The stepfather of a murdered Macoupin County toddler is in jail.

WICS Newschannel 20 reports that 26 year old Zachary T. Armstrong of Virden was arrested by authorities and is currently in the Macoupin County Jail for violating an order of protection.

According to WICS, Armstrong is the step-father of 2-year old Jordan Whitaker. Whitaker died from abdominal sepsis in December. Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon ruled Whitaker’s death a homicide due to a traumatic rupture of his intestine due to child abuse. Whitaker’s death continues to be under investigation by the Illinois State Police.

Whitaker’s death has brought protests to the Macoupin County Courthouse, asking for someone to be charged in the case.

According to court records, the order of protection against Armstrong was filed by Cheney Whitaker in early February. WICS reports that Cheney Whitaker is Jordan’s mother. Court records further show that Armstrong violated that order in May, but charges were dismissed.

In June of last year, Armstrong was arrested for domestic battery and criminal trespass to vehicles. According to court records, Armstrong pleaded guilty to the domestic battery charge and received 1 year of probation and fined. He was given credit for 4 days served in the Macoupin County Jail. A petition to revoke probation in the case was filed in April. A hearing on the petition to revoke probation was set for July 7th.

WICS reports that Armstrong has a history of orders of protection with orders being filed against him by two other women in Macoupin County in 2014, 2018, and 2019.

At least one person was injured when a motorcycle and a car crash on U.S. 67 at Mt. Zion Road north of Jacksonville this afternoon.

Initial reports of a car versus motorcycle crash came into West Central Illinois Dispatch just after 4PM this afternoon.

The Jacksonville Fire Department, LifeStar EMS, Murrayville-Woodson EMS, and the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department all responded to the scene.

The car appeared to be a late model, silver 4-door sedan that collided at the intersection of U.S. 67 and Mt. Zion Road near Marnico Village. The car came to a rest in the median facing northbound. Pieces of the motorcycle were scattered on the northbound lanes. Traffic was shut down in the northbound lanes for approximately one hour while clean up and a helicopter assist was called in.

No further information about the drivers or the crash are available at this time. This story will be updated once the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department completes an investigation.

The Greenfield and Palmyra-Northwestern school districts are in search of a new superintendent.

Dr. Kevin Bowman will be leaving both districts on July 1^st and return to Southwestern School District to become the superintendent. Bowman had previously been principal at Southwestern High School before becoming dual superintendent of Greenfield and Northwestern.

Greenfield School Board President Elliott Turpin says that Greenfield has begun their search for a new top administrator: “At this point, we have hired a consultant, Dr. Bill Phillips from Midwest School Consultants. His job will be to not only post the position, which he’s already done, but also to take the applications of potential superintendent candidates and vet them, and submit a list of what he feels are his preferred candidates to the Board of Education. There is no specific timeline for that. Obviously, we want to make sure that we’ve taken enough time to look through some really qualified candidates and try to get the best candidate that we can find. As of this time, we have also hired Mr. Phillips to be our interim superintendent beginning July 1st of this year until we have appointed a new superintendent.”

Bowman will be replacing Kyle Hacke at Southwestern, who tendered his resignation in May to take over as the new superintendent at North Mac School District.

Turpin praised Bowman for his tenure in Greenfield, especially for his guidance through some of the district’s toughest of times: “We went through some pretty rough times when he first started. School finances were just an absolute disaster for everybody. During his tenure, the General Assembly changed the way that schools would be funded. That allowed us to be on a more sound financial foundation, and with Dr. Bowman’s guidance, we were certainly able to put that money to good use.”

Turpin also praised Bowman’s work through the COVID-19 pandemic, his connection with students’ achievements, and his ability to direct maintenance of Greenfield’s school buildings.

Turpin says it was great to have a Greenfield native and graduate come back and do great work for the district and the community: “I think our board has always appreciated and praised Dr. Bowman for the good work that he’s done. Again, with the buildings, the finances, and public relations – I think he’s just always been a good ambassador for the school district to the public. I think being from Greenfield originally is helpful in that regard. When he took over, he already knew so much of the community and people recognized him. It was easy for him to relate to the public…even people that haven’t always agreed with everything he’s done, I think everyone has had a tremendous amount of respect for him and supported him. We are certainly sad to see him go.”

