The Pike-Scott Farm Bureau is looking for a new executive director.

Blake Roderick announced to the farm bureau’s board of directors at their November meeting on Wednesday that he plans to retire in May of next year completing more than 40 years of service with the organization.

According to a press release, Roderick started with the Pike County Farm Bureau on December 1^st, 1981. In January 1987, he assumed management of the Scott County Farm Bureau. In 2018, the two farm bureaus merged creating the Pike-Scott Farm Bureau.

The Board of Directors along with the Illinois Farm Bureau began the search for a new county executive yesterday.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, application details will be found at the Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Facebook page.

Farmers in northern Macoupin County have a new opportunity to address degraded water quality and soil erosion concerns through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

State Conservationist Ivan Dozier announced yesterday that funding is being made available for the Upper Macoupin Creek Watershed using the Regional Conservation Partnership Program through the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Producers can apply for assistance through the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) which allows producers to build on their existing conservation efforts while strengthening their operation through special conservation activities that are offered. The project focus is to improve water quality in portions of Macoupin County’s Upper Macoupin Creek Watershed.

Interested producers should submit a signed application to the local NRCS field office or through http://www.farmers.gov by January 7^th.

To see if you are eligible to participate in the program, producers should contact their local NRCS field office or visit  www.il.nrcs.usda.gov.

Congressman Darin LaHood’s mission to get Route 66 designated a National Historic Trail is one step closer to a vote in the full House of Representatives.

LaHood’s House Resolution 3600, known as the Route 66 National Historic Trail Designation Act, passed unanimously through the House’s Natural Resource’s Committee yesterday. The legislation would designate Route 66 as a National Historic Trail, which will expand economic and historic development opportunities across all communities and states that Route 66 runs through.

LaHood called Route 66 the main artery of transportation from the Midwest to the West Coast, saying the legislation would provide powerful economic development tools for communities throughout Illinois, creating jobs and opportunity for residents in his district.

The act would also create a permanent program to preserve, promote, and economically develop the highway. Route 66 was part of the original U.S. Highway system created at the turn of the 20^th Century, and currently cuts through portions of Springfield, Auburn, all the way down to St. Louis.

La Niña will be our main weather force this winter in Central Illinois.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center released its official winter outlook late last month and confirmed that the phenomena will be in place from December to February.

Matt Barnes of NOAA in Lincoln says that correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation when it comes to the phenomena bringing an unusual winter here in Central Illinois: “I want to point out that the correlation between a La Niña or an El Niño and Midwest weather is pretty weak, and it actually varies from event to event. Just because we have a La Niña doesn’t automatically assume that we are going to get a certain type of winter. It can vary depending upon the strength of the La Niña, the location of it. There is so many different variables that there is really no one-to-one correlation between La Niña and our weather here in the Midwest. It’s not as simple as that.”

Barnes says the the trend is showing above-normal temperatures this winter: “We are trending towards above-normal temperatures in most locations. It doesn’t necessarily mean that these temperatures are going to be tremendously above normal. It means that we have a probability – we are leaning toward having above normal temperatures; and those above normal temperatures might just be one degree above normal, so it may not be incredibly significant. The other thing to note here is the colder than normal temperatures across the northern Plains back into the northern Rockies are very indicative of what a normal La Niña pattern looks like.”

Barnes also says to look for more precipitation in whatever form from December to February: “The Great Lakes and Ohio Valley into Illinois, we are trending toward above-normal precipitation. Much of the South and the Southeast looks like they are going to trend to below-normal. For this official outlook, we are looking at the probability above-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation.”

NOAA Forecasters classify this winter as a double-dip, because La Niña winter was here last year. Using a less-than-scientific method, the Farmer’s Alamanac says expect normal snow fall this winter and some milder temperatures. Overall, NOAA forecasters say it is a good idea to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

The Morgan County Republican Party has put forth their official call to fill the Morgan Count Commissioner seat left open after the passing of Bill Meier.

Republican Party Chairman Steve Hardin issued a press release yesterday evening saying that the Republican Central Committee is scheduled to meet later this month to select a nominee to fill Meier’s position through December 2022. Since Meier was a Republican, the nominee must also be a registered Republican.

Hardin says the nominee will also be recommended to be the Republican candidate for Commissioner in the upcoming election cycle.

Persons interested in being considered by the Republican Central Committee, if they have not already, should immediately, no later than next Wednesday, November 24th contact Steve Hardin by phone call at 217-370-5746.

One of Jacksonville’s largest employers has issued a mandate to its employees when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital will comply with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s rule requiring workers in healthcare organizations that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, or be granted a medical or religious exemption, by December 5^th. Full vaccination is required by January 4^th.

Memorial Health System officials said in a email yesterday that the CMS rules align with their values and they are “working to comply with the deadlines set out by CMS and have advised our workforce of their options for requesting a medical or religious exemption.”

Memorial officials say that the vaccination rate at JMS and all of Memorial Services in the Jacksonville area is approximately 80%. A request for an interview with Dr. Scott Boston about the mandate was not granted by Memorial officials.

According to WMAY, workers who are not fully vaccinated by January 4^th will be placed on unpaid leave and will eventually face termination. A number of Illinois hospitals have adopted similar policies.

On Tuesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it has suspended the implementation and enforcement of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. The suspension comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ordered the mandate to be halted until further notice.

A new Jacksonville business recently in the national spotlight is having an open house this weekend.

The Nothing Fancy Supply Company, known for its environmentally sustainable beeswax food wraps that was featured on Good Morning America, will be having a showcase of its products and new warehouse at 316 North Mauvaisterre Street from 9AM to 1PM on Saturday.

Owner Colleen Flinn says that its been a whirlwind for her local business when she started selling the product at the Springfield Farmer’s Market just a few years ago to now having a warehouse for her product: “It’s a really interesting time. I came across some people who had space in a building, and they knew what I was doing. They said ‘Whatever you need, let’s make it happen, and we’ll get you into Jacksonville.’ They have. I’ve just been…I think luck has really played a part into Nothing Fancy, because I’ve had so many good people enter my life.”

Flinn says the manufacture of the product has gone from causing fires on her home stove, to a small 100-year old shed in her back yard to the new warehouse.

She says the making of the wraps has also evolved: “Someone had told me that I should call up Lahey Machinery and see if they could make something that would make [the process] more automatic. I was like uh, okay; but I called, and the first time and told them that I want something that can do this, this, and this. He immediately said ‘Okay, I think we can do something like this and it could do this. It took 4 or 5 months, but we got a machine down where it’s like a wax bath that the fabric goes through. It’s still very much a hands-on process because the fabric has to be hand cut before it goes through the machine and then, rolled and cut afterwards. It’s very much a hand-crafted product. I don’t want to say handmade because we use the machine, but it is certainly handcrafted.”

Flinn says that she has been dealing with supply chain issues with fabric from her purchasing house in New Jersey, but has steadily been able to keep up with orders. Flinn says she will also have fellow small business owners coming to the open house. She says it’s also a great excuse to decorate: “My girls that work with me, we love to decorate; so we thought, ‘Well, we are going to decorate the warehouse for Christmas.’ We are going to invite people to come in and see it and shop. Not all of our wraps make it to retail stores. Some of them might have small imperfections in them. We call those “the seconds,” and we are going to have those for sale that day. We will have discontinued patterns, and then, of course, our regular products and a few other branded leather products. I think we have about 10 vendors coming – some are from Jacksonville and some are from Springfield and Auburn. The Leo’s Pizza truck will be there, and the Warehouse 200 is going to have a mimosa bar.”

Flinn says she is also working on a downtown shopping guide for people who are coming in from out of town for the open house this weekend. For more information about Nothing Fancy Supply visit them online at https://nothingfancysupply.com or find them on Instagram and Facebook.

A full interview with Flinn can be found in the audio archives on this website.

Meredosia-Bluffs EMS, North Scott Fire, and Air Evac were called to a barge on the Illinois River early yesterday morning.

According to reports from the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, a crew from a tow barge advised that a crew member had a possible stroke and was unresponsive at around 2:23AM yesterday morning. According to the report, the unidentified crew member had been unresponsive for a half hour at the time of the call.

Air Evac was deployed to an area near 100 Bob Michael Street near Naples with the Scott County Sheriff’s Office setting up a perimeter for the helicopter to land to get to the crew member.

No other further information about the incident has been released.

The Village of South Jacksonville will has an executive position open after tonight’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

Village Clerk Amy Scoggins has resigned effective immediately. Village President Michael Broaddus announced her resignation during the meeting tonight. Broaddus has asked for any citizen of the village to volunteer as a nominee. When asked by Broaddus for any final comments at the meeting, Scoggins replied “No.”

Broaddus says that time was the reasoning behind Scoggins’ departure: “She thought that she underestimated the job. She thought [her responsibilities] would be for just two meetings a month. There’s actually been more than that. She’s a mother. She races cars. I mean, it’s more of a conflict of scheduling than anything else.”

Scoggins departed directly after the meeting and was unable to be reached for comment.

Interested parties for the position should reach out to Broaddus at Village Hall during business hours or you may contact him via email at mayor@southjacksonville-il.gov.

Scoggins’ resignation will become official at December’s village business meeting.

The Routt Alumni Association and Knights of Columbus are partnering with the local Marine Reserves to host a night of Christmas celebration in support of the local Toys For Tots Campaign.

Christmas trivia, a Christmas sweater contest along with food and drink will be available starting at 6PM at the Jacksonville KC Hall on December 4^th.

Entry to the KC Hall that evening for each individual is a toy to be dropped in one of the Toys for Tots Collection Boxes. The entry fee per Trivia team is just $20. There will be a cap of 20 teams for the evening.

Jim Crosier of the Marine Reserves says that December 4^th will be a big day for the Toys for Tots Campaign: “Every weekend from now until Christmas, I’ll be doing some type of toy drive. I’ll be doing something somewhere even if it’s not heavily publicized. Last Saturday, we did a little toy drive in the Hardee’s parking lot on West Morton. There’s a 4-member team from Illinois College that did that one, and they did really well. We are going to be doing another one at Hardee’s on December 4th and that will be our big one.”

The Toys for Tots campaign has collection boxes at 30 businesses around the Jacksonville area if you are unable to make the drives. Crosier says one of the massive distribution events for the toys will be on December 18^th at the Jacksonville American Legion. The public is invited. For more information, jacksonville-il.toysfortots.org.