A Jacksonville man charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash in the Spring of 2021 may soon have his case completed in Morgan County Court.

32 year old Edward E. Baldwin III of the 600 block of South East Street appeared in court Wednesday afternoon for a status hearing on the case. Baldwin is accused of the leaving the scene of a crash in the 400 block of South East Street on the evening of April 13, 2021. Baldwin’s vehicle is said to have collided with a motorcycle driven by 22 year old Richard J. Gregory. Gregory died in an area hospital nearly two weeks later.

The case has had some lengthy continuances due to Covid-19 and due to Baldwin’s defense counsel, Morgan County Public Defender Tom Piper acting as stand-by counsel in the Dustin Finlaw murder trial last year.

Visiting Scott County Judge David Cherry said in court Wednesday afternoon the “very sensitive” case needed to be resolved “sooner rather than later” for the court due to the lengthy delays.

Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll believes a resolution between the state and the defense is likely: “Negotiations with the defense are certainly ongoing. It is an older case. We filed the charges in May 2021, so we are coming up on two years. It’s not necessarily a long time for a serious felony offense, which obviously, this is. We are to the point where if we cannot come to a negotiated agreement on the matter, it will proceed to trial. My prediction would be that it will be resolved, one way or the other, in the first half of 2023.”

The next status for a possible plea agreement has been set for March 15^th at 1:30. The date places the case beyond the March jury call if no resolution can be reached. If a plea is not reached, an April jury call would then likely be scheduled.

A vacant home burned in White Hall Wednesday night under what is believed to be somewhat suspicious circumstances.

White Hall Fire Chief Gary Sheppard says his department and the Roodhouse Fire Department received the call for a structure fire at 219 Carson Street at 8:18PM on Wednesday: “Upon arrival, we had a vacant structure with nobody home and fire showing in the front room. We made a pretty quick attack and knocked it down and put it out pretty quickly. The house had been sitting there on fire probably for at least 2 hours. It finally got some air and then the fire broke out. Major damage to one room and minor damage done to the rest of the house. Nobody got hurt. I believe I had 15 firefighters there Wednesday night. We were on scene for about 2 hours.”

Sheppard says he has begun an internal investigation into the direct cause of the fire since the home has been vacant for some time and the homeowner lives out of the local area: “It appears, since the house was vacant, and this was after a preliminary investigation, it kind of show that there is a good possibility that maybe some squatters were kind of staying in this vacant house. The home had been vacant for probably a year or year and a half or so. It appears maybe [the squatters] may have accidentally started a fire somehow in the front room in a chair. We don’t know that to be positive at this time, but the back door to the home was unlocked. It just appears that probably some squatters were in the house and accidentally started the fire. Again, I don’t know that for sure. I still have an active investigation into it.”

Traffic was closed off on the street during the fire fight. The home is located about 2 ½ blocks south of the North Greene Unit District offices on White Hall’s east side.

More information has come available about the evidence and the circumstances that led to 2 Springfield EMS workers being charged with first-degree murder.

LifeStar EMS workers Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley are being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $1 million bond each, as the charging documents contends they both knew that their actions in restraining Earl Moore Jr. face down could cause his death or great bodily harm.

Body camera footage released by the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office shows Finley yelling at Moore, while both EMS workers appear to show both handling Moore roughly and forcefully tightening restraints on a stretcher while Moore was in a face-down, prone position.

A toxicology report released from the state’s attorney’s office showed that Moore had a blood-alcohol level of .07, just below the legal limit and was also under the influence of cannabis.

According to an autopsy report, Moore is said to have died from asphyxia from the restraints on the stretcher, but did not indicate the intoxicants in his system played a role in his death.

According to WMAY, the Springfield Police Department says its officers who initially responded to the December 18^th call to the residence that Moore was found at in the 1100 block of North 11^th Street in Springfield observed the two EMS workers responding “indifferently” towards Moore’s condition. Officers were initially met by a resident of the home who said that the caller for police was suffering from hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal.

Springfield Police are said to have helped Moore, who was said to be physically unable to walk, get to his feet and head outside of the residence and get onto the stretcher for the EMS workers.

The report from Springfield Police says that they deferred medical treatment and care to the EMS workers per Springfield Police Department policy.

WICS Newschannel 20 reports that Peter Cadigan was sued in April 2008 after an ambulance that Cadigan was driving struck and killed seven-year-old Truvonte Edwards, who was riding his bike near the intersection of Phillips and 11th street in Springfield. A civil lawsuit filed by the child’s mother alleged that Cadigan acted negligently. The Sangamon County circuit court found that Cadigan did not have time to stop the ambulance he was driving before it hit and killed Edwards and the lawsuit was dismissed a year later after an appeal. Cadigan was also not criminally charged in the April 2008 case.

Both Cadigan and Finley appeared in Sangamon County Court on Tuesday before Associate Judge Karen S. Tharp who ordered bond be set. A preliminary hearing for both will be held next Thursday.

The Illinois House of Representatives held their official inauguration Wednesday afternoon at the University of Illinois Springfield campus.

Both multi-term Republican representatives for the area have two takes on their upcoming term.

Randy Frese of Paloma will be over the new 99^th District which covers the northern half of Morgan County. Frese says he has some new territory to get familiar with: “I tell you what, I’m looking forward to serving a new district, and getting to know more of the people in that district, and finding out even more of what their needs are, and bringing those needs to the General Assembly to see what we can do in that respect. I’m looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of new people who are coming into the General Assembly. There is quite a change-over and certainly new leadership on the Republican side. I’m looking forward to see how all of that works together and weaves together. Hopefully, we will have a nice, smooth General Assembly for our session that is starting on [Thursday].”

