A car on blocks in an alley next to an abandoned home was found fully engulfed in fire early Thursday morning. Centralia City Firemen say they were able to keep the fire in the 200 block of South Cherry from spreading to a nearby garage as well as the abandoned home. The blaze is listed as suspicious. The car is a total loss. The fire call came in at 4:30 Thursday morning.

Tri-County Electric Cooperative will hold its annual meeting on Saturday at the Cooperatives headquarters at 39-06 Broadway in Mt. Vernon. An update will be given on the cooperative's operations and financial status as well as the election of three members to the cooperative's board. Gates open and registration begins at 8:30 with coffee and Krispy Kreme Donuts. Live Line Demonstration and Children's Activities begin at nine. The business meeting follows at ten. The three incumbent board memb...

Marion County State's Attorney Tim Hudspeth says he will do additional research on who can receive proceeds from the county's quarter-cent public safety sales tax. Board member Cody Rose brought up requests from two fire departments and the Marion County ESDA to be able access the money for their needs at Tuesday night's Law Enforcement Committee meeting. Hudspeth had written a letter to then County Board Chair Debbie Smith in July of 2021 mainly to confirm the quarter cent sales tax did not ...

Two people were taken to the Marion County Jail on Wednesday on outstanding warrants. 54-year-old Sean Meredith of Centralia was arrested by Centralia Police on a no bond failure to appear felony warrant. 28-year-old Casey Dossett of White Hall was returned to the Marion County Jail via prisoner transport on an outstanding Marion County traffic warrant. The Marion County Sheriff's Department will give extra patrol to a vacant home in the 1200 South Broadway where the owner is having trou...

United Way of South Central has expanded the "United We Give" program into Marion County. Thanks to the generosity of Walgreens Distribution Center (DC), this initiative will launch its first-ever sort and distribution event at City Hope Church in Centralia next week. Sorting will begin at ten Monday morning, with distribution at ten Tuesday morning. United We Give delivers truckloads of essential items-school supplies, hygiene products, household goods, clothing, and more-directly ...

This summer will bring $45 million in cash to a record-breaking 600,000 people who will receive money they didn't even know they had from the state's missing money program, and the only thing they must do is cash the check, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said today. The checks are part of the latest round of the Enhanced Money Match program - which takes the "claim" out of unclaimed property. Treasurer Frerichs' office helps get the check in the mail by leveraging technol...

The latest recipient of the Keep Salem Beautiful Quarterly Beautiful Business Award is Sterling Avenue in the 300 block of West Main downtown. The business owned by Paul and Lynn Reim recently moved into the completely renovated building. Keep Salem Beautiful's Sharon Blair was one of the KSB members making the presentation. "I don't think it can be said enough how stunning this addition is to the downtown Salem area," Blair said. "We hope that more businesses will take a cue f...

At its regular meeting on Tuesday, the Centralia City Schools Board of Education accepted the resignation of Jordan P.E. teacher Lucas Krutsinger and hired three individuals to fill his roles as teacher, boys' basketball coach, and boys' cross-country coach. The board hired Cody Hiller as Jordan P.E. teacher, hired CJHS principal Lance Boldt as boys' basketball coach, and hired CJHS teacher Caroline Hargis as boys' cross-country coach. Superintendent Christina Becker said the positions were p...