The furniture in front of Routt Catholic High School is not storm debris. It’s the tell tale sign that it’s Homecoming Week.

Routt Catholic is still seeking parade entries for its homecoming parade this Friday. The parade steps off at 1:20PM on Friday in the east parking lot of Our Saviour School. Entry line up begins at 12:50PM.

The theme for the parade is “Routt Through the Decades,” celebrating the school’s 120th anniversary.

To register a parade entry, contact Colleen Doyle, director of development and enrollment at RCHS, by emailing cdoyle@routtcatholic.com or calling 217-243-8563, ext. 6.

A post-parade gathering will be open to adults on Friday at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 320 East State St. Food will be provided and a cash bar will be available.

Alumni and friends of Routt Catholic High School are invited to a gathering at Don’s Place, 207 W Morgan St., at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24.

The week will wrap up with a four-person golf scramble presented by the Catholic Daughters of America at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at The Links Golf Course. Cost is $65 per golfer, which includes the cart fee, lunch, and prizes. To register a team, call 217-370-1448. To sponsor a hole for $25, call 217-473-3293.

Two rounds of severe weather left their mark on West Central Illinois this morning.

A round came through shortly after 1AM, dumping more than 2 inches of rain, 60+ mile per hour winds, and dime to quarter size hail. Multiple reports of downed trees, power lines, and damages to Downtown Jacksonville business facades were reported.

Morgan County Emergency Management Coordinator Phil McCarty urges everyone to take extra time in the morning commute this morning. He says crews have been out attempting to clear city streets in South Jacksonville and Jacksonville since 1:30AM after the storms went through.

Jacksonville School District 117’s Central Office, the Transitional Adult Program (T.A.P.) on Jacksonville’s Downtown Square, Crossroads Learning Center, Educational Daycare Center in South Jacksonville, and South Elementary School are all closed this morning due to power outages.

Portions of Springfield, including between Wabash Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard, were reported to be flooded. Several overpasses were said to have been flooded out. The National Weather Service had Flash Flood Warnings in effect in Sangamon and southern Menard counties until 8:15AM.

Ameren-Illinois’ outage map listed over 1,500 customers without power in the Jacksonville area around 6AM. Illinois Rural Electric also reported approximately 35 customers without power in its service area. The City of Roodhouse reported downed power lines this morning.

The Morgan County Jail and the Jacksonville Municipal Building were running on generators this morning due to the outages in the central portion of Jacksonville. McCarty says that Ameren-Illinois has not given a definite restoration time as of 6:30AM. McCarty wants to remind people to stay safe around downed power lines and to not go around barricaded streets where crews are working to clear debris and fix utility lines.

South Jacksonville Streets crews are out removing debris from curbside. Citizens are reminded to drag all their tree limbs to the curb if they would like them picked up.

If you have a power outage or a downed power line in Jacksonville or are an Ameren customer, you can report your outage at 1-800-755-5000.

Jacksonville Police arrested a man after he was involved in several incidents throughout the city over the last 24 hours.

Police were initially called to the Casey’s in the 500 block of East Morton Avenue at 2:20 yesterday morning after employees reported a physical disturbance on the property. Upon arrival, police arrested and cited 23 year old John L. Burton of the 300 block of South Clay Avenue for disorderly conduct after allegedly hitting another subject inside the business. Burton was later released.

At 1:42PM, Jacksonville Police were called to an apartment complex in the 700 block of East Chambers Street after a neighbor was alarmed by a gray car pulling into a driveway of the complex and several subjects exited the vehicle carrying ball bats attempting to fight other people on the property. A vehicle was damaged in the incident. The subjects left the area prior to officers’ arrival to the scene.

Jacksonville Police were called to The Emporium in the 200 block of East State Street at 12:34 this morning for a large physical disturbance with weapons. Upon arrival, police separated several parties and issued multiple citations and arrested Burton for the 700 block of East Chambers disturbance and the Casey’s disturbance from earlier in the day for disorderly conduct.

Also cited in the incident at The Emporium for disorderly conduct for fighting were 27 year old Tautaneisha S. Austin of the 600 block of North Main Street, 27 year old Mahyura K. Walton of the 700 block of West Douglas Avenue, 27 year old Alexiss L. Walton of East St. Louis, 20 year old Derrick D. Bailey, Jr. of Springfield, and 33 year old Derrick D. Walton of the 600 block of North Prairie Street.

Tautaneisha Austin, Derrick Bailey, Jr., and Alexiss Walton were also subsequently arrested in the disturbance for resisting/obstructing a peace officer.

Tautaneisha Austin and Mahyura Walton may also have pending citations for battery, according to police reports. The Emporium incident remains under further investigation and more citations may be pending.

Morgan County residents interested in the new bivalent Covid-19 booster shot have multiple chances to get one over the next few months.

Morgan County Health Department Director of Nursing Jacquie Berringer says to come on in during the health department’s regular vaccine schedule time to get the bivalent booster. Berringer says the Health Department is hitting the road with it over the month: “We are also going to be taking the bivalent booster with us over to the Bowl when we go over there for the Flu Bowl on October 6th & 7th. Then, we are also taking it with us when we go to First Christian Church on October 12th for the drive-thru.”

Berringer says there are a few special requirements for the booster, and it’s not for kids: “The booster is for anyone 12 years of age and up, and there has to be at least 2 months between your primary series of the Covid-19 vaccine or your last dose when we give the bivalent booster.”

Berringer says she has not heard of any adverse effects yet with the newly formulated booster: “Of course, this shot is going into the muscle. The bivalent booster is a combination of the original strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 spiked protein that’s the circulating strain that’s going around now. When we give a shot into the muscle, we expect that you will probably have some soreness. We haven’t heard of any adverse events at this point, but we are always watching out for those. If someone thinks that they have had an adverse event [with the bivalent booster], obviously if it’s an emergency go to the hospital. Afterwards, you should call us. We always want to know if there was a problem that was unexpected.”

