Jacksonville Main Street is offering up a new look at the past in a newly published book. According to a press release Thursday Executive Director Judy Tighe, “Downtown Jacksonville Then & Now”, is a hard-cover pictorial review of how downtown Jacksonville has changed over the years and is the first book of this kind. Printed locally, it is the culmination of many hours of Jacksonville Main Street’s Design Committee volunteer labor and research according to Tighe.

The book contains rarely-seen historical pictures dating as far back as the 1870s and new full-color photos that compare the modifications, its 88 pages are filled with hundreds of visual reminders of stores, structures, and styles through the years.

Tighe says that interest in a project like this over the years spurred the publication. “We have had a lot of people express interest over the years about the changes downtown and how it used to be before Urban Renewal and after. There’s also been a great deal of interest in how we’ve been sort of restoring the square over the years as much as possible to what it originally was. So a lot of people have expressed interest and they were always fascinated to see the pictures I have in my office of how downtown has changed over the course of time.

Years ago, our then Design Committee Chair Carol Carl had the idea that we should put all these pictures in a book. People get a real kick out of seeing the changes over the years, and then to take new pictures and compare them back and forth.”

The cost of the book is $30 and it will be available for purchase both online on the Jacksonville Main Street website and in person at the office. “Downtown Jacksonville Then & Now” can also be purchased at Market House Antiques, Our Town Books, Gillham House, Crimson Cup & Spirit Stop, The Farmers State Bank and Trust Company (downtown facility), and the Jacksonville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Tighe says the cost of the book will offset the manufacturing of it which took place locally at Bound-To-Stay Bound, but any further proceeds have other plans for use. “Any of the proceeds from this book will then go to beautification projects that the Design Committee has planned. There are several things that we have been looking at doing and trying to secure funding for, including some beautification items that will be interactive and available in the square.”

Tighe says she hasn’t ruled out a sequel to the book, depending upon sales and any reaction from the public. She says that during the making of the book, the committee came across several great photographs and stories about Jacksonville that may fit into a similar book project down the road.

A Greene County Christmas lights display came through again in a big way for the county’s cancer patients.

Haypress Falls donated another $3,700 this year to Carrollton’s Boyd Memorial Hospital gas card program for area cancer patients. The gas cards help to pay for travel of the area’s cancer patients who are unavailable to afford to get back and forth to life-saving treatments.

The free-will donations are taken at the entrance to the Fall’s large holiday decoration display each year, where people travel from miles around. The Falls, owned by Denny & Sherry Vetter, also have a rest stop for Santa and his reindeer. It’s also the home of Ed Nolan’s Petting Zoo where visitors can feed and hold a variety of animals.

Denny Vetter delivered all the collected cash to Boyd Hospital’s Chief Financial Officer Kate Garner on Wednesday. The annual display has raised over $20,000 to date. In a post to Denny’s Facebook Page, he wished to thank Jesse & Gloria Morgan, Gail Buck, and Phil Wise for helping put up and take down the display this year as Vetter says he is still recovering from an accident that occurred last year.

The second suspect in the burglary of a Jacksonville business from March of last year has been sentenced in Morgan County Court.

57 year old Brian K. Morris of the 1000 block of South Clay Avenue pled guilty to one count of possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams from an October 2021 arrest and one count of burglary from a March 2022 arrest.

Morris was arrested on October 28, 2021 in a traffic stop by Jacksonville Police at the intersection of West Lafayette and Webster Avenue for possession of methamphetamine and driving on a suspended license.

Morris was arrested again on March 29^th along with 49 year old Kenneth D. Smith of the 1000 block of North Main Street after police received a report of two men digging through a dumpster at 600 Capitol Way. Upon arrival, police later reported discovered that Jacksonville Warehouse Bargains had been entered into illegally with items removed. Smith pled guilty to his involvement in the burglary in November and was sentenced to 6 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Morris was sentenced yesterday in Morgan County Court and received 2 years in IDOC for the methamphetamine charge and 6 years in IDOC on the burglary charge. Both sentences were ordered to be served consecutively and in a facility with substance abuse treatment. The traffic citation was dropped per the plea.

Morris will also have to serve up to 1 year of mandatory supervised release. Morris was given 319 days total credit for time served in the Morgan County Jail.

The Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau was recently awarded for its excellence in new programming for the past year.

The Journal Courier reports that Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau was presented with two awards for excellence in programming during the 108th annual meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau in Chicago last month.

It received the New Horizon Award as well as the Excellence Award for local affairs programming. Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau Manager Lindsay Ryan told the Journal Courier that the awards were for the same project, but the New Horizon Award is one of the top three awards given by the organizations and only five counties receive an award in each of three categories dependent upon the local farm bureau’s size.

The Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau was recognized for its new rural fire department grant program. The local farm bureau offered $10,000 to area fire departments to buy things to help rural landowners in emergency situations like brush fires, grain bin extractions, and medical emergencies. Chandlerville, Woodson, Waverly, and Beardstown’s fire departments were the four beneficiaries of the program this year.

A Southern Greene County man has been charged with robbery of a new Jersey County store.

The Alton Telegraph reports that 18 year old Kaleb G. Roth of Rockbridge was arrested on a warrant by Carrollton Police on December 27^th on multiple charges in relation to a burglary in Jerseyville.

A 17 year old male juvenile was also taken into custody and charged for the break-in.

According to Riverbender, two individuals broke into The Cave, located at 610 South State Street in Jerseyville at the junction of U.S. 67 and Illinois Route 109. The store, which sells CBD, Delta 8, vaping equipment, vape juice, and smoking paraphernalia officially opened on December 14th.

According to the report, two individuals shattered the glass entrance door to the store at approximately 2AM on December 27th. The two suspects are then alleged to have taken over $200 dollars in currency and several hundred dollars worth of merchandise. The suspects are also are said to have caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to a cash register, merchandise cases, along with the door. Riverbender has shared video footage of the break-in on their YouTube channel here.

The two suspects then fled the scene and headed south towards Carrollton where they were caught by the Carrollton Police Department later that same afternoon after one of the suspects wrecked their vehicle in a ditch. One of the suspects was arrested at that time and later bonded out of the Greene County Jail.

Carrollton Police Chief Mike McCartney told Riverbender that their office later received a call from the Jerseyville Police about the break-in at The Cave and received photos and video evidence to review. McCartney says at that point he was able to identify that Roth and the juvenile were involved in the break-in because they were still wearing the same clothes at the time of their initial arrest. At 12:30PM on December 27th, both individuals were then taken into custody on the burglary charges. The juvenile was released with an ankle monitor while Roth was booked and lodged at the Jersey County Jail at that time.

Roth has been charged with burglary, theft between $500-$10,000, and criminal damage to property between $500-$10,000. The juvenile’s charges are not publicly available by law. Roth appeared in court yesterday and will be officially arraigned on the charges with counsel on January 11th.

The Adams County State’s Attorney’s office will not file an appeal of last month’s Fourth District Appellate Court’s ruling that upheld a decision to dismiss a charge of aggravated driving under the influence against a Quincy woman.

A status hearing on 36 year old Natasha L. McBride’s case was held Tuesday morning in Adams County Court before Judge Robert Adrian. McBride is accused of 4 counts of first-degree murder, reckless homicide, driving on a revoked license, and leaving the scene of a personal injury traffic crash in an Aug. 14, 2020, crash that killed 54 year old Jennifer Hendricks of Rushville and her 3 grandsons. McBride is alleged to ran a traffic light at 4^th Street and Broadway in Quincy while speeding and ran into Hendricks’ vehicle. McBride then is alleged to have tried to escape the scene on foot by running onto a nearby bridge where she was apprehended by police.

On January 11^th of last year, the Adams County State’s Attorney’s Office filed an aggravated DUI charge alleging McBride operated her vehicle “while under the influence of THC.” Public Defender Todd Nelson moved on March 15 to dismiss the 17^th count on speedy-trial grounds, and then-Circuit Judge Amy Lannerd granted the motion at an April 1^st hearing. The State’s Attorney’s Office issued an appeal to that ruling and the 4^th District Appellate Court upheld Lannerd’s ruling in early December. According to Muddy River News, Adams County Prosecutor Todd Jones said Tuesday in court that the state’s attorney’s office won’t pursue appealing the ruling any further.

Judge Adrian set a status hearing on the case for January 17^th. McBride remains in the Adams County Jail on $5 million bond.

