Prairieland United Way announced the co-chairs for the upcoming 2022 campaign.

Stephen and Cammie Symons of Jacksonville will head the themed campaign called “Give Where You Live.”

President of the United Way board this year is Marcy Jones, who with her husband, owns and operates Jones Meat & Locker. Jones joined the board in 2019.

Stephen is a commercial sales executive with the Dimond Bros Insurance Agency and Cammie is a longtime English teacher at Jacksonville High School. They have two children.

Funds raised through the annual campaign provide services to more than 35,000 people annually through 24 agencies and 30 programs in Morgan, Scott, Cass, and northern Greene counties. The campaign has a goal this year of $465,000.

The announcement comes on the heels of the Live United Week scheduled start Tuesday, September 6th with the annual Day of Action. Area agencies have provided us with projects they need help with, and all volunteers receive a Live United t-shirt, while supplies last. Sign up at www.prairielandunitedway.org, time blocks are 1 ½ hours and range from painting to landscaping and general clean-up projects. More information about other events for the Live United Week can also be found on Prairieland United Way’s website.

The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office arrested 3 individuals on various charges after a traffic stop this past Sunday.

According to a press release, a deputy with the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department conducted a traffic stop on the Illinois River Road near Franklin Hill Road, about 2 ½ miles northeast of Batchtown on Sunday at 5:52PM.

Subsequent to an investigation, the deputy arrested the driver, 50 year old Pamela J. Gorman of Alorton, for improper lane usage, driving under the influence of drugs, unlawful possession of crack cocaine, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Additionally, a passenger in the vehicle was also arrested, 34 year old Erica S. Adams of East St. Louis. Adams was cited for unlawful possession of crack cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and illegal transportation of alcohol by a passenger.

A deputy with the Jersey County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the traffic stop, and the two women were transported and lodged at the Greene County Jail.

The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office reports that interviews were conducted with the two women and continued investigating the traffic stop. After the interviews, Gorman was also cited for prostitution.

On Wednesday, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office followed up the investigation after receiving a court-authorized search warrant for a residence along Franklin Hill Road.

Subsequent to the execution of the warrant, police additionally arrested 47 year old Brian P. Rose of Batchtown for soliciting a sexual act, patronizing a prostitute, unlawful possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Rose was taken into custody without incident and is currently lodged at the Jersey County Jail.

Adams and Gorman are next due in court on August 30^th. Charges for Rose and the additional prostitution charge for Gorman have not yet been filed in Calhoun County Circuit Court.

Multiple Fire Departments in the area are en route to a fire alarm call at the new warehouse on the campus of Westermeyer Industries on Illinois Route 100 south of Bluffs.

Initial calls came into West Central Illinois Dispatch just after 2PM.

Scanner chatter says that employees have made it out of the building at this time. Witnesses say that smoke from a fire can be seen just west of Jacksonville.

Law enforcement is asking for everyone to avoid the area at this time.

This is breaking news and preliminary reports. We will provide more information once it becomes available.

Members of the Jacksonville Education Association will be seeing a significant increase to their salary this year as a part of an effort to attract and keep young, new teachers in Jacksonville School District 117.

Superintendent Steve Ptacek says he’s had extensive talks with people on the structure of the newest salary increases accepted by the JEA: “It’s challenging to talk about the structural changes [in the contract] in very simple terms. I created a PowerPoint presentation that walks people through the changes step by step because I’ve had discussions with veteran teachers and veteran administrators that are so stuck on building a salary schedule from the lowest cell up. We’ve changed that. We build it from the highest scale, backwards and that allows us to reduce steps backwards from our highest paid people. Therefore, over the last couple of years before this year, our 3% steps that were keeping our staying pays down. We dropped to 2.1% and then to 1.9% but we did by locking the last row and stepping back less.”

Ptacek says he was approached by members of the JEA that criticized the previous contract structure saying that the starting teacher salary for teachers holding a bachelors degree was much lower in District 117 compared to other districts of similar size in the area. Ptacek did statistical comparisons and found that to be true, while Masters Degree holding teachers in District 117 were paid competitively compared to other districts.

Ptacek says that the new contract amends that disparity for starting teachers: “What we did was, we gave a 3% raise to that entire column. Then, there is a 1.9% step, so it comes out to 4.9 almost 5% raise for everybody in the Master’s level +48 credit hours. Then, we stepped back only 2.9%. We stepped back less. It made it that our Bachelor’s column increased. If you were a Bachelor’s +4 last year and you came in Bachelor’s +5 this year, you get a 9.2% raise. It increased our starting pay. We had already agreed for the contract for this year was going to be $39,226 to $41,226. It increased the Bachelor’s at 18 years to $2,700 a year more than they thought they were going to get walking in.”

