Cass County residents and local representatives raised enough of a ruckus this past week about the deterioration of Illinois Route 125 that Illinois Department of Transportation officials are attempting to fix the road.

Several reports of large potholes and damaged or disabled vehicles from those potholes prompted residents in Beardstown and Virginia as well as local officials to raise concerns with IDOT to get the road fixed sooner rather than later.

The Cass County Star Gazette reports that Beardstown Mayor Tim Harris was contacted by IDOT this week letting him know that emergency resurfacing work will occur at the intersections of Route 125 at the Arenzville Road and Route 67 intersections. The road work is expected to be completed by the end of April.

State Senator Jil Tracy commented on her Facebook Page last Friday that after hearing from local residents and businesses and working with IDOT officials, she was pleased to announce that the roadwork will begin.

Calhoun County’s most notable eatery will be making a return soon.

Final preparations are being made for the Barefoot Restaurant at a new location. The famed Illinois River eatery located north of Hardin on Illinois Route 100 closed in 2019 after historic flooding.

The Barefoot was originally called Melody Trail Harbor and was established in 1958. Later it was named The Barefoot because of boaters coming right off the river and eating barefooted and in their swimsuits. The original building was destroyed in the 1973 flood, and a larger, elevated building was built on the ruins of the old one that same year. The building continued to battle closures off and on due to the river’s flooding over the next 40 years.

Riverbender reports that Brian Matthews and Kelly & Phil Sievers have purchased the namesake, recipes, and menu from previous owner Judy Herter. The restaurant will also be making a move out of the flood plain into the former Illini Medical Building in Hardin at 106 Water Street.

Known for its fish, fried chicken, and immaculate view of the Illinois River, the new owners are making some additions to the new location to accommodate a larger dining area and kitchen.

According to Riverbender, a grand opening is expected within the next few weeks.

A Freeport, Illinois man who has spent the last several decades impersonating Abraham Lincoln throughout the state and the country has pled guilty to producing child pornography and patronizing a prostitute.

64 year old George A. Buss pled guilty to the charges in Stephenson County Court yesterday. Buss was arrested by police at his home in August 2020 following a six-month investigation that began in February 2020.

Buss, a retired teacher, has been a Lincoln impersonator since 1986. Buss came to Illinois College in February 2020 as a part of the Lincoln Heritage Cultural Area tour of a show entitled “Lincoln: The Great Communicator.”

22 year old Tyler Dotson, of Leaf River was also charged in connection to the investigation into Buss for two counts of dissemination of child pornography. Dotson plead guilty to one count of reproduction of child pornography and three counts of nonconsensual dissemination of a sexual image in September 2020 and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Buss’ sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 1^st. Buss could possibly face up to 7 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He will now have to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

Apex Clean Energy is moving into Cass County. The Cass County Star-Gazette reports that the wind developer has set up an office in Virginia ahead of preparations to build a 250-megawatt project.

Apex, notable for the Lincoln Land Wind project development in Morgan County, is planning on putting up 80-86 wind turbines in an area south and southeast of Virginia, between Virginia and Ashland.

The project has been called Gray Fox Wind.

Public Engagement Manager Max Jabrixio told the Star Gazette that they are in the beginning phases of the project by getting the proper permits, and if all goes according to their schedule, the wind farm would begin operations sometime in 2026.

According to the project’s website, the wind farm will have a 30-year lifespan and according to Jabrixio, will generate approximately $2.25 million in property tax revenues with 60% allegedly going to the Virginia School District.

The Gray Fox Wind Office is currently located at 125 East Springfield Street in Virginia. Jabrixio says the office is open to the public every Friday morning from 8AM to Noon for coffee and donuts so people can come in and ask questions.

Jacksonville Police arrested a Springfield man after a single vehicle crash this morning.

Police were called to the intersection of Lincoln and West Morton Avenue at 4:01AM. Witnesses told police that two subjects had fled the scene on foot eastbound.

Upon arrival, police arrested the driver of the vehicle, 20 year old Alex J. Nossem of Springfield, for driving under the influence, illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor, and improper lane usage.

According to police reports, Nossem had been traveling westbound on Hoagland Boulevard when Nossem allegedly ran through the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Hoagland and struck guide wires. The vehicle sustained heavy front-end damage and was towed from the scene.

No injuries were reported.

46 Employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections from 18 separate correctional facilities are suing the state over Covid-19 testing and vaccination mandates.

A lawsuit filed in Christian County Circuit Court requests a temporary restraining order. Attorney Thomas DeVore contends in the filing that under Illinois law, “an individual may refuse to receive vaccines, medications or other treatments.” It also says that the individuals named in the lawsuit that employees must receive due process from their local health departments to be mandated to test or receive the vaccine as a public health risk.

The Center Square reports that the Department of Corrections was one of the last holdouts of state employees’ requirements to be vaccinated as a condition of employment last Fall. Governor J.B. Pritzker and unions negotiated through interest arbitration and in December agreed IDOC employees should be mandated to get the vaccine.

The lawsuit contends that the employees represent in the suit were not a part of those negotiations. Jacksonville Correctional Center and Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling are among the 18 facilities that have employees represented in the suit.

Fourth District Appellate Court Justice Peter Cavanaugh may have already dealt the suit a crucial blow of any type of success yesterday ruling that employers whether public or private can mandate testing and vaccination to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Cavanaugh cited in his opinion the recently-passed General Assembly amendment that it was not a violation of the Right of Conscience Act for any employer to take measures calculated to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The opinion was in regard to three other separate cases similar to the Christian County case.

