The City of Mt. Sterling is moving into the next phase of revitalizing their downtown district.

The city’s Historic Capital Avenue will be getting new sidewalks, lighting, and street scape. The project’s cost is approximately $1.8 million. In June of last year, the city was awarded $1.3 million in ITEP grants from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Mt. Sterling City Manager Vada Yingling says the city is making up the difference: “We have pledged our TIF funds out of TIF2 to pay the difference. We took out a $1.5 million bond earlier this year to be able to pay in advance, and then, we’ll use our TIF funds to pay back those bonds.”

Yingling says this is a continuation of the $1.9 million project that remade Main Street almost two years ago: “The first project was 2 1/2 blocks of Main Street that saw new storm sewers ran on Main Street. There was no water mains or sanitary sewers on Main Street. Those were all in the alleys. That will be the big difference with this project on Capital Avenue. We will repave all of Capital Avenue, where we did not repave the driving lanes on Main Street because that is State Route 24 and it didn’t need it. All of the paving costs on Capital Avenue is on the city because ITEP will not pay for pavement. We’ve got a small grant to help pay for part of that in addition to the ITEP grant. We are lucky enough to have some funding from Jil Tracy and Norine Hammond, so we’ve got some of those funds to play with from DCEO money. We’re just pleased to be in a healthy financial situation to be able to pick up the rest and do it all at once.”

Members and business owners in Mt. Sterling gathered at the Brown County High School auditorium to hear a presentation on the Capital Avenue project Tuesday night. Representatives from Hutchison Engineering and the contractors for the project were on hand to answer questions. Yingling says that there will be some painful portions to the project’s timeline: “You can’t park right in front of where you want to go. You are going to have walk a little further and you’ll have to plan a little bit better where you park. It’ll just be an inconvenience, along with any time there is construction, it’s messy…it’s dirty. They’ll be walking through gravel once they take the sidewalks out. It’ll be brought into buildings. It’s just an added layer of inconvenience. There will be people that simply, if they can’t find a close parking spot, they’re not going to go into that business. I hate that for these businesses because they will probably suffer a little bit from loss of business. Hopefully it will all bounce right back after the project is completed and we are all newly renovated.”

A timeline on project was announced to be May 9^th to December 15^th. Yingling says if people have questions about the project, they can pay attention to the city’s Facebook page or visit mtsterling.com for more information. Yingling says she is also keeping an email list for crucial project updates. She says if anyone like to be added to the list to call Mt. Sterling City Hall at 217-773-2513.

A Morgan County School is losing an administrator as he will move up the ladder at a nearby school district.

Last Wednesday the Griggsville-Perry School Board named current Meredosia-Chambersburg Principal Jeff Abell as their district’s new superintendent. Abell says that the career move is one he’s been working towards for awhile. Abell says it is not a lateral move and that it doesn’t speak to his time at Meredosia-Chambersburg. He says he’s had nothing but wonderful teachers and staff at Meredosia and has enjoyed his time with the school. Abell says that this current semester has been a strange one for him: “It’s the first time since I became an administrator that I haven’t been taking classes. I finished up my superintendent certificate in December, and to already have an opportunity nearby with Griggsville-Perry. I’m just extremely excited for the opportunity and the work ahead.”

Before becoming principal at Meredosia, Abell spent two years as principal at Palmyra-Northwestern Jr.-Sr. High.

Abell is no stranger to the Griggsville-Perry District. He previously served as an assistant football coach for the Meredosia-Chambersburg, Bluffs, Griggville-Perry Co-op for four years. Abell has been in education since 1998, previously teaching at both Bluffs, Winchester, and New Berlin.

Abell will begin in his knew position on July 1st.

Central Illinois power consumers are set to get hit with a major price spike in June.

Yesterday, the Chicago-based utility Commonwealth Edison filed new rates with the Illinois Commerce Commission that will provide direct credits of more than $1 billion to customers as a result of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act that was signed last Fall. The credit for ComEd residential customers will be an average of $18/month starting in June through next May.

The company is taking advantage of the Carbon Mitigation Credit program that was part of the bill known as CEJA. The program was originally set to cost ComEd customers $700 million over the 5-year span of the program, according to Crain’s Chicago Business. However, the deal was structured so that if wholesale electricity prices increased above a certain level, the nuclear plants would owe money instead. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, electricity prices have risen dramatically across the country.

Ameren-Illinois opted out of the Carbon Mitigation Credit program and now its customers may bare the brunt of an even more dramatic power-price spike. According to Chicago Business, energy prices in Central Illinois will roughly double beginning June 1st on both the supply side. Delivery rate increases were already previously announced by Ameren-Illinois earlier this year.

This story will be updated.

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital’s Transitional Care Unit has received new state-of-the art hospital beds through a grant distributed through the Jacksonville Memorial Foundation.

