A Quincy woman that was kidnapped from a hotel room and allegedly beaten has been located alive in Arkansas by authorities.

According to a report by Quincy Police, 36 year old Tabitha Campbell was located in Marked Tree, Arkansas. She was evaluated by medical personnel and is currently being transported back to the Quincy area.

Campbell’s suspected kidnapper, 39 year old Mario Mason of Memphis, Tennessee has not been allocated. Quincy Police say that he was last seen in Marked Tree, Arkansas and is believed to still be traveling in a stolen 2016 white Honda CRV with IL registration CS95996. An Adams County arrest warrant has been issued for Mason for Kidnapping and Aggravated Domestic Battery. Mason is accused of taking Campbell by force from the Welcome Inn in the 200 block of Maine Street in Quincy at some time this past Saturday. Family remembers reported Campbell missing after having no contact with her through Monday.

Mason has been described as as a black male standing 6’0″, approximately 175 pounds, with black brush cut hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on Mason’s whereabouts are urged to contact the Quincy Police Department at 217-228-4470 or Quincy Regional Crimestoppers at 217-228-4474.

A Cass County man is heading to federal prison following a conviction of defrauding two Central Illinois school districts.

48 year old Daniel Brue of Virginia and formerly of Beardstown was sentenced on Monday to 2 years and 9 months in federal prison, to be followed by 3 years of mandatory supervised release, following his conviction on four counts of wire fraud related to his theft from the Bement and Meridian school districts while working as their superintendent. Brue has also been ordered to pay restitution totaling over $343,000.

Brue, who pleaded guilty to the charges, admitted that he abused his position by embezzling money from both school districts by creating and registering a fake company and then fraudulently invoicing the school districts for construction work that was never performed between 2011 and 2019. Brue was allowed to remain free on bond to seek work during the trial, and he is currently employed with JBS in Beardstown, according to the Journal Courier.

Agents from the FBI Field Office in Springfield and the Macon County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Brue remains on bond until he reports for his prison sentence on September 21^st.

Federal investigators are set to turn over a large amount of evidence to defense lawyers in a case against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff.

A batch of over 90,000 documents and secret recordings will soon be sent to defense lawyers handling the perjury and obstruction case against 66 year old Tim Mapes of Springfield, Madigan’s long time chief of staff, according to the Chicago Tribune yesterday.

Mapes has plead not guilty to lying to a grand jury in the sprawling ComEd bribes-for-favors case against his former boss and his associates.

At a telephonic status hearing yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz said the government sent Mapes’ defense team an initial batch of “intercepted communications and other records” on June 8^th. She said the second, larger batch of discovery should be sent within the next two weeks.

An 11-page indictment alleged Mapes repeatedly lied during a March 31st appearance before the grand jury when asked about Madigan’s relationship with his longtime confidant Michael McClain of Quincy, who was charged in November of orchestrating the ongoing bribery scheme. Madigan has yet to be charged with a crime.

Mapes has denied wrongdoing and has maintained that federal authorities are attempting to squeeze him to give up incriminating information against his former boss. Mapes originally was granted immunity in May by the U.S. Attorney’s office for cooperation in the case, but was surprisingly charged in May after authorities allegedly confirmed he had perjured himself during the grand jury testimony.

An Illinois Senator has introduced legislation that would provide paid leave for women following a pregnancy loss.

Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced legislation yesterday to Congress that would grant three days of paid leave for women following a miscarriage, a failed adoption or surrogacy arrangement, an unsuccessful fertility procedure, or a related medical diagnosis.

Duckworth is familiar with the issue, as she suffered a miscarriage during her 2016 Senate campaign.

Currently, there is no federal paid leave program in the U.S. The Family and Medical Leave Act allows those who are eligible to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, or to care for oneself or a family member with a serious health condition.

Duckworth’s “Support Through Loss Act,” which she is introducing along with 7th District Massachusetts Democrat Representative Ayanna Pressley, would require employers to provide at least three days of paid time off after pregnancy or related loss. It would also direct the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Disease Control to provide additional support resources and public information related to pregnancy loss. It would also provide $45 million annually to the National Institutes of Health for research programs related to pregnancy loss.

The bill follows after New Zealand’s parliament who passed similar measures addressing pregnancy loss in March.

Illinois National Guard members may be seeing significant cutbacks in the next few months as they await the federal government to pay them back for a significant mission.