Ptacek says this really will help attract young people right out of college who want to go right into the classroom, and also meeting current teachers where they are at on the stepped up pay scale with their education level and experience.

Ptacek says this also puts the district out in front of the State of Illinois’ mandated teacher minimum wage law, where districts will be required to pay starting wages for public school teachers at $40,000 per year. Ptacek says this goes beyond that and also could mitigate some future factors: “The big thing about that law is that if the Consumer Price Index stays at 8 or 9%, that $40,000 has to increase by CPI every year afterwards. If it was 9% next year or two years from now as it has been if not higher over these last several months, it would move up to $42,500. This changing the structure model, if we continue to accordion and squeeze those steps in, we are are going to have all the people in our Bachelor’s column making more and then everybody else along the way making more without having the ripple effect that will break the district and have us cut off programs and things like that if we just locked on that front step and made everybody raise at the same rate. It’s a major paradigm shift in how you think about salary schedules, but it’s really been benefiting [us]. Every one of our staff is getting a minimum of 5% raise this year, but it’s then increasing by percentage as you go towards the Bachelor’s and entry levels.”

Representation told the Jacksonville District 117 School Board that the JEA overwhelming accepted the proposal at its most recent meeting 168-9 in its membership vote. The school board unanimously approved the raises, and also approved raises for paraprofessionals, substitute staff, and secretaries in the districts by over a dollar per hour. Ptacek says the increases were all necessary to keep the district competitive on salaries and to attract and retain staff.

One major delay may hang up the Washington Elementary School renovation.

Chief Engineer of Vision 117, Bob Roads says that the school’s main electrical panel could be a lengthy time away from arriving because of supply chain issues: “The only outstanding issue we have now in terms of equipment is the electrical panel. [Contractors] are claiming that may not be available until May. They are looking at options. One option would be to put in a temporary system to get the kids back in sooner, and then, taking that back out. I don’t think that will be preferred solution. The second option, which may be the preferred solution, is to break the panel down into multiple, [smaller] panels which they could conceivably get faster.”

Roads says that the only other problem so far has been the installation of the new HVAC system for the building: “The HVAC systems for the roofs are in place. They have had a lot of problems with the HVAC system in terms of there being a lot of unforeseen beams and brick walls associated with that building when we tore out the ceilings. The duct work is going to have to be re-routed.”

Despite all the slow downs and hang ups, Roads did say that the roof trusses were put on the gym and the rest will be on the way in the next two weeks. He says that most of the interior demolition at the site is complete. He said that the stairwells weren’t initially supposed to be tore out, but fell apart when the rest of the building was being demolished. He says new stairwells will be built as soon as possible.

The trial of former State Senator and one time gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann may come to a conclusion in October.

McCann was indicted for 7 counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering, and one count of tax evasion in February of last year.

On Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Eric Long granted McCann’s counsel a motion to continue to October 20th. In the motion’s filing, McCann’s public defender Rosie Brown says that a potential plea agreement with the federal government is forthcoming in the case. McCann previously pleaded not guilty to the criminal information in late February of last year.

McCann is accused of spending funds donated to his state Senate campaigns and his unsuccessful Conservative Party bid for governor in 2018 on personal expenses like mortgage and vehicle payments.

Felony charges of wire fraud and money laundering carry maximum 20-year prison terms. A charge of tax evasion can result in a maximum five-year prison term. McCann remains free on conditional release that he must be employed or actively seeking employment, remain in the state, not possess firearms, and not open any new accounts, liquidate accounts, or accrue new debt.

McCann had previously said in court that he was unemployed, suffering from a number of health problems, and had personal debt totaling more than $30,000. He also said that he was living off of his wife’s income, who is a traveling nurse.

One man was injured on Wednesday afternoon when he lost control of his motorcycle attempting to make a turn onto a side street in the southern portion of Jacksonville.

According to South Jacksonville Police reports, an off-duty officer came upon a motorcycle crash near the intersection of Hardin and Michigan Avenues at 4:15PM.

The driver of the motorcycle, 25 year old Logan E. Doane of Warrensburg, Missouri was attempting to perform a right hand turn at the intersection when he lost control of the motorcycle causing it to exit the roadway, struck two manhole covers on private property in the 1400 block of Hardin Avenue, before eventually coming to rest.

