The White Hall and Greene County community lost two members of its law enforcement community this past week.

Claudia Fischer was a dispatcher for the White Hall Police Department, starting in 1997. She retired from the position in 2016. Fischer passed away on Thursday at the age of 74. Current Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen says that Fischer was one of the dispatchers that was serving the White Hall Police Department when he joined the force in 1990. He says her calming presence was a benefit to him and several other young officers at the time, as they were getting acquainted with their career.

Kerry Page began his career in law enforcement with the Winchester Police and then the Scott County Sheriff’s Department before landing at the White Hall Police Department in 1980. He took a job with the Carrollton Police in 1989, before he became a Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy. Page ran unsuccessfully to become Greene County Sheriff in 2010 against a long-time friend and fellow law enforcement officer at White Hall, Rob McMillen.

McMillen says that Page spent his entire professional life working to serve the citizens of Greene County: “Basically, law enforcement was his life and he pretty much lived that life to the fullest. He just recently retired, so he had a pretty lengthy run serving the people of Greene County.”

McMillen recalls the 2010 primary where he and Page faced off against each other for Sheriff on the Democratic ticket. He says that their personal and professional relationship continued even after McMillen became sheriff: “I was contemplating what to do with my career at the time and thought it would be a good move for myself. I wasn’t really particularly fond of running against a friend of mine, but it was a professional decision that I made for my family and myself. When I called him on the phone, I told him that I was going to run on the same primary ticket that he was on. I told him we would have a clean campaign. I assured him that, and basically that did hold true. There was no bickering amongst the candidates between him or I, or even the other side of the ticket. We all ran a pretty good campaign on both sides. At the end of the day, I ended up winning. The story has been written after that.”

Page returned to the White Hall PD in 2015 before retiring completely in 2020. During his time with the Sheriff’s Department, he assisted late Carrollton Police Chief Mike Kiger with the D.A.R.E. program at local schools. McMillen says that he even went out of the county and out of state on training and other advocacy for the police department during his years of service. Page passed away on Tuesday at the age of 66.

Current White Hall Police Chief Luke Coultas said in a Facebook post yesterday that the entire Greene County community has suffered the loss of two extremely important people who served the community over the last 40 years.

Services for Fischer will be held at a later date. Funeral services for Page will be 11:00 a.m. Monday at Airsman Hires Funeral Home in White Hall.

An annual event for charity is returning to downtown Jacksonville this Spring.

The Kiwanis annual .5k Walk, Skip, Run, or Roll will be held on Saturday, April 2^nd beginning at Don’s Place. The annual charity event returns, and over the past decade it has raised nearly $60,000 for local charities.

.5k Committee member Krisin Jamison says the event is currently seeking applications from local non-profits who wish to benefit from the proceeds that are raised this year: “We are looking for non-profit organizations in the area that specifically benefit children in keeping with the mission of Kiwanis. We just encourage any non-profit agency to connect with us, and let us know how the proceeds from this event could help them in their efforts. They can connect with Gary Scott at WLDS/WEAI, Lauren Dwyer at Beard Implement Company, or me Kristin Jamison at JREDC. We are happy to take that application and put it to the committee for consideration.”

Jamison says that the committee is also looking for sponsors for the event this year: “We have a group of dedicated sponsors who have donated at the $200 level for a number of years. Now, we are adding a $250 level that will include a logo that will go on the back of t-shirts. Every business or individual who is interested in sponsoring will absolutely have space on the back of our .5K t-shirts for this year, and those who bump up to that $250 level will be able to include their business logo as well.”

Jamison says the committee plans on honoring the original organizers of the event, Bruce and Dessa Surratt this year. She says a few surprises may be lined up for them at the day of the event. There are also talks about having live entertainment at the end of the race at Bahan’s where Jamison says their outdoor beer garden and patio would accommodate the crowd.

For further information about the event, you can contact Jamison at kristin@jredc.org or call 217-719-9215.

For more information about the .5K event’s history, visit THAT 1 Place’s podcast here.

The Illinois General Assembly won’t be in session again next week.

Illinois House Speaker spokesperson Jaclyn Driscoll sent an email to members of the press today that in-person session for the House next week has been cancelled, and all committee work will continue to be conducted virtually.

Driscoll went on to say in the announcement that House leadership plans to return to in-person session the week of February 1^st provided that statewide Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations sustain a downward trend.

The Illinois Senate never scheduled a session for next week, according to the General Assembly’s website.

Governor J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to give his State of the State Budget Address on February 2^nd.

The General Assembly met for one day this month, on January 5^th, but have canceled subsequent sessions since according to health concerns surrounding the latest surge of Covid cases in the state.

A renewable energy transmission line expected to stretch from Kansas to the East Coast is now attempting to get regulatory approval in Illinois.

Invenergy Transmission, LLC has begun the process to get state regulatory approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission for its proposed Grain Belt Expressway transmission line. The project has already received siting approvals in Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. The Missouri siting approval met with some contention in Missouri last Spring as some lawmakers attempted to stop Invenergy from using eminent domain powers, but was ultimately approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission.

As a part of their Illinois siting permit, Invenergy will be required to hold meetings along the transmission’s easement which runs from Pike County through Scott County and into the northern tips of Macoupin and Greene County as it treks east to Indiana.

According to the Pike Press, the primary and alternate routes for the transmission line are similar to those presented to the ICC in 2015 when Clean Line Energy Partners previously applied for a siting permit. The Grain Belt Express project was purchased by Invenergy in 2018. Invenergy says that the project is going to be built at no cost to Illinois consumers.

