Bluffs Schools were put on brief lockdown at mid-day today.

Superintendent Kevin Blankenship told parents today in email communication that at approximately 11:55 this morning, a parent arrived at the school and appeared visibly upset and agitated. The parent was escorted to the administration office and as a safety precaution, the school was placed on lockdown.

Blankenship says that school officials immediately contacted law enforcement for assistance. Officers from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Police responded and took the parent into custody, removing them from the school.

Blankenship says no one was injured during the incident and students and staff remained calmly in their classrooms while the parent was removed from the premises. The school returned to a normal schedule at 12:25PM. No further details about the incident have been released.

Blankenship says the Bluffs School District would like to thank law enforcement officers, school staff, and students for their professionalism in dealing with the incident. Anyone with further questions can contact Blankenship’s office at 217-754-3351.

Senator Tammy Duckworth has issued a rebuke to the Spire STL Pipeline in West Central Illinois.

In a document obtained by WLDS News today, Duckworth’s office has issued a letter in support of constituents along the pipeline’s easement which stretches from Scott County down to the Metro East into St. Louis.

Duckworth says she and her staff visited with four separate properties along the pipeline’s easement to assess complaints her office has received over the last two years. According to Duckworth, “it appears Spire has misrepresented some of the facts in their reports submitted to FERC and it does not appear that Spire is as engaged in restoring landowners’ properties as necessary.”

Duckworth is asking that FERC hold Spire accountable and she has filed a letter in support of landowners’ letters filed with FERC on October 25^th that ask FERC to address all land restoration issues and to issue a directed order to make Spire engage with landowners to draft a negotiated remediation plan for problems.

Several landowners have reported issues along the pipeline’s easement since its installation that include erosion, drainage issues, soil compaction and contamination, equipment damage due to debris in the easement’s right of way, and large debris and rocks in tillable soil.

The Jacksonville Salvation Army is getting ready to relocate in hopes of needed expansion.

Captain Chris Clarke says the Salvation Army has signed a purchase contract with Turner Painting & Construction for the former Gamble Campus Center, located at the corner of Each Beecher, Lurton, and Hardin Avenue.

Clarke says it will allow the Salvation Army to greatly expand space and programs: “We are excited. This is a much bigger building than we currently operate at 331 West Douglas. We are excited about the potential that we have to grow our programs to offer more services, even if there is an opportunity to bring in other, similar organizations that help other people. We will have additional office space to look at accommodating those folks.”

Clarke says the new building will allow them to serve the large influx of people in the community they’ve seen over the last year, especially with their food programs: “The number of households coming to us for food has tripled, whereas a year ago, we were serving 50-70 families a week with a week’s worth of groceries. Now, that number is more around 150-200 families. We’ve been working hard to bring in new food donations from the community. We’re so thankful to stores like Wal-Mart, Aldi, and County Market who have been donating for years. We’ve now been looking outside of our region. We have volunteers who are driving as far away as Peoria and Springfield to pick up donations that we’re able to acquire. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been able to provide 600,000 pounds of food to the community. We see the need is still yet increasing. We are looking at the potential of getting our food pantry to providing a million pounds of food per year.”

Clarke says that they are going to have to do some construction on the Gamble Center in phases, primarily to make it more ADA-compliant and to fully outfit it to the Salvation Army’s needs: “There are a few ground-level entries to the side. We will be utilizing those when we first open our operations there. When we first move in, we will just be utilizing the first floor. Then, we will be working on making the building to where we can utilize it fully, especially as far as taking care of those handicap accessible issues, doing a lot of construction to the building of course with general maintenance and looking at everything that’s there and making sure that the building is going to last us for decades to come. Also, we’ll be making construction improvements to where we can better utilize the building for all of our programs and services.”

Plans are for the building to house new programs including plans for an art center, a maker space, a recreation/teen center, and new programs for children, seniors, and families to help combat cycles of homelessness and poverty. Clarke says the current building at 331 West Douglas Avenue will be put up for sale. The location has been the Salvation Army’s headquarters since September 1955 when it purchased the property from the Jacksonville Assembly of God Church in 1952.

The Jacksonville Plans Commission rejected plans for a new liquor store on East Morton Avenue Wednesday night.

