The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office is making some changes to ease the heavy foot traffic at Driver’s Services facilities.

Long lines have been problematic at some DMV locations, so Secretary Jesse White is expanding the remote renewal process. Secretary of State’s Office Spokesperson Beth Kaufman says the change will allow approximately 1 million more people renew their driver’s license or ID cards online, by phone, or through the postal mail: “Maybe [an individual] had one minor traffic violation in the past 4 years – those people will be able to renew [their licenses] online, as well.”

Notices for those eligible to renew in this extension will be sent out from September through February. Additionally, more locations in the Chicagoland area will be allowed to accept appointments. Governor J.B. Pritzker also signed into law Friday a bill that will allow the Secretary of State’s Office to now accept online, digital signatures. For more information, or to take care of your needs online visit cyberdriveillinois.com.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is asking the public to be on the look out for scam emails claiming to originate from his office.

The emails claim to be from either a domain such as atg.state.il.us or a source who says they work with the Attorney General’s office.

Raoul is warning people that these emails are spoofed, and scammers are seeking to entice people to click on a malicious link in the email that will install malware on their home computers or cell phones.

Raoul says the spoofed emails may claim the person potentially being scammed is under investigation or that they have communications with others in order to coerce the recipient into clicking on links and attachments in the spoofed email.

Raoul says his office will not send emails from the aforementioned domain and that anyone who has received these emails should contact his office’s toll-free Identity Theft hotline at 866-999-5630 to provide information about the email before deleting the message.

Congress passed a $2.1 billion emergency security supplemental bill on Thursday to pay the National Guard and Capitol Police for their lengthy security mission at the U.S. Capitol.

Illinois National Guard Adjutant General Richard Neely told WLDS earlier this month that the Illinois National Guard was facing a $31 million deficit that would have caused furloughs, pay cuts, and postponement of drill weekends and crucial training. Neely remained optimistic that Congress would act to aid the situation.

The bill provides $521 million to reimburse the National Guard for the cost of deployment to Capitol Hill that lasted roughly 4 ½ months. The bill was also provides a special immigrant visa program for refugees from Afghanistan after U.S. Armed Forces began exiting the country early this month. A $1.125 billion portion of the bill will help to provide asylum to refugees attempting to flee the Taliban. The bill makes specific changes to the visa program, including increasing the number of authorized visas by 8,000 and lowering an employment eligibility requirement from two years to one.

13^th District Congressman Rodney Davis, who voted in favor of the bill said in a statement after the vote that it was a great example of bi-partisanship that both Republicans and Democrats should build on: “This is a great example of what can happen when Republicans and Democrats come together to support our National Guard members and Capitol Police Officers. This long overdue funding will prevent layoffs and furloughs in National Guard units across the country and ensure rank-and-file USCP officers continue to get paid. Because Congress acted, the Illinois National Guard will avoid a $31 million shortfall in funding, ensuring operational readiness. I hope Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi will learn from the Senate’s bipartisan success and follow suit when it comes to reforming our security posture on Capitol Hill.”

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth issued the following statement on the passage of the bill: “We owe a debt of gratitude to the National Guard Members and United States Capitol Police officers who answered the call on January 6th, repelled the insurrection and held the line—protecting members of Congress and our democracy. But the fact is, the reason it took so long for a bipartisan compromise is that many Republicans didn’t want to acknowledge what happened at the Capitol on January 6. By making this investment now, we can help to prevent future attacks and make sure that the members of the Capitol Police and National Guard who kept us safe on January 6—even as they put themselves in harm’s way—are supported well into the future. But the only way we can truly prevent something like this from happening again is stopping an insurrection at our Capitol again and not giving space to the lies and conspiracy theories that lead to January 6.”

Fellow Senator Dick Durbin railed against Republicans in the Senate after the passage of the bill: “In the convoluted political world we live in, Republicans in the Senate actually debated for weeks whether to pay the expenses of the Capitol Police and National Guardsmen who protected us on and after January 6. It is hard to explain the depths we have reached when it comes to common sense and common decency.”

The emergency bill now heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

A bill created by Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer was signed into law today by Governor J.B. Pritzker.

House Bill 1710 alters the requirements for the Superintendents of both ISD and ISVI. It now requires the Superintendent of ISD to have a degree in educational administration, together with at least 10 years of experience in either deaf or hard of hearing education, the administration of deaf or hard of hearing education, or a combination of the two. It lowers the requirements from the previous 15 years of experience.