A hearing is set today.

Prairieland United Way got together last night to celebrate the wrap up of the 2021-2022 annual campaign last night. The goal for the campaign was just a bit over $460,000. This year’s campaign surpassed that raising $462,000.

Executive Director Karen Walker says the campaign really came together in some tough moments down the stretch. She says she was really proud of the way members of the United Way, past and present, came together

Prairieland United Way Board President Lisa Stambaugh says the board was worried that they were going to have to make cuts to allocations this year. Stambaugh says thanks to the radio-thon and late donation push by several long-time supporters of Prairieland United Way, they were able to meet and surpass this year’s goal. Stambaugh says that they will have to take this year’s circumstances into account when they begin planning for this coming year’s campaign in the next few months.

During the celebration last night, Prairieland United Way also recognized the Helen Baldwin Award winner, which goes to a long-time Jacksonville community supporter and public servant. Andy & Lori Smith of Bound-To-Stay-Bound Books were chosen as this year’s winner.

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital was recognized for its contribution as the business the contributed the most money to the campaign this year.

Prairieland United Way also announced this coming year’s campaign co-chairs. The 2022-2023 co-chairs will be Stephen & Cammie Symons.

Allocations from this year’s campaign will go out later this Spring

Illinois College has received $75,000 from the National Science Foundation to support its Rural Illinois STEM Education project.

The grant provides funding to help IC strengthen collaboration and recruitment efforts with partnering with A-C Central, Beardstown, Jacksonville, and the Virginia school districts. The college plans to work with the schools to increase the number of teacher candidates who are prepared to teach STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — and to support the retention of those teachers.

According to a press release, Jaime Klein, chair of the education department and director of teacher preparation, says that the grant will be used to increase the number of teacher candidates specifically in rural school districts.

Klein says the hope is to streamline and enhance Illinois College’s STEM and education curricula to make it possible for more students to become STEM educators, especially students who have an interest in teaching math and science. Through the grant, IC will explore the primary drivers and barriers for IC students to become high school STEM teachers, evaluate academic advising and recruitment methods, and create an internal recruitment plan to attract more potential teachers and bolster retention.

The grant will also allow IC to work to expand relationships with superintendents, principals and teachers in partner schools and learn more about what early career STEM teachers need and want. The College will work with those schools to better understand what support IC could provide, such as professional development and mentorship.

To learn more about the education and teacher preparation program at IC, visit www.ic.edu/education.

Illinois labor unions and companies in the state are concerned about a historic deficit in the state fund that provides unemployment insurance benefits to workers.

According to a press release, representatives of five key labor organizations announced that negotiations among labor, business, legislators and Gov. Pritzker’s administration over solutions to eliminate what remains of the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund deficit of $4.5 billion had reached an impasse.

Negotiators announced support for stop-gap action delaying temporary triggers in state law that will increase costs for businesses and decrease benefits for workers. However, if no action had been taken by the end of the year, the so-called “speed bumps” in the unemployment insurance law would drive up costs in the system by $409 million in tax increases on employers, and $318 million in benefits for jobless workers. Legislation passed in the General Assembly overtime session passed to delay those “speed bumps” until January 1^st.

This is the third time Illinois has faced a multi-billion-dollar hole in its unemployment trust fund in the past 18 years, but the $4.5 billion debt is the state’s largest ever – initiated by widespread unemployment from the pandemic economic shutdown.

Labor unions are asking that the government systemically change the unemployment insurance trust fund that they feel has been historically underfunded and has had little change since 1980.

The federal trial of two Western Illinois Correctional Center guards accused of beating an inmate to death and then attempting to cover it up has now entered its third week in Springfield.

Government prosecutors continue their case in chief on Monday after several motions were filed over the weekend.

This first written order was a writ to the Cook County Jail calling for 30 year old Fernando Garcia-Rios to come before the court as a witness. According to the writ, Garcia-Rios, then an inmate at Western Illinois Correctional Facility in Mt. Sterling witnessed 65 year old inmate Larry Earvin being beaten by Corrections Sergeant Willie Hedden, Lieutenant Todd Sheffler, and Officer Alex Banta on May 17, 2018 as he was being transferred from his cell to a segregation unit. Earvin would later die from blunt force trauma on June 26, 2018 in a Centralia Jail Infirmary. Hedden has since pled guilty conspiracy to deprive civil rights and deprivation of civil rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury and death in March of last year. Garcia-Rios is set to provide the first eye witness account of the incident publicly in court on April 18^th.

Defense attorneys for Sheffler and Banta say that there is conflicting evidence about when the beating occurred and who was involved and that witnesses’ testimony changed as time passed.

A motion has also been filed about Hedden’s upcoming testimony in the case. The motion is asking to limit cross-examination about his specific sentencing exposure to the jury. Hedden could face life imprisonment in the case. Hedden has been in cooperation with the government since his pleading to achieve a possible lighter sentence. According to the motion’s filing, Hedden in no way has been promised a reduced sentence for his cooperation. The motion says the jury will be instructed that Hedden’s pleading to the charges is similar to the charges that both Sheffler and Banta face.

The final motion filed on Saturday in the case discusses the government’s position in regards to each side’s contact with witnesses prior to cross-examination. The government has said there is permission, according to case law that allows such contact in certain instances. That motion is expected to be ruled on some time this week by Judge Sue E. Myerscough.

The court schedule does not indicate when government prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case in chief.