The Prairieland United Way kicked off its Live United Food Drive campaign this week.

The campaign, which encourages community members to donate food for kids, runs now through the end of May. Prairieland United Way executive director Karen Walker says they want to do what they can to make sure our kids have food this summer.

“Once they are out of school, we know that food can sometimes be an issue for families, and we want to do our part to help fill those gaps. This is our third year of holding the food drive, and it is our way of asking the community to help us fill that need. We will collect food that is donated and then distribute it at our Summerfest event.”

Walker says it’s no secret that food insecurity has been rapidly increasing in the Prairieland United Way service area, and that only increases for children once they no longer have access to school lunches.

“We know that it has been more top of mind with both the Jacksonville Area Food Center and the Salvation Army’s Food Pantry asking for help from the community, and the community has responded. We are so appreciative of the generosity of our community. So we know that we are asking a lot, but we know that people are doing their part and helping where they can. So we hope that continues and will give out whatever we can get.”

Some of the most needed items for the food drive include Juice, Gatorade, canned chicken, fruit, Jell-O or pudding cups, canned soups, ramen noodles, canned pasta, peanut butter, jelly, macaroni & cheese cups, and oatmeal.

Walker says they are requesting items like peanut butter to be in individual or smaller portions that are easier for children to handle on their own.

The food will be distributed at the Summerfest community event at Community Park on June 11^th. She says they will also need volunteers for the event. “We will be collecting through Memorial Day Weekend and then split them up into bags and have them available at our Prairieland United Way table at Summerfest. Any volunteers are welcome, we would love to have help with distribution. Just reach out to me at the United Way Office about volunteering, and we will find a place for you.”

Food donations can be dropped off at local banks, including Bank of Springfield, CNB Bank & Trust, Farmers State Bank & Trust Company, First National Bank of Arenzville, Heartland Bank & Trust Company, and Petefish, Skiles and Co. Bank.

The Live Untied Food Drive is happening now until May 31^st. Anyone interested in volunteering can call Karen Walker at 217-245-4557.

An area citizens’ committee continues to urge area residents, saying now is the time to make your voices heard on the Jacksonville Developmental Center.

The Moving Jacksonville Forward Citizens’ Committee met in regular session Thursday night. Committee members reviewed a draft of a form letter that will be sent to state lawmakers urging that action be approved by the General Assembly.

In March, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced in his 2025 budget address, $300 million for the new Surplus to Success program that would address state-owned properties like JDC.

Moving Jacksonville Forward Co-Chair Ben Cox says the committee is working to both engage and inform the public while hoping they help keep the pressure on lawmakers.

“We’re going to get some door knockers involved to get the surrounding neighborhoods involved. We are also going to issue a form letter for people to send off to legislators. They are getting near budget time, it’s about a month away, so it’s a good time with all of them in session right now to get the letter to the statehouse to say- this is what we are doing, and we would certainly like your support.”

Cox says a copy of the letter will be made available to the public soon. Cox and Co-Chair Rob Thomas reported on their recent trip to attend a public meeting of the Moving Pillsbury Forward group in Springfield on Wednesday.

Moving Pillsbury Forward is a non-profit organization that has worked for years to acquire and remediate the long vacant Pillsbury Mills site on Springfield’s north end. The group recently signed contracts to begin demolition at the 18 acre site.

Moving Jacksonville Forward is following some of that established model for their efforts in spurring momentum here to get the state to finally take action at the old state hospital.

Cox says a new project aimed at helping to beautify a small portion of the grounds that face Community Park is a great volunteer opportunity for area youth who need to fill community service hours. “There are some volunteer opportunities for young people to come out and help our Secretary, Larry Meece. He has a couple of flowerbeds that he is working on around Sophie Leschin. So if you would like to get your hands in the dirt, get in touch with our group and we will work out a date.”

Moving Jacksonville Forward meets on the second and fourth Thursdays at 6:00 pm. The next meeting on April 24th will be held at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Office near the Ferris wheel in Community Park.

