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EDWARDSVILLE - Karis Chen enjoyed a very good Southwestern Illinois Swimming Association championship meet July 17 at Edwardsville High School's Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center, winning the 100-yard breaststroke, while also placing second and third in two other races in helping the Marlins win both the girls and overall championships in the meet. Chen also felt she did well in her races, swimming a pair of best times in her races and helping the team do well. "It was a good meet," she said. Chen felt she had a good summer season, moving up an age group to compete in the 15-18 division and was able to hold her own against new competition. "I think it's been a pretty good season," Chen said. "I just aged up, it's the 15-18 age group, so new people, but it's been pretty good." Chen also swims for Edwardsville High during the high school season, and she feels the summer season will help her prepare for the much more competitive high school season. "Definitely," Chen said. "I have been going

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HIGHLAND - The Madison County Fair is bringing carnival rides, fair food, arena events and more to the Madison County Fairgrounds in Highland from Tuesday, July 26 - Sunday, July 31. Here’s a rundown of the fair week schedule to help plan your visit accordingly! Carnival rides will be open every night of the fair from 5 p.m. - 11 p.m., except on Saturday when they will be open from 2 p.m. - 11:30 p.m and on Sunday, when rides will be buy-one-get-one with a food drive donation of at least two items from 12-3 p.m. Carnival armbands will be available for $20 each during the times the rides are open, except on Saturday when they will be half-price at $10 from 2-5 p.m. Festivities will kick off on Tuesday morning with two livestock shows: a 4-H Bottle Calf Show at 9 a.m., followed by a 4-H Dairy Show at 10 a.m. Tuesday is also Senior Citizen Day, when seniors (65+) can get half-price parking until 5 p.m. with valid ID (the full price of parking is $5 per day, or $15 for a fair wee

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY - A 59-year-old Witt man died in a fatal crash on Illinois Route 16 approximately a quarter mile south of South 5th Street in Witt in Montgomery County at 7:25 p.m. on Friday, July 22, 2022. The driver in the accident - 34-year-old male Daniel Adams of Gillespie - was also transported from the scene to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The 59-year-old was the passenger in the single-vehicle accident. The Following Preliminary Information is Being Released by Illinois State Police District 18: VEHICLE: Unit 1- 2016 Black Dodge Van. PRELIMINARY: A preliminary investigation indicates the following occurred: Unit 1 was traveling west on Illinois Route 16 approximately ¼ mile southwest of 5 th Street in Witt, Montgomery County. Unit 1 left the road to the right, and struck an embankment and a tree. The passenger of Unit 1 was pronounced deceased on scene. The driver of Unit 1 was transported by ambulance to an area hospital with

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EDWARDSVILLE — Madison County officials want to inform visitors of upcoming changes for access to the parking lot behind Administration Building in downtown Edwardsville. Starting Monday, the southern entrance to the parking lot behind the Administration Building on Second Street will be closed and the northern entrance opened (shown in green on map) for vehicles and pedestrians to cross during continued constriction. Keller Construction plans to complete the sidewalk on the West side of Second Street (shown in red), then switch foot traffic to the east side once they complete the western side. Please continue to look for “Pedestrian Crosswalk” signs for current crosswalk location(s). Construction along Second Street from St. Louis to High Street started in mid-April. Work is expected to continue through mid-August. Visit the county’s website at madisoncountyil.gov for continued up-to-date information.

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ALTON - Hayden Garner is one of the leaders of the Alton Post 126 Senior Legion baseball team that has helped the team make a state tournament appearance. On the night he was interviewed, Alton beat Highland in a best-of-three series. The Legionnaires won the first game by a score of 9-0 and game two by 11-0. Garner pitched the second game going all five innings. He picked up three strikeouts and only allowed a single hit. He mentioned that he'd been struggling with his curveball recently, but it was on last night and so was his fastball. Hayden is a Tucker's Automotive Repair & Tire Male Athlete of Month for Marquette. He added that it's much easier going out on the mound when your team is up by so many runs and said that there wasn't much pressure going into these couple of games against Highland. The funny part about Hayden being on this summer Legion team is that he plays on it mainly with players from the cross-town rival Alton High kids. Alton Post 126 Sr. is made up of

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JERSEY COUNTY - Jersey County Sheriff Mike Ringhausen confirmed a fatality in a motorcycle accident at Illinois Route 100 between Chautauqua and Elsah on the bluff side late Saturday night. Sheriff Ringhausen said the Illinois State Police was called in for accident reconstruction and is the lead on the crash and will release more information. The Jersey County Sheriff’s Office and ISP worked the scene and the Jersey County Coroner was called to investigate the fatality. More to come from Illinois State Police.

