Category Archives: Local News
Salem Elks Lodge #1678 announces this year's Americanism essay winners
The Americanism Essay Contest is an annual contest held by the Grand Lodge Fraternal Committee to inspire the spirit of patriotism in the nation's young people. Each year, the contest presents childre...
Feb 07, 2025
Champaign man pleads guilty to forgery for passing counterfeit bill in Centralia
A 34-year-old Champaign man has pleaded guilty to one of four charges against him in Marion County Court for passing counterfeit $100 bills at four Centralia stores in September of 2023. Roderick Myer...
Feb 07, 2025 Roderick Myers
Police Beat for Friday, February 7th, 2025
State Police have arrested 21-year-old Joseph Delunas of East Olive Street in Salem for aggravated unlawful use of weapons, armed violence, and manufacture or delivery of cannabis. He was taken to the...
Feb 07, 2025
Pritzker Administration Announces Cannabis Sales Exceed $2 Billion Annually
Illinois' dispensaries report that more than $2 billion of cannabis product was sold in 2024, a 2.5% increase from last year. The $2 billion of product includes a record-setting $1.722 billion in adul...
Feb 07, 2025
The public is invited to attend Abraham Lincoln's birthday celebrations at Illinois state historic sites
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) invites the public to remember President Lincoln's birthday this month with free events at state historic sites around Illinois including Vandalia. ...
Feb 07, 2025
Centralia Cultural Society presents A Midsummer Night's Dream this weekend
The Centralia Cultural Society is staging Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream this Friday and Saturday. The show's cast of eighteen people are members of Actors Alive, an adult acting class at the...
Feb 07, 2025 Poster from the Centralia Cultural Society Facebook page.
Trump administration sues Chicago and Illinois in latest crackdown on 'sanctuary' cities
By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) - The Trump administration sued Chicago on Thursday alleging that 'sanctuary' laws in the nation's third-largest city "thwart" federal efforts to enforce...
Feb 06, 2025 FILE - Immigrants from Venezuela are reflected in a marble wall while taking shelter at the Chicago Police Department's 16th District station on May 1, 2023. Chicago officials have signed a nearly $30 million contract with a private security firm to relocate migrants seeking asylum from police stations and the city’s two airports to winterized camps with massive tents before cold weather arrives. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, FIle)
Illinois lawmakers try again to ban certain food additives
by Lily Carey and Medill Illinois News Bureau, Capitol News Illinois February 6, 2025 For the second legislative session in a row, Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, is pushing to ban several chemicals f...
Feb 06, 2025 Democratic Sen. Willie Preston, center, speaks at a Statehouse news conference Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, about his bill to ban certain additives from foods sold in Illinois. Joining him were, from left: Sens. Rachel Ventura; Seth Lewis; Lakesia Collins; and Rep. Michael Crawford. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)
Protestors gather outside Illinois Capitol, call for Trump's impeachment
by Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois February 5, 2025 Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Illinois State Capitol Wednesday to protest President Dona...
Feb 06, 2025 Protestors hold signs and chant in front of the Illinois State Capitol to protest President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)
Pritzker signs law to prioritize placing foster children with family members
by Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois February 5, 2025 SPRINGFIELD - Foster care officials will have to prioritize placing children with their relatives under a new law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on...
Feb 06, 2025 Gov. JB Pritzker signs the KIND Act Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, at the Illinois Capitol. The new law requires the state to prioritize family members when placing children in foster care. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Bridgette Fox)
