Jacksonville Police have two separate incidents they are investigating in which drivers of alleged stolen vehicles have fled from police.

On Wednesday at 8:39PM, police received a call to the 900 block of West Morton Avenue of a vehicle being stolen. A few minutes later, the vehicle was spotted by a patrol officer in the 900 block of South Clay Avenue and police attempted to complete a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled. At 9:43PM, police later found the vehicle abandoned in an alleyway. No further information about the vehicle or alleged thief have been released at this time.

Last night at 11:14PM, police attempted a traffic stop on a suspected stolen vehicle from Meredosia in the 1000 block of Doolin Avenue. The driver failed to stop for the officer who had activated his emergency lights, jumped out of the moving vehicle and fled on foot. The unoccupied vehicle continued with no driver and struck a mailbox at a residence located at 1047 Doolin Avenue before coming to a stop. The stolen vehicle was eventually returned to the victim.

Both incidents remain under further investigation. If you have any information, please contact the Jacksonville Police Department at 217-479-4630 or call Crime Stoppers at 217-243-7300.

Ameren-Illinois says people may have a tough time paying their utility bill this winter due to the rising prices on natural gas.

Ameren’s Tucker Kennedy says its a matter of simple supply-and-demand economics. Kennedy says the price per therm of natural gas has risen by 75% over the last year reaching a 13-year high on the global market. Kennedy says the problem boils down to two items: “The economy is obviously heating up. It’s coming back. Production is up, but we had this phenomena where, during Covid, natural gas production was down because there wasn’t demand. We are starting to see pent up demand and tightening supply. All of that has sort of conspired to result in a global increase in the cost of natural gas itself – that commodity. Here in Illinois we have reached a 13-year high, and natural gas makes up a pretty significant portion of our customers’ energy bills. We have two sides to the bill – the supply and delivery. The supply is the cost that we pass on directly one-to-one, dollar-for-dollar with no mark up, and then we charge for delivery. That cost of the gas itself, because that’s going to be significantly higher, we are just conferring to our customers that there is likely going to be some higher winter heating bills this year.”

Kennedy says with a predicted cold winter this year, usage will be up across Central Illinois and likely cause utility bills to increase even more than last year. Ameren says that even with average temperatures this winter and usage in the region staying normal, an estimated 30% increase is still expected in utility costs this winter.

Kennedy says that Ameren has tried its best to prepare for the winter by purchasing natural gas this summer: “Sixty-five percent of the gas that we will deliver this winter, we have already bought. We are able to hedge those costs increase pretty strongly just by our storage strategies. We buy it in the summer when those prices are lower. We keep it in our underground storage fields until there is demand. We are able to hedge a lot of these global spikes, but about 35-40% of that we are still going to have to go out and get on that spot market. There is a lot of other utilities and a lot of other energy companies that are dealing with the same thing. This is a national issue and that is just what’s kind of factoring into what we are expecting to be some higher winter heating bills.”

Kennedy says that area residents should do their best to make their home as energy efficient this winter. Tips on Energy Saving can be found in Ameren’s Energy Saving’s Guide. For those who are truly in dire trouble, Ameren says to call and discuss programs like Budget Billing, Warm Neighbors Cool Friends, or the LIHEAP programs with Ameren associates.

A state senator is encouraging students in the area to apply for a college scholarship.

48^th District Senator Doris Turner is encouraging students to apply for the annual Conservation Achievement Scholarship. The Conservation Achievement Scholarship will award up to four scholarships of $2,000 each to outstanding high school seniors in Illinois who demonstrate effective, voluntary, long-term dedication to the preservation, protection or enhancement of the state’s natural resources. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Turner sees this scholarship not only benefiting conservation, but encouraging better land usage for farming.

The scholarship funds may be used for tuition, college or university fees, textbooks, or room and board. Funds are mailed directly to the college or university of the successful applicant.

Detailed instructions and the 2022 application form can be accessed through the ICF website at ilconservation.org. Applications must be received by the ICF by March 1, 2022.

Questions should be addressed to the Illinois Conservation Foundation at 217-785-2003 or info@ilconservation.org

Governor J.B. Pritzker faces a summons to Sangamon County Court to answer a defamation allegation.