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ALTON - This is a weekly update on Illinois American Water’s work to separate the Alton combined sewer system and install new sanitary sewers. This was released by Illinois American Water on July 25, 2022. Piasa Valley Area : 9th Street is still closed Alton Street east to George Street. 10th Street between Alton Street and George Street is back open. The sewer installation work on State Street and Grand Avenue is completed. All roads are now open in this area. Road Closures US Route 67 (Piasa Street) will be closed from 20th Street/College Avenue south to 3rd Street . Posted detour routes were in place starting on July 5th. This closure will last roughly one month to allow for sanitary sewer and water main installation work to be completed. This means by an estimated Aug. 5, 2022, this work should be complete, but it is weather dependent. The intersection at 10th Street and US Route 67 (Piasa Street) will remain open to facilitate traffic flow in and around

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GODFREY – Bemis Tupman Chiropractic has been selected as the July 2022 RiverBend Growth Association Small Business of the Month award recipient. Located at 4105 Humbert Road, Suite 102, in Alton, the business formerly known as Dr. Frank C. Bemis and Associates changed its moniker after Frank’s daughter Kristina Bemis and her husband Stephen Tupman bought the practice in December 2019. With their purchase, the practice today is known as Bemis Tupman Chiropractic. “We purchased the practice in December 2019, and the shutdown began three months later, in March 2020,” said Dr. Kristina. “While our doors never closed, our practice suffered a loss as many of our wellness and elderly patients paused on their regular care for a period of time.” And while the name of the practice has been the most visible change to date, perhaps along with its fresh paint job throughout the entire interior, Dr. Kristina further shared that the duo has “big dreams”

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: This letter writer has asked to remain anonymous, but he wanted to share his story of Chris, who was found deceased this week in the First Presbyterian Church parking lot. Riverbender.com continues with another story about Chris on Saturday). Someone we all knew died this week, although you may not have known her name. If you lived in the Riverbend area, I’m certain that you walked or drove by her many times over the past 30 years, but whether you truly saw her may be in doubt. For years, I didn’t see her either. Yet we all knew her as the woman with the artificial leg that limped through town pushing the baby carriage carrying all her possessions. You may have given her money, or you may have given her grief. I suspect that, like all of us, she deserved both at varying times. I want you to know this: Her name was Chris, and she was my friend. On Monday morning, Chris showed me a discarded curtain that she had found and remarked on how beautiful it was

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WILLIAMSON COUNTY - Illinois State Police is investigating a three-vehicle fatal crash at Illinois Route 37, just south of Kellville Road in Williamson County at 9:45 a.m. on July 20, 2022. This is the preliminary information being released by Illinois State Police District 13: WHAT: Three-Vehicle Fatal Traffic Crash WHERE: Illinois Route 37, just south of Kellville Road, Williamson County WHEN: July 20, 2022 at approximately 9:14 a.m. VEHICLES: Unit 1 – 2012 White IsuzuTruck Unit 2 – 2006 White Freightliner Truck-Tractor Semi-Trailer Combination Unit 3 – 1985 Blue International Truck-Tractor Semi-Trailer Combination DRIVERS : Unit 1 – Charles M. Hedges, 70-year-old male from Carterville, IL – Deceased. Unit 2 – Darwin E. Titzer, 62-year-old male from Mill Shoals, IL Unit 3 – Monty D. Millenbine, 65-year-old male from Mill Shoals, IL – Flown to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries. PASSENGER: Unit

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CHICAGO — Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) today issued 149 Conditional Adult Use Dispensing Organization Licenses to applicants selected in three lotteries held in the summer of 2021. All businesses qualify as Social Equity Applicants under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act. The list of today’s awardees and the next steps for the conditional license period are available on the IDFPR’s Adult Use Cannabis webpage . Of the businesses selected through the lottery, 41% are majority Black-owned, 7% are majority White-owned, and 4% are majority Latino-owned, while 38% of awardees did not disclose the race of their owners. To date, Illinois has made and executed the greatest commitment of adult-use cannabis tax revenue to community reinvestment, expunged the most criminal history records involving cannabis, and has the highest rate of minority ownership of any state reporting/collecting ownership demographic

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EAST ST. LOUIS - Beginning in School Year 2022-2023, high school students at East St. Louis School District 189 will not be required to wear a school uniform, as they have for a number of years. Rather, students in grades 9-12 must simply abide by a dress code that continues to align with the district’s board policy and current guidance from the Illinois Principals Association. “The dress code will allow students more flexibility,” noted Superintendent Arthur R. Culver. “In the past, high school students were required to wear a polo shirt in a specific color, indicating their grade band.” The change is occurring based on feedback received from students, parents, and the community requesting more flexibility. “Students have been advocating for greater uniform flexibility for some time,” said Sydney Stigge-Kaufman, Executive Director of Communications. In particular, members of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council have

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GODFREY - Beverly Farm is thrilled to announce Kathleen Gastler, a resident at the 125-year-old home for adults with developmental disabilities, has won one gold and two silver medals in Bocce for Team Illinois at the Special Olympics USA Games. More than 5,500 athletes and coaches from all over the US and the Caribbean participated in the USA Games, held June 5-11 in Orlando, FL. Gastler won a gold medal in Ladies Singles Bocce. She also earned two silver medals: one in Ladies Doubles Bocce with partner Karyn Mrotek from Palos Heights, IL, and one in Team Bocce with her Team Illinois partners that again included Mrotek, as well as Kenny Ogden and Frank Kajdanowski. Ogden and Kajdanowski are both from Chicago. Gastler is originally from Martinsburg, Missouri. She has been a Beverly Farm resident since 2011 and currently lives in a group home setting on the Farm’s beautiful campus in Godfrey, IL. She has been playing bocce for 10 years. “I was excited to represent Beverly