Bowman was recognized at the Greenfield School Board meeting held earlier this month for his years of service to the district.

The criminal trial of Bradley Yohn of Springfield in Adams County Court addressed a series of motions yesterday morning.

Yohn filed a number of motions last week. The hearing was supposed to end with jury selection yesterday in front of Judge Roger Thomson.

The 35 year old Yohn is defending himself against charges of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon — all Class X felonies — in Adams County filed in November 2021. The crimes reportedly were committed Nov. 9 at the home of Christine “Tina” Schmitt, who died on Dec. 12.

The first motion addressed was Yohn’s request to have the case dismissed on the grounds that Yohn says his right to due process with discovery had been violated and that corrections officers at the Adams County Jail had been physical with him in nature. Yohn listed a number of items he believed was missing in the discovery including statements from potential witnesses, search warrants, a knife, a navy blue blouse, a truck reportedly used during the incident, footage from a surveillance camera at Wal-Mart, phone transactions, as well as a recording of a co-defendant Karen Blackledge.

After further discussion, the motion was denied. According to Muddy River News, Yohn also made motions of memoranda for state’s witnesses, motion for standby counsel, a motion for the disclosure of the list of the state’s rebuttal witnesses, and multiple motions to suppress evidence and/or testimony. Judge Thomson denied most of them.

After the motions were addressed, Thomson then had a pre-trial meeting with Yohn and the prosecuting attorneys, Josh Jones and Laura Keck from the Adams County State’s Attorney’s office. The courtroom was cleared, and Thomson laid out his rules and how he wanted the trial to proceed.

Right before potential jurors were set to be brought in for voir dire, Yohn said he was unable to proceed and asked for a continuance in the case. Thomson denied the motion and explained that Yohn could have an attorney appointed to him to continue in the case. Yohn then took the offer for public appointed counsel but, according to Muddy River News, said he wished to continue representing himself in the case and would likely fire the court-appointed counsel later and proceed with the trial.

A status in the case has been set for July 6^th.

The Pike County Health Department is investigating a cluster of communicable illness.

Pike County Health Department Director of Nursing Sharon Bargmann says the illness dates back to Friday, June 10^th with cases coming from throughout the county: “We are investigating a cluster of illnesses that include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, stomach pains, headache, and body aches that occurred on the weekend of June 10th. Norovirus is suspected. We don’t have any known food source or cause other than that has been identified. With norovirus, normally symptoms develop between 12-48 hours after being exposed to norovirus. Most people with norovirus get better in 1-3 days.”

Bargmann says to look for severe symptoms of the illness in children and the elderly: “The best thing to look for is dehydration especially in young kids, older adults, or people with comorbidities or other illnesses. Symptoms of dehydration can be a decrease in urination, dry mouth and throat, feeling dizzy when standing up. Children who are dehydrated may cry with no tears and be unusually sleepy or fussy.”

Bargmann says some of the symptoms are similar to Covid-19 and people who suspect they have the stomach bug should get tested to rule one or the other out: “I would get tested if you think you have Covid-19. The Pike County Health Department does not test for norovirus. We just test for Covid. That would be on Thursdays from 8:30AM-11:30AM. Any time that you feel that you are sick and it’s not resolving, call your doctor. That’s your best bet.”

Bargmann says that with certain acute cases of gastroenteritis, it may require hospitalization. She says the best thing anyone can do is contact their primary care physician right away or visit their local emergency room for treatment if symptoms become severe.

Discussion yesterday morning at the Morgan County Commissioners meeting about an incorrect phone number led to a larger discussion about Ørsted not getting the Aircraft Detection Lighting System on the Lincoln Land Wind project updated and fixed.

Joana Ramsey, an Alexander resident, spoke during public comment Tuesday morning letting the Morgan County Commissioners know that the telephone number for the Lincoln Land Wind complaint line listed on the county’s website was incorrect and led to a fax number. Ramsey pointed out that a local news source actually had the correct number listed in an article back in March when the county’s website was updated with information about the wind project.

The conversation led to Ramsey asking the commissioners about a timeline on when and if the ADLS system would shut the blinking red lights off at night: “The last report, I think, was March 7th or March 21st from articles about Dusty [Douglas] talking about maybe speaking with Ørsted, and we’ve heard nothing. I have heard that the radar tower is not working. I know this is totally rumor. I can’t drive down my farm all the time to check it out, but where are we with that?”

