A troubled pipeline company in St. Louis has taken their petition to remain operational to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Associated Press reports that Spire STL Pipeline is asking the nation’s highest court to allow it to keep operating a pipeline through Illinois and Missouri, warning that a winter shutdown could be devastating to St. Louis-area customers.

The embattled pipeline has faced challenges ever since its construction in 2018 through Scott, Greene, Jersey, and portions of the St. Louis metro area. In a court filing last week, Spire requested a stay that would allow operation of its Spire STL Pipeline until the issue is resolved in the courts. If the Supreme Court declines to take up the case, operation of the pipeline could cease on December 13^th unless the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission extends an emergency order granted last month.

Spire’s court filing said shutting down the pipeline “in the middle of winter could result in the loss of natural-gas service to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses” in the St. Louis region in a released statement today.

The Environmental Defense Fund’s lead counsel, Natalie Karas, told the AP that the stay is unnecessary because Spire already has approval through mid-December “and FERC is poised to issue another temporary certificate to keep the pipeline operational through the winter to ensure reliable service to St. Louis customers.”

In June, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that FERC “failed to adequately balance public benefits and adverse impacts” in approving the pipeline. The panel also wrote that evidence showed the pipeline “is not being built to serve increasing load demand and that there is no indication the new pipeline will lead to cost savings.”

The ruling vacated approval of the pipeline, prompting FERC’s 90-day order allowing its continued operation.

The MacMurray College Foundation and Alumni Association has received a major gift that will allow the foundation to provide scholarships and program funds for the future.

The MacMurray College Foundation and Alumni Association announced yesterday afternoon that Dr. Raymond Thompson from the Class of 1961 has provided a gift of $100,000 each for both himself and his late wife and alumnus Dr. Louise Rintelmann Thompson from the Class of 1960 to create the the Louise Rintelmann Thompson “I Believe in You” Scholarship Fund and the Thompson Program Support Fund.

The Scholarship Fund will focus on a junior college student transferring to a four-year program with the stipulation that the student must be enrolling as a residential student to garner the full experience that Ray and his late wife encountered as students at MacMurray, where they met.

The Program Support Fund may be used for the key programs of the Foundation that include continuing support of the display of the MacMurray’s archive at the Jacksonville Heritage & Culture Museum along with foundation scholarship and alumni activities.

Through an agreement with Dr. Thompson and the Foundation, funds will be invested with earnings and dividends used to make annual distributions from both funds for their specified intent.

Dr. Thompson and Foundation Chair David Ekin said in a press release that the scholarship continues the memory of Dr. Louise Rintelmann Thompson’s message of “I believe in you” and its impact on people’s lives.

The Morgan County Commissioners have authorized the first portion of their American Rescue Plan funding for a special project.

Renovation of the former Putnam Center at the former MacMurray College Campus has been under way for the last few weeks. Belwether of Bloomington has been contracted to do the work for the county. The building is being renovated to become the future home of the Morgan County Health Department.

The board approved an ordinance today authorizing $2 million towards the project, with the first $245,000 to be paid out for roofing work on the building and miscellaneous indoor renovations.

Dusty Douglas says its been tough navigating the regulations on spending the county’s over $6 million in American Rescue Plan funding for the project: “We, of course, are thankful for the funding, but in learning about the disbursement of funds, it’s a little bit frightening trying to stay in the parameters outlined by the federal government, which seem to be changing constantly. We have outlined a series of projects to Belwether and asked if they fall within those parameters and have gotten an initial response from them. This is our first disbursement for the health department which does fit in perfectly with the guidelines set forth. One thing I would point out in the ordinance, we are talking about $2 million for that first disbursement. With that, I know we have all been involved with this. It’s a quick overview of the ordinance, but we will be back with additional ordinances to pass. Their purpose is sort of twofold: 1. to protect us during a future desk audit that we assume will come and secondly, we want to do it for good transparency and in good practice for the county so we make everyone aware of where this money is being spent.”

Commissioner Chair Ginny Fanning says that the COVID-19 pandemic really showed how much the health department needed a new building: “There is so many things that this is going to provide that our health department needs as far as increased waiting room space, opportunities for their programs to expand, and they’ll have better parking, and they are hoping to increase their clinical capacity. All of those things fall under this broad umbrella of health & safety. Due to COVID, we realized how small and inefficient the facility [is] – our staff, fabulous – but the facility itself certainly needed a lot of work. We are very pleased. Our first payment will be made to R.D. Lawrence [Construction] after this ordinance is passed. That’s in the amount of $245,458.26.”

