The U.S. Senate passed the massive Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus appropriations package yesterday in a vote of 68-31. The bill passed the House in a late night vote Wednesday. The massive $1.5 trillion spending package includes several West Central Illinois projects, according to Illinois Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin.

Durbin and Duckworth’s office provided a short list of projects that will be funded in Central Illinois from the spending omnibus that also includes $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine. The spending bill also negated a potential federal government shutdown. The new package does not include any new funding for COVID-19 recovery aid.

According to a press release, the following projects were priorities priorities secured through Durbin and Duckworth’s Congressionally-directed spending requests. The provisions also include many pieces sponsored by 18th District Congressman Darin LaHood and 13th District Congressman Rodney Davis:

• Rural Telemedicine Initiative, Pittsfield: $115,000 to Illini Community Hospital to expand their rural telemedicine program covering a town of 4,200 and a service area of 12,000.

• Law enforcement technology, Springfield: $100,000 for the Springfield Police Department to procure technology to allow police to monitor areas with high rates of gun violence in order to pinpoint when and where gunshots occur, and expedite their response times.

• Illinois Locks and Dams: $45.1 million for the Corps to fund the NESP program to expand and modernize seven locks at the most congested lock locations along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers as well as fund $1.7 billion in ecosystem restoration.

• Small Business Development Initiative, Macomb: $200,000 to Western Illinois University to expand efforts to address food deserts in locations across the state by providing technical assistance to keep small community grocery stores open, and aid in the establishment of community supported retail grocery stores in both urban and rural areas that struggle with food insecurity.

• Small Business Startups, Sustainability, and Transition, Macomb: $400,000 to Western Illinois University to promote Small Business Startups, Sustainability, and Transition.

• Emergency Operations Center, Macomb: $2 million to Western Illinois University to renovate the university’s library to add a permanent emergency operations facility for the region.

• Child Protection Training, Springfield: $720,000 to support training at the University of Illinois Child Protection Training Academy sites in Springfield and Carbondale.

• Regional Center for Equity and Professional Development, Springfield: $1 million to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to create a Regional Center for Equity and Professional Development.

• Facilities and Equipment Upgrades for Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers, Illinois: $1.33 million to the Gateway Foundation Inc. for facilities and equipment upgrades at rehab centers throughout the state.

• Medical School Facilities and Equipment Upgrades, Springfield: $1.05 million to SIU School of Medicine for facilities and equipment.

• Base Civil Engineer Complex, Springfield: $10.2 million for new facilities to house the Base Civil Engineer Complex of the Air National Guard 183rd Wing at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

• Illinois Electric Bus and Charging Infrastructure Program, Statewide: $8.25 million to the Illinois Department of Transportation to provide grant funding to downstate transit districts for new electric buses and charging infrastructure.

The bill now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The South Jacksonville Police Department is ahead of most other law enforcement in the area when it comes to body cameras.

Currently, they are one of the only departments in the county to use body cameras. However, problems with the manufacturer Watch Guard, connectivity and charging problems, and ease of use has made using the cameras a hassle for officers in the line of duty at best. The Watch Guard cameras also have a tendency to tether officers to a charger and mounting components are made of thin plastic, making it easier for them to fall off or break.

Village Chief of Police Eric Hansell recently brought a proposal to the Board of Trustees to switch out the police department’s body cameras and taser units to a new company, Axon Software.

Hansell says the state mandate to have all departments with body cameras by 2025 is a significant financial burden: “When you are talking about getting a system that’s going to download and maintain all of the data…for the system that we are looking at now which is going to include tasers but they are a small portion of [the cost]…$84,000 over a 5-year period, so $17,000 a year. That’s for the redaction software, the redaction assistant, the storage, the licensed user fees because each officer has to have a license, each camera has to have a license and you are talking 2 cameras per officer with a squad car and a body camera…so it’s huge. It’s a huge undertaking as far as monetary cost.”

Hansell says small departments like South Jacksonville also have to find time to dedicate for maintenance and dissemination of body camera footage to media, the state’s attorney’s office, and to the public when it’s requested or needed. Hansell says they have a dedicated officer who does most of that work: “You have the time of actually downloading the data into the server with the way we are currently doing it, and then, managing it. Then, you also have to produce discs for the state’s attorney’s office for criminal offenses, deleting data that’s required to be deleted under the state statute. It takes up a lot of time. I have one officer that pretty much all they do other than some detective work is managing the videos from body cameras. That was one of the moves we made. All of the digital data through our department, whether it be through our tasers, our body cameras, data that we recover from businesses or private citizens on criminal offenses – we had to move one of our officers to a full-time detective spot to help manage that data and keep track of it all because of the amount of time and effort that it takes.”

The new body camera system will have cloud-based video storage through Axon. Hansell says it will allow his department to easier share digital video files to other agencies on the software or to attach them to email to communicate with other departments.

The purchase of the software is set to be discussed further at the Board of Trustees meeting on March 17^th.

The Jacksonville Airport is hosting a special seminar tomorrow. The public is welcome to join the seminar as members of the airport staff and the FAA will talk about airplane and airport safety.

