A 19-year-old homeless Centralia man has been charged with aggravated battery in a public place, aggravated battery to a police officer, and resisting arrest after he was asked to be removed from the Centralia Home and Community Expo over the weekend. Centralia Police Lieutenant Steve Whritenour was at the show when he was alerted to James VanScoy allegedly causing issues with some of the vendors. VanScoy went outside and then ran when Whritenour identified himself as a police officer and tol...

A part-time Centralia City Firefighter was sworn into office as a fulltime firefighter during ceremonies Friday afternoon at Centralia City Hall. Kelton Harre joined the Nashville Fire Department in 2020 and was hired as a Centralia part-time firefighter in August of last year. He was promoted to replace John Cavaletto who recently retired. Centralia City Clerk Kim Enke provided the oath to Harre. Harre declined to speak after the pinning ceremony. Fire Chief Jeff Day says Harre comes to the...

Salem Attorney Wes Gozia was sworn in at the Marion County Courthouse Friday afternoon as Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge at Large. Before giving the oath of office, Supreme Court Justice David Overstreet commended Gozia's demeanor and volunteerism on court committees as well as with various organizations in the Salem area. "You have a reputation of those qualities that we want in our judges," Overstreet said. "Someone with good temperament, civil, respectable, knowledgeabl...

A shared School Resource Officer starts in the Selmaville and Raccoon Grade schools on Monday. Kevin Berry was trained for the position last summer but isn't starting until now until the sheriff's department had new personnel to cover his deputy position. Sheriff Kevin Cripps says Raccoon and Selmaville Grade Schools are splitting the cost of Berry's salary. "The majority of the staff want an SRO there full-time at the schools," Cripps said. "Someday I would absolutely like to ...

Marion County Clerk Steve Fox isn't expecting a big voter turnout Tuesday for the consolidated election that features a number of contested races for municipal, school and township offices. "It's been a little bit slower this consolidated election than we've had in some past consolidated elections, even though it looks like we have quite a few races across the county," Fox said. "Right now, we're looking at probably about 18% voter turnout all the way across the whole county. W...

South Central Illinois was under multiple severe thunderstorm warnings Sunday afternoon as a wave of heavy storms bringing in cooler air moved across the region. Hail, some large, was reported in many areas around the region. While there were brief gusty winds no damage was reported in the Marion County area. The Salem Water Plant recorded a quarter of an inch of rain and the Centralia Water Treatment plant 38-hundrdths of an inch. There is another enhanced chance of severe thunderstorms on...

Centralia Police have released initial information about a two vehicle crash at McCord and Country Club Road late Friday afternoon. Police say a vehicle driven by 61-year-old David Riley of Missouri disobeyed the traffic signal and struck a car driven by 56-year-old Gary Cimena of Echo Lane in Centralia. Riley was taken by Lifestar Ambulance to SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital for treatment of injury. The Centralia City Fire Department was also on the scene to assist. The crash occurred at 4:...

Two people were injured late Sunday afternoon when a car left the Selmaville Road near Nation Road late Sunday afternoon and overturned multiple times before landing on its top. Preliminary information from the Marion County Sheriff's Department indicates the driver, 18-year-old Minor Finley of Mitchell Drive in Centralia, and a 12-year-old Centralia juvenile boy were both transported to Salem Township Hospital for treatment of injuries. The Salem Fire Protection reports both occupants were a...