State Democrats say they intend to call a special session “in the coming weeks” in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, but they didn’t give an exact date on when that session would be scheduled.

Governor J.B. Pritzker first announced his plan for a special session on June 24th, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide.

Yesterday, in a released joint statement by Pritzker and Illinois House Speaker Emmanuel “Chris” Welch and Illlinois Senate President Don Harmon, the group said it would take the “remainder of the summer” to craft policies before lawmakers return to the Capitol. The statement said the Democratic lawmakers also wanted to get a sense of the state’s needs as they assess the effects of the overturning of the decision.

Lawmakers had anticipated on returning to Springfield this week.

Both Illinois Senators have signed on tackle accessibility to the federal government’s websites for people with disabilities.

Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin have signed on to a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking why the federal government continues to have long-standing accessibility issues with federal websites dating back to at least 2012.

The issues revolve around compliance with Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act that requires the federal government to make all its information technology accessible to people with disabilities. The law also requires DOJ to publicly report on the federal government’s compliance with accessibility standards every two years. However, DOJ has not provided a publicly available report since 2012.

A third party report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found that 30% of the most popular federal website homepages did not pass standard accessibility tests.

Morgan, Scott, Greene, and Cass counties continue to dodge the Covid-19 transmission bullet in the state.

The Illinois Department of Public Health continues to list the 4 counties at medium to low risk for transmission of the virus. Nearby Sangamon, Menard, Pike, Brown, Schuyler, and Adams counties have all jumped up to high transmission risk.

IDPH reported over 28,000 cases across the state this past week, which was a 2,000-case decline from the last week in June. 74 deaths across the state were attributed to the virus since June 24^th.

IDPH says it saw upticks of transmission of the virus since the most recent summer holidays and are urging the public to use caution when it comes to attending gatherings and crowded public events for the remainder of the summer.

One of Sangamon County’s biggest fall attractions is dedicating this year’s success to a local fire department.

Bomke’s Patch, located just west of Springfield in rural Farmingdale, has been bringing family fun to the area for the past 20 years. Known in the Fall for their wide variety of pumpkins and their extensive multi-acre corn maze; Bomke’s said they wanted to thank the Pleasant Plains Fire Department this year with the maze.

According to a Facebook Post by the patch on Friday, the patch wanted to thank the department for rendering important aid to a family member this past year and they wanted to say thank you in a special way. An aerial shot of the corn maze depicts a cow in a fire helmet that reads “Pleasant Plains Fire is udderly a-Maze-ing.”

Ownership says that a portion of the proceeds from one of the patch’s night events this Fall will go towards a donation to the department.

An opening date for their Fall season has not yet been posted. Bomke’s says to stay tuned to their website and Facebook Page for more details.

Two Jacksonville Police officers were hurt over the holiday weekend during two separate arrests.

The first incident occurred at the Circle K gas station in the 600 block of North Main Street early Saturday morning. A caller had told police at 12:36AM that someone was attacking the clerk inside the business. Upon arrival, police arrested 36 year old Alana M. Jackson of the 300 block of East Lafayette Avenue for aggravated battery. Jackson was also cited for aggravated battery of a peace officer and resisting arrest after police reports say she resisted being placed into a patrol car and bit an officer on the arm. She has since posted bond and been released from the Morgan County Jail.

The second incident came at the West Morgan Depot early Sunday morning. Police had been called out to investigate a hit and run crash in the municipal parking lot behind the bar at 1:51AM Sunday. During the course of that investigation, according to police reports, 23 year old Demondra L. Harris of the 1200 block of Lincoln Avenue threw a glass bottle at officers, striking one officer on the side of the face causing injuries. Harris was cited for aggravated battery of a peace officer. She was later booked into the Morgan County Jail, posted bond and was released.

Information on the status of both police officers was not available as of press time.

The North Greene School District is considering a move to a food service vendor for the upcoming school year.

The North Greene School Board reviewed two different bids for proposals at their June 15th meeting for a food service company to provide breakfast, lunch, and a fresh produce program.

The Greene Prairie Press reports that the two bids were between Opaa Food Management and Organic Life, LLC. The difference between the two bids were just above $89,500. Organic Life came in with the lowest bid at $699,356.24.

