State Senator Steve McClure is hosting a town hall-style event on Wednesday in Springfield about the SAFE-T Act.

The event will feature McClure, State Representative and current State Senate candidate Sandy Hamilton, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright, and Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll.

McClure says he wants to discuss the facts of the SAFE-T Act and give the public information directly from local criminal justice experts about what it will mean for people’s public safety.

The town hall will take place at 6PM Wednesday, October 19th at Piper Glen Golf Course in Springfield, located at 7112 Piper Glen Drive.

McClure joined WLDS News for a sit down interview about the Town Hall last week. The interview will play in its entirety during a special “What’s On Your Mind?” broadcast on Tuesday, October 18th beginning around 10:30AM on AM1180 WLDS. If you miss the broadcast, the interview will be posted in the WLDS.com audio archives.

Governor J.B. Pritzker updated masking and testing requirements for healthcare and long-term care facilities today.

The new guidelines are in accordance with updated Center for Disease Control recommendations. Federal requirements remain in effect for those facilities.

The updated executive order removes the weekly testing requirements for unvaccinated healthcare and LTC workers. The order will also trigger an update of IDPH policy on face coverings. Face coverings are no longer required in all healthcare facilities but are still recommended in healthcare facilities in areas of high community transmission, consistent with CDC guidance. Finally, the amended order removes the state-issued vaccine mandate for LTC and healthcare employees, consistent with the CDC’s guidance.

Although the vaccine mandate has been removed on the state level, a federal rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requiring vaccination for workers at Medicare/Medicaid-certified facilities remains in effect. The state’s amended executive order does not impact that requirement and many Illinois healthcare and LTC sites will continue to have a COVID-19 vaccine mandate under this federal rule. The amended executive order does not impact vaccination and testing requirements for state employees at state-owned congregate facilities. Private facilities have been encouraged to put their own testing and vaccination mandates in place if they choose.

A recent plea deal in a residential burglary and aggravated battery case in Greene County Court has caused a rift between the Carrollton Chief of Police and the Greene County State’s Attorney.

Carrollton Police Chief Mike McCartney told the Greene Prairie Press this past week that he’s angry that 22 year old Alexander M. McAdams of Fieldon was given the option of impact incarceration after pleading guilty to aggravated battery.

McAdams was arrested by Carrollton Police on the evening of July 18^th after the victim, Craig Baumgartner who agreed to talk to the Greene Prairie Press, walked to a neighbor’s house after being severely beaten during a robbery. According to the paper’s report, McAdams along with another individual went to Baumgartner’s house to take a vacuum cleaner. Baumgartner refused to lone the item and then was beaten about the head first with fists and then with a chair, ultimately breaking Baumgartner’s jaw and fracturing his skull. Baumgartner was eventually transferred to a Springfield trauma center for his injuries due to loss of blood and the severity of his injuries.

McCartney told the Greene Prairie Press that the investigation into the incident produced one of the best sets of evidence in a case he had worked in his 37 years of law enforcement. Baumgartner also agreed to testify and identify McAdams in open court in the case.

McCarney and Baumgartner both told the Greene Prairie Press that they believed that Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe had negotiated a plea for McAdams to receive 8 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

According to court records, McAdams pled guilty to the aggravated assault charge, a Class 3 felony, and received a sentence of 8 years in IDOC, credit for 75 days served in the Greene County Jail, up to 1 year of mandatory supervised release, and recommendation for impact incarceration. The burglary charge was dropped per the plea.

According to Illinois statutes, if an individual qualifies for impact incarceration, or boot camp, a normally “non violent” offender is sentenced to the program for a minimum term of 3-6 months. Should an offender not be able to complete their sentence, they must serve their full IDOC sentence.

McCartney says, due to the nature of the crime and some other recent unnamed disagreements with plea deals for criminals in Greene County Court, he says State’s Attorney Briscoe has taken the easy way out and is not protecting citizens of the county. McCartney pointed to the lack of jury trials. McCartney told the Greene Prairie Press that he called Briscoe after he found out about the plea agreement and had an argument with him over the phone.

