Gas prices remain volatile all across the country as we head into drive time for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Biden Administration yesterday released 50 million barrels of oil from the nation’s emergency stockpile to lower energy prices, amid talks of a slowing economy. The administration hopes it will put pressure on crude prices and foreign oil producers to up output and lower costs.

The release of the stockpile will be in parallel with China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The national average price for a gallon of gas is $3.40, down a penny since last week.

Locally, the price dip has been felt a little. Yesterday in Jacksonville, a gallon of gas is at an average of $3.34, down a penny from a week ago. Morgan and Scott Counties are still the best places in West Central Illinois to fill up. Sangamon County and Springfield top out near $3.48, Cass is at $3.55, Greene is at $3.46, and Brown is at $3.49. The state average is at $3.57 a gallon.

Molly Hart of AAA says the lower prices may be temporary until global oil productions gets back to pre-pandemic levels. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration, total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 700,000 barrels last week, and gasoline demand also dipped. The decrease in demand, alongside stocks, has helped to steady pump prices. However, gasoline prices will likely remain elevated as long as oil prices are near or above $75 per barrel.

This is the second straight week since late July where prices have not gone up. Growing fears of COVID-19 restrictions and record high inflation, will be secondary factors into gas prices for the remainder of this Thanksgiving travel season.

An elected Jacksonville City Official has died.

Mayor Andy Ezard’s Office announced yesterday evening that longtime City Treasurer Ron Smiljanich died at his home yesterday after a lengthy illness. He was 73.

Smiljanich became City Treasurer in 2000 after he was appointed to replace then-Treasuer Sally Long. Long had resigned to take over Jacksonville Municipal Utilities. According to the Journal Courier, Smiljanich had caught the eye of late Mayor Ron Tendick and the local Republican Party for his management of the Ponderosa restaurant, who appointed him to the position. Smiljanich went on to win re-election for his fifth term last year.

Ezard said in the press release that Smiljanich was a friend to everyone and a lifetime public servant. Ezard says his loss will be felt deeply by the Jacksonville community.

Arrangement are pending with Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Jacksonville.

A Hull, Illinois man facing multiple arson charges is also facing charges from a previous incident in August.

41 year old Brian D. Morris allegedly pointed a gun at firefighters Sam L. Reed and Melissa S. Grimsley and fired three shots into the air in an incident on August 27^th. Morris was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm.

Court records show he was free on a $20,000 bond after posting 10% on October 12^th. He is due December 7th in Pike County Circuit Court for arraignment in that case.

Two people charged with multiple violent crimes in Adams County were back in court this morning on a motion for them to submit to DNA testing.

34 year old Bradley Yohn of Springfield and 32 year old Karen Blackledge of Quincy were back in court in front of Adams Co. Judge Tad Brenner on a motion filed by prosecutors filed on Thursday requesting that the duo submit to DNA cheek swabs.

According to WGEM, Yohn and Blackledge appeared separately in court Monday. Assistant Public Defender John Citro, attorney for Yohn, and Assistant Public Defender Christopher Pratt, attorney for Blackledge, each opposed motions by Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Keck to hold the cases over for grand jury proceedings.

Brenner agreed with the prosecutor’s motion and set a preliminary hearing date for Yohn at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and for Blackledge at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Yohn faces two counts of home invasion, one count of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and residential burglary. Those charges are in connection with a November 9th incident that allegedly began along North Bottom Road, in rural Quincy.

He also faces felony charges in two other cases. He was charged with vehicular hijacking stemming from an October 31st incident, and he faces charges of residential burglary; two counts of theft or unauthorized control of property over $500 but under $10,000; and criminal sexual abuse. Those charges stem from an October 14th incident.

Blackledge faces two counts of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking, residential burglary and aggravated criminal sexual assault stemming from the November 9^th incident.

Investigators are also still trying to determine if Yohn and Blackledge are connected to the shooting death of f 30 year old Derek J. Banker Barnett of Virden, whose body was discovered in a nearby alley way in Springfield when the both of them were apprehended at a residence in the 1900 block of Cornell in Springfield on November 10^th.

Yohn’s bond is currently set at $15 million with Blackledge’s set at $5 million. Both are being held at the Adams County Jail.

The Joe Page Bridge linking Calhoun and Greene counties will be closed temporarily for repairs, starting this morning.

The closure begins at 8AM and is expected to last through Noon tomorrow. According to a press release from the Illinois Department of Transportation, the closure is necessary so workers can perform critical deck repairs.

IDOT says it will have an additional ferry available at Kampsville placed in service during peak hours of travel while the bridge is closed. IDOT says travelers should expect delays and use alternative routes to avoid the work area if possible.

Lincoln Land Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa society has hosted several key community service projects for their school community over the last month.

