The Pike County Sheriff’s Office and the West Central Illinois Drug Task Force arrested 3 individuals on Monday on methamphetamine-related charges.

At 8:11PM on Monday the Pike County Sheriff’s Department conducted a traffic stop in the 300 block of West Quincy Street in Griggsville.

Subsequent to an investigation of the occupants of the vehicle, the driver, 31 year old Phillip L. Embree of Perry was arrested on charges of Unlawful Possession with Intent to Deliver Methamphetamine 5-15 grams, unlawful possession of cannabis over 100 grams, and unlawful use or possession of a weapon by a felon.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department and West Central Illinois Task Force followed up with the investigation and conducted a court-authorized search warrant at a residence in the 100 block of Main Street in Perry.

Subsequent to the execution of the search warrant, 33 year old Justin L. Lockhart of Pittsfield was arrested on two outstanding Pike County warrants and a new charge of possession of methamphetamine. A second individual, 29 year old Jessica M. Lynch of Perry was also arrested on charges of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

All three remain lodged at the Pike County Jail.

The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that the Delhi Bypass in Jersey County will open to all four lanes of traffic several months ahead of schedule.

The $18.6 million project is set to open between 9AM and 3PM today. The bypass expands US 67 from two to four lanes, beginning in Godfrey and progresses north 2.4 miles around Delhi in southern Jersey County.

Construction started on the bypass in the fall of 2020, with an anticipated completion date in 2022. Due to favorable weather conditions over the past year, the project was able to advance at an accelerated pace. The initial two lanes of the bypass opened this fall.

The construction is part of the overall vision of the Corridor 67 project, which has been in development for nearly three decades, with the initial construction beginnings in the late 1990s.

The Illinois Department of Transportation’s 2019-2024 multi-year program contained earmarked $24.4 million set aside to construct the bypass. Eventually the four-lane highway will pass by Jerseyville, Carrollton, White Hall, and connect to the remaining four-lane highway just north of Roodhouse. The estimated unfunded cost to complete the four-lane sections in the US 67 corridor from Macomb southward to the Alton Bypass exceeds $1.7 billion.

IDOT officials have said no further construction is set to begin until possibly next year or further into the future.

Motorists should still expect intermittent, temporary lane closures in the coming months to complete miscellaneous work, such as permanent landscaping, shoulder upgrades and drainage improvements. Drivers are urged to pay close attention to flaggers and signs in the work zones, obey the posted speed limits, and remain alert for workers and equipment.

Yet another entity is leaving Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois at the first of the year due to the ongoing fall out of the disagreement with Springfield Clinic.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois terminated Springfield Clinic as an in-network provider back on November 17th after the two sides couldn’t come to terms on new financial agreements.

Morgan County Commissioner Chair Brad Zeller announced Monday morning that the county would be switching its healthcare insurance because of the disagreement: “[The county] has a health committee, and they reviewed [our insurance]. We are currently under Blue Cross Blue Shield Health, and we got a recommendation from the health committee to change to Health Alliance. The two policies that we have [been proposed] are trying to mirror our existing policies. Other than they change on the medical card, Dental and Vision remain the same. We are currently seeking applications [from employees] for the change and what people are going to take with the new policies.”

The new policy is expected to take effect on January 1^st. The commissioners confirmed that the health committee’s reasoning for the change was that many employees of the county didn’t want to lose or have to change doctors due to the ongoing dispute.

A 7.5 mile stretch of highway, known to be one of the most dangerous roads in Morgan County, is going to be getting a face lift starting next year.

County Highway Engineer Matt Coultas informed the Morgan County Commissioners Monday morning that the last round of Rebuild Illinois funding coming to the county along with some federal highway safety money is going to be put into re-surfacing, widening, and re-striping the Concord-Arenzville Road.

Coultas says it’s something he’s wanted to do since he first became the county’s engineer: “We are anticipating a mill and overlay, but not only a mill and overlay of that roadway, but a widening to incorporate three-foot-wide asphalt shoulders with our pavement markings reinstalled, and rumble strips on the outside edges of the road to help with some of those run-off-the-road type incidents if we can prevent some of those accidents. That’s a project that we’ve got in the works, and we are supposed to start in on that [next year]. I think it is going to bid this Spring, I believe. So, hopefully after the July 1 time frame, we can get started on that project and get that road kind of upgraded, I guess you could say, and make it a little bit safer for our traveling public in that area of the county.”

Coultas anticipates that the project will cost roughly $4 million. Coultas says the federal highway safety money was attached to the project due to the highway’s rating for numerous car crashes over the last decade. Coultas hopes the new overlay does not increase speeding problems, which are already a concern for that stretch of road.

The Sangamon County Republican Central Committee announced a deadline extension for the opportunity for a Republican to be appointed to fill the vacancy in the 99^th Legislative District.

The Sangamon County Republicans extended the deadline saying it wanted to ensure it has a strong and diverse group of candidates as possible to choose from in filling the vacancy left by Mike Murphy. Murphy retired at the end of last month.

Murphy announced he wouldn’t seek another term of office because he had been drawn into a new district with long-time friend and fellow Republican Avery Bourne of the 95^th District.

Applications will continue to be accepted until 5 pm, Thursday, December 23rd at the Central Committee’s Office located at 1132 Sangamon Avenue in Springfield 10:30-3:30 Monday through Friday. Applicants can also email an application and letter of interest to sangamonrepublicans@scrcc.comcastbiz.net.

