Former Carmi resident, Alexa Campbell, has been nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award. Campbell was nominated as Director, along with Producer Ryan Byrd, for Video of the Year for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” performed by Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde. Campbell is one of 31 artists and industry creators receiving their first ACM Award nomination, joining such high-profile names as Blake Lively. The ACM Awards will be co-hosted by Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett and will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video on March 7th at 7 p.m.
The latest numbers from the Illinois Department of Public Health indicates a total of 2,987,502 cases of coronavirus in the state and 31,795 deaths. Wayne County had 16 new cases Thursday, according to the IDPH, while Edwards County had five. Reports from Marion County indicated they have had 11 COVID-19 related deaths in the past two weeks, and a total of 205 deaths since the pandemic began. The health department said five of the 11 had been vaccinated. The IDPH said the Southern Region had a seven-day positivity rate of 13.4 percent on February 7th, down from 13.6 percent on the 6th.
Fairfield Memorial Hospital has announced that Barbara Richards of the Environmental Services Department has been voted the 2021 Employee of the Year by her peers. Richards was named the July 2021 Employee of the Month, and joined the team at the hospital during the COVID pandemic.
The Better Business Bureau is warning residents to be on the lookout for scams related to income tax refund season. The agency warns that there are scammers, businesses that have good intentions but can’t deliver for one reason or another and offers that they will charge you to do what you can probably do on your own. They say some scammers may also call with various threats, trying to get people to send them money, and may try to reach residents by text message. Anyone receiving such calls or messages should simply hang up or ignore them.
Area river stages as of this morning: Little Wabash River east of Fairfield is at 18.21 feet. Flood stage is 17 feet. At Clay City the stage is 15.64 feet. Flood stage is 18 feet. At Carmi the river is at 19 feet. Flood stage is 27 feet. The Skillet Fork at Wayne City stands at 7.93 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel is at 10.23 feet. Flood stage is 19 feet.