The Plans Commission had received a request for rezone from Vikram Patel at 400 East Morton Avenue last month. Patel was wanting to change the zoning from B-1 to B-3 with Special Use to place a liquor store at the location. Soon after word spread of a rezone request was placed with the city for that location, several residents who live in the neighborhood created a coalition to push to stop the rezone.

Many spoke Wednesday night at the monthly Plans Commission meeting asking the Commission to deny the petition because of concerns of disrupting the neighborhood, possibly causing home values to decrease, and concerns with noise and trash among others. More than two dozen people filled the council chambers to voice opposition to the rezone request.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Lori Large-Oldenettel spoke in favor of the citizens who were in opposition to the rezone, saying it was just the second time in 11 years she’s seen such actions by citizens in her ward: “I’ve received quite a few telephone calls and talked to many of you in person or by phone about the concerns the residents have in Ward 2 regarding changing the zoning from B-1 to B-3 with special use. It’s rare that you see a sign go into a yard and so many people fill your room in opposition to a zoning change. I’m not sure how often that happens, but this is only the second time in my 11 years that I have come to support the residents of my ward with any type of…our ward because [Ward 2 Alderwoman] Alison [Rubin de Celis] is here, too with a zoning change.”

The motion to deny the petition passed by a narrow vote of 3-2. The petition now heads to the Jacksonville City Council for a final vote. City Attorney Dan Beard says the petition faces steep odds of passing the city council: “With the denial by the Plans Commission of the rezone, at least the recommendation to deny that petition, it now goes to the City Council at its next regularly scheduled meeting. At that point, they will consider whether to follow the recommendation and deny the rezoning or they could grant the rezoning at that point. There was a petition filed by a number of residents including residents who own at least 20% of the adjoining property on a perimeter basis, and that triggers a 2/3 vote of council to approve the rezoning over those objections.”

A written petition was also given to the Plans Commission that had approximately 70 signatures against the rezone request, which also triggers a 2/3 vote of the city council.

Patel said during public comment that his realtor never made him aware of problems with the zoning of the property before purchasing the location, the former home of E-Bolt.

In other Plans Commission business, the Commission approved a re-zoning request for 1108 West Morton Avenue, the former home of the Luau Grill and Rally’s, from B-3 to B-3 with Special Use to construct a new location for Taco Gringo. Owner Jim Mizeur told the Commission that with the ongoing work near his present location at 501 South Main Street, it has hurt his business and he would like to expand. The Plans Commission approved the rezone 5-0.

The Plans Commission also approved a re-zoning request for 1101 East Morton Avenue from PD Mixed to B-3 with the intent to build a new Dollar General Fresh Market at the location. The request also had site plans approved. In addition to the re-zone, property owner Michael Hayes also petitioned for a re-zone request of the Waters Edge Winery and Banquet Hall located at 1055 & 1061 East Morton Avenue. Hayes explained that the PD Mixed zoning for the area carried with it some restrictions, and should he wish to sell the property and business down the line, he didn’t want the zoning to fall out of compliance and cause problems. The Plans Commission approved the re-zoning request and the site plans for the Dollar General by a vote of 5-0.

During public comment, the Plans Commission heard from Dennis Werth, Jim Sigourney, and Jim Mizeur about presenting intent to purchase the site of the former AC-Humko plant. Current owner Michael Hayes, says the group wishes to purchase the property from him in order to turn the plant into a cannabis craft grow facility. Werth says his group has the means to purchase the property and beautify it, making it a more welcome site on the east end of Jacksonville. Werth says the group is already fully licensed by the state as a craft grow and cannabis transportation organization. Hayes says he’s spoken with adjacent property owners about the facility coming to that location and has received no objections. Hayes also noted the amount of security the location will have to be under if it is approved to come to the location. Previously, the group had explored placing the facility in the industrial park out by the Jacksonville Correctional Facility, but due to costs could not make that option tenable. City Attorney Dan Beard says that an amendment or a clause for the location may have to be approved by the Plans Commission and the City Council due to the 1,000 ft. setback requirements from residential areas in the city’s cannabis facility ordinance. A full site plan and a request for rezone are expected to be presented at the Plans Commission’s next scheduled meeting on December 7th.