An Adams County Judge under complaint with the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board has been reinstated to some of his former duties on the bench.

It’s been nearly a year since Judge Robert Adrian was removed from hearing criminal cases in the 8^th Judicial Circuit by Chief Judge of the 8^th Judicial Circuit J. Frank McCartney. According to Muddy River News, in administrative orders filed on December 20^th, Adrian and Judge Tad Brenner will be assigned to felony criminal court cases.

McCartney said assignments in the 8th Judicial Circuit are reviewed annually, but the decision to assign Adrian and Brenner to the felony docket was precipitated by the assignment of Judge Amy Lannerd to the Fourth District Appellate Court and associate judge Roger Thomson being elected to the circuit judge position in Mason County.

Thomson was invested on December 1^st in Mason County, as he fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Alan Tucker. McCartney said in the orders that Thomson will remain the judge presiding over the Bradley Yohn sexual assault case in Adams County.

Adrian had been removed from felony criminal cases in the wake of being reassigned to the small claims dockets, the Law Magistrate docket, and the probate docket on January 13^th, 2021 after throwing Adams County Lead Trial Attorney Josh Jones out of his courtroom the preceding day after Adrian said, “I can’t be fair with you today.” Jones had reacted to a post on QUANADA’s Facebook page that criticized Adrian’s decision for vacating a guilty verdict of 18 year old Drew Clinton on a charge of criminal sexual assault. The vacating of the ruling drew international criticism.

McCartney said in his assignments that Brenner will handle all felony sex cases.

The Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board filed a complaint with the Illinois Courts Commission on June 21st against Adrian, alleging he violated rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct in relation to the Clinton case. A status hearing in the Adrian case before the Illinois Courts Commission is set for February 2^nd.

Adrian was retained in the November 2022 General Election as a circuit judge in the 8th Judicial Circuit. He needed 60% of the vote to be retained, and received 62%. Adams County was the only county in the circuit he lost.

Adrian, a Republican, has been on the bench since winning election in 2010.

A Menard County Sheriff’s Deputy will be hanging up his badge for the Statehouse for the next week.

Jason Huffman was sworn in Monday to fill out the remaining days of Tim Butler’s term in the 87th District in the current seating of the General Assembly. Butler resigned December 31st to take a new position as head of the Illinois Railroad Association. In a congratulatory post on Butler’s Twitter, he says that Huffman lives in Athens and is currently a Menard County Sheriff’s Deputy. WMAY reports that Huffman works as a police officer in Sherman. Huffman’s appointment will last just a few days until the new General Assembly is seated on Wednesday, January 11th.

Butler ran unopposed in the newly drawn 95th Illinois House District. Republican chairs from the 3 counties in the new district will meet Thursday to vote to fill the vacancy for the next two years. It was reported last week that Mike Coffey, Jr., a Springfield restaurateur and former Springfield mayoral candidate, is the front runner to fill the term.

Congressional Republicans are in a dog fight over their party’s leadership in the House of Representatives. One Illlinois Congresswoman is a part of the roadblock that refused to vote in House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of of the House in three separate votes yesterday.

In three votes yesterday, 15th District Illinois Congresswoman Mary Miller was one of 19 House Republicans who voted for someone else besides McCarthy for the gavel. Miller voted each time for fellow House Freedom Caucus member, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan.

Fellow Illinois Republicans Darin LaHood and Mike Bost each voted for McCarthy.

McCarthy became the first front-runner for Speaker of the House to be defeated in the first round of voting for Speaker of the House in a century. It was also the first time in over a century that the U.S. House went to multiple rounds of voting for Speaker of the House.

New York Democrat Hakeem Jeffries received more votes each time than any of the Republicans who were put forth in the three votes, as House Democrats have unanimously selected him as their next leader. McCarthy has refused to concede the fight and spent most of the night after adjournment trying to work a deal to ascend to the Speaker of the House.

It’s been more than 100 years since the House was led by plurality (not led by the majority party in power). McCarthy continued to lose votes as the day went on into multiple votes yesterday. The 1923 vote for Speaker, took 9 ballots before a Speaker was chosen.

The Clerk of the U.S. House, Cheryl L. Johnson, will be the parliamentarian until a new Speaker is chosen.