A stalled front that dumped high humidity levels and heavy rains is being blamed for a rainy first half of August.

Rainfall for the month, through 18 days, now stands at just under 5 and a half inches. Normal rainfall for all of August is two inches less, at just under 3 and a half inches.

Over the weekend, rains dumped about 4 and a half inches here.

That surpassed the nearly 4 inch rainfall June 11^th and 12^th, and the over 3 inch rainfall April 28^th.

It follows a dry July, with just over an inch and a half of rain.

Normal rainfall for the three summer months, June, July and August…is just over 11 and a half inches. Jacksonville has received over 16 inches of rain here for the same three months.

There has been measurable rain on 9 of the 18 days so far this month.

There were three days of over an inch of rain in March, two in April, 2 in May and three in June…plus the one day this month. That’s 9 days this year in which Jacksonville received at least an inch of rain in a 24 hour period.

WLDS-WEAI is an official reporting station for the National Weather Service.

Pathway Services Unlimited will hold a different kind of bingo fundraiser later this month.

It is GloBingo at the Jacksonville American Legion on the 28^th.

Pathway executive director Ryan Dowd says the event is a new experience for the agency.

He’s not sure what to expect.

People must be 18 and older to attend. Doors will open at 6 that night, and bingo begins at 7.

Dowd says Pathway is emerging from a tough time.

He says the client population was down in the years that followed COVID. But, he says the numbers now are good, with only one opening at a home.

Over $1-thousand in cash prizes will be offered during the game. There will be a cash bar, 50-50 drawing, and a silent auction with items such as meals, Cardinal tickets and gift baskets.

Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door.

The Jacksonville police department is getting help from Crimestoppers regarding a vehicle vandalism incident from last week.

The incident occurred between Friday last week at 1:30 PM, and Saturday morning that weekend at 8:30.

Vandals used something to puncture tires on an unoccupied van in the 700 block of West College.

Anyone with information about the crime is urged to call Crimestoppers at 243-7300, or report it on the website or Facebook page.

All tips are anonymous, and cash rewards are offered for information that leads to an arrest.

One person was killed when their vehicle struck the back end of a bus in Pike County this morning.

Pike County deputies identified the victim as 16-year-old Isabella Johnson of Rockport.

The accident happened about 7:45 this morning in the Pleasant Hill School District.

State police say the accident occurred on US 54, west of 165^th Avenue in rural Pike County.

The report indicates a passenger car driven by Johnson rear-ended the bus. Both vehicles caught fire.

The bus had 11 occupants, and the adult driver and ten students were able to escape unharmed.

Police say the flashers were on at the time because the bus was slowing to pick up children.

US 54 between 165^th and 265^th Street was closed  for a time while officers investigated.

Pleasant Hill schools remained in session yesterday and today. Support services were present to help students, staff and parents cope with the situation.

The Jacksonville Area Conference of Churches is helping collect food items for the Sunday Sack Lunches to Go program.

The conference is partnering with Go Church for the drive to help the hungry in the Jacksonville Area.

Collected supplies will be donated to Go Church to include in their food distribution program.

The items needed include mixed fruit cups, breakfast bars, granola and trail mix bars, packets of cookies, creamy peanut butter cups, peanut butter crackers, tuna and chicken salad with cracker packs, pudding cups, and slim Jims.

Monetary donations are needed, with checks payable to Go Church.

Items will be collected through September 20^th, and supplies can be left with all participating churches.

More information is available from Pat Glyshaw.

Check your powerball ticket if you bought it recently in Quincy.

The Illinois Lottery department says someone is holding the ticket worth just over $1-billion as a result of last night’s Powerball drawing.

The winning ticket was purchased at Hy Vee Gas on north 36^th Street in Quincy.

The ticket matched all six winning numbers…4, 26, 66, 67, 69 and powerball 9.

The retailer gets its share…a $500-thousand cash bonus for selling the winning ticket.

The jackpot is the largest Powerball prize won so far this year, and eighth largest jackpot in the game’s history.

It is the second largest lottery prize ever won in Illinois.

The Morgan County board this morning rejected a request to place a referendum on the November ballot to separate Morgan County from the state.

The request would result in, effectively a new state. The request came from Lori Fuller.

It came at the end of a lengthy board meeting, about one hour, attended by 17 people crowded into the commissioners’ office at the Morgan County Courthouse. The motion was not made by any of the members of the board, and died as a result.

Commissioner Racer Wood says the idea doesn’t make sense, and the Illinois legislature and Congress would need to approve it first.

Wood says this idea will not happen in our lifetime, and the movement needs local signatures on a petition before it would be considered for the ballot.

The meeting began with a give and take between chairman Mike Wankel, and commissioner Michael Woods. Woods was attending by phone, and complained the meeting was moved to the middle of the week without consulting him.

He also repeated his continuing request to place the line item, other business, on the board agenda. Wankel rejected the argument for the item, and complained about Woods not attending the meeting in person.

That was followed by seven people arguing for more information about data center research. Some asked for a change of the time for the twice monthly meetings, others said the state has tied the hands of local governments without zoning powers, and some saying they want more give and take from the board.

Chairman Wankel says he welcomes all input as the county collects information during the six month moratorium.

He says they will talk about the information about data centers once all the information comes in.

The six month moratorium on data center reviews started the tail end of April, and ends at the final Monday of October. The board has indicated it will look at a data center regulatory ordinance in October.

A Jacksonville alderman is leading the effort to include overnight shelters in the Jacksonville city code.

Alderman Joe Lockman wants to include the shelters and similar facilities in Jacksonville zoning regulations.

Lockman offered a proposal that includes New Directions, to the rest of the council Monday night, but questions arose about other shelter facilities at Midwest Youth Services, and the Crisis Center.

Lockman says the shelters are unaccounted for now.

He says there are no zoning ordinances pertaining to shelters on the books.

New Directions is considered a high barrier shelter. Lockman admits others could be considered low barrier, or no barrier.

The higher the barrier, the more background is required before an overnight stay.

Lockman says any shelter needs to know the rules.

Lockman is expected to bring the ordinance back later this month, after the issue was postponed from any action Monday night.