The Marion County Board on Wednesday night will hear from three members of the public about different issues. Little Egypt Festival Chair Jay Henke is requesting utilization of the Marion County parking lot in the 200 block of North Broadway for this year's festival. Donna Partain and concerned Iuka citizens want to discuss the proposed Bottoms Up Tavern on the Bottom Road that has had their request for a liquor license tabled. The former owner of Little Egypt Golf Cars Neil Smith wants to di...

Marion County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Anthony Decker will be the Republican party's candidate for sheriff on the November ballot. He replaces current sheriff Kevin Cripps who decided last week not to seek re-election and endorsed Decker to replace him. The unanimous vote of the Republican caucus in favor of Decker came after Cody Rose dropped out of contention and announced he has filed a complaint with the State Police and Attorney General Integrity Unit about what has happened d...

Candidates respond to questions on school funding, education policy, in State Fair appearances By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary In appearances during the Illinois State Fair, Gov. JB Pritzker and his Republican challenger Darren Bailey offered different visions for how to improve public education in Illinois. Pritzker acknowledged more funding is needed but maintained his administration has provided significant new funding that has led to...

The Marion County Republican Central Committee, made up of the county's precinct committeemen, is scheduled to caucus at 6:30 Tuesday night to select their candidate for sheriff on the November ballot. The caucus comes with lot of questions about events leading up to it. WJBD/WSIQ went to Marion County Clerk Steve Fox with those questions. He says the Republican Party Chair Ben Stratemeyer has done nothing that isn't allowed by law. Questions raised include recent appointees to open precin...

The regular Centralia City Council meeting on Monday was preceded by three public hearings for planned city projects supported by grant funding. The first covered improvements to Laura Leake Park, funded by an OSLAD grant. If received, the grant will cover half of a $250,000 project. The main item is replacement of the old pavilion in the northwest corner of the park. Other items included in the grant application are ADA playground equipment, resurfacing and repainting the basketball court, B...

Kaskaskia College finished its 2026 fiscal year with a surplus, and college officials are currently projecting that revenues will again outpace expenditures for the 2027 fiscal year. KC Vice President of Administrative Services Sara Hanks reported to the college's board of trustees Monday evening that the budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, had originally carried a projected deficit of more than $400,000, but the end result was actually a surplus of more than $900,000, th...

Tuesday is the first day to pick up nominating packets for the April school board elections. The Marion County Clerk's office will have packets available for each district outside room 202 on the second floor of the Marion County Courthouse from eight to four, Monday through Friday. The first day to file petitions at the Marion County Clerk's office is November 16th. The last day to file is November 23rd.

Raccoon Grade School students, with the help of a 'pie in the face competition,' raised $23,469.46 for the Shriners organization this year. The featured event saw Centralia Mayor Bryan Kuder give Salem Mayor Nick Farley a whipped cream pie topped with Orphan Red after out-fundraising him $21,028.60 to Farley's $2,440.86. Kuder will leave the mayor's job 4-0 in the competition, but says he'll be encouraging his replacement to continue the challenge with Farley, who is running for re-election a...