The Maurice & Ruby Funk Trust provided $160,000 for the purchase of 15 “smart” beds for the unit.

Nurse Manager of the TCU, Jessica Ford says the beds will help reduce patient falls: “There is a couple of different features with the beds. The first thing, and the most important, is the bed alarm. In previous models, when a nurse would get the patient up for therapy or to use the restroom, you had to turn the alarm off. Well, when they would put them back into bed, sometimes due to human error, the nurse may forget to turn that bed alarm back on. With these new beds, they actually have a reminder. When a nurse puts a patient back to bed, the bed will actually alarm after so many seconds if a nurse forgets to turn the alarm back on. There is also visual reminders. The bed will have an orange light on if the alarm or the brake is not set, and it will turn green which means that the alarm or the brake is set.”

Ford says the beds also focus on patient comfort featuring both an integrated bed extender and a low air loss mattress to help prevent skin breakdown and pressure injuries.

Ford says the beds aren’t short on accommodating other patient comfort: “One thing that we noted with falls or when patients were getting out of bed when they shouldn’t be was the fact that they were reaching for a charger cord or reaching for their cellphone. With these beds, they actually have a built in USB port for charging right on the hand rail so a cellphone can sit in this little caddie, and a patient can charge their cellphone so there is no more dropping a cellphone or dropping a charger as a patient goes to lay a phone on the bedside table.”

Ford says that the purchase of the beds wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the Funk Trust through the Jacksonville Memorial Foundation.

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth joined 12 fellow Democratic Senators yesterday in re-introducing legislation to expand voter registration and civic engagement initiatives.

Duckworth re-filed the Pre-Registration of Voters Everywhere Act, known as the PROVE Act, that would allow for U.S. Citizens aged 16 and 17 to pre-register to be added to voter rolls when they turn 18. Additionally, the PROVE Act also provides $25 million in grants, over two years, for states to distribute to schools and localities to develop curriculum aiming to encourage civic engagement.

More than 20 states including Illinois already allow 16 and 17 year olds to pre-register to vote prior to turning 18. Duckworth’s legislation would make it uniform across the country. Duckworth previously re-introduced the PROVE Act in 2019 but saw no traction on the bill in Congress’ senior chamber.

A Quincy woman accused of killing a Rushville grandmother and her grandchildren in a fatal 2020 traffic crash is asking for release from jail.

Adams County Chief Public Defender Todd Nelson filed a motion Monday seeking the release of 37 year old Natasha McBride of Quincy. McBride has been incarcerated since the fatal crash on August 14, 2020 that led to the deaths of 54 year old Jennifer Hendricks of Rushville and her three grandchildren aged 6 years old to 21 months.

McBride faces 4 counts of first-degree murder as well as counts of reckless homicide, four counts of driving on a revoked license and four courts of leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. She is being held on $5 million bond.

Judge Amy Lannerd ruled on April 4 to dismiss a driving under the influence charge against McBride. The Adams County State’s Attorney’s office quickly appealed that decision, and the case has been removed from the April jury trial docket.

According to Muddy River News, Nelson wrote in his motion, citing state statute that a defendant shouldn’t be held in jail or on bail pending an appeal by the state. Visiting Cass County Judge Timothy J. Wessel during a status hearing yesterday set a hearing for Monday on Nelson’s motion.

The Illinois State Police are investigating an inmate death at the Morgan County Detention Facility.

Yesterday, Division of Criminal Investigation for the State Police was contacted by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office to investigate a death that occurred at the jail. Morgan County Jail Correctional Officers located 40 year old Brian C. Downs in need of medical attention early in the morning. Downs was transported by ambulance to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased.

Downs was booked into the Morgan County Jail at 2:21 Saturday afternoon for possession of a controlled substance and resisting a peace officer. He was being held in lieu of $1,000 bond.

An autopsy on Downs was performed in Springfield yesterday and is still pending toxicology reports. ISP says that results may take several weeks.

ISP DCI Zone 4 will be continuing the death investigation. There is no additional information available at this time as this is an active and on-going investigation.

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.

The Pittsfield Police Department arrested two individuals last Thursday after a drug and theft investigation.

Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Starman says that officers executed the court-authorized warrant in the 500 block of North Dutton Street. During the execution of the warrant, officers allegedly located and seized methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and stolen property.

Subsequent to the execution of the warrant, officers arrested 55 year old James R. “Rick” Merryman of Pittsfield for Possession of Methamphetamine, and two counts of Theft. Merryman is currently lodged in the Morgan County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bond.

Officers also arrested 36 year old Ashley E. Niffen of Pittsfield for Possession of Methamphetamine, and one count of Theft. Niffen is currently lodged in the Pike County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.

Starman says the investigation is active and ongoing.