COVID-19 cases spiked over the weekend in Morgan County.

The Morgan County Health Department reports 87 new cases of the virus since their previous report on November 15^th. Cases have shown a steady increase since the middle of the month.

Two new outbreaks of the virus are listed on the report, with 18 cases being reported at The Pointe and 5 cases being reported at the Morgan County Jail. A previous outbreak at Aperion Care has now dropped off the list.

There are currently 105 active cases of COVID-19 in Morgan County, with 3 of those cases currently hospitalized. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Morgan County has a 4.18% positivity rate over the last week. Morgan County remains labeled as a county of high transmission.

Cass, Brown, and Greene counties have been dropped to places of substantial transmission over the week.

According to IDPH, 49.52% of Morgan County’s population is fully vaccinated.

Jacksonville School District 117 is also noting the rise in cases. In an email sent out this afternoon by Superintendent Steve Ptacek addressing concerns about school activities, he noted that on November 16^th the district only had 18 students out due to either exclusion or isolation and yesterday, the district now reports 94 students out. The district’s record high for exclusion and/or isolation is 17 over the last 19 months. Ptacek says the district’s Covid protocols must stay in place for students to remain for in-person learning.

The Beardstown City Council tabled an intergovernmental agreement with the Cass County dispatch service at their November 17th meeting, awaiting more information.

Mayor Tim Harris says it was nothing out of routine, the council just had a few questions regarding the contract’s language: “They had some questions, but right now, it’s the only option we have to continue [emergency dispatch services]. They just wanted to know how the billing was broken down and so on. There was nothing that I know of that they had problems with, but I think the questions were mainly concerned with a better explanation of how money was spent, their use for their surplus, and things like that. I don’t think there were any other issues about it.”

Harris says that once the final details are ironed out, the motion to accept the contract should be approved at December’s first business meeting.

Harris says it has been routine to table motions on contracts in recent years so that all questions can be answered, especially when it comes to fiduciary concerns. Harris says he didn’t see any other problems or concerns surrounding continuing the dispatch service.

A three year old murder case in Pinckneyville Prison involving a Rushville man’s death is likely to see trial sometime next year.

Special Appellate Prosecutor Jennifer Mudge filed three counts of first-degree murder in Perry County Circuit Court in July, charging 34 year old Daniel P. Mueller, formerly of Springfield in the alleged strangulation death of 33 year old Earl Little of Rushville in July 2018. According to the charging documents, Mueller allegedly compressed the neck of Little using an electrical cord from an oscillating fan in the jail cell they shared.

Little was imprisoned in Pinckneyville Prison 8 months prior to his death for an armed robbery in DuPage County for which he had received a 21-year sentence. Mueller was in the fourth year of a 30-year sentence for the strangulation murder of his girlfriend in 2014 in Springfield. According to the State Journal Register, Mueller was moved to the Lawrence Correctional Facility shortly after Little’s death.

Mudge says delays have hit the case during the Fall for a number of reasons: “He came to court and got an appointed attorney, Ben Grohmann. He was entitled to a preliminary hearing within 30 days because he’s in custody. Because of the circumstances of the case, the case didn’t get set on the court docket within 30 days – and by circumstances, I mean Covid, and the fact that [Mueller] is already in prison in a maximum security facility in isolation. So, we were passed the 30 days, so [Mueller’s attorney] requested that the case be dismissed and the court allowed it. We basically went into a 10 minute recess [that day], and I walked upstairs and re-filed the existing charges. It was sort of an exercise in futility, but nonetheless, that’s what happened. The status of the case hasn’t changed any. It’s still moving forward.”

Mueller’s first appearance in court setting his defense attorney was on September 15^th. According to court documents, Mueller’s preliminary hearing was held on October 13^th and a jury pre-trial date is set for January 4^th.

A rural home in the unincorporated township of Spankey in southern Greene County is a complete loss after a fire yesterday morning.

The Carrollton-Eldred-Kane Fire Protection District received an initial call of a residential structure fire at 205 Spankey Road at approximately 10:30AM yesterday morning. Carrollton Fire Chief Tim Thaxton says that fire fighters arrived on scene to find the home fully engulfed on both ends of the structure and a natural gas tank at the rear of the structure was on fire, producing flames up the back of the house upwards of 7-8 feet high. Due to its rural location, Thaxton said fighting the fire was difficult due to the size and the lack of a nearby water source.

Thaxton says firefighters could never make entry to the home due to the size of the fire and the fact that a cache of ammunition from the homeowners was igniting and going off. Thaxton says that firefighters were on scene well into the afternoon fighting a defensive fire just to suppress the flame. He says the homeowners, two elderly family members had only been gone a half hour from the structure and were not home at the time the fire started.

Thaxton says due to the extent of the blaze and the inability to enter the home, the cause of the fire was not suspicious but remains undetermined. One elderly family dog did perish in the blaze.