Vaccine appointments are available at the Morgan County Health Department, located at 425 East State Street, on Mondays from 1:30-5, Tuesday-Friday 8:30-11AM and 1:30-3PM.

The Greene County Health Department announced that the county has a new mobile app to provide residents of the county a variety of alerts and communication.

The mobile app is a collaboration with the Health Department and all other lead agencies in the county to keep residents more informed.

Health Department Administrator Molly Peters says the app is based off community needs: “It seems like websites are becoming less and less utilized. To kind of be on the cutting edge of newness, I guess, we decided that an app might be the way to just get information out. On Facebook, messages as you share them show up, but if they are not liked and shared a whole lot, people don’t see them. So, when there is an emergency or when there is information you really want people to hear and know, it’s really hard to just put messages out on the Facebook page. The app allows us to send out messages, and anybody that has the app downloaded on their mobile device will receive it instantly.”

Peters says it will give local law enforcement another way to communicate emergency information directly to the app’s users: “If there ever is an emergency, we are able to send out specific information about it. We are adding channels for our police chiefs and the Sheriff’s Office so that maybe if there is a road closure or some specific public safety information that people need to know, they will be able to get on the app and send that information out on their channel.”

Peters says it will work similar to a website for each organization with more mobility. Peters says the money for the app design came from an Emergency Response grant. She says that app may be a temporary feature of the county, based upon usage. She says the usage will be evaluated often to see how much it’s getting used by the public and to see if there are ways it needs to be improved or expanded.

Greene County residents can search for the app in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store by searching for “Greene County Health Department IL” to download it for free.

One Greene County school is needing more music.

The Greenfield School District’s Music Department is putting out an all points bulletin for instruments. The Music Department said in a Facebook post Wednesday they are running out of instruments.

Anyone who has a trumpet or trombone in their closet and would like to donate the instrument should contact the Greenfield Elementary School or High School, or simply drop off the instruments in schools’ office.

For more information or questions, contact Karla Lero by email at klero@greenfieldschools.org or call 217-368-2447.

A Petersburg man had to be rushed to an area hospital after his vehicle crashed in rural Menard County after fleeing a traffic stop.

According to the Menard County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 9:50PM Friday, a Menard County Sheriff’s Deputy was on patrol eastbound on Illinois Route 123 west of Five Points Street, about 2 miles east of Tallula, when the deputy observed another vehicle approaching from the rear of his vehicle at a high rate of speed.

The vehicle, a red Ford passenger car, overtook and passed the deputy continuing eastbound at reported speeds above 100 miles per hour. The report says the deputy attempted to stop the vehicle but the vehicle fled. The driver continued his attempt to flee from the deputy, crossing Illinois Route 97 and then traveling east on Gudgel Avenue for a short distance before leaving the roadway and overturning the vehicle south of Sawmill Lane, about 1 mile south of Lewisburg.

The deputy requested assistance from EMS and Fire Rescue as he attempted to render aid to the driver who was entrapped in the overturned vehicle.

The driver, later identified as 28 year old Justin M. Thornley of Petersburg, was extricated from the vehicle and transported to a Springfield area hospital for serious injuries. His current status is unknown this morning.

Thornley was cited for multiple violations, including driving under the influence of alcohol and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. Additional charges are pending after review by the Menard County State’s Attorney. The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by the Illinois State Police, Petersburg Police, Athens Police, Menard County Rescue Squad, Petersburg Rural Fire Department, Menard EMS, and Tallula Fire Department.

The Roodhouse Public Library has a new director.

Tracy Wells was hired at the beginning of the month to take over the position. Long-time director Becky Clemons retired at the end of last month after several years. The Library Board had been looking for a new director since June.

According to the Greene Prairie Press, Wells is a former substitute teacher and paraprofessional in the North Greene School District, and also works as a hairdresser.

Wells recently featured the library at a booth for Roodhouse’s portion of Greene County Days this past weekend. Wells is hoping to raise awareness and donations to the library, which started in 1926.

The Roodhouse Library is hosting a movie night on the lawn behind the library this Saturday at 7:25PM. The film being shown is “Ron’s Gone Wrong.”

The Roodhouse Public Library is located at 220 West Franklin Street and is open 1 to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesdays; noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 9 a.m. to noon Fridays and is closed on the weekends. For more information call 217-589-5123 or email rhe1926@gmail.com.

Stakeholders in Lincoln Land Community College in Cass County are coming together to explore ways to boost enrollment at the satellite campus in Beardstown.

According to the Cass County Star-Gazette, Cass County Board Chairman Michael Barnett recently met with Lincoln Land President Dr. Charlotte Warren and several other LLCC officials to discuss the center’s declining student enrollment and costs. Barnett’s report to the board was that the center offered 8 Fall classes but had only 16 students apply for classes causing none of the classes to officially make.

In email communication yesterday with WLDS News, LLCC Chief Communication Officer Lynn Whalen says that the college is seeing a pattern of Beardstown area students taking various classes at the main campus in Springfield as well as in Jacksonville, or completely going online. Whalen says LLCC is currently working to determine how to continue to best serve Beardstown students and asked for the input and assistance from local officials.

Whalen says that the center is going to remain open and continue to offer adult education classes but school officials are working on ways to determine the best options for providing college credit courses in the future.

Barnett suggested to the Cass County Board that one of their college scholarships be made just for anyone attending the Beardstown LLCC location. He also suggested bringing CNA certification courses and truck driving classes to Beardstown as other ways to attract students.