The U.S. House passed a bill yesterday to protect marriage equality in direct response to the Supreme Court’s recent opinions filed over the Dobbs decision that repealed Roe v. Wade. The bill, sponsored by New York Congressman Jerry Nadler takes direct aim at Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion in the Dobbs case that called for the reversal of multiple decisions that enshrined same-sex marriage.

House Resolution 8404 titled the “Respect for Marriage Act”, passed in a 267-157 vote, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure. Seven Republicans did not vote. Illinois Republican Congressmen Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis voted with Democrats. Republicans Darin LaHood, Mike Bost, and Mary Miller each voted against the measure.

The measure, which faces a shaky future in the 50-50 Senate, calls for the repeal of the “Defense of Marriage Act” that was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1996 that recognized marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Illinois since former Governor Pat Quinn signed it into law in 2013 and taking effect in 2014.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the “Respect for Marriage Act” would require that individuals be considered married if they were wed in a state where marriage was legal. The provision, according to the House Judiciary Committee, ensures that same-sex and interracial couples are treated equally to other married individuals at the federal level.

Additionally, the bill gives the attorney general authority to launch civil action against any individual who violates it and allows any individual to take civil action if their rights as laid out in the bill are breached.

According to The Hill, Republicans have sought to characterize the bill as unwarranted and described the measure as a way to delegitimize the Supreme Court and stir up fears ahead of the November General Election. There are currently no court cases before the Supreme Court that would seek to overturn any marriage rights, but Democrats argue it does help protect LGBTQ+ rights if they were to be brought before the court in the near future.

13^th District Congressman Rodney Davis is pressing Congress to vote on a bill to amend the Social Security Act.

Davis filed a motion on Friday with the House Clerk to place his legislation on the Consensus Calendar after securing 292 co-sponsors for his “Social Security Fairness Act.” According to Davis, the act repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset portions of the Social Security Act that Davis says unfairly reduces Social Security benefits for public service sector employees like police, firefighters, and teachers.

Davis is now waiting on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to place the legislation on the Consensus Calendar and bring the bill up for a vote. The language of Davis’ bill has never been voted on before in the House.

If Pelosi fails to place it on the Consensus Calendar within 25 days with the 292 co-sponsors and it’s not reported by the committee of jurisdiction, it will automatically be placed on the calendar and it will be pushed to the floor for a full House vote.

A Cass County jury found a Chandlerville man guilty on 3 drug charges on Monday.

58 year old Charles R. Miller was found guilty of possession of methamphetamine, illegal possession of cannabis between 30-100 grams, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Miller was acquitted of a fourth charge, methamphetamine delivery between 5-15 grams.

Miller was arrested by Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies on January 19^th. Deputies Tyler Rohling, Kyle Dodson, and Jeff Smith all testified at the trial about the nature of the arrest and an investigation into Miller’s activities. The trial lasted all day Monday, with the jury returning a verdict at the end of the day after approximately an hour and a half of deliberations.

According to Cass County State’s Attorney Craig Miller (no relation to the defendant), based upon Charles Miller’s prior criminal history, he is eligible for an extended term in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Based upon the verdicts, Miller could possibly be sentenced between 3-14 years in prison, and be required to serve at least half of the sentence. He is also eligible to be sentenced to up to 4 years of probation.

Miller’s bond was revoked by Adams County visiting Judge Tad Brenner after the return of the verdicts on Monday, and Miller was remanded to the custody of the Cass County Sheriff’s Department.

Miller is set for sentencing on August 29^th.

The Mt. Sterling Capitol Avenue project is moving along at a steady pace. The $1.8 million project is wrapping up its first phase on the south end of Capitol.

City Manager Vada Yingling says that local residents aren’t seeing as many traffic disruptions in this phase of the project: “I believe they have the water main installed on half of it, and the contractor is working to get the storm sewer installed in the south half. They’ve been pouring a little bit of curb and gutter on the south side, and they are getting ready to do the same up on the north end of Capitol. We’re going to have both sides torn up for a bit, and they both are for the most part right now. Stores are still staying open. They aren’t finding it hard to stay open. Patrons are finding it hard for parking, but the contractors are trying to keep as much parking open as much as they can.”

A separate contractor is working around the Brown County Courthouse on Court Street on both sides to replace parking areas and repave streets.