Jerseyville Fire Department and the White Hall Fire Department provided mutual aid to the scene. The Village of Eldred remains under a boil order today due to emergency use of the village’s water reserves to fight the fire.

Illinois is not planning any additional restrictions or precautions yet in response to international concerns about another new COVID variant.

WMAY reports that Governor JB Pritzker says the state is “closely monitoring” the situation involving the variant known as “omicron.” And he says Illinois policy will be guided by the work of doctors, researchers, and public health professionals. Pritzker says vaccination and boosters remain the best defense against omicron and all strains of the virus.

As of Monday morning, there are no recorded cases of omicron in Illinois, but health experts say the variant will almost inevitably turn up here. President Joe Biden urged Americans yesterday not to panic about the new variant and said the federal government was making contingency plans with pharmaceutical companies if new vaccines are needed.

Current 13^th District Congressman Rodney Davis won’t run for governor next year. According to several news outlets last night, Davis would be announcing that he would campaign for re-election in the newly drawn 15th Congressional District sometime today. Davis made the announcement official at 8AM this morning. Davis will be seeking his 6th term in Congress.

Davis rolled out a long list of endorsements in his official e-mailed announcement this morning including former Congressman John Shimkus with whom Davis worked prior to entering Congress, and fellow Congressman Darin LaHood and Mike Bost along with all the Republican Central Committees across the newly formed district. Davis also earned endorsements from state politicians across the 15th District including Steve McClure, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Jil Tracy, Norine Hammond, Avery Bourne, Tim Butler, Randy Frese, and Mike Murphy among others.

According to WCIA’s Mark Maxwell who first broke the news on Twitter last night, Davis allegedly has his hopes set high if he returns to Congress. If the Republicans re-take the House in 2022, Davis could become chair of the Administration Committee in 2023, and as the current ranking Republican member of the Highways and Transit subcommittee, he’d be next in line to become the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in 2025.

Davis released the following statement this morning: “My family and I are excited to announce that I am running for re-election to Congress. I’ve been proud to fight hard for and work on behalf of central Illinois families in this district for many years, both as a member of Congress and as a staffer to my good friend and mentor, former Congressman John Shimkus. Democrats in Washington have put our nation in crisis with their big government, socialist schemes and dreams. Republicans are primed to retake the House next year, and I’m ready to work with a new Republican majority to finally fire Nancy Pelosi and hold the Biden Administration accountable for their massive failures. I look forward to campaigning hard and earning every vote in this district over the next year.“

With Davis’ announcement today, the only member of the Illinois GOP Congressional coalition to not make a decision for their fate in 2022 is first-term incumbent Congresswoman Mary Miller. Miller’s home in Oakland sits just outside the newly drawn 15^th District. If Miller were to run, she would either have to primary Mike Bost in the south or move just a few miles north and primary against Davis in the 15^th District.

The Quincy Medical Group has come to an agreement to settle with the federal government over Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Claims.

QMG has agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims for medically unnecessary cardiac catheterization procedures performed by a physician who was formerly employed by the group. Today’s settlement comes on the heels of a related settlement in August with Blessing Hospital for approximately $2.82 million.

According to a press release, the United States government will receive approximately $459,000, the State of Illinois will receive nearly $40,000, and the States of Iowa and Missouri will receive the remainder. The settlement resolves allegations that Quincy Medical Group obtained payments from Medicare and Medicaid for the professional services component of cardiac catheterization procedures performed between August 1, 2012, and August 30, 2018, in which the physician implanted medically unnecessary coronary arterial stents.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois, the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, the Inspector General’s Office of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Illinois State Police Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hoelzer and Department of Justice Senior Trial Counsel Laurie Oberembt represented the government during the settlement process.

The Carrollton Fire Department, White Hall Fire Department, and Jerseyville Fire Department have responded to a structure fire on Spankey Road, about 3 1/2 miles southeast of Eldred.

The structure is fully engulfed, according to on scene official reports. Officials on the scene also advise that there was no one inside the residence at the time of the fire. Officials are also hoping to contain the fire to the structure due to a propane tank being nearby.

This story is developing.

Jacksonville Police arrested a juvenile after the driver fled from a traffic stop last night.

A patrol officer was called to the intersection of North East Street and East State at 9:56 last night for a report of a wrong way driver.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputies and Jacksonville Police then attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the vehicle, but the driver then fled after the vehicle was reported stolen from the 2200 block of Checkerberry Lane in Springfield.

Once the vehicle came to a stop, the driver then attempted to flee on foot but was apprehended after a brief chase.

Reports later came in of multiple hit and run accidents attributed to the vehicle including striking a vehicle in a driveway in the 600 block of South Fayette and a vehicle stopped in the roadway in the 700 block of South Church Street.

The 15 year old male juvenile from Springfield was cited for aggravated fleeing/attempting to elude a peace officer, theft by possession, reckless driving, no valid driver’s license, resisting a peace officer, failure to report a crash, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, and possession of cannabis by a driver.

The juvenile is currently being held at the Morgan County Jail.