The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced that the structure carrying Illinois 127 over the Norfolk Southern Railroad just north of Illinois 161 near Posey will be reduced to one-way travel beginning Monday, weather permitting. Temporary signals will maintain traffic for the duration of the project which is expected to be completed by early July. Motorists should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes during the closure. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be al...

As legislative session nears its end, policy platform part of ongoing clean energy debate By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com A group of lawmakers and influential environmental advocates are calling for broad changes to the state's energy industry and a massive increase in state oversight of Chicagoland's transit system - which faces a projected $730 million budget shortfall. Advocates for the policy platform, which is broken up into three bills, describe mu...

CREVE COEUR, Mo. (AP) - A 79-year-old Missouri man is accused of killing a woman in her suburban Chicago home - a crime that happened nearly six decades ago. James Barbier was arrested Monday at his St. Louis County home and charged with first-degree murder in the November 1966 death of 18-year-old Karen Snider in Cook County, Illinois. The break came when police reopened the cold case and sent blood evidence to a lab in December 2022, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The blood matched ...

Matt Mitchell may refile request for a formal hearing in 90 days By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com The former Illinois State Trooper from Clinton County who pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter of two sisters in 2007 has abandoned his efforts to have a hearing into the restoration of his driving privileges - for now. Matt Mitchell, 45, requested at least two delays in the hearing after he failed to complete a legally required medical evaluatio...

Marion County Sheriff's Deputies have arrested a 45-year-old Centralia man for residential burglary, possession of a stolen vehicle, and motor vehicle theft. Ryan Richardson of Colestock Lane is being held in the Marion County Jail pending a final decision on charges by the State's Attorney's office. 33-year-old Linda Holland of James Street in Centralia was taken to the Marion County Jail after being arrested by Centralia Police for alleged domestic battery. Two others were arrested by Cen...

The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced the intermittent pavement repairs to Interstate 57 in a large part of Marion County beginning Monday, weather permitting. The project will be from seven-tenths of a mile north of Illinois Route 161 to the Fayette County Line. One lane will remain open during the entire project which is expected to be completed by mid-June. IDOT officials say motorists should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes during the closure. D...

A rural Dix woman was killed in a late Friday night head-on crash between two side-by-sides that sent three others to St. Louis hospitals for treatment. Jefferson County Coroner Roger Hayse has identified the victim as 43-year-old Laura 'Christi' Burns. She was pronounced dead on the scene from injuries sustained when being thrown from one of the side-by-sides that she was a passenger. The crash occurred on Rockcrusher Road which runs alongside I-57 southwest of Dix. Hayse says the drivers ...

A 21-year-old Centralia man was injured in a single-vehicle crash on Walnut Hill Road near the Rebecca Lane intersection southeast of Centralia.' Preliminary information from the Marion County Sheriff's Department indicates Gavin Batson of North Maple ran off the road, and traveled in grass along the road before hitting a culvert, going airborne, and striking a power pole in the air. Batson was taken to SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital for treatment of injuries by Lifestar Ambulance. The Centr...