Yingling says very little has slowed down both of the projects: “It’s all moving along. The contractors are getting a lot of long days in. We have had a few rain delays, and then some material delays. Right now, all materials are in and the contractors aren’t currently waiting on any.”

Truck traffic to and from Prairieland FS and Western Grain Marketing is still being re-routed due to the lane closures, but Yingling says that both contractors have been keeping at least one lane of traffic open for the duration of the work moving forward.

For more information or questions, contact Mt. Sterling City Hall at 217-773-2513.

Area quilters have been stitching together an effort to provide aid to the war-torn country of Ukraine’s children.

A project started by two Jacksonville women in March hopes to raise money to send to UNICEF-Children of Ukraine.

Barbara Suelter says she saw the devastation in the Eastern European country on her television and was moved to do something: “I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ I had to do something. So, I got on the phone. I had just received an email from a pattern designer in Australia. It was a pattern for a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine. I thought, ‘We could do that. We will do something with sunflowers.'”

Using the Australian design and a sewing technique called paper piecing, Suelter called her long-time friend and sewing partner LaVerne Roy. The two ladies went on to employ the volunteer help of Jacksonville and Mt. Sterling sewing groups and numerous others from the community to make the sunflowers. Roy, who put together the kits to make the sunflowers, says many people donated their time and fabric: “I actually made up kits including the yellow fabrics for the petals, the various shades of brown for the centers, and the pieces of blue for the backgrounds. Many of these fabrics were actually in a collection of fabrics that we had among the Senior Quilters out at the Jacksonville Area Senior Center. We used what we had. Luckily, we had lots and lots of it. People have been super, super generous in donating things to help us.”

The sunflowers were then sewn onto and made into a variety of items including place mats, table runners, table toppers, pillows, purses, and tote bags among others with the intention of raffling off the items to raise money.

The centerpiece of the raffle is a 49-square inch quilt made with 13 of the sunflowers.

Suelter says if you’d like one of the items, buy a ticket for the upcoming raffle to benefit UNICEF: “They are a $1 apiece or 6 tickets for $5. We will be drawing on Tuesday, July 26th at 10AM. The drawing will occur at the Jacksonville Area Senior Center. We will number the tickets. I have had a couple of people ask if they could just put their tickets in for one item or another. My answer is ‘no.’ We’re not going to do the drawing that way. All of the tickets will go into one big bucket and we will just simply draw out tickets for each item as we go.”

The Jacksonville Senior Center is located at 1309 South Main Street. You do not need to be present to win. Tickets for the raffle are available for purchase at Times Square Sewing Center located at 63 East Central Park Plaza; Sew Sweet Quilt Shop at 1205 West Walnut Avenue or by calling Barbara Suelter at 309-678-7716 or LaVerne Roy at 217-245-4016. Suelter and Roy will also take direct donations to UNICEF if you do not wish to purchase a raffle ticket.

The Winchester City Council recently authorized up to $14,000 more for a nearly half a million dollar project to update the city’s water meters.

Alderman Lawrence Coultas told the city council at their July 6th regular meeting that due to a “miscommunication” between the new system’s manufacturer and the city’s utility department that 140 meters in the city would need to be replaced. According to Coultas, Utility Superintendent John Simmons believed the 140 meters would be compatible with the new system’s remote reading capability. The new system’s representative didn’t communicate information on the 140 older meters, and then the company came back and added the expense, according to Coultas. Coultas told Mayor Rex McIntire and the remaining council members that the company should honor the original bid of $415,000 and do the work due to their lack of communication. Coultas went on to say at the meeting that the company had already eaten part of the cost for the mix up. The cost to replace the meters would be approximately $100 each.

Despite the frustration and initial push back against the added expense, the city council unanimously authorized up to $14,000 to fix the issue.

The entire remote meter reading system, which will cost the city less money in manpower and salaries in the long run, is being paid for on a low-interest loan. The loan payments are being paid for through an increase in water rates, which passed back in May. It was the first water rate increase since 2015. Mayor Rex McIntire told the Journal Courier the $14,000 in additional costs won’t effect water rates.

The final new meters are set to be installed by the end of this month, but may be rescheduled into August. The city’s utility department will have to schedule times with homeowners to come into their homes to switch out the meters. The delay in getting the final meters set may also have to wait on the city’s utility billing cycle.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Department announced the arrest of 5 individuals in Beardstown after execution of a search warrant today.