C.D. Davidsmeyer of Jacksonville keeps familiar territory in the new 100^th District that draws him further south, south of the City of Jacksonville. Davidsmeyer says the new session is an opportunity for the GOP to head in a new direction: “I think the new session is an opportunity for a new direction for Republicans. We are going to have a new leader, a new leadership team, a lot of new members and on the other side they are going to have a lot of new members, as well. I’m hoping that they are coming in with open minds and have a willingness to make Illinois better.”

Davidsmeyer hopes that there will be some bipartisanship for things to really work in this new General Assembly: “We need to make sure that we can come together and do some just normal, common sense things and not extremes, but things that need to be done for the state.”

Frese is now in his fifth term in the Illinois House after he was appointed to replace fellow Quincy Republican Jil Tracy who moved to the Illinois Senate. Davidsmeyer is also in his fifth elected term. Davidsmeyer replaced Jim Watson in 2012 when Watson resigned from office to take a job as the Executive Director of the Illinois Petroleum Council, the state affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute.

Beardstown will have its first food pantry opening today.

Sarah and Joe Engelbrecht are opening the pantry. The Cass County Star Gazette reports that Sarah, who is a special education teacher at Beardstown Jr. High, got the idea after noticing that children in the Beardstown area were going hungry on the weekends when school wasn’t in session.

A ribbon cutting for the new facility will be at 4:15 today at 121 East 2^nd Street, with the facility staying open until 6PM for tours from the community. Shoppers will have the pantry open to them on Sundays from 1-3PM, with future expansion into more hours in the works.

The pantry is being assisted by the Central Illinois Food Bank and through donations from Cargill, Dot Foods, and other community partners. Monetary donations to continue the pantry can be left at the First National Bank of Beardstown.

The Village of South Jacksonville says the problem with AT&T’s cellphone service in the village is now out of their hands.

Trustee Todd Warrick said last Thursday that he’s washed his hands of the situation after AT&T representatives failed to appear at a village board meeting that Warrick says they promised to attend a few months ago: “They didn’t show up to a meeting. I went and tried to help them find a place to put [a new tower]. I really did. I went out on a limb, and I was trying to find them a location – AT&T. They are the ones that have the problem here and they know it. I can explain to everyone what the problem is and why there is an area of a circle around here that doesn’t have service. I’m not going to get into that. It’s an engineering problem. [The AT&T representative] didn’t show up to a meeting like they said they were going to, so I washed my hands of it. I’ve told them, ‘You guys are on your own.'”

Warrick says the search to find suitable property to place a new tower in the village is up to the company’s engineers. He says it will at least be a year or longer after that site selection for the new tower to get the new tower into service due to the supply chain and licensing.

Village President Dick Samples says that he and Warrick went above and beyond to help AT&T find a suitable site: “We found two places within 200-300 yards of where they wanted to put it. They want it on [the village’s] ground, okay? We found places right across from it off of our ground in the middle of a field, and they didn’t want anything to do with that. Now, if it’s a matter of the tower being 20 feet lower, build your tower 20 feet higher. Again, we are getting way beyond what we should be talking about here, because we’re not AT&T.”

Village officials say if the public has continued complaints about their AT&T service, they should contact Chris Warwick of AT&T whose information is located at Village Hall.

Springfield authorities are looking for a local musician who has gone missing.

James Bradley, Jr., also known as JJ Bradley, a known singer and guitarist in Springfield was last seen on December 15^th near the Blue Grouch Pub after a performance in the 500 block of Maple Street. Bradley’s not been seen nor heard from since.

Bradley is a 39 year old black male standing approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs between 145-150 pounds, has very short buzzed black hair, brown eyes, with a scruffy beard and mustache. He also has a visible chipped front tooth.

If you have any information about Bradley’s whereabouts, contact the Springfield Police Department at 217-788-8311.

Emergency crews responded to a building strike at a residence on the northwest side of Springfield last night.

WICS Newschannel 20 reports that shortly after 10:30 a vehicle was driven into an occupied home in the 2000 block of Hazlett Road about a mile west of Springfield, in between the city and Bradfordton just off Old Jacksonville Road.

Initial reports say no one inside the home nor the driver was injured. Eye witnesses says speed may have been factor in the crash.

Emails to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office for an official report are currently in transit.

This story will be updated.

Jacksonville Police Lieutenant and Chief Detective Doug Thompson was honored last night by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police.

Thompson was awarded the Fraternalism Award for his years of service to the law-enforcement based organization. Thompson was presented the award by Illinois FOP President Chris Southwood at the meeting of the local Jacksonville FOP Lodge.

Southwood said in a press release that Thompson has served the state FOP Lodge as secretary for 8 years and two years as a district trustee.

Thompson, a Beardstown native, has been with the Jacksonville Police Department since 2002 and has served in various capacities.

Jacksonville Police apprehended a man wanted in relation to previous burglaries in town this week last night.

Jacksonville Police were on patrol for a wanted subject in the 800 block Hackett Avenue shortly after 8:15 last night. Police later located the subject in question, 30 year old David Z.K. Morris of the 900 block of Allen Avenue at a residence in that area at 8:24PM.

According to a police report, Morris fled on foot after being sighted by police. A brief foot chase occurred and Morris was taken into custody without further incident. During a person search, police say they found purported drug paraphernalia on Morris’ person.

Police arrest records say that Morris was wanted in connection to a residential burglary that occurred overnight on Monday after a caller reported that their residence in the 800 block of Nottingham Lane had been burglarized and all their tools for their home repair business had been taken.

Morris was also wanted in connection to an non-referenced burglary from Tuesday, as well.

Morris was cited for residential burglary, burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting a peace officer.

Morris previously pleaded guilty in Morgan County Circuit Court to burglary in December 2020. Morris was sentenced to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and 1 year of mandatory supervised release in that case.

He currently remains held at the Morgan County Jail without bond.