A successful rescue of an employee of a grain elevator in Xenia who was trapped inside a grain bin and buried should-deep in grain. The trapped man was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Three Xenia firemen and a Clay County ESDA worker also went to the hospital for evaluation and treatment after experiencing a reaction to grain dust and heat related issues Xenia Fire Chief Vince King says upon arrival at the grain bin in the 200 block of South Main Street, firefighters quickly ente...

Unemployment is down across South Central Illinois. The rate in Marion County fell a half percent from June to 4.2 percent and is eight tenths of a percent lower than a year ago. That translates into a drop in the number of unemployed from 753 in June to 668 in July. The number of employed also fell 126 people to 16,019. The lowest unemployment rate in the region is in Clinton County at 2.6-percent, down six tenths of a percent from June. Washington County's unemployment is at an even thre...

Salem Community High School Superintendent Dr. Brad Detering says attendance at the high school is normal on Friday with no students reporting they are absent because of a single bullet, with no gun, being found in a bathroom during the noon hour on Thursday. Detering says the person responsible for placing the bullet where it is found has not been identified despite multiple interviews with students going into the bathroom through a review of security footage. A Secretary of State K-9 unit a...

Salem Police arrested 52-year-old Jerri Gray of Chatum Drive in Salem for domestic battery following a late Thursday afternoon incident at her home. Gray is accused of punching another woman and scratching her chest as she was allegedly trying to take her ID. She was taken to the Marion County Jail. 24-year-old Eithan Julian of Hickory Meadows in Centralia was arrested by Salem Police for harassment via an electronic device. Police had been looking for Julian for a few weeks after he was ...

Centralia High School is expecting a deficit of between $200,000 and $300,000 for the coming fiscal year. At the regular school board meeting on Thursday, superintendent Chuck Lane said that while the deficit in the current tentative budget is only $7,000, the deficit is likely to be higher due to a decrease in funding following the closure of Centralia's One Hope United. Lane said that the school, with over 5 million dollars in reserve, can afford the deficit this year. The September board m...

A single bullet -- with no firearm -- was found in a men's restroom at Salem Community High School Thursday afternoon. The bullet was presented to the Salem Community High School Administration and the School Resource Officer at 12:50 pm. At approximately 1:00 PM, SCHS was placed in a "Hold" as a part of our all-hazards plan and additional Salem Police Department members arrived on scene. Multiple students were interviewed and security footage was reviewed going back to the beginnin...

Salem Township Hospital CEO Jim Timpe told the hospital board Wednesday afternoon that the hospital's expansion and renovation of the emergency room and operating room remains on budget and schedule. "If you drive by the hospital towards the back, you can see that all of the masonry work is done on the addition to the hospital, so you can kind of see how the back of the hospital is going to look by the emergency room," Timpe said. "Phase two is well underway. We expect phase 2 ...

Several complaints were aired about the how the Marion County Republican Party caucus for sheriff was conducted at the county board meeting Wednesday night. Lisa Hourigan began the discussion by expressing her displeasure. "I'm very disappointed in this behavior," Hourigan said. "This is a high school act. Don't hide your errors and make us all pay for it. It doesn't work that way." Hourigan says she knows this is not an issue the Marion County Board can resolve, but she a...