Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued on Wednesday an updated guide of benefits for Illinois veterans and their families.

Raoul’s Benefits for Illinois Veterans guide was created by his Military and Veterans Rights Bureau to provide veterans and their families with information regarding federal and state veteran benefit laws.

The 2022 edition of the Benefits for Illinois Veterans guide features new and updated information on veterans’ benefits including: health care updates for female veterans, information on veterans experiencing homelessness, information on Vietnam War-related exposure to Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune contaminated water exposure, and Iraq and Afghanistan service-linked illnesses.

Military service members, veterans and their families can visit Raoul’s Military and Veterans Rights Bureau website for more information.

Veterans and their families can request a free, printed copy of the Benefits for Illinois Veterans guide or request other assistance by email at mvrb@ilag.gov or by calling Raoul’s Military and Veterans Rights Helpline at 1-800-382-3000.

The North Greene School District will be seeing some major renovations of its buildings within the next year.

The North Greene School Board approved an agreement with Omni Energy Partners at their December 15^th meeting for a contract just over $2.7 million to renovate portions of the elementary school in Roodhouse. The details of the work will include renovation of the basement, which is the former jr. high boys’ locker rooms. The area will be converted into a new art room. Office space and former classrooms in the lower level will be converted into a band room. Portions of the building also still contain asbestos, and those will be abated. Upgrades to the HVAC and new ADA-compliant lifts will also be installed.

Another major renovation is coming at the high school in White Hall. The Greene Prairie Press reports that the library and media center will have portions turned into a band and chorus room. Paid for by ESSER funding, the district plans to bring back their band and chorus programs, which were eliminated due to funding issues in 2019. Portions of the jr. high wing will be remodeled into STEAM classrooms.

The ESSER funding will also allow roof repair at the high school.

The work in both buildings is expected to be completed in the summer next year ahead of the new school year in the Fall.

HSHS St. John’s is going back to restricting patient visits amid a surge of new Covid cases.

Effective yesterday, HSHS St. John’s Hospital will allow one visitor per patient. All visitors must continue to follow hospital-specific processes for entry into the facility. All visitors must have their temperature checked and be screened for COVID-19 symptoms and exposure. In addition, medical grade, non-cloth masks are mandatory.

Visitors must be age 18 or older, unless they are the parent of a child receiving care.

No visitors are allowed for patients under investigation for possible COVID-19 diagnosis and those confirmed positive for COVID-19. HSHS also has more specific guidance for certain parts of the hospital.

More information can be found by visiting st-johns.org.

Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office announced yesterday that Menard County has been added to the December 10^th Federal Emergency Disaster Declaration.

Pritzker’s Office says that he federal government approved his request to add Menard County to the state’s emergency disaster declaration. The emergency disaster declaration provides financial aid under the Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance program to local jurisdictions for eligible storm related losses or costs incurred in response to the December 10 storm.

According to the National Weather Service, an EF-2 tornado touched down a half mile east of Atterberry causing significant structure damage. The NWS reports high-speed winds led to downed trees, powerlines and other damages throughout central Illinois and the metro east.

According to the NWS report, the Menard County tornado was from the Cass County system that touched down. It began about a half mile east of Atterberry, where a pair of metal sheds along Pin Hook Ave were significantly damaged. It mainly passed through open fields until reaching a farm along Masters Ave about a half mile west of Fairgrounds St. Here, a machine shed was destroyed and a couple other outbuildings sustained damage. The worst damage was along Attig Bridge Ave about a half mile east of Fairgrounds St. A house sustained significant damage to its roof, several trees were snapped nearby, and sheds across the road were damaged or destroyed. From this point, it mainly traveled in farm fields, overturning an irrigation pivot before lifting just shy of the Sangamon River.

Menard County joins Cass, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, and Pike in the area among others in the federal disaster declaration.

Under the Public Assistance program, FEMA awards grants to assist state and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations with the response to and recovery from disasters. Under the guidelines of the PA program, local jurisdictions can be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of eligible costs.

A new business in White Hall is being forced to close its doors after a year in business.

Billy’s Furniture Clearance Center is closing in White Hall after losing its lease at the former ALCO building on the north end of town.

Owner Billy McCurley told the Greene Prairie Press said the owners of the building, Carrington Company of Eureka, California, has pulled their lease in favor of another renter offering three times the amount of money per month. McCurley says that the White Hall location was in their top 3 locations for sales across their 7 stores.