To find out more information, go to the Moving Jacksonville Forward Facebook page.

A Jacksonville Alderwoman is reminding residents that Memorial Day weekend will be here before we know it, so get your address registered now.

The city’s 5^th Annual City Wide Yard Sale will again take place over the holiday weekend. Ward 1 Alderwoman Eren Williams says the deadline to register your sale is coming up fast.

“All they have to do to get on the list for the yard sale is call or text. If they call and nobody answers, please leave a message with your name and your address. I will have to cut off taking addresses by midnight on May 4^th.

Usually, we have a really, really good number of people involved. People from out of state and from different towns come because it is usually always so huge, and I hope this year will be just the same.”

Registering for the City Wide Yard Sale is free, and Williams says anyone who does will get a lot of free advertising for their sale. “I take around a bunch myself, but also the city has the list published in the Journal Courier and The Source ahead of the event, so there will be a list just about anywhere you want to look.”

To register your address for the 2025 Jacksonville City Wide Yard Sale, call or text 217-720-1638.

A neurological disease that is always fatal in white tail deer is creeping closer to the WLDS/WEAI listening area.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced today that chronic wasting disease, or CWD, has been detected in Adams, Putnam, Marshall, and Peoria counties.

IDNR officials say the new findings are expanding the geographic presence of the disease in free-ranging deer populations in northern Illinois. Adams County is the first documented case recorded outside of the leading edge of the CWD endemic region.

Chronic Wasting Disease is an always-fatal neurological disease that affects the long-term health of white-tailed deer in Illinois.

First documented in Illinois in 2002 near Roscoe, CWD has been detected in 25 counties across northern Illinois and now as far south as Adams County in west-central Illinois.

While the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not linked CWD to human transmission, they recommend against eating meat from CWD-positive deer.

Hunters are encouraged to have their deer tested and avoid consuming brain, spinal cord, eyes, and other tissues known to harbor the CWD agent. For more information on Chronic Wasting Disease management in Illinois, go to dnr.illinois.gov/programs

A Greene County man was identified as a suspect during a joint drug operation conducted by the Jersey County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Alton Police Department, according to Sheriff’s Department Officials in a release this afternoon.

On Tuesday evening of this week, Alton Police attempted a traffic stop of the suspect’s vehicle, which then fled, leading officers on a pursuit into Jersey County, where deputies joined in.

The pursuit continued through Jersey County to West Centennial Road, where the suspect drove into a field and disabled the vehicle. 48-year-old Tony K. Price of Kane, Illinois, exited the vehicle and fled on foot. A female passenger did not flee and was quickly apprehended inside the vehicle.

Jersey County Sheriff’s Officials say Price was apprehended nearby after an unidentified officer deployed a taser during the foot chase.

On Thursday, Price was charged in Jersey County Circuit Court with Class X felony methamphetamine trafficking, Class 3 felony aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude, and misdemeanor driving on a revoked license.

He was appointed a public defender as counsel and remains held at the Jersey County Jail. No further information on the female passenger was provided in the report as of press time.

A Jacksonville man arrested last year in connection to a grooming and enticement of a child case received probation after a plea agreement in Scott County Court this week.

21-year-old Kurt A. Stutz, of Jacksonville, was charged in Scott County Circuit Court with one count of Class 4 felony grooming, and one count of Class A misdemeanor enticement of a child in May of last year.

On Monday, Stutz pleaded guilty to the felony grooming charge. The misdemeanor enticement of a child charge was dismissed per the plea agreement.

Scott County Circuit Judge David R. Cherry sentenced Stutz to serve 30 months of adult probation and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine.

Stutz was arrested by Illinois State Police Zone 4 Investigators on May 29^th, 2024. No further information about the circumstances surrounding the incident has been released.

Stutz will be required to register as a sex offender.