Attorney Thomas DeVore, who has filed multiple lawsuits against the governor over COVID-19 vaccine mandates in schools and businesses, sued Pritzker late last month, claiming defamation over this comment made during a news conference on October 21st: “He’s a grifter who is taking money from parents who are being taken advantage of. We are trying to keep kids, and parents, and grandparents, and teachers, and everybody that’s in the community of the school safe. That’s my job as governor. That’s our job as elected officials. And, I have to say that going around and suing school districts, and the governor, and the attorney general, and everybody else in order to keep people less safe – that makes zero sense to me. So, we are going to push back as hard as we can. Certainly, you know, we’ll be in court…You don’t want to spend all of your time doing this. There are an awful lot of things that the Attorney General’s Office does to protect consumers out there, but the more you have to send lawyers out to fight these ridiculous lawsuits that are frankly, making people less safe; the less you can do to really lift up the entire state. So, I hope the reign of grifting and terror that he is trying to bring about in these school districts will come to an end.”

The lawsuit was filed in Sangamon County Oct. 29 by DeVore attorney Brian Polinske claiming the governor’s comment last month “constitute the commission of a tortious act.” Pritzker’s October 21st comments stem from a lawsuit filed in Macoupin County Court on behalf of more than 700 parents against 145 school districts, the governor and the Illinois State Board of Education over the state’s ongoing COVID-19 mandates for masks and required vaccinations for teachers.

DeVore is seeking judgment in his favor on the defamation suit, and an award of damages in excess of $50,000. A hearing in the case is yet to be scheduled.

According to a report from Capitol Fax, the lawsuit may likely be thrown out due to an Illinois Supreme Court ruling Blair v. Walker in 1976 in which the court ruled that “the Governor is protected from actions for civil defamation by an absolute privilege when issuing statements which are legitimately related to matters committed to his responsibility.”

A demand for a jury trial has been filed by DeVore’s attorney in the case.

Veterans gathered inside today at the AMVETS Post 100 in downtown Jacksonville to pay respects to all veterans today.

The ceremony involved prayer and benediction by Pastor and veteran John McCorkle, a salute to each branch of the services, a gun salute to the area’s fallen service members, and guest speaker Army Specialist Laurie Evans, a veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Evans talked about what it means to be a veteran, the intrinsic meaning of patriotism and saluting the flag.

Evans says she gathered the brevity of her service while stationed at Dhahran Air Base in Saudi Arabia in January 1991 at the start of the Gulf War. She says the Gulf War began for her five days after the first airstrike was launched January 16th, 1991. She says she remembers hearing the bombers fly overhead the night of the airstrike. However, it wasn’t until January 21st that she realized that she was in a war zone: “The true war for me started five days later while laying on my cot trying to fall asleep. You hear that sound that everyone talks about, that whistling sound of an incoming missile, and all of a sudden, that training [you receive] kicks in. I heard that noise and I rolled off my cot in one movement and put on my gas mask because you don’t know what’s incoming. All you know is that it’s incoming. I found out in a few minutes that it was a Scud missile. It landed a half mile from where I was laying on my cot. [I said to myself] ‘Here I am. I am actually in a war zone.'”

Evans says that her time in Saudi Arabia showed her the beauty of the freedoms that many take for granted in this country: “While I was stationed in Saudi Arabia, even though we were invited by the Saudis to be a part of the coalition forces, being a woman in uniform was not something their culture understood nor accepted. Women were unable to leave the U.S.-designated areas without a male escort. We had to stay in uniform. When we were in surrounding communities, we were required to follow the Saudis’ customs of walking a step behind our male escorts. We weren’t allowed to talk. We couldn’t drive. Granted the merchants were more than happy to take our money, but they would not look at me nor talk to me – only to my male escort. I could ask the question. They would answer the question, but they would talk to the male soldier next to me – not to me.”

Evans says she continued her service on the home front after her honorable discharge. Evans says she made it a priority to instill the importance of honoring veterans in her Girl Scout Troop that she was a sponsor, noting that her Troop was present in uniform for the ceremonies of local fallen soldiers Matthew Wiekert and Andrew Tobin.

Evans also provided her definition of patriotism to her troop and to the crowd on hand at the AMVETS today: “When I look at a U.S. flag, I don’t just see stars and stripes. I see every service member who has served or is serving, from the Revolution to every war, conflict, or operation. I see every freedom earned and every sacrifice given. I know the meaning of this sacrifice. I am humbled by that sacrifice. It is because of that sacrifice that I look upon the U.S. flag with pride, honor, and humility. That is patriotism to me.”

Evans asked the crowd, especially those who had served in combat zones during their service, to carry themselves with pride and dignity for the sacrifices and work they put in to keep their country safe and free.

Full audio of Evans’ speech can be found in the audio archive here on WLDS.

The Jacksonville Order of Odd Fellows is hosting its first annual burgoo in town this Saturday. The burgoo is going to benefit a scholarship program. The money raised will go toward two scholarships for students entering a college or trade school.