The ordinance passed 2-0, with Commissioner Bill Meier absent due to health reasons. The county still has a little over $4.5 million left in American Rescue Plan funding to authorize.

A long-term care facility in Springfield has announced its closure today.

WTAX reports that St. Joseph’s Home of Springfield announced today that it would close on December 15^th and surrender its license to the state. The Illinois Department of Public Health has been notified and has approved the plan of closure.

According to WTAX, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception have owned and operated St. Joseph’s Home for the sheltering and comfort of aged people since October 6, 1903. According to the announcement today, e declining number of Sisters to staff the home was one of the main reasons for closure.

The team at St. Joseph’s Home will assist residents and their families with relocation. St. Joseph’s Home representatives say they will also work closely with IDPH and the local ombudsman to ensure they comply with all regulations and required procedures governing the transition.

A Central Illinois pork producer is being sued for allegedly violating biometric privacy laws.

The Journal Courier reports that a class action lawsuit was filed at the end of last month in federal court in Springfield by Rene Reyes against The Maschhoffs LLC.

The civil action challenges the pork producer’s practice of allegedly requiring biometric identifiers “to clock in and clock out by scanning their fingerprints into a fingerprint-scanning machine,” according to court documents.

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act allows use of such equipment, but requires employees to be notified and provide written consent to collect and store biometric information such as fingerprints. The law also stipulates biometric data must be securely stored and details about how data is handled and destroyed must be disclosed.

According to the lawsuit, none of the directives of the act were allegedly followed. The lawsuit details the company’s supposed lack of security measures of protecting workers’ biometric and private information.

The lawsuit seeks damages of $5,000 for each violation that is determined willful or reckless and $1,000 for each violation considered negligent, in addition to punitive damages. It also wants the court to require The Maschhoffs LLC to disclose how any data was stored and disposed of and to detail whether any data was transferred, sold, or shared.

The Maschhoffs LLC is headquartered in Pittsfield and has locations in Pike and Cass counties, as well as Carlyle, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. According to the company’s website, they are one of the largest pork producers in Central Illlinois, raising nearly 4 million head per year.

The company has not yet responded to the complaint.

A Pearl man is behind bars in the Pike County Jail for firearms and explosives charges.

Pike County Sheriff David Greenwood says on September 29^th at 11:35 P.M., the Pike County Sheriff’s Department attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a silver 2020 Toyota car on Franklin Street in Pittsfield. The vehicle sped away and a short pursuit followed. The vehicle eventually pulled over near Perry Street at Madison Street in Pittsfield.

Subsequent to an investigation, law enforcement officials located a firearm, ammunition, and home-made explosive devices in the vehicle. The driver was taken into custody and transported to a medical facility.

On September 30^th, the Pike County Sheriff’s Department followed up with the investigation and conducted a court-authorized search warrant at a residence located on 212^th Avenue in Pearl. Subsequent to the execution of said search warrant, a firearm, ammunition, methamphetamine, home-made explosive devices, and a computer were seized.

On Wednesday, the Pike County Sheriff’s Department arrested 26 year old Tanner S. Reed of Pearl on a no-bond Pike County warrant for the offense of unlawful possession of explosive or incendiary devices. Reed remains held at the Pike County Jail.

Greenwood says the investigation remains ongoing and further charges may be pending. The Pittsfield Police Department and Illinois Secretary of State Bomb Squad assisted with the investigation.

The North Greene Knights Junior Football League held a special commemoration on October 3^rd. The community affiliated football league commemorated their founder Roger Allen with the dedication of the Roger Allen Memorial Football Field at the White Hall Rez.

Allen founded the league in 1985 and helped to self-fund the league through his business Ace Hardware and a person loan for its first few years in existence. Over time, Allen along with a short list of dedicated volunteers built the league up to one of the oldest and larges non-school affiliated junior football leagues in the state.

According to the Greene Prairie Press, Allen’s widow Brenda and the rest of his family were on hand for the dedication which included the unveiling of a sign and the awarding of a jersey to the family.

Allen passed away in 2016. He eventually turned the league over to the White Hall Lions Club, who have their own operations for running and sustaining the league each year.

Members of the organization went to the City of White Hall six years prior to finally provide a permanent home to the team. According to current President Chris Ford, the idea to always dedicate the field to Allen was the idea. Prior to that, the team played home games at a mixture of places between the White Hall and Roodhouse area.

