Multiple fire departments in the surrounding area responded to a structure fire in rural Meredosia on Wednesday night.

Reports of a structure fire were called in for multiple departments at 7:25PM Wednesday night for a residence located at 523 Spunky Ridge Road in rural Meredosia.

Little details are known at this time.

This is a developing story.

The Morgan County CASA program has three new volunteer advocates in the local court system.

The Journal Courier reports that Dean Miles, Pat Pennell, and Judy Dillard recently took the oath to be advocates for children in the Morgan County Court system from Morgan County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Tobin recently.

CASA or Court-Appointed Special Advocates are trained to speak for abused or neglected children in the local court system. Volunteers receive more than 30 hours of training on various court procedures, working with social service agencies, and helping children get their needs met by the court and other agencies. The Morgan County Court system currently has more than 100 children who are under the service of CASA.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, contact program manager Libby Gaige at 217-971-0531. More information can be found online at advonet.org.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is asking Amtrak to reconsider its decision about suspending morning train service between Quincy and Chicago.

Amtrak announced on November 16^th that service between Quincy and Chicago would be suspended until January 16^th. They said the rail service would be replaced by Coach buses. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari told WGEM that the suspension was due to staffing issues. Magliari said the collective bargaining agreement between Amtrak and union employees allows employees to choose their work routes based on seniority. He said enough senior employees had chosen other routes that Amtrak had to make the decision to cancel scheduled trains.

Durbin emphasized in a letter to Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner on Monday the suspension would have serious economic consequences for area residents. Durbin says that the suspension of service has left many without transportation to and from their jobs.

Although Amtrak has provided a bus service in replacement for the Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr trains, Durbin said this will not be able to meet the transportation needs of West Central Illinois residents.

Durbin is asking Amtrak to restore the train service quickly as it provides approximately 5,000 passengers rides on average per month.

Durbin advised Amtrak to work with rail labor unions to prevent and resolve incidents of labor shortages along the Quincy rail system.

No one was injured in a two-vehicle collision after one of the vehicles struck a utility pole Tuesday morning.

Jacksonville Police, the Jacksonville Fire Department, and LifeStar EMS were called to the intersection of West Lafayette and North Diamond at 9:23AM Tuesday.

According to a police report, a white Chevy truck driven by 33 year old Richard B. Jackson of the 1000 block of North Fayette was traveling eastbound on West Lafayette near the intersection of North Diamond. Jackson told police that a white Chevy hatchback was southbound at the stop sign on North Diamond before the vehicle proceeded into the intersection. Jackson said his truck’s front end then struck the front, passenger side of the hatchback, before striking a power pole and coming to rest. The hatchback came to rest on a curb in front of a residence on the south side of the roadway along West Lafayette.

The driver of the hatchback, 80 year old Marine E. Hemphill of the 700 block of Grove Street said she did not remember what happened to cause the collision. Hemphill was evaluated by EMS at the scene, and police say she refused further treatment. Jackson did not complain of any injuries.

Both vehicles were towed from the scene.

Hemphill was cited for failure to yield at an intersection stop and given a notice to appear in Morgan County Court.

Discussions around making technical changes to the SAFE-T Act and possible looking towards creating an assault weapons ban in Illinois have circulated at the State Capitol during the current General Assembly veto session.

100th District Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer says he’s having conversations other legislation both in his caucus and across the aisle: “I was recently talking with State Representative [Maurice] West of the Rockford area. I said ‘We’re so close to the re-mapping year and right after an election. There’s no better time to bring everybody back together.’ I said, ‘Let’s pass some anti-gerrymandering legislation.’ We’re working on stuff. I’m not holding my breath on that one bill but I’m certainly trying to make sure that there’s some common sense at the table in an opportunity to work together on things that actually help people in the State of Illinois.”

Lawmakers have been having mostly committee meetings with no legislation getting passed yet during the first portion of the session. Lawmakers will return on November 29th and work until December 1st and be done for the year.

The 103rd Illinois General Assembly will be seated officially in January.

Multiple Cass County fire departments responded to a structure fire in rural Virginia yesterday afternoon.

According to a Facebook report by the Beardstown Fire Department, at approximately 3:40 yesterday afternoon, Beardstown Fire and Ambulance were called for mutual aid with the Virginia Fire Department to a single-story residence on 7647 Schall Road in rural Virginia.

The residence was deemed a total loss. No injuries to the occupants were reported and some personal property was saved from the residence.

Also responding to the scene was the Ashland Fire Department and the Cass County Sheriff’s Department.

No cause of the fire was listed in the report. Fire departments were doing overhaul on the scene for approximately 5 1/2 hours.

No further information is currently available.

Three Macoupin County State’s Attorneys have opposed the release of an inmate initially sentenced to death in a 1985 murder.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board is scheduled to hear a petition of executive clemency for 63 year old Robert G. Turner. Turner, formerly of Wilsonville, who was convicted for the rape and stabbing death of 16-year old Bridget Drobney of Downers Grove in July 1985.

In July 1985, three men used a flashing red light on their vehicle to pull Drobney’s car over and told her she had to go with them because she was speeding along a back road in rural Gillespie in southern Macoupin County. The case would later lead to a new state law sponsored by the late State Senator Vince DeMuzio making it illegal for the public to possess flashing red lights that impersonate police. Governor Jim Thompson signed the bill into law in July 1986.

Bridget Drobney’s body was found four days later in a corn field, twelve miles away from the initial encounter with the three men. Michael Turner confessed committing the crime to his sister, who in turn, reported it to police. The younger Turner cooperated with police and was given a 5 year sentence for concealment of a homicidal death; Hines got life without parole; and Robert Turner, who admitted to killing Bridget as she pleaded for her life, was sent to death row after being convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and criminal sexual assault. Former Governor George Ryan abolished the death penalty in Illinois in 2003, giving the older Turner a life sentence.

Current Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison along with former Macoupin County State’s Attorneys Ed Rees and Vince Moreth have filed documents on the motion opposing Turner’s release. All three attorneys recounted the heinous details of the crime, reverberations of which they say can still be felt in Macoupin County today.

The Illinois Prison Project filed the petition on Turner’s behalf back in June, but it was delayed after Drobney’s family complained that they had not received proper notice of any clemency hearing in the case.

Turner’s petition is now scheduled to be heard on January 10^th in a public hearing at the Sadie Forum in Chicago.