Airport Manager Shastin Saxer says they try to do this seminar occasionally for the local pilot community and the public: “This Friday at 6 o’clock out here at the terminal building at the airport, we are going to have a safety seminar. We try to put these on every few years. They are very well-received by the local pilot community, but they are open to the public. Anyone that is interested in aviation or who just wants to come and check out the airport, either way, they are more than welcome to attend. At the seminar, there will be representatives from the FAA safety team. They are going to be giving a presentation on situational awareness for pilots.”

Saxer says that the airport is reopening to the public once again after the pandemic put many things on hold. He says the young eagle rides along with piloting classes will be returning this year.

Saxer says that the public should keep checking the airport’s website flyijx.com for more upcoming events as the weather continues to warm up.

The Jacksonville Police Department is in the midst of their 2022 recruiting initiative.

Police Chief Adam Mefford says he solicited all officers in the department to come up with changes to recruit new officers.

He says after a meeting with about half of his current staff, they have come up with some new ideas for recruitment during this cycle: “We are not going to sit back and wait to be invited to somewhere. We’re going to reach out to colleges and universities, and we’re going to go in person there. We have updated our booth presentation so it’s kind of a ‘love at first sight’ thing. We want to be appealing. When somebody walks by, we want them to see our professional look, our people in uniform. We are getting up to speed with technology. In the past, we would go to these recruiting and job fairs and we would hand out a piece of paper. They would fill it out and then manually mail it in or drop it off in person at the police department. So, now, we are creating kiosks at our recruiting booths where people can come right up [and fill out the application]. There will be I-Pads there. They can hit the button and do it right there online and hit ‘submit.’ It goes automatically into our hiring pool and our database at the police department to get them already engaged in the hiring process.”

Mefford hopes to have a testing pool of around 100 or more individuals when the recruiting initiative is complete. He says another way they are going to keep potential candidates engaged in the application process is assigning potential applicants a mentor to guide the candidate through every step of the hiring process.

Mefford hopes that it will engage and keep people interested in wanting to become a public servant despite the current volatile climate involving being a police officer.

The Pine Tree Cemetery annual benefit is changing venues this year.

The annual benefit has been on hold, like everything the last two years, due to the Covid pandemic.

The Greene Prairie Press reports that instead of having the benefit at the old Patterson School, this year’s benefit is moving to White Hall and will take place at Seton Hall on Saturday, March 26^th at 11AM.

The selling of lots, memorial donations, and the annual cemetery benefit are the only means of income for the cemetery. Without having the benefit over the past two years, the Pine Tree Cemetery Association believes they’ve lost at least $16,000 in funds for the upkeep of the cemetery.

In addition to a lunch being served, there will be an auction at 3PM. Donations for the auction will be taken up until 1PM on March 26^th. Carry out for the lunch will be available. A 50/50 drawing and a quilt raffle will also take place.

Drop off of auction items can be made at 330 West Lincoln Street in White Hall or call Bill Dunlap 217-248-5612. Questions about Pine Tree Cemetery can also be made to Mary Jane Steelman at 217-371-1715.

Three candidates for higher office will be in Jacksonville today.

Aurora Mayor and Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin will be at the Little Stove in downtown Jacksonville today accompanied by Secretary of State candidate John Milhiser at 12:30PM today for a meet and greet. Irvin is currently in a field of three other Republicans hoping to unseat Democratic incumbent J.B. Pritzker.

Milhiser is facing a challenge for the Republican nomination from Dan Brady as a potentially new face in the Secretary of State office. Democrat incumbent Jesse White announced late last year he wouldn’t be seeking another term after a record run in the office.

Later in the day, Congressman Rodney Davis will be at the Morgan-Cass Farm Bureau from 2-2:30PM announcing his endorsement from the Illinois Farm Bureau’s ACTIVATOR political action committee. Davis is facing off against Mary Miller of Oakland seeking his next term in Congress in the newly drawn 15^th District.

The Illinois State Fair announced an addition to their grandstand line up yesterday.

International pop sensation Demi Lovato will take the stage on Saturday, August 13th. Illinois State Fair manager Rebecca Clark says they are excited to bring Lovato to the State Fair not only for their artistic showcase but to help amplify their message about mental health awareness, social acceptance, and inclusiveness.

Ticket sales for all announced shows will be available at ticketmaster.com starting at 10am Friday morning. Fairgoers are reminded that Ticketmaster is the only authorized ticket broker for the Illinois State Fair. All other websites and offers may be fraudulent and buyers should beware.

A Cass County man accused of reproduction and possession of child pornography has been found fit to stand trial.

40 year old Jared A. Logsdon of Virginia was arrested by Illinois State Po lice investigators on January 18^th after a nearly 2 year investigation.

On February 14^th, Logsdon’s defense counsel, Cass County Public Defender Denise Barr requested the court have Logsdon receive a mental fitness evaluation by Dr. Terry Killian.

On Monday, the court received Dr. Killian’s findings with the conclusion that Logsdon is fit to stand trial. He was remanded back to the Schuyler County Jail where he is currently being held on $250,000 bond.

Logsdon is facing up to 30 years or more in prison and fines in excess of $100,000 on the 9-count criminal information in the case.

Logsdon will return to Cass County Court on March 21^st for a preliminary hearing.