State’s Attorney Briscoe responded via email in a request for comment on the situation. Here are his full comments:

“I agree with Chief McCartney in that we had a very strong case against Mr. McAdams on the Aggravated Battery. Aggravated Battery is a Class 3 Felony, with a typical maximum penalty of five (5) years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Anyone in law enforcement, and certainly those who have been a victim of that crime, know that the statutorily prescribed five (5) year max is an injustice that the legislature needs to fix. In this case, we were able to get the Court to agree to a sentence that was three (3) more than than the standard maximum sentence. We discussed that disposition with Mr. Baumgartner, as we do with all victims in cases. The impact incarceration, or boot camp, recommendation was originally proposed by Defense Counsel and was ultimately adopted by the Court. The Defendant is not automatically placed into that program upon his sentence to the Department of Corrections, and I am confident that the Department of Corrections will not adopt the recommendation, and the Defendant will serve the eight (8) year sentence. To be clear, the Defendant is 22 years old, with one prior felony conviction in his adult criminal history, as opposed to the information previously reported.

“This is a very difficult and frustrating time for all of us in law enforcement in Greene County, and throughout Illinois. The implementation of the SAFE-T Act, which eliminates cash bail, and also imposes several other requirements on law enforcement, with limited guidance or forethought as to the long term impact, is only a few months away from going into effect and it has all of us on edge. I am disappointed that Chief McCartney, who I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for, let that frustration explode into the public forum, and did not attempt to discuss this issue with me directly in a professional or personal manner, which is an opportunity I have always afforded him when I disagreed with his, or his department’s, actions. I hope that Chief McCartney and I can work past this, and continue to work together for the people of Carrollton, and Greene County.”

Time is drawing to a close for five decades in county government for one Cass County Board member.

Michael Barnett is not seeking another term on the board after being involved in county government since 1972. Barnett joined county government in June 1972 as the Treasurer of the county.

Barnett was appointed Treasuer to succeed John Myers. Barnett would stay in the office until June 1999. From 1999 to 2010, Barnett worked as the director of funds management under Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes. Barnett would move to the Cass County Board, representing District 1. For 12 years, he served as Vice chair of the Cass County Board serving under David Parish, who passed away in February 2019.

Barnett was named as Parish’s replacement as the chair shortly after Parish’s passing and has been serving as chair ever since.

Barnett said at the October 10^th county board meeting that, in looking back, he’s proud of the current board and their ability to navigate through the rough times of the last three years: “I’m very proud of this board. The last four years, of course with Covid and related problems, has been very stressful, very trying; but the board has stuck together and I think has weathered all of those problems together. We are at the point in this county where we are the strongest financially that we have been in the last 50 years that I’ve been around county government – first as treasurer and the last as county board chair. Again, I’m proud of our board, our county, and our people.”

Barnett says looking back over the previous five decades, the county board has made several sound financial decisions for the taxpayers of the county: “Back in the late 1970s, our county jail was condemned. At that time, we chose to basically enter into contracts with surrounding counties and that has served us very well. Obviously the costs of running a jail has increased dramatically and our daily stipend rose for our prisoners but not nearly as much if we had our own jail. I think that was one of the good things. I think we’ve got through the Covid as best we could. Of course, there was a lot of controversies there, but I think we did the right things during the Covid. Two years ago the county went out and did some budget stabilization grants to help various businesses. I think we had 15-16 of those, so we are proud of that. It helped our businesses during that trying time. Again, the way the budget has been handled is another thing I’m proud of. As I mentioned in our board meeting, we are as strong financially as we’ve ever been or at least within the last 50 years, and I’m really proud of that.”

Barnett’s last official meeting will be next month.

Tours of some historic Jacksonville homes will be held for the first time next month.

Villa DeWolf, located at 876 West State Street, will present its first ever fall tour, starting at Noon on Saturday, November 5^th. The hope by owner Scotty DeWolf is to make the tours an annual event.

