The very first all-women’s honor flight for Illinois departs from Chicago this morning.

93 women ranging in age from 63 to 104 years old include veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam took off from Midway Airport in Chicago bound for Washington D.C. today.

The trip was arranged by Operation HerStory, an organization that helps arrange honor flights for women veterans for an all-expenses-paid, daylong trip to visit several war memorials and places of interest, including the Women’s Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall.

According to state data, about 7,200 female veterans live in Illinois and served in the military between 1940 and 1975. Gwen M. Diehl, of Taylorville who is also the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Veteran Home Coordinator will be joining the flight as a Veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Bronze Star recipient.

For more information or to nominate a female veteran for a future honor flight through Operation HerStory, visit operationherstory.org.

A former state’s attorney in the area has received an appointment to a state board.

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced late yesterday afternoon that former Macoupin County State’s Attorney Jennifer Watson has been appointed to serve on the Illinois Finance Authority.

Watson currently works both in private practice at Watson Law Office in Brighton where she specializes in real estate, estate planning and criminal defense law. Watson previously served as the Macoupin County State’s Attorney from 2010 to 2020.

Watson is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Macoupin County Bar Association. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the Northern Illinois University College of Law and bachelor’s from Millikin University in Decatur.

Her appointment is pending confirmation from the Illinois Senate.

A local state senator is encouraging local businesses to continue applying for Back 2 Business Grants with the State of Illinois.

48^th District State Senator Doris Turner says businesses need to get applications in ahead of next Wednesday’s deadline.

Turner says she’s pleased with the work done by the General Assembly to bring money to eligible businesses in the state’s most vulnerable communities and feels that the Back 2 Business Program will help those businesses come back stronger and more resilient.

Eligible businesses are encouraged to apply by visiting the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s website. To help restore operational losses incurred during the pandemic, the B2B program will provide grants ranging in size from $5,000 to $150,000, commensurate with losses experienced.

Turner, who represents Macoupin and Sangamon counties, says she was excited to see the 12 businesses of Springfield make the first round of distribution of the program. Those businesses received $606,000 in the first round. Nearly $224 million remains to be distributed in the program.

Turner also announced on Friday that she is launching a small business tour in her district. She is encouraging all local entrepreneurs in the 48^th District to give her a call if they would like to have her visit. Turner says she’s already met with a variety of business owners from workers in retail shops, farms, manufacturing businesses to businesses in the service industry. For those interested, contact her Springfield office at 217-782-0228.

A local county sheriff is fed up with drug trafficking in his county.

Cass County Sheriff Devron Ohrn said in a posted video last night after a drug arrest in Beardstown that he has grown tired of methamphetamine trafficking in Cass County: “I’m so sick and tired of people selling methamphetamine in Cass County. You are ruining the lives of everybody whether or not they are doing the drugs or not. It destroys families. It destroys the lives of their children forever for a drug. I’m sick and tired of it, and honestly, if you want to do that, move. Get out of here. Go live in another county where they want you to do that stuff, because it’s not here. As long as I’m around here, we are going to keep fighting this, and I’m not going to give up. I have a great group of people that we just added to, and we’re not going to stop fighting this.”

Ohrn made the video at approximately 8PM last night from a residence in the 800 block of West 7^th Street in Beardstown. 42 year old Bogarth O. Lopez was arrested at the residence and booked into the Schuyler County Jail for possession of methamphetamine, methamphetamine delivery, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance, and a Schuyler County warrant for a petition to revoke probation on a possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams charge and cruelty to animals warrant. Lopez remains lodged at the Schuyler County Jail.

Ohrn went on to say in the video that Lopez’s residence was closed for business and those that had bought drugs or dropped off drugs at the residence are allegedly on a list for local law enforcement to come visit for arrest in the near future.

In a follow-up video posted this afternoon, Ohrn says he is not a “lock ’em and throw away the key” type when it comes to the War on Drugs. Ohrn says he and his officers have often tried to give help to many in the community who have a drug addiction by either driving them to a drug treatment facility, helping them find counseling and more. Ohrn says his biggest issue is with those who profit off of people’s addiction. In the follow-up, he asked anyone who truly wants help to visit him at the Sheriff’s Office, even if they have drugs in hand, and he would personally dispose of the drugs and drive them to the help that they need at one of the many drug treatment facilities or programs in the area. Ohrn hopes the videos raise awareness about the problems the Cass County community faces when it comes to drug addiction and drug trafficking.

Illinois contractors will no longer be allowed to pay workers with disabilities a sub-minimum wage.

Governor J.B. Pritzker was in Chicago Monday announcing the signing of an executive order today ending the practice for any company that the state contracts with: “Nothing about us without us: it’s the call of the Disability Rights movement, and it’s the standard that my administration strives for in all that we do. When members of the Disability Advocacy community asked my team to make sure the State of Illinois is doing our part to eliminate the disparities created by paying people with disabilities a sub-minimum wage, we listened. Today, I am very proud to sign an executive order that will ban state agencies from entering into contracts with vendors who pay workers with disabilities a sub-minimum wage.”