Chalmer Herring of the Jacksonville Lodge #4 says that its been many years since the City of Jacksonville has hosted a burgoo. He says the last one that he can remember taking place in Jacksonville or South Jacksonville was in the late 1960s. He says that the Odd Fellows lodge of Winchester has held one for the last several years, and the Jacksonville lodge wanted to try the idea: “We are starting this for Jacksonville, which we have done a few scholarships before but it has been from money we collected and had on hand from our businesses we got money from for rent. Our purpose now is to start the burgoo to totally fund the scholarships or help with people going on to trade school, which is not necessarily going to a four-year college but help with trade school costs.”

Herring says the majority of the money raised in the past for scholarships has come through rent gathered from businesses who operate in the downstairs of their buildings on East State Street. He says paying for trade school student’s education is in line with their fraternal order’s origins. The Odd Fellows date back to the 1700s in England, and Herring says, the order consisted of people who exercised unusual, miscellaneous “odd trades”, eventually joining together to provide financial security to widows, orphans, and those of low socio-economic backgrounds – often helping them find such things as financial support, education, and in some cases a proper burial when they could not afford one.

Herring says Morgan County itself has had a long tradition of burgoo, dating recipes back to the settlement of the area from pioneers who came up from Kentucky. Herring says that he possesses a scrap book of history compiled by his family of the first public burgoo held at Point Church (currently known as Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church). More info about the history of burgoo can be found in this article by Greg Olson in the Journal Courier from 2003.

Herring says the weekend service is drive thru style along Blackburn Street on the East side of Jacksonville: “You can come in off of State Street or College. We will have signs on both streets that say ‘Burgoo.’ There will be an ‘Enter’ and ‘Exit’ sign where people can drive through and pick up. Gallons of burgoo are $29 if you have your own container, but it’s $3 more if you don’t have your own container – so it would then be $32. It’s all pretty much to make some money and pay for the expense of the ingredients.”

Food service begins at 7AM Saturday at 131 Blackburn Street, just across the railroad tracks on either East State Street or East College Avenue.

Illinois’ Office of Management and Budget says the state’s economic outlook is looking up.

The O.M.B. announced yesterday that a robust rebound in state tax revenues is up by a billion dollars.

The five-year fiscal forecast by the Governor’s Office is still marred by budget deficits in the out years, indicating a continued fundamental imbalance in revenues and expenditures.

According to the Associated Press, projected revenue has jumped so much that the Democratic governor intends to use more than $1 billion to pay down overdue bills and re-establish an emergency fund.

The current year, which ends June 30, 2022, should see an increase in revenue of $1.7 billion, including healthy increases in the big two revenue generators: Income taxes, up $837 million and a $596 million jump in sales tax revenues. Despite the gains, 2023 projects a budget deficit between $400 million and $1 billion.

Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to seek legislative approval for $913 million to pay back-due bills to health care providers and $300 million to reload the rainy day fund.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the legislative counterbalance to the governor’s OMB, will issue their multiyear report in the spring. The Associated Press reports that a monthly report released last month by the commission noted similar revenue increases for the current year’s first quarter.

A local Congressman testified before a House Committee yesterday about getting Route 66 designated as a National Historic Trail.

18^th District Congressman Darin LaHood along with Executive Director of the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Casey Claypool testified before the House Natural Resources Committee on LaHood’s House Resolution 3600 which would designate the highway as a national trail.

The bill would ensure that the National Park Service would have the authority to assist and support states and local communities in preserving, promoting, and capitalizing on economic development from Route 66. Claypool told the committee that it would help spur economic development for the communities that sit along the historic road.

Following the legislative hearing, the next step for the legislation would be a full committee markup, and then a full vote on the House floor. The historic roadway was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System established in 1926. The roadway stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It was a primary route during the Great Depression for many who migrated to the West in hopes of finding a better life. Remnants of the original highway in Central Illinois can still be seen by traveling along Illinois Route 4 between Springfield and East St. Louis.

A Greene County doctor has been recognized for his lifetime of work in rural communities.

Dr. Randall Voigts was awarded the 2021 Rural Physician Lifetime of Service Award in a ceremony on October 28^th at JCH Medial Group in Jerseyville.

Voigts has spent his entire career serving patients in Greene, Jersey, and Scott counties. Voigts primarily practiced out of his office in Roodhouse for several years before retiring earlier this year.

This isn’t the first time Voigts was recognized for his years of service. In 2002, he received national recognition as the runner-up U.S. Country Doctor of the Year.

Voigts continues to serve as a board member with the Scott & Greene County Health Departments and at the White Hall Nursing & Rehabilition Center.