Jefferson County Sheriff's officials have announced the arrest of a 40-year- old Mt. Vernon man on two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of grooming. Matthew Smith was taken into custody as a result of a sheriff's office investigation initiated on May 13th by the department's school resource officer at Woodlawn High School. Sheriff's Office Detectives took over the investigation, which resulted in multiple interviews and search warrants obtained May 27th, 2026, collectio...

The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced that one lane in each direction on Interstate 57 through most of Marion County will be closed beginning at seven Monday morning, weather permitting. IDOT reports the lane closures from seven-tenths of a mile north of State Route 161 and the Fayette County line south of Farina is required for pavement patching. The project is expected to be completed by late summer. The project is being completed by GM Sipes Construction at a cost of $1.5...

The South Central Illinois Nurse Honor Guard (NHGSC) offers honoring funeral Ceremony services for Deceased nurses free of charge. NHGSC of Illinois is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization formed by active and retired nurses volunteering their time to recognize and pay tribute to nurse's whose lives have ended. The Chair for the Board of Director's for NHGSC, Susie Robbins, notes how important this ceremony is for a nurse. "We all wear white uniforms, white gloves, our casts, and a very ...

Salem Police say both drivers declined hospital treatment following a two-vehicle crash at South College and West Whitaker Street on Wednesday. Police report 70-year-old Brian See of Sandoval was traveling westbound on West Whitaker and stopped at the stop sign on College before proceeding into the intersection and colliding with a pickup truck driven by a 16-year-old Salem juvenile boy. See told police he thought the intersection was a four-way stop. The Salem Fire Protection District and ...

Firefighters fought a stubborn fire in a 150 to 100-foot area of scrap pieces of lumber at a sawmill in the 16,000 block of North Campground Road east of Mt. Vernon Wednesday night. Flames could be seen from the burning scrap for quite a distance when firemen received the call at 10:45 Wednesday night. They remained on the scene until around four am when the owner agreed to watch the still burning fire. No nearby structures were threatened. Jefferson Fire received mutual aid from Mt. Vern...

Salem Police arrested a 27-year-old Patoka man for possession of under five grams of methamphetamine. Following a Wednesday traffic stop, the Salem K9 alerted on the vehicle driven by Joseph Mengarelli of North 500th Street. Police allegedly located two drug pipes with meth residue in the vehicle. Central City Police arrested 21-year-old Kristina Tanon of West Bond in Patoka for obstructing identification and two outstanding St. Clair County warrants. She was given a notice to appear on t...

Centralia Fire Department and Fire Protection District firefighters responded to a report of a camper fully engulfed in flames next to a mobile home which then caught fire in the 100 block of Apple Street in Wamac around 3:15 a.m., Thursday morning. Preliminary reports indicate there was a person trapped inside the mobile home, but Wamac Police, who were first on scene, reported all occupants were accounted for. Odin and Sandoval stood by at the Centralia Fire Protection District Station in c...

Visitors to the Centralia American Legion on Wednesday had the chance to support those in need by participating in a fundraising sale, donating blood through an American Red Cross Blood drive, and by joining a conversation about causes and potential solutions to address homelessness in Centralia. The event hosted by All Hours of Love, a Centralia nonprofit that runs a warming and cooling center for those without shelter. Co-founder Todd Glispie said that one of the organization's main goals i...