The MacMurray College community lost one of its most beloved figures yesterday.

Dr. Allan Metcalf passed away at the age of 81.

The retired Professor Emeritus of English “taught everything from Beowulf to Billy Budd, from journalism to linguistics, from freshman composition to language and the law,” according to his website.

His career spanned more than 45 years, until the college’s closing almost two years ago. Beyond chairing the English Department at various times throughout his tenure at MacMurray, he also served as the college’s Registrar and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs from 2003-2012. He also founded the college’s student newspaper The Bagpipe in 1976. He served as faculty advisor to the paper until 2000.

The author of 8 books, he mostly explored his love of the origin of words in his research and writing. His most recent work was published in 2019 about Guy Fawkes and the phrase “you guys.”

Metcalf served as executive secretary of the American Dialect Society from 1981 until retiring from the position in 2018. His love for words created the society’s annual vote on Word of the Year in 1990.

He made appearances on CBS Sunday Morning and in the pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education. He lectured at various places around the country and spent time in Jerusalem for an American Studies seminar for Israeli high school teachers in 1993. He also had subsequent appearances on NPR and in TIME magazine.

Services for Metcalf are pending at Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville School District 117 is changing policies on masking on its school buses.

In an email update from Superintendent Steve Ptacek this morning, Ptacek says he has received guidance from the district’s legal counsel that masks on the district’s buses should be optional. Ptacek says the reasoning behind the change is that district receives its school bus funding from the Illinois State Board of Education and not from the federal government.

Currently, the federal government requires masks on public transportation.

Ptacek says that Covid numbers remain low. Ptacek says yesterday the district had 3 total positive cases – one teacher and two students. Ptacek says after just a few weeks with the mask optional policy in the district, the district is seeing some of its lowest numbers since the pandemic began.

Ptacek says if the numbers remain low, he will consider removing social distancing protocols like assigned seating and distancing at lunch after Spring Break.

Prairieland United Way appears to be closing the gap on its shortfall of its goal for this year’s campaign.

Executive Director Karen Walker says about two weeks ago the campaign had stopped at around 80%. Walker says that as of the close of business on Wednesday the campaign had hit about 92% of its goal in a push by members over the week to close the gap.

Walker hopes that this weekend’s fundraising event at County Market will help the goal be reached or exceeded. The event kicked off yesterday with a WEAI live remote with Gary Scott and Mark Whalen. Interviews from several area non-profit organizations that receive funding through Prairieland United Way were aired on the broadcast yesterday between 1-4PM.

Walker hopes that everyone who wishes to donate can stop by and drop off donations at County Market this weekend: “We’ll have a table there. We will be accepting donations. If you are able to stop by, we would appreciate it. While the radio station won’t be there Friday and Saturday, we will still be there. Today, we will be here from 3-7PM and then on Saturday from 8AM-2PM. You’ll have the next two days to stop by and drop off your donations in person. For every $20 that’s donated, your name will be entered into a drawing for a $500 gift card donated by County Market.”

For those who cannot attend the weekend event, donations will still be accepted via Venmo or on prairielandunitedway.org.

A current bill in the Illinois General Assembly would make it easier for victims of domestic violence to apply for orders of protection through local courts.

The bill, which has passed Senate unanimously, would allow victims to file for an order of protection online and would require courts in a county larger than 250,000 population to offer the petitioner the option to hold a hearing on that order remotely.

At a Wednesday morning news conference, the bill sponsor, State Senator Steve Stadelman of Rockford was joined by Carrie Ward, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Amanda Pyron, executive director of The Network Advocating Against Domestic Violence, to discuss how the legislation benefits victims.

Ward said ICASA hopes the legislation is the first step in increasing the survivor’s ability to receive protective orders in the safest and most efficient way possible. Ward noted they would like to see subsequent legislation that eliminates the population requirements and opens online access to the entire state.

Senate Bill 3667 has arrived in the House today and has picked up a chief sponsor, Representative Maurice West. It is currently awaiting a House committee assignment before a final vote.

Four area students were recently awarded a major scholarship at Illinois College.

Megan Suttles of South Jacksonville and Elizabeth Weber of Jacksonville along with two other students to be named later were recipients of the Howard and Vera Million Endowed Scholarship.

A $1.5 million gift to Illinois College from the estate of the late Howard Million funds the permanent scholarship, which was established following Million’s passing in October 2014 at the age of 102. Million was a distinguished friend of Illinois College. Raised on a farm near Roodhouse, he had a successful career as a farmer and was the founder and president of the former Roodhouse Savings and Loan Association. Illinois College awarded Million an honorary bachelor of arts degree during the 2012 Commencement ceremony.

That same year, Million approached the College about helping ensure deserving students have the opportunity to attend Illinois College and receive the type of education he had not been afforded. Working closely with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, Million established a gift through his estate to provide for the scholarship. Preference is often given to students from Greene, Morgan, or Scott counties.

Information has been released about a Morgan County woman who was jailed after she allegedly made more than $100,000 worth of unauthorized purchases on a Jacksonville business’ credit card.

The Journal Courier reports that 48 year old Stacy S. Brickey of Woodson was arrested on January 19^th by Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputies after it was reported that Brickey made the purchases on a credit card for Production Press without permission. Jacksonville Police Detective Lt. Doug Thompson told the Journal Courier that the employer spotted the fraudulent charges, which prompted an investigation.

Brickey has been charged with felony theft between $100,000-$500,000 and felony unlawful use of an account code. Brickey waived her rights to a preliminary hearing on Feb. 8 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A jury trial was requested and scheduled for 10 a.m. March 8, with a pretrial conference set for Wednesday. The theft charge carries a sentence of four to 15 years followed by up to 18 months supervised release if convicted; the misuse of a credit card carries a two- to 10-yeard sentence. Both charges are eligible for probation.

However, Brickey pled guilty in 2018 to felony theft between $10,000 and $100,000. Brickey was caught making illegal purchases of over $10,000 for personal use, including groceries, gift cards and a generator using county money while she was an administrative assistant for the Morgan County Highway Department from March 2014 to January 2017. Brickey was also charged with official misconduct in the case, but it was dropped per a plea. She received 2 years of adult probation, 90 days in county jail, a $500 fine, and more than $40,000 in restitution to the county.

Brickey remains free on bond prior to trial.

The 25^th resident of the State of Illinois has been arrested and charged for their role in the Jan. 6^th Washington D.C. Capitol riot.

44 year old Athanasios Zoyganeles of Chicago was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington with misdemeanor counts of unlawfully entering a restricted government building and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds yesterday.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Zoyganeles was charged by the FBI after finding evidence of text messages and information from an anonymous tip about a video that Zoyganeles published on his Facebook page. The FBI also used phone records to determine that Zoyganeles’ phone was in the vicinity of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Surveillance footage showed him in a black and red “Trump” hat entering through the Parliamentary Doors with a mob and taking videos on his phone while inside, according to the complaint.

In October, the FBI met with a close relative of Zoyganeles, who confirmed he was the person in the surveillance images.

According to the Justice Department, more than 725 people have been arrested in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on charges stemming from the Capitol breach.