Over 800 guard members from the state were a part of the deployment sent to protect the nation’s Capitol after the January 6^th riot until the end of May. The response to the Capitol by all National Guard units cost the National Guard Bureau over a half billion dollars, creating a major budget deficit.

Illinois National Guard Adjutant General Richard Neely says that if the budget deficit isn’t filled by September 30^th, the Illinois National Guard will be in the hole $31 million: “Now, the National Guard Bureau is looking for ways to offset the shortages, like going back to states and pulling back unspent dollars, unobligated (as we sometimes refer to them) dollars, which go to pay our soldiers and airmen for the last couple months of the year for both our traditional, weekend force that comes in for both the August and September drill weekends, as well as there is a potential for it affecting some of our full-time staff having to be furloughed and that to offset this expense.”

Neely says he’s not quite sure what this means for the National Guard Armory in Beardstown or the air wing at Capitol Airport in Springfield, but painful cuts are likely coming if an answer isn’t given by Congress. He says drill weekends could be put on hold eventually and crucial training that’s been pushed to the end of the year could be canceled. Neely says it’s a tragic turn of events because of the National Guard’s response to the state over the last year: “For me, I see it as a tragedy, given the significant positive impact that our Guard’s men and women had throughout the state. They stepped up to every mission whether they got called up for the insurrection or if they got called in for support to COVID [response] whether it was testing missions or vaccination missions – they answered every call on top of the thousands deployed overseas last year. This is really very disappointing that we now we turned to them and have to have budgets made up based on their salary. I’m really hopeful that the Congress can find a way forward with this budget so we can get this resolved before the first of August.”

Currently, 17^th District Congresswoman Cheri Bustos has joined 69 other bipartisan lawmakers in hopes of pushing forward a reimbursement bill to help get the issue resolved.

Governor J.B. Pritzker issued the following statement yesterday asking for a resolution: “Even as the events of January 6^th were still unfolding, heroes from across the nation fearlessly mobilized in defense of their country, and every day that our debts to them go unpaid is an insult to their service. Congress needs to act with urgency to not only protect the integrity of our National Guard but to do everything possible to prevent another January 6^th from ever happening again. Here in Illinois, our Illinois National Guard soldiers and airmen have sacrificed so much over the last 18 months, leaving their homes and families, civilian jobs and universities, dropping their plans and putting their lives on hold – all to respond to the needs of our state and nation. This is about readiness and about taking care of our soldiers and airmen, but even more so, it’s about honor. I urge Congress to act quickly on behalf of the safety, security, and dignity of all Americans.”

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin urged Senate Republicans to support an emergency supplemental appropriations bill, introduced by Democrat Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy of Vermont that would provide $3.7 billion for funding costs incurred on the Capitol complex from January 6th as well as other Department of Defense costs over the last 6 months: “We have a special security supplemental appropriation…which appropriates the funds to pay the National Guard units who left their families and came here to protect us, to pay the Capitol Police for the expenses they incurred on January 6, to fortify this Capitol against any future insurrectionist mob. And that supplemental appropriation bill, which should have been passed routinely weeks ago, is still languishing for lack of agreement on the Republican side. If you want to be respectful of law enforcement, whether they are men and women in uniform and police units or National Guard, wouldn’t you pay them for the services they rendered to protect this Capitol and to protect the United States of America?”

The bill passed the U.S. House along party lines back in May.

Pike County Health Department officials say they have seen a “dramatic increase” in COVID-19 cases over the past week. In a press release today, the health department reported 42 active cases in the county as well as 2 new COVID-19 related deaths.

According to Illinois Department of Public Health data, Pike County began seeing increase in cases beginning after the July 4^th holiday weekend. Since July 4^th, the health department has recorded 83 positive tests. Test positivity during that time span has not gone below 3.4%. According to CDC data, Pike County’s percentage of fully vaccinated individuals is at 29.6%.

Morgan County has also seen a steady rise during that time period. Since July 1^st, Morgan County has recorded 104 positive tests. Test positivity in Morgan County has averaged just over 7% during that same time.

Cass County, who is currently on IDPH’s warning list, has reported 44 positive tests since the month began. Test positivity has averaged 7.25% during that time.

