Jacksonville Main Street is looking to spice up downtown this upcoming weekend. The Blues, Brews, and BBQ Festival is happening this Saturday, May 4th, from noon to 4 pm in downtown Jacksonville.

Organizers say the event is a new twist on an old favorite made possible in part by sponsors like Downtown Liquors and HyVee.

Everyone is invited to enjoy the wares of many micro-breweries, home brewers, and a few distributors supplying popular local and national craft beers from across the region. For those over age 21, admission is $25 for a tasting glass and 20 drink samples, then you can vote for your favorite home brew.

A number of food trucks will be on hand, and live blues will be part of the fun Saturday with music by John Drake, starting at noon, followed by Tom Irwin and Devin Williams. Later in the day, national blues artist, Patrick Sweany, will be performing at Pizza Records for an amazing end to the Blues, Brews & BBQ Festival!

Advance tickets are available online at: https://givebutter.com/G6CGw7

For more information call 217-473-5081 or send an email to events@jacksonvillemainstreet.org.

Jacksonville Memorial Hospital will soon have a new flag flying out front. JMH is hosting a Gift of Hope flag-raising ceremony this Tuesday, April 30th, to call attention to the importance of organ and tissue donation.

Donation Liaison with Memorial Health Systems and the Gift of Hope Teresa Cagle says the flag is a beacon of hope for families whose loved one has decided to honor the gift of organ and tissue donation.

According to Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network, which serves Illinois and northwest Indiana, nearly 5,000 Illinoisans are currently waiting for an organ transplant.

Cagle says even though it is easy to register to be an organ and tissue donor, you should still have a conversation to make sure your wishes are known by those close to you once you’ve made that decision.

“I see it often where even if someone has registered themselves as an organ and tissue donor, the family is not aware of that. So anytime that you do go into the DMV, or that you register on our Gift of Hope website or the Secretary of State’s website, it is best to have a conversation with your family.

We at Gift of Hope will advocate for your decision if and when the time comes. But again, it is much easier on the family when they already know what your decision is.”

Cagle says there are many ways organ and tissue donors can help give the gift of hope to others beyond what people commonly think when it comes to being an organ donor.

“There are seven organs that we look at for procuring on every donor who is eligible, and then there are the tissue, corneas, and skin that also are considered life-saving in some ways to folks who need surgical procedures. We see it in a lot of younger adults who are in sports who need an ACL repair for example. So the decision to give the gift can help several hundred people that you may not even know that you’re touching with that gift.”

Cagle says you can also be a living donor as things like kidney and liver donations can be made by someone who is still alive and in good health.

The flag-raising event will be held at 3:30 p.m. at the flagpole located near Jacksonville Memorial Hospital’s main entrance Tuesday.

To find out more information about organ and tissue donation, visit giftofhope.org.

Jacksonville Police are investigating a recent theft from a vehicle.

Officers were called to the 1000 block of East Morton Avenue at 9:00 Friday morning after a resident reported their vehicle had been broken into.

According to an incident report, sometime between 7:00 pm Thursday and 6:00 am Friday, unknown persons broke into the complainant’s vehicle and removed items without permission.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Jacksonville Police at 217-479-4630 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott, and Cass Counties by calling 217-243-7300.

A national movement that celebrates both music and small businesses returns in a big way this weekend.

Saturday, April 20^th is National Record Store Day, which has grown into an internationally recognized day to celebrate popular music and the independently owned record store.

More than 1,400 locally owned record stores, along with thousands of similar stores around the globe celebrate Record Store Day as more than 350 new and special edition albums are released Saturday, most by major artists, to both celebrate and support the independently owned record store.

In Jacksonville, Pizza Records will be celebrating its first Record Store Day in its brand new location at 59 East Central Park Plaza, which was formerly home to Kresge’s 5 and Ten and later Denney Jewelers.

Owner Devin Smock says Saturday’s event looks to be the biggest one yet for Pizza Records. “We’re really excited to do our first Record Store Day here at our new place. We’ve ordered a ton of stuff, it’s a great Record Store Day.

There’s a lot of good releases coming out. I don’t have an exact number but I think they said there are three hundred and sixty-four releases for Record Store Day, and we probably have two fifty to three hundred of them.”

Music lovers packed the store late Thursday night as both Taylor Swift and Pearl Jam both released new albums that went on sale at midnight. Smock says they still have copies of each on the shelves, plus each artist also has special products also dropping Saturday for Record Store Day.

He says there is one rule for Record Day releases as there is a limit to some purchases. “ One title per paying customer. So what that means is, you can’t come in and buy ten copies of that new Noah Kahan album. You can buy one of every single one of the records, I don’t care (chuckles). But you just can’t buy more than one. We’re just trying to keep people from going on eBay with it.”

Doors open at 8:00 am and Smock says anyone who plans on showing up early to wait in line will need to form that line on the sidewalk along the side of the store that runs east on Morgan Street.

He says if you miss out on grabbing that sought-after title, some major releases are reallocated the following Monday, so you may have a second chance if you miss out on Record Store Day.

Jacksonville Police are investigating a break-in that occurred Friday afternoon.

According to a police report, officers were called to a residence in the 800 block of South Clay just after 3:00 pm Friday. It was reported to police that sometime between 1:00 and 1:23 pm, an unknown person entered the residence and removed an undisclosed amount of property.

The incident remains under investigation, and Jacksonville Police are asking anyone with information concerning this incident to contact the Jacksonville Police Department by calling 217-479-4630 or leaving an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Morgan, Scott, and Cass Counties by calling 217-243 7300.