The nominee selection meeting has been set for December 30^th at 7PM at the Sangamon County Republican Headquarters. The meeting will be open to the public.

Several miles of water line are being planned for installation in Scott County thanks to a grant and low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Scott-Morgan-Greene Water Cooperative that serves about 1,000 people across the three counties was granted $200,000 and loaned $1.6 million to expand their water service area. Currently, the co-op has more than 400 miles of total waterline through each of the 3 counties. They also provide emergency backup water service to Winchester, Alsey, and Manchester.

Co-Op President Steve Grubb told Quincy’s WGEM that the co-op is hoping to use the money to expand service to about another 50 households with another 20-25 miles of new water lines.

The loan and grant program is part of the USDA’s current initiative to invest more than $5 billion nationwide to build and improve critical infrastructure. The Scott-Morgan-Greene Water Co-Op has been in existence since 1988.

The IRS announced yesterday that victims of this month’s tornadoes will have until May 16^th to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

Following last week’s emergency declarations issued by FEMA, the IRS is providing this relief to taxpayers affected by storms, tornadoes and flooding that took place starting on December 10^th.

Currently, relief is available to taxpayers who live or have businesses in the following counties in the listening area: Cass, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, and Pike. The IRS will provide the same relief to any other localities designated by FEMA in these or neighboring states. The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on December 10. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until May 16 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes 2021 individual income tax returns due on April 18, as well as various 2021 business returns normally due on March 15 and April 18.

The May 16 deadline also applies to quarterly estimated income tax payments due on January 18 and April 18.

The IRS disaster relief page has details on other returns, payments and tax-related actions qualifying for the additional time.

A White Hall man has made a deep impact on his fellow employees and the Jacksonville community for his years of service as a security guard.

Daniel Metz of White Hall, a security guard at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, was chosen by his colleagues this week as JMH’s Colleague of the Year.

Jim McGownd, supervisor of security at JMH, noted Metz’s eagerness to help co-workers, patients, and visitors; his calm, positive demeanor; and his knowledge of the hospital grounds as some of his attributes.

Metz has worked at the hospital since 2015. He was named the hospital’s Colleague of the Month for August. Outside of work, Metz enjoys do-it-yourself home improvement projects. The Jacksonville Memorial Hospital Colleague of the Year receives $1,000, one week of paid time off work, one month of premium parking at the hospital, and a special pin recognizing the achievement.

This was the first year that the Colleague of the Year was chosen through a vote open to all employees of Jacksonville Memorial Hospital and Memorial Care. A hospital committee selected previous winners.

A former administrator at Illinois Electric Cooperative in Winchester is moving up in her current career.

Ashley Graham, formerly the billing coordinator at IEC in Winchester, has been serving as Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives’ member services manager since 2018.

Graham has been promoted to the AIEC’s Vice President of Member Services. Graham assumes her new duties on January 17th, which includes coordinating youth programs, statewide surveys, associate member programs, and member services/marketing.

The AIEC provides legal, engineering, communications, safety training, legislative, and other services to 29 electric cooperatives throughout Illinois that serve 90 counties and over 297,000 members.

A Morgan County murder trial will be ready to go next month.

21 year old Dustin Finlaw was in Morgan County Court Wednesday afternoon for a final pre-trial conference. Finlaw is charged with three counts of first degree murder in the stabbing death of of 42-year-old Robert Utter of Rushville in May of 2018 in Meredosia.

Assistant State’s Attorney Chad Turner said that Wednesday’s hearing was mostly procedural to tie up any pre-trial motions, legal issues, and to admonish Finlaw on his rights and charges: “This was just standard operating procedure in terms of a pre-trial hearing. The only thing that was maybe different was dealing with Covid protocols in terms of logistics as to how the courtroom is going to be set up to accommodate social distancing and things of that nature. Other than that, everything was fairly standard that court and counsel does, or in this case, the defendant is representing himself. It’s fairly typical to do at least once, if not a couple of times before we actually go to trial.”

Finlaw was admonished by visiting Judge Jack Davis III about issuing subpoenas for his witness in the case. Turner says that his office and the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office are working to assisting Finlaw in getting his witnesses to court for the upcoming trial: “Typically, subpoenas are just an enforcement mechanism where anybody has a right to compel someone to attend [court] and give testimony. Obviously, being self-represented, there is some logistical problems with [Finlaw] getting those served. I think he is working on those. We have offered to assist just in the sense of getting them to the appropriate law enforcement agencies to serve who he believes needs to serve as witnesses in his case.”

During the hearing on Wednesday, the Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office revealed they had tendered Finlaw a negotiated plea bargain in the case. The state’s attorney’s office said they had offered Finlaw a sentence of 35 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and 3 three years of Mandatory Supervised Release if he were to plea guilty to one count of first degree murder in the case. Finlaw persisted in not accepting the offer in open court. Finlaw faces 20-60 years in each of the 3 counts he faces in Utter’s death. According to the court, Finlaw must serve 100% of the sentence. Finlaw also faces two counts of aggravated battery, 2 counts of obstruction of justice, and and 1 count of resisting a peace officer in the case. The state said it has no intention of amending the charges once the cause heads to trial.

Judge Davis also asked Finlaw once again if he wished to continue to proceed as a pro se defendant in the case. Finlaw replied, “I know it is a bold decision, your honor, but I feel it is best for me.”

A final pre-trial status is set for 2:30PM on January 24^th with the jury trial and selection slated for the following day beginning at 10AM.