Fairfield FFA members Maddison Oliver, Sara McGehee, and Lucy Britt successfully interviewed for their Illinois FFA State Degrees Monday at Noble. The State FFA Degree is the highest degree awarded by the Illinois FFA, and their applications have been forwarded to the State FFA Office for final approval. Upon approval, they will receive the degrees during the State FFA Convention this summer. The Fairfield students join Cisne’s members Rylee Beckel, Cierra Reed, Gavin Fetherling, Noah Atwood, Emily Milner, and Isabella Cline in being recommended for the degree.
Oliver, McGehee, and Britt
73-year-old Mt. Vernon resident Terry E. Richardson was sentenced in Wayne County Circuit Court last Thursday. He pleaded guilty to an amended count of reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor. He was sentenced to one year conditional discharge and time served, and two separate cases were dismissed. He was also ordered to pay $1,279 in fines and court costs.
31-year-old Wayne City resident Jeffrey D. Hall was booked in the Wayne County Jail yesterday. He was wanted on a Wayne County failure to appear warrant for criminal damage to property, and Hall was held, pending the posting of $595 bond.
Illinois State Police District 19 Commander Captain Nathan Douglas has announced the results of a Nighttime Enforcement Patrol conducted in Wabash and Edwards counties this month. Troopers reported 10 total citations or arrests and 28 written warnings. State police say alcohol and drug impairment is a factor in more than 30 percent of fatal motor vehicle crashes in Illinois, and over half occur at night.
A Joint Committee on Administrative Rules of the Illinois General Assembly, or JCAR, meeting this week voted 9-0-2 against extending the governor’s emergency rules to enforce state mask, vaccine, and testing mandates. The IDPH had attempted to reissue an emergency rule to counteract a Sangamon County court order temporarily halting the enforcement of the statewide mandate for schools, and the JCAR vote prevents a reissuance of a statewide school mask mandate at this time.
Fairfield Memorial Hospital will bring its 3-D Digital Mammography Services to Edwards County High School in Albion this Saturday. Appointments start at 8 a.m., and no physician order is needed for people over the age of 40. Walk-ins are also welcome until 11, but only patients with appointments will be seen after 11. People can call 847-8249 to schedule an appointment, and FMH says the mammograms will take about 15 minutes to perform.
The Greater Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is supporting the establishment of a Business District in Fairfield. At a meeting yesterday morning, the board heard a presentation from Mayor Mike Dreith and unanimously voted to support the idea. A public hearing has been set for March 8th at 5:30 at City Hall before a City Council meeting, and the majority of the council will have to support the idea for it to become a reality. All council meetings are streamed on the City’s Facebook page.
The Edwards County High School ACES team earned second place in the Regional Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science competition, which was hosted by Olney Central College last Wednesday. The team will advance to compete in Sectionals in March in a virtual competition via Eastern Illinois University. First-place individual finishers included Emma Wiseman in English, Lauren Luker in Biology, Tobias Reineke in Physics, and Molly Swardstrom in Engineering Graphics.
Edwards County ACES Team
Fairfield Community High School will hold a “Get Acquainted” night for eighth grade students and parents at 6 p.m. on February 23rd in its east gymnasium. The event was scheduled to be held on the 2nd but was postponed due to weather. All eight-graders enrolling into FCHS, and their parents, are encouraged to attend.
Much of southeastern Illinois, including Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Hamilton, and White counties, is under a wind advisory until 6 tonight. Winds will sit in the 20-25 mile-per-hour range, and gusts could hit 45 to blow around unsecured objects or small tree limbs. High-profile vehicles should use extra caution, especially on east/west roads. Wind advisories are issued when sustained winds are expected to reach at least 30 miles per hour for longer than an hour, or when gusts are anticipated to hit 40 or more for any duration.
The IDPH reported four new cases of COVID-19 in Wayne County yesterday as case and hospitalization numbers statewide continue to decline. Edwards and Clay counties each added one new case, and Wabash County added 11. Hamilton, Richland, and Lawrence counties reported two new cases, and Marion and Jefferson counties also added 11. As a state, Illinois announced 2,893 new cases and 53 additional deaths. Statewide totals sat at 3,004,664 cases and 32,072 deaths. The Southern Region had a seven-day positivity rate of 8.9 percent on the 12th, down from 9.5 percent on the 11th.
The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association is promoting dicamba training heading into the 2022 growing season for soybean producers. Kevin Johnson says all training will be conducted virtually at ifca.com. He says the annual training is necessary because of small tweaks to the chemical labels every year.
Governor J.B. Pritzker has been visiting colleges in Illinois to tout his proposed increase in higher education funding. The governor wants to see an additional $208 million allocated to colleges and universities in the next fiscal year, and the money would cover things like more MAP grants and higher award amounts, as well as a five percent increase in operational funding to college systems.
River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 19.22 feet, above the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 6.08 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 11.46 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 3.87 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 14.30 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 12.03 feet.
Today’s crude oil price is $85.00, down $3.50 from yesterday. The March crude oil price is $93.14, up $0.24 from yesterday morning.