Police reports say that Doane suffered lacerations to both legs in the shin area and a minor laceration to the face. He was later taken to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital by LifeStar EMS for treatment. His current condition is unknown. The motorcycle suffered damage to the right handle bar area, minor damage to the right side of the body of the bike, and a bent front rim.

Eye witnesses told police that Doane did not appear to be driving recklessly when the crash occurred. No citations were issued in the incident.

Jacksonville School District officials are keeping an eye on the traffic situation at Jacksonville Middle School with the modular classrooms.

Washington Elementary parents are having to drop off students at Jacksonville Middle School through the first half of the school year while the renovations are ongoing.

Superintendent Steve Ptacek said last week that there was only minor traffic chaos with student drop-off and pick-up last week. Ptacek says he expects some minor amounts of chaos as everyone gets back into the habit of pick-up/drop-off at the beginning of each school year: “I think there are absolutely going to be inconveniences and I hope that everyone keeps their eye on the prize of a brand new school building as the end product. We thought about the traffic situation, and people have had to wait, but most of the exchange was done within a half hour…We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see about if we will have to make any changes moving forward.”

Ptacek says the same kind of congestion happened when renovations were going on with South Elementary and Lincoln Elementary in the recent past. He believes as people get further into the school year, the process of pick-up/drop-off will get smoother: “It’s manageable chaos. It eventually smooths itself out.”

Washington Elementary renovations have a tentative date of completion by this school year’s winter break. Contractors aren’t committing to a solid date because of ongoing delays with construction and supply chain issues.

The Menard County Sheriff’s Office hoped to dispel rumors yesterday afternoon.

In a post to the Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page around 4PM yesterday afternoon, officials reported deputies from the Menard County Sheriff’s Office along with officers from the Petersburg Police Department, assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marshals in an ongoing investigation at a location in Petersburg.

Officials with the Sheriff’s Office say the post was to quell any ongoing concerns of local residents. Officials say there is no threat to anyone or a cause for concern. No further information and details have been released at this time.

The Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce is asking for help from the City of Jacksonville to renovate their office building.

The city owns the building that houses the Chamber of Commerce located at 155 West Morton Avenue inside of Community Park.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lisa Musch says the exterior of the building is in severe disrepair: “The exterior definitely needs some assistance. The paint is peeling. Our soffit, sidewalks, all of that needs repair. We’d really like to firm up that exterior to something a little more long-lasting, as far as material goes and then, make it look more appealing, a bit more commercial, harden up the exterior for security reasons, and really make sure that we have great ADA accessibility into the building, as well. We just really want to work to make that building look great. We are at the corner of Main & Morton. We feel it’s important to the city and for the chamber for us to look presentable, appealing, and modern. That’s kind of what we are going for.”

Musch presented the city council on Monday night with a rendering of what they would like the building to look like with a renovation. An informal price tag on the project puts the renovation costs at roughly $300,000. With the city being the landlord to the building, the chamber is asking the city to kick in half of the renovation costs.

Musch told the council that the chamber has put approximately $98,000 into the building since they first moved in back in 1983. Musch says that the chamber also has money saved up specifically for this renovation that’s been in the planning phase for the last 4 years: “We have been saving some monies. We’ll take a look at what the final plan ends up being. The $300,000 figure is an estimate right now, so depending upon how the City Council wants to proceed and what our board wants to do is how we’ll get this done, but we’ve got some skin in the game for sure.”

Musch told the City Council that she’d like to get the renovations underway as soon as possible because several community groups use the building: “We have a number of community organizations using our building on a monthly basis for meetings, retreats, special events. Sometimes when new businesses come into Jacksonville, they use it for their on-boarding or interviewing purposes. A lot of local organizations utilize it for various purposes. The chamber is utilizing it for our meetings and our seminars, but the building is being well-utilized by the community, too. We’re happy to be able to do that.”

Part of the reasons for the high costs of the renovation is that the city is mandated by law to pay prevailing wages for the work to be done. Mayor Andy Ezard suggested to the council to split the city’s portion of the costs between American Rescue Plan Act funding and the city’s building and projects fund. The portion to be utilized by the Building & Projects Fund will also have to be approved by the City’s Municipal Buildings Committee and be recommended to the City Council.

The final determination by the Jacksonville City Council on how much funding will be kicked in to the project and where the funding will come from will be at the first Jacksonville City Council meeting in the month of September.