The belief in White Hall is that Bunn Corporation, who has a small warehouse in White Hall, will be the next occupant of the building and possibly opening up a small manufacturing facility at the site. Carrington and Bunn have not made that announcement official.

Billy’s has until February 14^th to liquidate their inventory or move out. McCurley says he is exploring options to find a building to stay in the area after the success after their lone year in business.

Those getting ready to hit the road today for Christmas may want to fill up locally.

Jacksonville’s average for a gallon of gas is $3.14 a gallon today. Twelve of fourteen location are at $3.15 a gallon or less. Morgan County as a whole is averaging $3.24 a gallon this week, second to only Schuyler County’s $3.19. Springfield currently sits at $3.34 on average. Just across the Mississippi River in Pike County, Missouri, gas is at $2.94 a gallon.

These prices are better than the national average of $3.29 a gallon, and the state average of $3.39. Crude oil prices remain somewhat steady over the week and gasoline demand surged last week ahead of the holiday travel week.

AAA says typically, growing demand and tight supply would support rising pump prices; however, fluctuations in the price of crude oil have helped to put downward pressure on prices. Last week, crude prices crept above $70 per barrel and if oil prices continue to climb, pump prices will likely follow suit. However, some of that confidence has been tempered by fears of the COVID-19 omicron variant’s economic impact possibly threatening future global oil consumption.

The Lair Building has been torn down and work has begun to reopen North West Street next to the courthouse.

City of Jacksonville Director of Community Development Brian Nyberg told What’s On Your Mind last week that there is small projects remaining on the adjacent buildings before further work can be completed: “The good news is, it is down. That portion is cleaned up. We have to do some blocking up to close up some openings in the basement to the [Rammelkamp] building, and then we can back fill it. Hopefully, we can move forward. There is going to be some liens placed on all the work that’s been done, but that will be in litigation with the city attorney.”

Nyberg says that the Rammelkamp Bradney law firm building is receiving extensive repair because the Lair Building shared floor joists and a roof: “Between the Lair Building and the Rammelkamp building, they shared a wall, so the floor joists went into that brick wall from one side and then the other also, so it was kind of a tricky process. Before taking that first floor down, because that first floor was actually stabilizing that wall and it was all pretty old brick – a contractor went in on the Rammelkamp side and kind of shored that up and tied it all into the new roof that they put in because the damage from the collapse had put two great big gaping holes in their roof. They had to go back and do some fixing up, and actually between myself and Hutchison Engineering, we thought now would be the time before we go any farther to tie all that in and actually hold that wall, and then, we could move forward to taking the rest of that down.”

Nyberg said via email on Tuesday that it would likely be some time next week before North West Street would open to traffic again. He said that a chimney had to be taken down and new guttering installed on the surrounding buildings as well as massive backfill still needing to take place. Masonry work on the back of the Rammelkamp building also is still on the list of things to be done to eventually complete the project.

Illinois continues to purge its population.

In new estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday, Illinois’ population was just over 12.6 million people as of July 1^st. That’s down nearly a full percentage point or just over 113,000 people since the official 2020 census.

According to the Census Bureau, several factors contributed to the change, but the single largest issue was people simply moving out of the state. According to the data, over 122,000 people moved from Illinois to other states during the period from April 1, 2020, to July 1^st while only 5,766 people moved in.

Those losses were offset by a net gain of 5,766 people through international migration as well as a “natural” increase of 2,778 people. According to the State Journal Register, the state’s numbers are reflective of a broader national trend f decreased international migration, lower birth rates and increased mortality, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the data, Illinois had the third largest population decline of all the states in the country.

A state teacher’s union is putting some well-known conservative think-tanks, politicians, and lawyer on blast for what they believe is an open attack on public education in Illinois.

A video posted by the Illinois Education Association accuses anti-union groups of using dark money to create division in the state and to attack public schools.

The approximately 7-minute video posted to their Facebook Page goes after former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner, the well-known conservative donors the Koch Brothers, and the Illinois Policy Institute saying they are using “dark money” to “diminish their [IEA’s] collective voice” as a union.

The video also mentions Attorney Thomas DeVore, who is suing 145 school districts, including Jacksonville School District 117, over Governor J.B. Pritzker’s school mask mandate.

IEA says in the video that the lawsuit is a fundraising scheme for DeVore to raise money to campaign for a seat on the Fifth District Appellate Court in 2022. DeVore has at least two other Republicans he will be against in that primary next year.

You can watch the video attached to this link. The Jacksonville Education Association is a member of IEA.