A search warrant was served in the 900 block of West 2nd Street in Beardstown as a result of an investigation into delivery of methamphetamine and other reported illegal activity from the area, according to the Cass County Sheriff’s Department Facebook Page.

The following were arrested as a result of the execution of the warrant:

63 year old David E. Riley was cited for Aggravated Delivery of Methamphetamine, Delivery of Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.

53 year old Virgil Riley was cited for Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of firearm ammunition by a felon, and Cass County Warrants for failure to appear on charges of Manufacturing and Delivery of Methamphetamine less than 15 grams and Burglary.

41 year old Alejandro Montoya-Picazo was cited for possession of Firearm Ammunition by a Felon.

35 year old Aaron D. Ren was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

36 year old Stephanie M. Gutierrez was arrested for a Cass County Failure to Appear warrant for criminal trespass to a residence.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Department was assisted in the investigation by the Jacksonville Police Department. All suspects were booked into the Morgan County Jail. Ren was later released.

A Girard man is heading to the Illinois Department of Corrections after being found guilty of stealing a Macoupin County School District’s van.

34 year old Gregory A. Bolino of Girard was sentenced to 3 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, ordered to pay a fine and over $5,800 in restitution for the January 26th theft of a Northwestern School District van off of the school district’s property in Palmyra.

In the early morning hours of January 26th, the district received a report that a 2009 Chevrolet van was stolen from the school district. Sheriff’s department investigators, with assistant from the Illinois Secretary of State Police, were able to recover the vehicle from a residence in Nilwood, where people had scrapped off the van’s Northwestern decals and were preparing to cut off parts according to court records.

According to the Alton Telegraph, Madison County Sheriff’s Department detective Ryan Dixon identified Bolino as a suspect who took possession of the vehicle from the people who initially stole the van. According to Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison, Bolino admitted driving the vehicle, knowing it was stolen and admitted to beginning to cut off the van’s catalytic converter for possible resale.

The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Kampsville man Friday evening on a number of drug charges after executing a search warrant at a residence.

36 year old Zachary T. Blumenberg of Kampsville was arrested without incident at 8:38PM Friday after sheriff’s deputies executed a court-authorized search warrant at a residence in the 100 block of North St. Louis Avenue in Kampsville.

Subsequent to an investigation, Blumenberg has been cited for unlawful possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, unlawful possession of hypodermic syringes, a Calhoun County warrant for possession of methamphetamine, and a Calhoun County failure to appear warrant for possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams.

Blumenberg is currently lodged without bond at the Greene County Jail. The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the arrest by the Pike County Sheriff’s Department.

Village of Meredosia officials say an agreement has been reached with a California real estate group to tear down a collapsed church building in the middle of town.

The former United Methodist Church, located at 138 North Marion Street, had its south wall collapse in on itself last week. The building dates back to the turn of the 20^th Century and had been sitting dormant for some time. According to the Journal Courier, the village was made aware of the south wall bowing and had the building inspected by the village’s safety officer. Within a few days of the inspection, the south wall caved in completely into the sanctuary with the building showing further signs of collapse.

Village Trustee Ernie Gregory says contact was fruitful with TSA Holding Group, a San Francisco, California-based real estate company to get the property cleaned up: “I think the mayor [David Werries] and Alan Taylor, who is another trustee, have been in contact with this group notifying them that they need to do something. Now, the north side of the building is bowing, and we are afraid it will come down in the street or something. As of the past couple days, we have been in contact with them and they have hired a local company to tear it down…demolish it. That should happen not this coming week but the week of July 25th. I can’t tell you what day. It all depends on the company and what they’ve got going on, but it will be demolished.”

The village had been turning over the idea of demolishing the church and then, place a lien on the property for TSA to pay for the work.

The property is currently surrounded by caution tape with a neighboring garage to the south the only threat of having any damage if the north wall would come down. Gregory says activity at the church had dwindled and caused it to close a few years ago.

Recently, the village purchased the Christian Church with the possibility of turning it into a Senior Citizens’ Center. Gregory says attendance at the Christian Church had dipped below 10 people. The remaining members will still be allowed to hold services at the church while the village board will vote on what the public’s usage will be for the church some time in the next few months.