Category Archives: Local News
Police Beat for Monday, February 23rd, 2026
Centralia Police arrested a 26-year-old Centralia man for aggravated DUI and driving on a suspended or revoked license. Hugo Aguilar of North Maple was also wanted on a Marion County felony no bond fa...
Feb 23, 2026
Fire Damages Mobile Home in Wamac
Fire has damaged a mobile home in Wamac. Centralia Fire Protection District Chief Ross Boshera says the fire was at a mobile home owned by Paul Snyder at 314 Frazier. The fire appeared to have started...
Feb 22, 2026 The center part of a mobile home on Frazier Street in Centralia caught fire while the occupants were away late Saturday afternoon. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
Abandoned Trailer Heavily Damaged by Fire in Centralia
An abandoned trailer in Centralia was heavily damaged by a suspicious late Friday night fire. The fire was at 1027 South Hickory Street. A neighbor spotted the fire when flames shot out of one end of ...
Feb 22, 2026 A long abandoned mobile home is heavily damaged by fire at 1027 South Hickory in Centralia late Friday night. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
Police Beat for Sunday, February 22nd, 2026
Centralia Police have arrested 23-year-old Thj Billberry of South Maple in Centralia for alleged domestic battery and criminal damage to property. He was taken to the Marion County Jail to await a dec...
Feb 22, 2026
Battle over data centers in Illinois pits consumer costs vs. state competitiveness
Lawmakers trying again to regulate industry as Pritzker moves to pause incentives By GABRIEL CASTILHO Medill Illinois News Bureau news@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary The debate over how to re...
Feb 22, 2026
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State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, with State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, speaks on her support for data centers supplying their own energy generators. (Medill Illinois News Bureau photo by Gabriel Matias Castilho)
Former ComEd exec-turned-FBI mole in Madigan probe sentenced to probation
by Hannah Meisel, Capitol News Illinois February 19, 2026 Article Summary Fidel Marquez, a former executive for electric utility Commonwealth Edison, was sentenced to two years of probation Thursday f...
Feb 20, 2026 Fidel Marquez, a former Commonwealth Edison executive-turned-cooperating witness, leaves the Dirksen Federal Courthouse with his attorney on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, after his fifth day of testimony in the bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)
One Person Taken to Hospital Following Salem Crash
One person was taken to Salem Township Hospital following a two vehicle crash on South College Street near the Little League Complex in Salem on Thursday night. Salem Police say 78-year-old Karen Spie...
Feb 20, 2026
Rural Mt. Vernon Man Killed by Large Tree Branch He Was Cutting
Jefferson County Coroner Roger Hayse says a 42-year-old Mt. Vernon man was killed Tuesday night when struck by a large tree limb that he was cutting up in his backyard. Hayse says the tree at the Chri...
Feb 20, 2026
Autopsy Being Completed on Farina Man Who Apparently Went into Cardiac Arrest in Salem Taco Bell Drive Through
A 40-year-old Farina man has died after collapsing while being moved to an ambulance after becoming ill in the Taco Bell drive through on West Main Street in Salem. Marion County Coroner Claude Howell...
Feb 20, 2026
Autopsy Shows Rural Salem Man Found Dead in Backyard of His Home Died from Natural Causes
Marion County Coroner Claude Howell says an autopsy determined a 44-year-old rural Salem man found dead in the back yard of his home on February 16th died from an intestinal bleed. Anthony Travis was ...
Feb 20, 2026
