On June 8, 793, Viking raiders attacked the monastery at Lindisfarne off the northeast coast of England, in what is often treated as the beginning of the Viking Age in Europe. The assault shocked the Christian world of the time because Lindisfarne was an important religious center, not a military target. News of the raid spread quickly through monasteries and royal courts, shaping how people understood the threat from the north. It still matters today because it marked the start of a period o
BUZZ MAGAZINE – On January 30th, A. K. Frailey published her personal reflections on life, love, faith & family in her third book in the My Road series, My Road Goes Ever On: Rise Again. March 28th, she published the first in a new children’s book series, Wise Home. Her adult daughters, Laura and Rebekah Frailey, drew all the illustrations, creating heart-to-heart art without an ounce of AI. On May 28th, her third collection of short stories, Spice of Life: And Other Stories, was
BUZZ MAGAZINE – Today, many complain about roadside billboards, calling them boring and an eyesore. In past eras, highway advertising was much more interesting. This year marks the centennial of Route 66, and it’s also the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Burma Shave signs, a series of five or six simple signs that entertained motorists with rhyming poems. Today, replica Burma-Shave signs are found along Route 66 in Illinois near Towanda, north of Bloomington Normal,
BUZZ MAGAZINE – When Route 66 was created in 1926, it found plenty of traffic. Illinoisans, as elsewhere, were falling in love with the automobile throughout the decade, and highways like Route 66 began to crisscross the state. Route 66 was one of many improvements that revolutionized transportation and economic growth around the state. After struggling over paths of ankle-deep mud for decades, Illinois residents were ready for a major overhaul of their roads in the early twentieth century.
A June 4, 1926 article in the Alton Evening Telegraph described Shurtleff College junior Margery Elizabeth Fish’s unanimous victory in an all-college oratory competition, the Atchison Prize in Oratory, held on June 3. Eight women participated in all. A men’s competition, the Haynes Prize, had been held in the past, but this was the first women’s oratorical contest ever held at Shurtleff during the college’s ninety-nine year history. Fish’s oration, titled
DeKALB, Ill. – More than 2,300 students received their bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Northern Illinois University in May. Included among the graduates were the following students from your area: HOMETOWN, STATE; NAME, DEGREE, MAJOR Brighton, IL Thomas Schlafer, Bachelor of Science, Sport Management Glen Carbon, IL Jaren Alnutt, Master of Science, Sport Management About Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University is a student-centered,
BUZZ MAGAZINE – A great way to grow a lot of food in a relatively small amount of space is by using the indigenous gardening method, the Three Sisters Garden. A Three Sisters Garden is a companion gardening method that utilizes three different plants with three different growth habits that all support each other to maximize their yields for you. Doing this gives you three staple crops in one plot of ground, and if you are intentional, you can even add some cousins to the plot to add some
BUZZ MAGAZINE – The original alignment of Route 66, which ran north-south through Macoupin County from 1926-30 and is Illinois Route 4 today, has long been rumored as a highway for gangster movement. The road was also used for smaller, less organized crimes. In early 1928, a crime spree that stretched from Peoria to Girard used the original Route 66 as part of its getaway, racing through Macoupin County before being nailed by an unlikely source – a Staunton newspaper editor who wa
BUZZ MAGAZINE – Six episodes of the award-winning PBS travel series Samantha Brown’s Places to Love featuring America’s iconic Route 66 have been officially designated an Official Route 66 Centennial Project, recognizing the series’ role in celebrating the historic highway as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2026. Hosted by two-time Emmy Award-winning travel expert Samantha Brown, the episodes take viewers on a journey along the full length of Route 66, highlighting
SOUTH ROXANA – A church in South Roxana is set to gain a solar energy system after recent permit approval. Village Board members voted 5-1 on June 2, 2026 to approve a special use permit for an accessory solar energy system for Connect Church, located at 1417 Herbert St. When the item came up for a vote, Board Member Tammy Adams asked why the solar energy system couldn’t be installed on the building itself. Mayor TJ Callahan said the building cannot support the weight of the sola
ST. LOUIS COUNTY - St. Louis County Police are investigating a double shooting early Saturday, June 6, 2026, in the 9700 block of Lanier Drive in Moline Acres that left one adult man dead and another injured, authorities said. Officers from the Moline Acres Police Department responded at about 12:37 a.m. Saturday, June 6, 2026, to a ShotSpotter activation in the 9700 block of Lanier Drive, according to a statement from St. Louis County Police. When officers arrived, they found two adult men
ALTON - Veterans, elected officials, and community members gathered Saturday morning, June 6, 2026, in Grafton to dedicate the National Memorial of Military Ascent, a monument honoring veterans and the broader wartime service and sacrifice of Americans, in a ceremony held on the anniversary of D-Day. “Thank you all for coming out today to honor our veterans and dedicate this memorial,” Mayor Mike Morrow said. Alton Mayor Goins said the timing of the dedication added to its significance.