Commissioner Chair Brad Zeller says that he understands the perception in the county is that the commissioners have not been pressing Ørsted to get the issue fixed, but he says that’s the opposite of what’s actually going on: “I understand the perception. I understand what the county feels and people out there feel. I understand it deeply. That was the one issue that we’ve got to keep going back to. This [project] would have never gotten through this county board if that issue wouldn’t have been in our ordinance to get rid of the light pollution in the evenings. That was a major sticking point, and we have pounded that into these people that this has to be completed. It is Murphy’s Law what is going on with these lights that at every corner something has happened.”

Zeller went on to explain that the original consultant that worked with Apex Clean Energy left the project when Apex sold the project and left no blueprints or information behind. Consultants had to be hired for the project, first by Ares Management Corporation who then sold to Ørsted in November 2021 shortly after the wind farm went online.

Zeller also said that Apex installed incompatible modules in the turbine towers when they were originally built. The modules would not work with the ADLS control board and had to be taken out and are currently on back order to be replaced by Ørsted to get the ADLS system online and the lights shut off.

Zeller went on to say that he was no longer going to offer timelines on the project because each of the previous timelines on the project have been missed, making the county look like they weren’t doing their job.

Ramsey asked why the project was allowed to start in the first place, and when would the county step in to fix the problem: “So when do we hold this company accountable? At what point in time do we say ‘That’s enough’ and there is a fine or something that’s going on? I haven’t heard anything about it. At some point you have to do that, right?”

Zeller agreed and said that the county was on its way to filing paperwork either for a fine or some kind of lien on the project’s permit to get Ørsted into compliance. However, Zeller says the county waited to do that after they were made aware of the logistical issues with the incompatible modules and the ongoing problems with the placement of the radar station. The location of the radar station was originally protested by the Osage Native American Nation about being placed on a burial ground. After an archeological study was completed late last year, the station was allowed to proceed.

Zeller and Commissioner Mike Wankel says the issues with the wind farm are brought to them almost daily and getting the lights shut off at night in the county is one of their top priorities.

Illinois State Police District 20 troopers responded to a U-Haul that caught fire on Interstate 72 in Scott County late Monday afternoon.

Heavy smoke could be seen for miles starting around 4:20PM Monday as a ball of flames engulfed the vehicle, which was towing a trailer eastbound with a blue Subaru on it, according to Quincy’s WGEM.

The fire occurred about 2.5 miles east of the Illinois Route 100/Bluffs exit. According to ISP officials, both occupants were able to safely exit the vehicle before it went up in flames. ISP says that the interstate was reduced to one lane eastbound for an undetermined number of hours while the fire was extinguished.

No other information about the incident is available.

The Illinois Judiciary Inquiry Board filed a complaint on Friday against an 8^th Judicial Circuit Judge who has been under scrutiny for vacating a conviction in October of last year.

The Illinois Judiciary Inquiry Board has filed a complaint against Adams County Circuit Judge Robert Adrian for vacating the sexual assault conviction of 18 year old Drew Clinton of Quincy in October of last year.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin says that Adrian was called to testify before the board in April to explain his decision in reversing the guilty verdict. The board’s complaint says that Adrian explained his decision to reverse his finding of guilt in the sexual assault case was based upon the evidence and his conclusion that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the victim could not give consent. Adrian also allegedly testified that his reversal was not an effort to “thwart the law.” The JIB alleged in its complaint that this testimony was false, and Adrian knew it was false when he made the statements.

The complaint says that Adrian failed to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary, failed to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in his judicial activities, and failed to perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently.

The complaint now heads to the Illinois Courts Commission, who will hold a public hearing to determine whether the evidence in the board’s complaint warrants a reprimand, censure, suspension, or removal from office.

Chief Judge of the 8^th Judicial Circuit J. Frank McCartney of Pike County stripped Adrian of the ability to preside over criminal cases in the circuit and remanded him to assignments in small claims, legal matters, and probate on January 13^th after Adrian told Adams County Lead Trial Attorney Josh Jones to get out of his courtroom after Adrian had learned that Jones had responded in favor of a social media post critical of Adrian’s decision to vacate Clinton’s conviction.

No timeline has been given on when the Illinois Courts Commission will hear Adrian’s case.