A Staunton man is behind bars for several burglaries in Greene County in September.

26 year old Devin A. Krueger of Staunton has been booked into the Greene County Jail for alleged residential burglaries that occurred on September 13^th in rural Greenfield and rural Roodhouse.

According to criminal information filed by the Greene County State’s Attorney’s Office on September 21st, Krueger is accused of breaking a garage door, windows, and two entry doors at a residence in rural Roodhouse to take a John Deere lawnmower, a ZTE hotspot, a TOMO battery, and a rigid propane heater from a garage and residence. At the Greenfield residence on the same date, Krueger is accused of damaging an entry door into a residence to gain access to a trailer with a UTV and taking both items.

All told, Krueger has been charged with two counts of residential burglary, two counts of felony criminal damage to property, two counts of felony theft, and one count of burglary. Krueger was apprehended by Greene County authorities on October 26th, according to court records.

He remains held at the Greene County Jail awaiting a first appearance in court.

Over 1,500 Abraham Lincoln artifacts were trucked away from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum this week as the Lincoln Foundation and the ALPLM fued has amped up.

WBEZ reports that the Foundation and the Museum are at odds over the $8 million-plus still owed for the purchase of the unique collection, and this week the foundation made the stunning decision to remove the collection, leaving its future and the public’s access to it uncertain.

Taken away were items linked to Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater, some personal items and his early writings, and pieces from his law practice in Springfield. The pieces were all a part of historian Louise Taper’s collection sold to the ALPLM for $23 million in 2007. Municipal bonds were issued by the city of Springfield to help finance part of the deal, and private donations were secured with the understanding that once the foundation’s borrowing was repaid, the collection would become property of the museum. Collection on the debt remains the central issue, and a 5-year agreement that allowed for the artifacts to be on display at the museum expired on Monday.

Hindman Auction House of Chicago was employed to truck away the collection as rumors of an auction to help pay down the debt are beginning to swirl. Questions about whether the items will return to public display or fall into private collections remain.

The substance that sent an Illinois Department of Human Services employee at Rushville to the hospital yesterday morning has been identified.

WGEM says that the substance was identified by the Peoria Hazmat Team along with the Illinois State Police, but information about what exactly the “white powdery substance” was has not been released.

According to ISP, the employee developed similar symptoms to being exposed to a hazardous substance. The employee was treated by the nursing staff and transported by an ambulance to a local hospital yesterday morning.

According to the Peoria Fire Department, they were informed of the incident by the ISP Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 4 and responded at 11:15 a.m. WGEM reports that Hazmat technicians entered isolated areas where the substance was and were able to identify it. The technicians collected it for ISP’s investigation. No injuries or other exposures have been reported.

After a proper cleaning in the exposed areas, lockdown at the facility is reported to have ended around 5:30PM yesterday with no further threats to the community, according to officials.

The Illinois Supreme Court has approved the request to combine dozens of lawsuits challenging the implementation of the SAFE-T Act’s end of cash bail provision into a single case.

WMAY reports that nearly 60 Illinois counties who have filed suit will have the case heard in Kankakee County, the first county to file such a suit.

Morgan, Scott, Greene, Brown, and Sangamon Counties are some of the counties that allege that the SAFE-T Act and Pretrial Fairness Act unconstitutionally takes away the discretion of judges to set bail in criminal cases and will create more crime.

A schedule for hearings and briefs in the case has not yet been finalized.

The Pittsfield Police Department is warning the public about several recent fraud incidents in the area when it comes to selling things online.

The Pittsfield Police say that the main target appears to be people buying/selling vehicles or high-dollar items online. The sellers are being duped with forged checks and fake cashier’s checks. Pittsfield Police ask if you choose to sell your vehicle or do any business online, verify all funds before completing the transaction.

They recommend that you call the bank listed on the check and verify both the funds and the validity of the check. Banks maintain records of all cashier’s checks. Pittsfield Police say that if you take a cash payment, have your bank verify larger-denomination bills as being real before completing the transaction, and to always confirm payment with the other bank before releasing your goods to a buyer.

Pittsfield Police say that if you live in the city limits of the City of Pittsfield, they will, as a courtesy, help verify all payments for online transactions. For more information or to request assistance, call 217-285-5011.