–Ben Cox contributed to this story

Work on the Jacksonville Area Museum’s Phase II expansion project continues, and officials say a large portion of it will be ready in time for the city’s Bicentennial.

The project that began just over a year ago is making large strides and will triple the current exhibit space. Jacksonville Area Museum Board President David Blanchette says for the new space, the board has taken inspiration from a world renowned facility that’s right up the road in Springfield.

“We’re taking a page from the playbook of the Lincoln Museum in Springfield and immersing the environment. You’ll learn about early Jacksonville history. You’ll be introduced to the cabin of Mother Carson, an early settler of Morgan County. She was a midwife, and she kept a birthing book of the births she helped with. We have that original book here at the museum.

A lot of people are familiar with General Grierson, but a lot of people don’t realize that he also operated a store in Meredosia, and we are going to have a reproduction of that store inspired by the original.”

Blanchette says the Phase II section of the museum will feature a number of recreated facades from various stages of Jacksonville’s history. The Jacksonville Area Museum is utilizing one of the fabricators that worked on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum for the current expansion.

Blanchette says Taylor Fabrications of Rantoul is currently in the process of creating the signature design aspect of the exhibit area, which mimics a signature piece of the city’s natural history.

“Very soon, we are going to begin work on our signature part of the expansion, which is realistic elm trees. As people walk into the Phase II area, they will pass under a canopy of life-like, realistic elm trees, and we will interpret the elm city history of Jacksonville through that particular exhibit.

Once you get inside the main area of the expansion, you’ll see some other life like trees including the Maggie Magnolia from the campus of MacMurray College, as well as another tree on one side of the Grierson General Store exhibit that will lead visitors into the Illinois College interpretation area.”

Other aspects of the expansion will include exhibits inside the windows of the famous building facades depicting various aspects of the city’s history, an expanded MacMurray College area, and a temporary exhibit space for special displays, including visiting exhibits. Blanchette says the museum has put in for, and hopes to host, a visit from the Illinois Traveling Underground Railroad exhibit.

Sections of the existing space are being converted into a public use space and an area for examining items that are brought in for donation. Blanchette says a new welcome desk is also being built in memory of former Museum Board President, the late Bob Chipman.

Blanchette says the museum is also working with the Jacksonville 200th Birthday Committee and will soon display several items from the recently unearthed Central Park Time Capsule.

The Jacksonville Area Museum is located in the old post office at 301 East State Street and is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and Sundays from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

According to an announcement by the Illinois State Police this morning, 45-year-old Benchy Couloute of Jacksonville has been arrested for First Degree Murder, a Class M Felony.

According to the State Police, on Monday, March 24^th, State Police special agents were requested by the Beardstown Police Department to assist with a homicide investigation that occurred in the 1200 block of State Street in Beardstown.

The victim, 37-year-old Junior Kalnoji of Beardstown, was found deceased inside the residence after Beardstown Police responded to a 911 call at the address.

Officials say a thorough investigation led to the case being presented to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office, and an arrest warrant was issued for Couloute.

Investigators later determined that Couloute had fled to the state of Indiana. In conjunction with ISP special agents, members of the Indiana State Police located and arrested Couloute, who is now being held at the Marion County, Indiana Sheriff’s Office pending extradition.

The date of Couloute’s arrest was not provided in the report.

Momentum continues to grow for the new citizens’ committee in Jacksonville. Moving Jacksonville Forward, an ad hoc citizens’ committee, met for the second time Thursday night. Co-chair Ben cox says he was again pleased with the turnout as well as the chance to merge with another community group that has a similar mission.

“We actually doubled our attendance from our first meeting, with a lot more folks interested in hearing about what we are doing. Tonight we voted to merge with the Revitalize Jacksonville group- Colleen Flinn’s group. So for those folks who have been involved with that, please, you are welcome to show up. We kind of have a centralized purpose with the State Hospital grounds and the homelessness issue as well.”

The initial focus of the committee centers on keeping the Jacksonville Developmental Center Grounds top of mind and what redevelopment of that site would look like now that there is at least acknowledgment from the Pritzker Administration.