A Jacksonville area service organization is again helping to celebrate Mother’s Day with a touch of spring.

The Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary Club has announced the return of its annual Mother’s Day Geranium Sale during the month of April. The sale items are four-inch potted red geraniums and are being sold for $6 each.

Anyone interested in purchasing red geraniums may contact any member of the club to place an order. Club members will deliver purchased geraniums on or after May 10.

Sunrise Rotary Officials say the fun event is one of the club’s fund-raisers, supporting the many programs and service projects that make the community a better place.

Jay Jamison with the Sunrise Rotary says just look for Sunrise Rotarians wearing the “Ask Me About Geraniums” tags, and they will be glad to take your order.

Club members must turn in the money for their orders by Tuesday, April 30, to make sure the flowers are ready for delivery before Mother’s Day.

A new exhibit featuring the history of the Jacksonville Developmental Center will officially open to the public this weekend at the Jacksonville Area Museum.

The state-operated Jacksonville Developmental Center opened as the Illinois State Hospital and Asylum for the Insane in 1851 and for more than a century was one of the city’s largest employers. The facility was literally a small city within a city, complete with buildings and services to care for the thousands of people who received treatment there. It was renamed several times through the years, including as the Jacksonville State Hospital in 1910, before being finally named the Jacksonville Developmental Center in the 1980s. More than 400 people were employed there when the State of Illinois closed the facility in 2012.

Jacksonville Area Museum Board Chairman Allan Worrell said in a press release that the facility is one of the crucial pieces of the city’s history: “The Jacksonville Developmental Center is one of those institutions that is synonymous with the history of our community. We hope visitors will come to learn, or re-learn, the story of this iconic facility.”

The exhibit includes illustrations, photographs and artifacts and follows the history of the Developmental Center from the time it was officially authorized in 1847 through the next century and a half. The exhibit gives an unvarnished look at the institution, including its treatment of residents through the decades. Companion oral histories available on the museum website podcast page, www.jacksonvilleareamuseum.org/podcasts, feature interviews with former Developmental Center employees who describe their experiences there.

A special preview of the Jacksonville Developmental Center exhibit for museum members only will be offered on Friday evening, April 5th, with the exhibit opening up to the public on Saturday.

The museum is located in the old Post Office building at 301 E. State Street, and its regular schedule is Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. There is no admission fee but a donation of $5 is suggested to keep the museum operating.

The exhibit may move from time to time this summer as the museum begins its Phase II expansion.

No one was injured, however, a Jacksonville Fire Department vehicle sustained minor damage when an outbuilding was destroyed by fire in rural Jacksonville Friday night.

The Jacksonville and South Jacksonville Fire Departments responded to a call of a barn that was fully engulfed with fire located at 1616 Portuguese Hill Road at approximately 10:30 pm.

Upon arrival, Jacksonville Police reported to fire personnel that no one was inside the structure which by then had become fully involved. According to an initial incident report, crews deployed lines and began attacking the fire from a distance due to the intensity of the blaze.

Approximately three to five minutes after arriving on scene, a power line along the main road shorted and began burning. The line, which was located above one of the Jacksonville Fire Department’s apparatus engine trucks, then fell onto the top of the truck.

Fire crews abandoned both the hand line and engine due to the hazard. Ameren Illinois had been called to the scene and crews were able to power down the line and remove it from the vehicle.

A Jacksonville Fire Department porta-tank and two South Jacksonville Fire Department tankers were used in extinguishing the blaze. The barn burned to the ground in the incident and has been deemed a complete loss, estimated at approximately $30,000. No estimated value of the contents was able to be determined.

Fire Department officials say the owners of the barn were out of town at the time of the fire and a neighbor called in the fire. The cause of the blaze will likely not be able to be determined although the incident remains under investigation.

Officials say the Jacksonville Fire Engine received only minor damage to the cover and both hard suction lines. They say the vehicle can continue being in service this weekend and will be pressure tested on Monday to ensure no further damage was sustained.

No one was injured in the incident. Crews were on scene for approximately two hours and 15 minutes.

More information has been made available on the arrest of a west suburban Chicago man at an area truck stop this week.

On Wednesday at approximately 2:30 pm, 36-year-old Syed M. Makki of Glendale Heights, Illinois was taken into custody at the Love’s Travel Center in South Jacksonville.

According to a press release by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office this morning, the arrest stemmed from a coordinated investigation that led to the contact with Maaki at the truck stop.

Makkai was taken into custody on an active warrant out of the state of Colorado, and approximately $1.1 million in gold bullion was seized at the time of his arrest.

According to the report, a portion of the gold was linked to a fraud and theft case in Douglas County, Colorado. The gold has since been released to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and has been transported back.

Maaki was arrested and housed at the Morgan County Jail where he is being held pending extradition to Colorado. The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office.

A Greene County man has been charged with multiple counts of child pornography and weapons charges after he was arrested this week.

59-year-old William L. Orr of Greenfield was taken into custody on Wednesday after a search was conducted at a residence in the 300 block of Main Street in Greenfield.

According to the Journal-Courier, Officers from Greenfield police, Illinois State Police South Central Illinois Drug Task Force, and Greene County Sheriff’s Department, along with investigators from Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office were all involved in the operation.

On Friday, Orr was charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, four counts of failure to register as a sex offender, six counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, and three counts of possession of ammunition by a felon.

Orr is on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry stemming from a conviction in 2011 in Macoupin County Court for aggravated criminal sexual assault, and according to the report, has previously been convicted for failing to regularly report or correct his address information with authorities as a registered sex offender.

Orr remains held at the Green County Jail and is next due in court on Wednesday.