Guided tours of the beautifully-restored Italianate former Ayers Mansion will be given. Tour participants will be treated to a tour of all three floors of the beautiful, historic mansion, now operating as a boutique bed & breakfast. This will be the first time a public tour of the mansion will feature the recently finished three-room grand suite, featuring a Southern-style sleeping porch, where the original owners, Augustus “Gus” Ayers and his wife Annie lived.

Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information, contact the Jacksonville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

City officials in Mt. Sterling say they are a week away from getting another main thoroughfare in town repaved as part of their downtown renovations.

Capitol Avenue will be closed the week of October 24^th in Mt. Sterling to lay the groundwork of putting down pavement. City Administrator Vada Yingling said by email that the contractor will shut down South Capitol from Main to South Street for patching tomorrow, with the street reopening around noon on Wednesday. Parking lanes will then get poured on the west side of North Capitol on Wednesday, as well. On Thursday, North Capitol will be shut down from Main to North Capitol for patching. It will reopen Friday at noon.

Paving will begin on October 24^th and both North and South Capitol will be shut down to allow the pavers access and room to work. No traffic or parking will be allowed during the paving process.

For more information, call City Manager Vada Yingling at Mt. Sterling City Hall at 217-773-2513.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a one-vehicle crash on Old State Road late Friday that resulted in one man being airlifted to an area hospital.

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office reports today that a 2014 Ford SUV driven by 42 year old Hank A. Davidson of Jacksonville was traveling westbound on Old State Road at approximately 9PM Friday when the vehicle veered off the pavement to the right and collided with the ditch and culvert on the north side of the roadway near Wallbaum Lane.

A caller later reported entrapment of the driver and that the vehicle was on fire. According to the report, the airbag deployed and that vehicle was completely totaled, and was towed from the scene.

Upon arrival, the sheriff’s office requested for AirEvac and Davidson was flown from the scene to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield for serious injuries. Two other passengers in the vehicle were named and no injuries or their status were provided in the report.

No citations have been listed in the crash.

The Illinois State Police has released more information about a crash that killed two people on Illinois Route 4 late Friday night. The Sangamon County Coroner’s Office has also released the identities of the two decedents.

Illinois State Police reports indicate that a 2016 white Dodge Journey SUV driven by 31 year old Francisco Cortes of Beardstown was traveling northbound on Illinois Route 4 just south of Chatham at the same time a 2002 white Chevy Tahoe SUV driven by 17 year old Kyanna Givens of Virden was traveling southbound in the same location.

For unknown reasons, Cortes’ Dodge Journey crossed the center line and struck Givens’ Chevy Tahoe. Both Givens and Cortes were pronounced deceased at the scene. There were no other occupants in either vehicle. Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon says that preliminary autopsy reports indicate that Ms. Givens died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries sustained in the collision. Allmon says an autopsy for Cortes is scheduled for Monday morning.

North Mac High School had counselors available for students yesterday afternoon. A post on the high school’s Facebook page also said that counselors were available for students online by emailing the high school administration to set up an appointment.

The crash remains under investigation by the Illinois State Police.

The FBI Springfield Office and Illinois State Police, along with the United States Attorney’s Office–Southern District of Illinois are warning of rideshare-related carjacking incidents in the state.

Law enforcement has reported 7 carjacking incidents targeting rideshare drivers since late June in the East St. Louis area. One was an attempted carjacking, and another resulted in a homicide.

The FBI in Springfield says criminals are using fake profiles to conceal their identity when requesting pick-ups through rideshares like Uber and Lyft. When the driver arrives, their car is stolen and in some instances the victim’s cell phone and/or wallet is also stolen. The drivers are then left stranded in an unknown or unfamiliar location and can possibly be re-victimized.

Law enforcement is advising rideshare drivers to verify and screen drivers and not to accept third-party requests. Rideshare drivers and passengers are also asked to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and when possible, let friends or a family member know your whereabouts at all times.

The public is encouraged to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately. Call FBI Springfield at 217-522-9675 or if immediate assistance is needed, dial 9-1-1.