Cox says residents in the Jacksonville, South Jacksonville areas and beyond, need to be active and help keep pressure on lawmakers that the state needs to step in and do something with the dilapidated fifty-plus-acre campus. “This isn’t just our legislators’ problem; this is every state legislator, state senator, state representative, and the executive branch of the state- they all need to hear that this is a main problem, and we want to stay on their radar. So I’m drafting a communication letter with all of our state representatives and senators.

Meanwhile, we encouraged everyone in attendance tonight to go on the Governor’s website or call his office and leave comments about the JDC, what we would like to see done, any problems or concerns that they have personally. But mention specifically that we want to see the property remediated, and it’s the state’s responsibility to do it.”

Cox says he was also happy to see Claire Peek from Jacksonville Memorial Hospital in attendance. Peek is working to renew interest in the Homelessness Steering Committee. Cox says the work that the steering committee did in the past is also a main priority of Moving Jacksonville Forward.

“We’re hoping to get all of those stakeholders back in the sandbox so to speak, to help take better care of our homelessness situation. I mean we’ve got numbers all over the place of how many people who are unhoused and are being served here in the city. I see it everyday, I know some others do, and there are safety concerns with JDC.

It all kind of rolls in together; it’s all collateral damage in the end. And if you want to see some kind of action on the homelessness situation, come and visit with us because that is our secondary purpose is to help those folks get in out of the elements and also take care of the safety concerns.”

To find out more information or assist with the committee, go to the Moving Jacksonville Forward Facebook page, or contact Co-Chairs Ben Cox or Rob Thomas, or Committee Secretary Larry Meece.

Moving Jacksonville Forward meets again on Thursday, April 10^th at 6:00 pm in the Mayor’s Conference Room at the Jacksonville Municipal Building.

The next class of honorees in the 2025 Morgan County Marvels series has been announced.

Morgan County Marvels is a program created by the Jacksonville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau that aims to celebrate exceptional individuals and businesses whose work and passion make a positive impact in the Jacksonville area.

Convention & Visitors Bureau Executive Director Brittany Henry says the number of submissions for this round surpassed her expectations: “I really wanted to have a full class of 8 as we finish out our fiscal year. That’s why we decided to go with 4 recipients this time, and then, we will be awarding 2 others during our Business After Hours on May 8th and that will complete our total class. So, I think it has worked out really well. I think so far people have been very excited about the program from what we’ve been hearing. It’s really shed some light on some great faces, places, and spaces here in our area.”

The four latest recipients are Filippa Alfano for Nonn Santina’s Pasta Sauce, Jessica Lynn the owner of One Knotty Maker, Khara Koffel and Megan Luckey the co-founders of Serious Lip Balm, and Colleen Flinn the owner of Nothing Fancy Supply.

Henry says as each round has progressed, choosing those to be recognized is getting to be more difficult: “It’s very hard because we have a lot of great people doing a lot of great things in our area and their contributions have been so great for the Morgan County area. They are so creative and the commitment that they have – entrepreneurship, restoring buildings is just a gratifying feeling for us when we see all the great things that everyone is doing. The selection process is actually quite hard when you have so many great nominees coming our way.”

Henry says the current honorees represent the best of some of that entrepreneurship, creativity, and dedication with artisan goods, environmentally friendly innovations, and transformative revitalization projects.

Nominations are currently being accepted for the third round of Morgan County Marvels, with the final two recipients being announced at the Business After Hours event at the Jacksonville Convention & Visitors Bureau on May 8th. The nomination period will close on April 30th.

To make a nomination, visit the Convention & Visitors Bureau’s website at jacksonvilleil.org. Click on the ‘About The CVB’ tab, then select ‘Morgan County Marvels’ menu option.

For more information about Morgan County Marvels and all things tourism, contact Brittany Henry at 217-243-5678 or email visitors@jacksonvilleil.org.