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CHICAGO - In the first Illinois Poll after the June primary, Governor JB Pritzker leads his Republican opponent State Senator Darren Bailey by nine points. The first-term Governor was the choice of 48.9% of the respondents, while the downstate State Senator received 39.0% of the vote. The results are part of the latest Illinois poll, conducted July 17-19, 2022. It is a semi-monthly survey conducted since 2001 by Victory Research, an independent polling company based in Chicago. The poll of 1208 likely Illinois general election voters has a margin of error of 2.82% and was conducted by live callers. Respondents answered on landlines (411) and cell phones (797). www.illinoispoliticsblog.com . Pritzker, a first-term Governor, fell below the 50% mark for the first time in 2022, according to the poll, in both the head-to-head matchup with Bailey and a question about whether he has earned another term in office. In the January Illinois Poll, for example, Pritzker’s “re-elect”

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ST. LOUIS - Critics are hailing Union Avenue Opera’s Twenty-Eighth Festival Season opener Eugene Onegin as “super,” “excellent,” and “an intense production filled with incredible performances.” Amidst the excitement the cast of UAO’s production of Falstaff have begun staging Verdi’s riotous Italian romp based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. The production is helmed by director Jon Truitt and conductor Stephen Hargreaves who previously paired together for last summer’s critically acclaimed Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Big Top. “This is one of my all-time favorite operas because of the extraordinary quality of the music, the libretto, and the story,” said Truitt. “We are seeing Verdi here at the height of his powers writing to an excellent ‘better than the original Shakespeare’ libretto by Arrigo Boito – a great composer in his own right. There’s just so

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ST. LOUIS - The American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas is seeking individuals interested in serving in a new virtual volunteer role: regional disaster duty officer. The position can be done from home anywhere in the Missouri-Arkansas region and serves as a dispatcher, sending out Red Cross response teams to home fires or other local disasters as they happen. “Previously, we had a local disaster duty officer volunteer in each chapter area, but recently changed to a regional approach expanding the role to have greater responsibilities,” said Chris Harmon, Regional Disaster Officer for American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas. “Now, the regional disaster duty officer takes calls from about half of the two-state region, rather than a small number of counties, and they dispatch local on-call teams to provide immediate assistance to those affected by home fires or other disasters.” This newly expanded role is critical to the success of the organization.

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ST. LOUIS - By administrative order of Presiding Judge Michael F. Stelzer, the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court today announced it is implementing a temporary mask mandate for its jury assembly room on the first floor of the Civil Courts Building in downtown St. Louis. It will take effect on Monday, July 25, 2022, and will continue through at least Friday, September 2, 2022. The mandate applies to all Court employees, members of the public summoned for jury duty, and any other person inside any portion of the jury assembly room at any time. The jury assembly room is indoor space and the Court’s most high-traffic area where groups of dozens of people routinely gather at a single time throughout carrying out their jury service almost every week of the year. As such, and because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to encourage mask wearing in crowded indoor spaces, the Court believes this precautionary measure is an important step toward helping reduce

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $12,245,863 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) biomedical research grants for Illinois institutions. The funding will be put toward research programs across the state to support medical advancement in various fields, ranging from vascular diseases to mental health research. “Federal investments in medical research pushes our society forward, bringing us new treatments for the serious conditions that touch all of our families in one way or another,” said Durbin. “Illinois’ world-class research institutions will make good use of this federal funding to make devastating diseases like cancer, ALS, or heart disease more treatable.” “By increasing support for biomedical research, we can help deliver real public health results for Illinois families,” Duckworth said. “I will keep working with Senator Durbin

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FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS - IMPACT Strategies’ office staff has grown by two – the firm has added Tori DeClercq as Project Assistant and Gerica Stucker as Accounting Coordinator. Tori DeClercq holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Western Illinois University. In her new position as Project Assistant, Tori will be assisting project managers throughout all phases of construction on IMPACT’s projects across the region. She joined IMPACT Strategies in April after working for several years in the agricultural industry. DeClercq lives in Freeburg, IL with her husband and one-year-old daughter. Gerica Stucker brings more than seven years of administrative experience in the construction industry to her new role as Accounting Coordinator. A member of the IMPACT team since May, she holds an Associate of Science degree from Southeastern Illinois College. Stucker resides in Collinsville, IL. Mark Hinrichs, President of IMPACT Strategies said, “We are

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Marie Newman (D-IL-3) and Mike Quigley (D-IL-5) today sent a letter to Federal Railroad Administrator (FRA) Amit Bose urging him to consider Illinois as a home for the future University Rail Research and Development Center of Excellence. The Members authored language in the historic bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requiring FRA to establish the rail research center, which aims to advance railway technology and improve national transportation infrastructure. “We write to highlight a provision that we authored establishing a University Rail Research and Development Center of Excellence, which would advance research and development to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of passenger and freight rail transportation. As the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) carries out the implementation of this provision of the IIJA,

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