In addition, the EO requires state agencies who currently have contracts with vendors who pay people with disabilities a sub-minimum wage to re-negotiate those contracts to ensure everyone is paid at least the minimum wage.

The State Use Program, which this EO encompasses, encourages all agencies to purchase products and services produced and provided by people with disabilities. The program is intended to provide long-term employment opportunities for people with disabilities through non-profit agencies who contract with state agencies.

The Illinois Citizens Utility Board has issued a consumer alert for rising natural gas and electricity prices this winter.

In a press release today, CUB says consumers are facing the possibility of of hundreds of dollars in higher heating bills this winter due to skyrocketing natural gas prices and out-of-control utility spending. CUB Communications Director Jim Chilsen says customers of Ameren-Illinois for natural gas saw approximately a 114% increase at the start of the month compared to October 2020: “We had extreme weather down in the southern United States earlier this year, last winter in fact; and that tied up the natural gas network for some time – about a week. That has led to skyrocketing energy prices throughout the year, really skyrocketing [natural] gas prices. Now, we are seeing that electricity prices are going up. It’s amazing to think and it can be hard to believe, but a major reason for these high gas prices is just the volatile weather that we had for a brief period last winter down in the southern United States. They had record cold down there that froze well heads and froze pipelines in the gas network. That limit in supply caused elevated supply prices all year. It really is important overall that we find strategies to combat climate change that caused this unnatural weather in the South.”

Chilsen says with the elevated costs that Illinois residents will now begin seeing and hearing from alternative electricity suppliers going door to door again. The Illinois Commerce Commission lifted the solicitation ban for Alternative Electric Suppliers soliciting people during the pandemic last month. Chilsen says it’s a prime time for people to get duped into a bad deal: “The fact of the matter is that alternative electricity suppliers are impacted by the same market conditions as the utilities are, so if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We want to stress to people that even in this market, it’s likely that the utility is your best bet for electricity supply, so be very careful if you want to shop on the electricity market. You should be very careful about getting lured into bad deals from alternative suppliers.”

Chilsen urges people having trouble paying their electric bills this winter to reach out to their utility and stress that you’re willing to pay and need help. The Citizens Utility Board has also set up a website to help citizens navigate the assistance process or check for tips and tricks to lower their energy costs during the winter during this surge in pricing. For more information, visit CUBHelpCenter.com.

A rural Menard County man is behind bars along with another for the death of a man found in a fuel tanker in June.

37 year old Ryan D. Morrow of Tallula and 33 year old Billy T. Roof of Kankakee are behind bars in Iroquois County after an investigation into the death of 29 year old Garrett Meyer of Nashville, Illinois.

Meyer’s body was found in a tanker truck near Buckley, Illinois in June. According to WCIA, an Iroquois County Coroner’s report says that Meyer had “toxic levels of amphetamines and fentanyl” in his system at the time of his death along with a blood alcohol level of .181. According to Meyer’s obituary, he was a week shy of his 30th birthday at the time of his death. Meyer’s parents told WCIA that he was not employed as a truck driver and they had zero reasons on why his body would be discovered in a fuel tanker.

Meyer had been reported missing for 10 days when two men trying to offload the fuel from the truck had trouble. When the men opened the truck, according to WCIA reports, is when Meyer’s body was discovered inside the tanker.

According to WICS Newschannel 20, Roof and Morrow are charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and unlawful concealment of a death. Roof is also facing a charge of unlawful use of account numbers. Both men are currently being held at the Iroquois County Jail. The investigation into Meyer’s death remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Iroquois County Sheriff’s Department at 815-432-6992.

A local health department is receiving over half a million dollars through a federal program.

U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworkth and Dick Durbin announced Monday that the Cass County Health Department would receive $553,361 through American Rescue Plan funding to modernize their health care infrastructure and enhance their work to address health disparities in under-served communities. The health department receives money as a part of a larger traunch of ARP money because it is designated as a federally-recognized Community Health Center.

CHCs will be allowed to use the funding for COVID-19-related capital needs, constructing new facilities, renovating and expanding existing facilities to enhance response to pandemics, and purchasing new state-of-the-art equipment, including telehealth technology, mobile medical vans, and freezers to store vaccines.

This funding is part of nearly $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan to approximately 1,300 Health Resources and Services Administration Health Center Program-funded health centers in each state.

A Cass County murder trial is back on the jury docket.

71 year old Robert D. Harris of Virginia was given a jury trial date of January 18^th at 9AM this morning in Cass County Court. Defense Attorney Denise Barr and Cass County State’s Attorney Craig Miller said that Dr. Terry Killian had completed and returned a report on Harris’ mental status. Barr indicated that the report was currently in the possession of defense counsel Kevin Wykoff who was not present in court today.

The details of the report was not discussed in open court. Killian’s evaluation comes after it was ordered by the defense on July 27^th after Wykoff indicated in court that he learned that Harris may possess a mental disease or mental defect that caused him to lack substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct in the alleged January shooting deaths of Kathleen Wzientek and Brenda Crum both of Virginia in January.

Harris is next due in court for an omnibus hearing on December 15^th with a final pre-trial conference on January 7^th.