The afternoon was capped by two games, with the lightweight team facing Calhoun and the Heavyweights defeating the Jacksonville Jr. Irish in overtime. The 8^th Grade players were also given special recognition between games.

Severe weather across the region yesterday afternoon produced a handful of confirmed tornado touchdowns.

According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln at approximately 2:50PM, a tornado was confirmed by weather spotters near Athensville in northeastern Greene County, approximately 9 miles northeast of White Hall, moving north at 35 miles per hour. Severe damage is being reported out of Wrights Township with at least one large building being leveled in the area. We have not received any reports of injuries at this time.

Approximately ten minutes later, tornadoes were reported on the ground near Murrayville and Woodson, with reports of hail and flying debris near the Illinois Route 267 overpass.

At approximately 3:33, spotters confirmed a tornado on the ground just northeast of Alexander moving northeast towards Ashland and southwestern Menard County.

There were also brief funnel cloud touchdowns outside of Waverly and near Franklin.

At least one crash was reported due to the storm. A semi truck rollover with injuries and extrication was needed at approximately 3:38PM near mile markers 73 and 74 westbound near the Sangamon-Morgan County line. More information about the crash has not been released. Traffic was shut down for eastbound traffic on I-72 for an extended time after the crash so crews could clear the truck from the center median.

Morgan County ESDA Coordinator Phil McCarty says overall Morgan County was fortunate: “I think most of the impact, short of the semi [roll over] on I-72 in the general vicinity of the Sangamon-Morgan County lines, we fared very well with the impact to the rural environment. There has been no damage reported to my office as of last night, short of that accident. I do believe that ended up being in Sangamon County.”

Illinois Route 104 was closed from west of I-55 to Purdhom Road in Sangamon County due to low hanging power lines for an extended time. Traffic was diverted off the highway for several hours while Ameren-Illinois made repairs.

The National Weather Service will likely take several days before they assign an intensity level to the storm that had multiple touchdowns as it moved East. More thunderstorms are expected by Wednesday afternoon, but those storms are not expected to be severe.

Farmers got some bad news last week about an invasive species making its way into Morgan County.

The University of Illinois Extension Office said in a press release on Friday that jumping worms have been confirmed in the county.

Jumping worms were first discovered in Illinois in 2015 and have been spread across the state. As of Thursday, jumping worms have been confirmed in 38 counties and suspected in 6 more.

Jumping worms are relatively large worms, up to eight inches long. They have a dark body that is darker on top than the bottom and have glossy skin. As their name suggests, will jump, squirm, flip, and thrash around when disturbed and move similar to a snake along the ground.

They are heavy consumers of organic matter, and can destroy plant roots, deplete top soil nutrients, and alter water-holding capacity for soil. They can reproduce without mating and their eggs are known to survive into the winter. They are known to be extremely destructive in home landscapes, agriculture, and natural lands.

According to the extension office, there are no real viable options at this time for control measures. The extension office recommends that you clean tools thoroughly when moving from one site to another, use compost and mulch that has been adequately heated, and don’t buy jumping worms for bait, composting, or gardening.

You can monitor for jumping worms in your landscape by mixing a third cup of dry mustard powder with a gallon of water. Pour the solution onto the soil. This will drive all worms in the soil to the surface within a few minutes. This practice will not damage plants or worms but will allow you to identify them.

For more information, see University of Illinois Extension’s Jumping worm factsheet at: https://go.illinois.edu/jumpingworms2021. If you think you found jumping worms, bring a sample to your local Extension office for identification.

A local Congressman is hoping to extend COVID relief money with an extension to a program for performance venues.

13^th District Congressman Rodney Davis has announced that he is sponsoring the SOS Extension Act along with Vermont Democrat Peter Welch. If passed, it would extend the deadline of the Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant created in the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act.

The SOS Extension Act, would extend the timeline for using the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant funds from the end of 2021 to spring of 2023. Davis says bureaucratic delays have caused some venues struggling to stay open to wait for months for the SBA to distribute money. The Save Our Stages Act, which Davis co-sponsored, was signed into law as part of the omnibus funding bill on December 27^th of last year. Davis also says many venue owners are struggling to find ways to spend their grant funds by the end of year and he hopes this bill get to the President’s Desk by the end of the year. Davis says he does not want to see venues have to return grant dollars to the SBA because of the delays and due to the short window of the program.