GRAFTON - The National Memorial of Military Ascent was officially dedicated Saturday morning, June 6, 2026, in Grafton on the 82nd anniversary of D-Day with an emotional, hour-long ceremony. The ceremony began at 9:30 a.m. June 6, 2026, after the Mike Burke Orchestra played military songs at 9 a.m. The dedication included colors by the Leech Lake Ojibwe Honor Guard, American Legion Post 648, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 805, followed by an invocation by NMMA Chaplain Warren Gohl and a communit
Sitting in the choppy waters of the English Channel the day before D-Day, twenty-year-old Private James R. Lambeth wondered what would happen on the beaches of Normandy. “We had no idea what we were getting into,” recalled Lambeth. “I’d never seen combat before, and had no idea what it would be like.” June 6 marks the anniversary of the massive D-Day invasion and Lambeth, a member of the 37th Amphibious Combat Engineers, was one of 156,000 men on Omaha Beach at
On June 6, the most widely remembered global event is the D-Day landings of 1944, when Allied forces crossed the English Channel and began the liberation of Nazi-occupied Western Europe. In the early hours of that day, troops from the United States, Britain, Canada, and other Allied nations landed on the beaches of Normandy in France, supported by aircraft and naval bombardment. It was one of the largest military operations ever attempted. At the time, it mattered because it opened a major Western
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), Co-Chair of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, questioned Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Vice Chair Robert Taub during a House Oversight Committee hearing focused on the financial future of the U.S. Postal Service and the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) Plan. Budzinski raised concerns about the PRC’s findings regarding the impact of the RTO implementation on rural communities and pressed Taub on
SPRINGFIELD – Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias’ comprehensive micromobility safety legislation passed the Illinois General Assembly and now awaits Governor JB Pritzker’s signature, bringing Illinois one step away from establishing the state’s first comprehensive framework to regulate dangerous high-speed e-bikes, e-motos and other powerful electric transportation devices operating on roads, bike lanes, bike paths and sidewalks. Senate Bill 3484 is the cornerstone
BUZZ MAGAZINE – Touch Media is proud to announce the launch of the Centennial Route 66 Passport, a special edition created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road and an Official Route 66 Centennial Project. Building on the success of the popular blue Route 66 Passport, the golden Centennial edition is a luxury collector’s item with a limited print run, designed to celebrate the history, culture, and communities along Route 66. The Centennial Passport will feature
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has awarded $495,000 in federal grants to 73 volunteer fire departments across the state to help with purchasing new equipment or paying for fire training. The Volunteer Fire Capacity (VFC) grant program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The program provides matching funds to aid fire departments in the purchase of new equipment and helps fund training. Funding is passed through IDNR to local
DeKALB, Ill. (June 3, 2026) – Northern Illinois University announces its spring 2026 Dean's List students. To earn this distinction, students must meet a minimum semester grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology or a minimum of 3.75 on a 4.0 scale in the colleges of Business, Education, Health and Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Visual and Performing Arts. Students from your area who achieved this honor include:
stLouIST