Category Archives: Local News
Marion County Fair getting underway; Motocross start moved back to seven Saturday night
The 2023 Marion County Fair is getting underway. Exhibit building entries will be accepted from noon to six on Friday and again from nine to noon on Saturday. The 4-H livestock shows highlight the day...
Jul 28, 2023
Fire destroys mobile home in Wamac
An unoccupied mobile home was destroyed by fire in Wamac early Thursday morning. Centralia Fire Protection District Chief Ross Boshera says flames were shooting through the windows and around the roof...
Jul 28, 2023 Fire heavily damages an unoccupied mobile home at 300 Sanders Street in Wamac. Photo by Tim Ferguson.
Unemployment up in South Central Illinois
Unemployment jumped across South Central Illinois in June. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reports Marion County's unemployment rate jumped eight-tenths of a percent from May to 5.2-per...
Jul 28, 2023 Eric Prouzet / Unsplash
Centralia man receives 100-month federal prison term for distributing meth
A 33-year-old Centralia man has been sentenced to 100 months in federal prison for distributing more than 50 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine. Ricardo Little had been arrested on the char...
Jul 27, 2023
Misleading clients on abortion could cost Illinois pregnancy centers
By JOHN O'CONNOR AP Political Writer SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois crisis pregnancy centers, which often pop up near abortion facilities to offer information about alternatives, could face penalti...
Jul 27, 2023 Gov. JB Pritzker.
Audit: Illinois paid $5.2-billion in excessive or fraudulent unemployment claims during COVID-19
The Illinois Auditor General has issued a report indicating the state paid out more than $ 5 billion in excessive or fraudulent unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the findings i...
Jul 27, 2023
Mt Vernon man receives 18-year prison term for armed violence
A 29-year-old Mt. Vernon man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty in Jefferson County Court to an armed violence charge. As part of the deal, Codey Ince had charges of armed ...
Jul 27, 2023
Jefferson and Kell Fire spend six hours fighting semi-fire and cleaning up
The Jefferson Fire Department was on the scene of a semi-truck fire and cleanup for six hours on Wednesday. The first call came in as a brake fire on the trailer of a southbound truck at the 101 miles...
Jul 27, 2023
Police Beat for Thursday, July 27th, 2023
A 54-year-old Centralia woman has been arrested for felony retail theft by Salem Police. Cindy Britt of Wabash Avenue is accused of taking $264 in clothing from the Salem Walmart Store. The Salem Fire...
Jul 27, 2023
Illinois State Police arrest three Belleville men for murder of man found dead in Washington County
Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation has announced the arrest of three Belleville men for the first-degree murder of an East St. Louis man found dead on July 19th in Washington Cou...
Jul 27, 2023 (left to right) Kevin Loucks, Milton Robinson and Arrion Sanders.