Adams and Schuyler county also have hit the warning list for case counts and test positivity. All of the counties have reported links to the Crossing Camp outbreak that occurred in Rushville during mid-June that was subsequently linked to other outbreaks in outlying counties. The outbreak drew national attention after the camp allegedly had few vaccinated individuals attend the camp.

Governor J.B. Pritzker has said he was not considering re-implementing mask requirements or other mitigations on Friday.

A Quincy woman is missing after allegedly being beaten and kidnapped from a hotel room yesterday afternoon.

KHQA reports that Quincy Police were called to the Welcome Inn in the 200 block of Maine Street in Quincy at 4PM Monday to meet with family members of 36 year old Tabitha Campbell in reference to her kidnapping.

An investigation led to a search warrant being conducted at a room at the Welcome Inn, where police say they found potential evidence related to kidnapping and domestic battery that reportedly occurred on Saturday at the hotel.

Quincy detectives believe that Campbell was taken against her will by 39 year old Mario Mason of Memphis, Tennessee. Detectives believes they are traveling in a stolen 2016 white Honda CRV with Illinois registration CS95996.

KHQA says Memphis Police were alerted to the case and around 1PM Tuesday, officers located the vehicle and attempted an unsuccessful traffic stop, with officers eventually losing sight of the vehicle.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either Campbell or Mason are urged to contact the Quincy Police Department at 217-228-4470 or Quincy Regional Crimestoppers at 217-228-4474.

Campbell is described as a white female standing 5’2″, approximately 110 pounds, with long brown hair and brown eyes.

Mason is described as a black male standing 6’0″, approximately 175 pounds, with black brush cut hair and brown eyes.

A warrant has been issued for Mason for kidnapping and aggravated domestic battery.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board released updated guidelines yesterday for college students returning to campus in the Fall.

Executive Director of the IBHE Ginger Ostro says the goal is to make it safe for students to transition back into the classroom: “The guidance here follows the recommendations of the CDC and IDPH to urge everyone to get vaccinated. The guidance also covers face masks, continued hand hygiene, cleaning, testing, and other health practices. A number of institutions are requiring vaccinations for students, and the guidance allows flexibility for each institution based on its needs. We are encouraging institutions and universities to require vaccination for public and private universities.”

The guidance recommends unvaccinated students and faculty to wear a mask at all times for crowded events.

Illinois College’s Vice President of External Relations Stephanie Chipman released the following statement to WLDS News this afternoon: “Illinois College is committed to preserving the in-person, student-centered IC education that we know to be so effective while protecting the health and well-being of our community from COVID-19. We want our students to have an amazing experience at IC and the best way for students to embrace that opportunity is to be fully vaccinated. IC is actively educating and encouraging vaccination among students and employees through multiple campaigns. We are reviewing the new recommendations issued Monday by the Illinois Board of Higher Education along with other guidelines from federal, state, and local health officials as we plan for a safe and in-person fall semester.”

IBHE’s full guidance can be found online at ibhe.org.

Illinois Democratic lawmakers and the Illinois State Board of Elections have filed motions to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund over the state’s redistricting plan.

In separate filings on Friday, Illinois House Speaker Emmanuel Chris Welch and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon along with the Illinois State Board of Elections asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to dismiss the suit on the grounds that MALDEF lacks standing to file the suit because they have made no district specific allegations of harm, there is no legal precedent that has held that American Community Survey Data in redistricting is improper or unconstitutional, and that the claims are not ripe for a suit because 2020 census data will not be released until August.

In the separate Board of Elections dismissal filing, the board claims that under the 11^th Amendment, they are not an individual and are not subject to suit and that MALDEF has not said a viable equal protection claim against the board’s members.

Both motions were filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in defense of the parties.

MALDEF filed suit on June 4^th claiming that the American Community Survey data malapportioned the redistricting plan by not taking into account all residents of the state, represents only a small sample size of addresses, and seriously under counts sparsely populated areas.

This is a developing story.

The Passavant Area Hospital Board of Directors has a new member.

Lindsay McQueen has been selected to fulfill a four-year term by the Board of Governors to fill the seat of retiring board member Keith Bradbury.

McQueen, of Jacksonville, is the manager of the Cass-Morgan Farm Bureau. McQueen serves on the board of directors for the Kiwanis Club of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the 4-H Expansion Review Committee and the Morgan County Extension Building Committee. She will oversee dairy products judging at the Illinois State Fair in August.

The Passavant board of directors comprises 16 members.