Last Saturday Fairfield Police investigated a report of Criminal Damage to Property at 502 W King Street, Fairfield. Police determined that 39 year old Jason Pfaff of Fairfield, had damaged a door on that residence after being asked to leave. Officers and Wayne County Deputies located Pfaff near Highland Avenue and SW 6th ST, Fairfield and took him into custody. He was found to have an arrest warrant out of Jasper County, Indiana charging him with Domestic Battery, Interfering with the Reporting of a Crime and False Informing. Cash bond was set at $1000. Pfaff was transported to the Wayne County Jail and lodged. He is also facing charges in Wayne County Court of Criminal Damage to Property, Resisting Peace Officers and Disorderly Conduct.
Fairfield Police are investigating the theft of a vehicle from Mach 1, 800 W Main Street, Fairfield. The owner, Eric Shiever of Carmi had parked close to the building and went inside, leaving the vehicle running and the keys inside. He saw his car drive off Westbound on Main ST. Anyone having any information on the whereabouts of the vehicle are asked to contact the Fairfield Police Department. You can also contact Wayne County Crime Stoppers, 618- 842-9777, and remain anonymous, also possibly gaining a cash reward.
Fairfield Memorial Hospital honors an employee each month who has been nominated by their peers for providing extraordinary patient care and customer services within and outside of the Hospital. Steve Bruce, who works in Plant Operations at Fairfield Memorial Hospital, was selected as the December 2022 Employee of the Month. Steve has been with Fairfield Memorial Hospital since July of 2021. Steve is extremely efficient and hardworking and is praised by his co-workers.
The Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network recently recognized Fairfield Memorial Hospital for its ongoing commitment to exceptional quality of care, during a ceremony held November 10th during ICAHN’s Annual Conference at the I-Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, Illinois. As part of the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program, Fairfield Memorial Hospital and other critical access hospitals were asked to voluntarily participate in four defined domains of quality outcomes. These four domains include: Patient Safety/Inpatient; Patient Engagement; Care Transitions; and Outpatient Measures. Fairfield Memorial Hospital was honored for being a top performer in all four domains. Fairfield Memorial Hospital was recognized for being in the top 10% of all critical access hospitals in the country for outpatient quality measures.
The Illinois minimum wage is set to increase another dollar on January 1st. Beginning Sunday, the new required minimum wage will be 13-dollars an hour. There have been five increases in the state minimum wage since Governor Pritzker signed legislation in 2019 that establishes a schedule of wage increases, putting Illinois on the path to a 15-dollars an hour minimum wage by 2025
The Illinois Supreme Court is halting the elimination of cash bail in the state. The state’s high court issued the ruling Saturday, one day before the criminal justice reform was set to take effect. The bail system overhaul is the most controversial provision of the state’s SAFE-T Act. Last week, a Kankakee County judge ruled that ending cash bail was unconstitutional. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul appealed the judge’s decision to the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday.
Illinois is seeing a drop in the number of counties with elevated levels of COVID-19. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Friday that there were 54 counties in the state at an elevated Community Level for the virus. That is down from 88 counties the previous week. IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said it is encouraging to see fewer Illinois counties at an elevated risk for COVID, with only five counties currently at high risk.
Authorities are identifying the bicyclist who was hit and killed by an Amtrak train last week in Springfield. Jessica Lee Thompson died after she was hit Thursday at Sixth Street and North Grand Avenue. The train was traveling from Chicago to Kansas City at the time of the incident, which remains under investigation.
One person is dead following a shooting in Decatur on New Year’s Eve. Police say the victim was found shot Saturday in the one-thousand block of East Pearl Street. He died later at the hospital. No arrests have been made.
An Assistant Professor at Illinois State University is receiving a one-point-four-million-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Martin Engelke is receiving the funding to advance studies on a cellular level. The five-year grant will fund Engelke’s student-centered research laboratory at Illinois State to explore mechanisms that regulate transport processes within cells.
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