Controversy in Missouri carries over to Illinois because the project allows Invenergy, a private, non-utility company has eminent domain powers over privately held ground. The Illinois General Assembly created the ability for this action to happen through a law passed last year.

Phase 1 meetings of the project are expected at various locations, beginning in Pike County on February 15^th from 5-7PM at the Pike County Senior Citizens Center in Pittsfield.

A Sangamon County court ruling on a suit against 145 schools across Central Illinois for the state’s mask mandate and Covid-19 exclusion policies likely won’t come until next week, and Jacksonville School District 117 isn’t planning on signing on if there is an appeal.

Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow took under advisement competing arguments on the lawsuit before dismissing the hearing today. The lawsuit names many school districts in the listening area, including Jacksonville School District 117.

The District 117 School Board discussed a matter related to the suit in open meeting last night. Superintendent of Schools Steve Ptacek was contacted recently by legal council asking if the District would be willing to join in on an appeal if the ruling is found in favor of the plaintiffs. Ptacek says after discussion, District 117 will continue its stance of staying in its own lane.

“We were asked- and this is no statement on whether the TRO will be issued or not, just that general preparation, that if the District were in a situation to sign on to join the appeal, would we? And I wanted to talk with the board about that, and I think we have decided that the letter that I gave out to the Governor’s Office about vaccination testing earlier was basically summed up with, we don’t feel the District should be speeding taxpayer money to facilitate lawsuits for a state mandate.

At this point in time the Governor, and the Attorney General’s Office is representing him, is included in this lawsuit. So the Board agrees with me that if the TRO is issued, and if there is an appeal, that should come through the Governor’s Office and the Attorney General. Our stance is we follow protocol, we’re not making the decision on what is proper protocol.”

Judge Grischow said in the courtroom today due to scheduling and the length of review necessary, she wouldn’t issue a ruling in the case before next Friday.

Jeremy Coumbes also contributed to this story.

Illinois House Republicans are seeking to repeal last year’s criminal justice and police reform bill known as the SAFE-T Act.

The act included several changes that included ending the cash bail system and addressing police misconduct.

47th District State Representative Deanne Mazzochi of Westmont says that since the passage of the bill, crime has skyrocketed around the state: “We warned you that this would make crime even worse. Welcome to reality. You can’t pass a bill designed to defund, demoralize, and decertify police officers and expect that much good is going to come of that. We can get this right. We can come together to carefully consider the right action we can take that is going to promote second chances for people, but is also going to protect our residents.”

Mazzochi and her GOP colleagues have introduced a resolution that urges the repeal of the SAFE-T Act, and are asking state Democrats to come back to the drawing board. A petition from Illinois voters can be signed at ilhousegop.org/repeal.

Video of the full House GOP press conference about the bill that happened yesterday can be viewed here.

Before the press conference concluded yesterday, Illinois’ legislative Black Caucus, who were chief sponsors of the bill, released a reaction statement: “As usual with the Republican Party, any effort to make the justice system fairer for Black people is called ‘dangerous.’ With this law, we have worked directly with community organizations, legal rights advocates and law enforcement to make our justice system more effective and more just at the same time. That’s why the Illinois State Police and other law enforcement groups continue to work with us on this bill. Many provisions of the SAFE-T Act have not even gone into effect yet, proving that the Republican gambit is all for show. In fact, when fully implemented, experts say the SAFE-T Act will help improve public safety by supporting a more holistic approach for first-responders.”

The statement goes on to say that Democrats are continuing to work with law enforcement, including the Illinois State Police, and community leaders to make further changes and adding follow-up measures to make the state safer.

The Illinois State Board of Elections has named a new Executive Director.

WICS Newschannel 20 reports that interim executive director Bernadette Matthews will now become official in her post after a unanimous vote at the State Board’s Wednesday business meeting.

Matthews was named the interim director in April 2021 after the resignation of Steve Sandvoss. Sandvoss left the role in June of last year after he was placed on administrative leave after he reported being the victim of an online extortion attempt, with a State police investigation that followed.

Matthews had served as assistant executive director since 2017 before being named interim director. Matthews joined the Board of Elections as legal counsel in 2009.

Quincy Republican State Senator Jil Tracy announced her plans to run for re-election in the newly drawn 47th Senate District yesterday.

The new district encompasses all or portions of Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler, and Scott counties. Some of it will be new territory for Tracy, whose district got pushed south and east under the remap process. She will likely replace current 50^th District State Senator Steve McClure as the senator who covers Jacksonville. McClure announced his intentions to run in the newly drawn 54^th District that shifts him east, closer towards his home in Springfield.

The long-time Quincy senator has represented the 47th District since 2016 and was a state representative from 2006 until 2014 for the Quincy area. Tracy worked in private law as the Mount Sterling city attorney and an assistant Illinois attorney general before entering politics. She serves on the John Wood Community College Foundation Board, was a founding board member of Brown County United Way and served for more than 13 years on the Mount Sterling Park District Board.

Tracy said in the press release yesterday that she is planning a listening tour in coming weeks with stops in Quincy, Jacksonville, Jerseyville and Godfrey.

Flags around the state are flying at half staff for a DCFS who was slain in the line of duty.

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced late yesterday that flags will will be at half staff at all state facilities from sunrise today until sunset on Saturday in honor of fallen DCFS employee Deidre Silas.

Silas, a child protection specialist with DCFS, was stabbed to death when she responded to a child in danger call at a residence in Thayer in southern Sangamon County.

32 year old Benjamin H. Reed, an occupant of the home, is alleged to have murdered Silas and then fled to a hospital in Decatur before being apprehended by police.

Silas is the second DCFS agent killed in the line of duty within the last five years.