The Fairfield Community High School Board of Education will meet tonight at 7 in the school study hall. Members are scheduled to accept a bid for fuel prices and to approve the school calendar for the 2022-2023 school year. In new business, the board is anticipated to approve work to recoat the east gymnasium roof and to seal and stripe the southeast parking lot. The total cost of the projects is expected to top $37,000.
54-year-old Cisne resident Quentin A. Musgrave pleaded guilty yesterday in Wayne County Circuit Court to a Class 1 felony count of possession of between 15 and 100 grams of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to 24 months probation, plus time served, and several other counts and cases were dismissed per his plea. He was also ordered to pay $2,160 in fines and court costs.
38-year-old Fairfield resident Dorothy A. Brown was booked in the Wayne County Jail yesterday. County deputies arrested her on a Greene County bench warrant for failure to appear or pay. She was held, pending the posting of $1,095 bond.
Wabash Valley College has announced its honor students for the Fall 2021 semester. Eight Albion residents finished with 4.0 GPAs, including Autumn Gines, Landon Greatline, Dominique Harris, Caelyn Nelson, Kaeli Reynolds, Kaiden Rigg, Hayden Schwarzlose, and Noah Sweeny. Two Fairfield residents had 4.0 GPAs in Jacinda Keoughan and Lenze Lane.
Fairfield Memorial Hospital will re-open its Café to the public on April 4th. Menus will be available on the FMH Facebook page on that date, and people can call for the daily menu at 847-8330. The hospital says anyone experiencing flu-like or COVID symptoms is asked to avoid utilizing the Café until their symptoms are resolved, and it appreciates the community’s continued support of its services and staff.
Governor J.B. Pritzker has announced the “Enjoy Illinois 300” NASCAR Cup Series in the Metro East Area. The series will be held June 5th at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, per Acting State Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Sylvia Garcia, and it is anticipated to bring in about $60 million in economic impact.
The Illinois Eastern Community College Board of Trustees met Tuesday at Wabash Valley College. Roger Browning was seated on the board to replace Al Henager, who retired earlier this year. In other personnel moves, resignations were accepted for two Frontier Community College employees. Holden August resigned as Coordinator of Public Information and Marketing, and Shayla Miller resigned as Office Assistant, with both taking effect tomorrow.
According to the Wayne County Circuit Clerk’s Office, 40-year-old Ray E. Tate is now scheduled to appear in Wayne County Circuit Court today at 1 p.m. for a status hearing. Tate had been set to appear for a pre-trial conference Tuesday, but that appearance was vacated last week and rescheduled for April 26th. Tate is being held in the Jefferson County Jail. He pleaded not guilty in February to 38 counts related to the death of Wayne County Deputy Sean Riley, including 36 counts of first-degree murder.
Edwards County will have a contested primary election for sheriff this June. According to County Clerk Mary Beth Smith, Darby Boewe and Debbie Judge have both filed petitions for the position on the Republican ticket. Smith was the sole filer for County Clerk, and Sheila M. Schnepper was the lone filer for Supervisor of Assessments. Jennifer Thomason and Davis Messman were the only people to file petitions for Treasurer and County Commissioner, respectively, also as Republicans.
Wayne County Clerk and Recorder Liz Ann Woodrow was recognized yesterday for her efforts to preserve and protect over 170 years of historical county records. Woodrow has helped make it possible for staff and the public to have secure, remote access to county data and images, and the data should be accessible in the next two to three weeks. She said about 733,000 images were scanned and digitized in about a month-and-a-half by Cott Systems, including oil and gas records, land transactions, and birth and death records. Not all material will be available to the general public, even as only certain people can access the physical records.
Front, from left: Wayne County Board Chair Amy Pollard, County Clerk Liz Ann Woodrow, and Don Beussink with Cott Sytems. Back: Board Members Daryl Hargrave and Gene Kollak.
The IDPH reported two new cases of COVID-19 in Wayne County yesterday. Wabash County added five cases, and Edwards and Jefferson counties added one. Hamilton, White, Lawrence, Richland, Clay, and Marion counties held steady on the state website. As a state, Illinois announced 1,031 new cases and 25 additional deaths. Statewide totals sat at 3,050,647 cases and 33,164 deaths. The Southern Region had a seven-day positivity rate of 1.9 percent on the 13th, unchanged from the 12th.
Tuesday was Equal Pay Day, a day dedicated to highlighting the wage gap between men and women. On average, women make 82 to 83 cents for every dollar a man earns, and the day marks the day the average woman needs to work in the New Year to match what a man had earned in the previous year. State Representative Anna Moeller says it is time to finally end the disparity by supporting affordable child care, universal pre-school, and paid family leave.
The Illinois Farm Bureau is teaming up with the state Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association to help promote ammonia grower training heading into the 2022 growing season, per Lauren Lurkins. As of the end of February, almost 6,800 individual growers and operators have completed the training, including nearly 4,500 who have completed the course online.
River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 23.36 feet, above the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 5.65 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 8.39 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 4.13 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 24.97 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 22.02 feet.
Today’s crude oil price is $88.00, down $1.50 from yesterday. The April crude oil price is $98.54, down $0.47 from yesterday morning.