Over the past two weeks, PTK members collected 245 items for the LLCC Food Pantry and helped raise over $1,700 as part of Operation Full Belly. The project’s goal was to restock the college’s pantry with food and hygiene items as well as educate students on the services available to them. PTK also collaborated with LLCC Student Life and TRIO Student Support Services to assemble Thanksgiving-themed meal bags full of shelf-stable side dishes. Thirteen bags were prepared and delivered to students, with an additional seven students receiving grocery gift cards to purchase meals of their choosing.

In its community project, PTK sponsored a Legacy of Life organ donation day November 15th in conjunction with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Life Goes On project. PTK members signed up new organ donors in LLCC’s A. Lincoln Commons. An evening presentation emceed by Emily Reynolds of Hillsboro, PTK vice president for scholarship, featured remarks from Larry and Vivian Lefferts, parents of the late John Lefferts, a former LLCC student whose organs impacted 37 lives across the country; living organ donor Kenzie Dowding, who donated a kidney to her friend; and Damarius Blanks of Life Goes On. 

Phi Theta Kappa is advised by Dr. Claire Gordon, professor of communication. The honor society is open to currently enrolled LLCC students who have already earned at least 12 credit hours with a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above.

The Lincoln Land Wind Project has been sold by Apex Clean Energy.

Danish renewable energy company Ørsted has acquired the company, according to a press release this morning. According to the deal, the Danish company acquired the company from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s Infrastructure and Power strategy.

Ørsted Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Vishal Kapadia said in a press release that he was excited to help Meta, formerly known as Facebook, and McDonalds in their decarbonization and was pleased to expand his company’s organic growth in the U.S. Earlier this year, Meta and McDonald’s have both signed long-term fixed-price PPA’s to purchase approximately 175 megawatt and 126 megawatts, respectively, of clean power output from Lincoln Land Wind last year.

Ares had purchased the project from construction manager Apex Clean Energy, with the project going online on November 17^th.

Questions from local residents about the project have remained, as blinking red lights light up the night sky at night. According to the Morgan County wind siting ordinance, an activated Aircraft Detection Lighting System has not been put into activation.

Further terms of the deal has not been disclosed.

Members of the Greene County community can start admiring Christmas lights at one of Santa’s favorite stops in a few short weeks.

Denny Vetter announced Thursday that the annual Christmas lights display at Haypress Falls in rural Greene County will open on Saturday, December 4^th and through December 31^st.

The annual stop hosts an enormous light display that encompasses the Vetter’s home and property, a photo opportunity on a sleigh with Santa. Visitors are encouraged to make donations for entry. 100% of the donations go towards Boyd Memorial Hopsital’s gas card program to help pay for getting cancer patients to and from life-saving treatments.

Vetter says that the up-keep and put away process is getting harder on him, but he knows area children enjoy the lights and the petting zoo and he knows it’s for a good cause. Vetter says he also gets plenty of help from neighbors and family friends to make the annual event possible.

Greene County’s oldest living reindeer Prancer will be on hand. The 20-year old will be part of the remainder of Ed Nolan’s petting zoo animals that reside at the Vetter property. Nolan retired from the reindeer business after 30 years back in October, with Prancer remaining as the last.

The Vetters have raised several thousands of dollars for the gas card program in years past, and the Falls annually sees an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 visitors. Haypress Falls is about 2 miles east of the Eldred-Hillview blacktop on the north side of Apple Creek.

A man was arrested in Pittsfield on Saturday for a stabbing that caused the victim to be airlifted to Springfield for treatment.

Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Starman said in a press release that Pittsfield Police responded to a disturbance in the 100 block of of West Adams Street in Pittsfield on Saturday evening. Officers discovered that one subject had been stabbed in the neck with a knife by a single suspect.

The suspect is a fifty-one-year-old male, and the victim is a sixty-one-year-old male. The suspect was arrested near the scene and is currently being held at the Pike County Jail. The victim was flown to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, and as of Saturday night was considered stable with non-life-threatening injuries.

Starman says this was an isolated incident despite social media rumors. The Pittsfield Police Department is being assisted by the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Investigators in an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Starman said in the press release that more information and identities would be released this morning.

A Pike County man was arrested yesterday after he allegedly set a car and multiple houses on fire.

WGEM reports that an unidentified Hull man was taken into custody yesterday afternoon after setting an unknown amount of fires that destroyed a vehicle and one home completely and damaged several others.

An investigation is being conducted by the Illinois State Police, Pike County Sheriff’s Office, and the Illinois State Fire Marshal.

None of the investigating agencies have provided any additional information. WGEM reports that the perpetrator is currently being held at the Pike County Jail.

Multiple departments helped put out the fires including the Hull-Kinderhook Fire Protection District, Payson-Fall Creek Fire Department, Liberty Fire Department, New Canton Fire Department, and the Barry Fire Department.

This story is developing.