For the Superintendent of ISVI, it requires the superintendent to have a degree in educational administration, together with at least 10 years of experience in either blind or visually impaired education, or a combination of the two rather than requiring degrees in both.

The bill passed both chambers of the General Assembly in May. The new requirements take effect immediately.

The National Weather Service is launching new weather warning categories to better reflect the strength of an incoming storm.

Starting on Monday, forecasters will be adding damage threat categories to any severe weather warnings which include the labels “considerable” and “destructive” damage.

State Climatologist Trent Ford says the labels should give the public a clearer picture of what’s coming in a potential storm system: “For example, we know that if an EF-0 tornado hits an area, it is unlikely to cause significant damage as to completely destroy a mason or kind of traditional wood structure home, but an EF-4 tornado can. That means perhaps different actions for different people, so what the National Weather Service is doing because of technological advances in radar and communication. Now, what they said they are going to do is along with a severe thunderstorm warning, we are going to give an idea of what that thunderstorm’s strength is or what the potential damage is.”

The “considerable damage” warning label may include golf ball sized hail and/or 70 mile per hour winds. The “destructive damage” warning label may include potentials of baseball sized hail and/or 80 mile per hour winds. The criteria for a baseline or “base” severe thunderstorm warning remains unchanged.

According to the National Weather Service’s announcement, only 10% of all severe storms reach the destructive category each year, nationwide. Most of these storms are damaging wind events such as derechoes and some of the larger, more intense thunderstorms, called “Supercell” storms that can typically produce very large hail in their path. The new destructive thunderstorm category conveys to the public urgent action is needed, a life-threatening event is occurring and may cause substantial damage to property. Storms categorized as “destructive” will trigger emergency weather alerts on cellphones.

WLDS/WEAI is a National Weather Service reporting station.

A local county has reported its first case of West Nile Virus in a bird.

The Macoupin County Health Department has confirmed the positive sample in a dead blue jay turned into the health department from near a residence in Virden.

Macoupin County Health officials say continued surveillance of mosquitoes and larviciding of mosquitoes will continue across the county.

Residents are asked to stay indoors at dusk, ensure window screens are repaired, reduce standing pools of water, wear shoes and socks, long pants and long sleeved shirts outdoors along with insect repellent that contains DEET, and report areas of stagnant water that have been sitting for more than a week.

Residents are also encouraged to report recent dead birds – primarily blue jays and crows – to the health department for continued West Nile Virus monitoring and testing.

An Auburn man had his first hearing in the District Court of Washington D.C. yesterday for his role in the January 6^th Capitol riot. 43 year old Shane Jason Woods entered a plea of not guilty to eight charges – including assault on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct in a restricted building.

The FBI obtained photos allegedly showing Woods on the steps of the Capitol building during the January 6th insurrection. Another photo allegedly shows Woods tripping a female Capitol officer. Woods is also alleged to have participated in the assault on media equipment and tackled a cameraman in a media staging area at the Capitol. Woods is the the first to be arrested for an assault on members of news media in connection to the sprawling investigation by federal authorities.

Woods is the owner of Auburn Heating and Air. He is one of 13 individuals from Illinois who have been charged for their roles in the riot.

A status conference in Woods’ case is set for September 24^th at 10AM.

A Jacksonville man was sentenced to prison time on Tuesday for a gun crime.

30 year old Charles F. Watts of the 1700 block of South Main Street was found guilty in a bench trial of aggravated battery with a firearm.

Watts was found guilty of shooting 35 year old James Trotter in the abdomen in an apartment in the 200 block of South West Street during a social gathering on the evening of December 7, 2019. Watts and Trotter were alleged to have gotten into a verbal argument that soon escalated. Police later arrested Watts in a traffic stop in the 100 block of West Morton Avenue approximately four hours after the initial incident. Trotter was transported to Passavant Area Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, treated, and eventually released.

Judge Jeffrey Tobin sentenced Watts to 18 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, 3 years of Mandatory Supervised Release, a $1,000 county fine plus court costs. He was given credit for 598 days served in jail.

Watts has a separate case pending from a July 5, 2019 arrest. He has been charged with possession or use of a firearm by a felon, a Class 2 Felony. Status is set in that case for September 9^th. If convicted in this outstanding case, the sentences could possibly be ordered to be served consecutively.

Watts remains in custody at the Morgan County Jail.