 graduate of Winchester High School, won election this past November to Department 6 on the Justice Court in a four-way election for the open seat after the incumbent decided not to run for retention. Goodey was able to defeat Judge William Gonzalez by about 270 votes. Gonzalez had served in Las Vegas’ Family Court from 2009 to 2014.

Goodey earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 2007 and then attended law school at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, where she received her law degree in 2010. Shortly after, she became a personal injury lawyer with her own practice in Las Vegas. Goodey told the Nevada Current that she decided to run for the bench in Dept. 6 because of delays in getting cases resolved. Her election website says it takes on average 3 ½ years for a case to reach trial in the justice court.

Goodey told the Scott County Times that she has fond memories of her time in Winchester, when her family moved there in 5^th grade. She told the Times that she got some idea of going to law school while she was Student Council president at Winchester.

Goodey currently lives in Summerlin, Nevada with her husband and teenage son.

The Winchester EMS had a good return of their annual fundraiser over the weekend.

The 24th annual chili cook-off took place on Saturday. Twelve chili teams and six salsa teams were in the competition for top prizes in each category.

The cook off had been on hold the last two years due to the pandemic.

Randy Dolen of the Winchester EMS says that attendance and the money raised was back to pre-pandemic levels: “Our attendance was pretty good. I think we cleared approximately $4,000.” Dolen says that the attendance and the amount of funds raised: “It kind has always ran in that $4,000-$5,000 range as a normal year.”

All of the money raised will go back to the general fund of the Winchester EMS for operations and for the purchase of new equipment.