Category Archives: Local News

Wamac City Council approves cannabis grow facility
By Austin Williams The Wamac City Council gave its approval Tuesday night to the establishment of a cannabis grow facility in an existing property by Emerald Valley Industries, following the recommend...
WJBD Staff Jan 03, 2024 Emerald Valley CEO Dameon Johnson speaks to the Wamac Board Tuesday night on plans for a cannabis grow facility. Photo by Austin WIlliams.

HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital Breese Welcomes New Year's Baby
HSHS St. Joseph's Hospital Breese is welcoming Jemma Marie Von Hatten as the 2024 New Year's baby. She arrived on Monday, January 1, weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches long. Jemma's proud parent...
Bruce Kropp Jan 02, 2024 Courtney and Justin Von Hatten proudly introduce their daughter, Jemma Marie Von Hatten, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital Breese’s New Year’s Baby of 2024. They are joined by nurses from the Women and Infants Center. (back row: left to right) Ruth Rainey, RN; Teresa Haake, RN; and Jill Witte, RN.

A missing person with no memory: How investigators solved the cold case of Seven Doe
By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) - Buried at the edge of a Chicago Catholic cemetery are an elderly person's remains marked only by a cement cylinder deep in the ground labeled with the ...
Bruce Kropp Jan 02, 2024 Cook County, Ill., Sheriff's Commander Jason Moran, who leads the sheriff's missing persons initiative stands in silhouette and points to a round cylinder that marks a grave of a person who self-identified as Seven, at the Mount Olivet Cemetery on Chicago's Far South Side Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. “That’s a horrible circumstance that someone could die and no one knows who they are. That’s why we pursue these cases so strongly, out of dignity,” says Moran, who oversees the sheriff’s missing persons unit. “A person deserves a name.” (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Salem Police release details on Friday night crash that sent one to hospital
Salem Police have released details on a Friday night traffic crash at West Main and Hotze Road that sent one person to the hospital for treatment. Police say a car driven by 68-year-old James Nash of ...
Bruce Kropp Jan 02, 2024

Police Beat for Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024
Marion County Sheriff's Deputies arrested a 42-year-old Iuka man for alleged possession of 15 to 100 grams of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. David Linder of Metcalf Road was taken into cus...
Bruce Kropp Jan 02, 2024

Centralia man formally charged in connection with weekend shooting of Salem teen
A 21-year-old Centralia man has been formally charged in Marion County Court with three felony offenses in connection with the shooting of a juvenile girl at a Salem home early Monday morning. Diego B...
Bruce Kropp Jan 02, 2024

Salem City Council to discuss future of musical entertainment for July 4th celebration
The Salem City Council Tuesday night will discuss how the 4th of July celebration will look in Salem this summer. The city council is being asked to review the musical entertainment held the past two ...
WJBD Staff Jan 02, 2024

Precipitation down over prior year in Salem
The amount of precipitation is down in 2023 from the prior year. Records kept at the Salem Water Treatment Plant show total precipitation for 2023 at 43.28 inches including 4.3 inches of snow. That's ...
WJBD Staff Jan 02, 2024

Marion County State's Attorney says cashless bond law drives up number of new criminal cases
Marion County State's Attorney Tim Hudspeth says the new cashless bond law is behind a jump in both felony and misdemeanor cases during 2023. Figures released by the Marion County Circuit Clerk's offi...
WJBD Staff Jan 02, 2024 Marion County State's Attorney Tim Hudspeth.

Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center closes leaving counties to find alternative housing
The Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in Benton closed on Sunday, the victim of chronic staffing shortages that kept them from meeting increased state requirements. The announcement came from ...
Bruce Kropp Jan 01, 2024 Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center. Already in 2022 a State Audit had identified the facility as a 'facility in crisis.' (Julia Rendleman for ProPublica)