Superintendent Mark Scott told the North Greene School Board that Organic Life, LLC serves schools mainly in the Chicago area while Opaa is a well-known entity in the area, with a base of operations out of Chesterfield, Missouri.

According to information revealed at the meeting, the school district pays approximately $600,000 for operating its own food service.

During the meeting, the current Illinois law required school districts to take the lowest bidder for food service. On June 29th, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that allows food service providers that participate in any of the USDA’s child nutrition programs to be exempt from contract bidding requirements. The bill now allows school districts to make their own choice for food vendors.

At their June 15th meeting, the North Greene School Board voted to table their decision on the food service bids.

The State of Illinois is receiving nearly $200 million in federal funding towards the new construction taking place at the Quincy Veterans’ Home.

The U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs is ending a final grant payment totaling $194,762,750 to help finish construction on the Quincy campus’ reconstruction and to replace the current facility with a 210-bed skilled care facility and a brew new 80-room independent living facility.

State Veterans’ Affairs Director Terry Prince says that work at the campus began earlier this year: “What’s exciting is that construction is already started. We’re about a little over 20% complete. The federal money takes up 65% of the overall cost. Now, the money is in the bank, as they say. We’re going to have a brand new 210-bed facility for nursing care along with an 80-Dom, which is an independent living facility.”

Prince went on to say that the 80-room domiciliary will be state of the art and let veterans have their own rooms and more independence.

Governor J.B. Pritzker says that the remainder of the funding for the construction will come from the Rebuild Illinois state capital improvement plan. Pritzker thanked Illinois U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin for helping secure the federal funds.

The Domiciliary is scheduled for completion in June 2023 and the Long-Term Care Building will be ready to accept residents by March 2024. The completion of the project including the Nielson renovation, site work, and final punch list items is targeted for the end of 2024.

Built in 1886, Quincy is the oldest Illinois veterans’ home and sits on 210 acres along the Mississippi River. Its 37 buildings were built between 1886 and 2002.

The City of Jacksonville received a clean audit of their 2021 finances.

Adam Whithee of Zumbahlen, Eyth, Surratt, Foote, and Flynn told the city at their final meeting of the month of June that no findings were found in the city’s accounting practices and that they had a 9-11 month cushion in their general fund.

Whithee did present several concerns that the city should work on ahead of their audit next year. The first concern was about the accounts receivable line item. It’s the line item in the city’s revenues that shows the city is owed money from uncollected fines, ordinance violations, and unpaid utility accounts adjudicated by the municipal court.

Acting mayor for the meeting, Ward 5 Alderman Don Cook, who also sits as the City’s Finance/I.T. Committee Chaiarman said after the meeting it’s something that the city has worked on for a long time to get collected, especially when someone moves out of Jacksonville: “As City Clerk Skip Bradshaw said during the meeting, it’s in the city’s collection agency’s hands. It’s very slow. I think the County Court system experiences the same thing as we do on the local level. It’s just a tough thing to get collected.”

Whithee also noted that the city’s soft revenues were performing the best that they have in 5 years, but that was coupled with the city’s expenses going up. Cook explained that expenses have gone up because the city had a lot of deferred spending from Covid-19 that had been planned in the previous two years. He says there’s also some big projects that are starting: “I think a lot of the expenses has to do with the Utility Department because we have got a major project coming up with the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and we are trying to do it in phases. We played catch up this year with the capital improvement projects. Last year, we didn’t do a whole lot of them, but we again have tried to fill all those needs that they wanted last year this year.”

Whithee says that the Estimated Annual Value of property has remained the same in the city. Last year, the city council voted to not raise the city’s tax levy. Whithee says despite those two things happening, the city’s finances still showed a positive. Cook says it’s thanks to the department heads staying within their budgets: “When you raise that EAV, that’s really a fluctuating number. But, you’ve got to give credit to our department heads for toeing the line and making sure what they need is right. They are not frivolous with their money. Hats off to the department heads for holding the line on all of these things.”

Whithee also listed the American Rescue Plan Act funds as a potential liability next year for the city’s finances. Two traunches of funding are expected to come to the city totaling about $2.5 million. The city has already received the first traunch, with the second coming possibly later in July. The funds haven’t been allocated for any projects yet by the city council. Phil McCarty presented the city council with a list of potential qualifying projects to use the ARPA money on last month.