GLEN CARBON - Father McGivney Catholic High School senior Liam Schmidt was honored as one of 26 students selected to the Illinois High School Association All-Academic Team, the school said recently, recognizing achievements that extend beyond athletic competition. The school said the honor requires athletes to be All-State, compete in multiple sports, and maintain strong grades. Schmidt is also a Byron, Carlson, Petri & Kalb Male Athlete of the Month for the Griffins. In outdoor track
O'FALLON, Ill. - The O’Fallon Police Department has introduced a new Blue Envelope Program, a voluntary and free initiative developed in partnership with The Autism Hero Project to support safer, more positive interactions between police and individuals on the autism spectrum. The department said the program provides an identifiable blue envelope that can be presented during contact with an O’Fallon Police officer. The envelope is intended to serve as a visual cue that
CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 33 other attorneys general today won their lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster after a jury found that the companies violated federal and state antitrust laws by eliminating competition and driving up costs for fans, artists and venues across the country. After a five-week trial, the jury found that Raoul and the coalition successfully proved that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have unlawfully maintained an
EDWARDSVILLE - The Madison County Sheriff’s Office is recognizing its telecommunicators during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, observed April 12-18, 2026, highlighting the role dispatchers play in answering 911 calls and coordinating emergency responses in Madison County. “This week, the Madison County Sheriff's Office proudly recognizes and celebrates our dedicated telecommunicators during National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week,” the office said
April is National Donate Life Month, and few people understand the value of that kind of gift more than April Post of Normal, Illinois. The busy single mom is now living her best life because of someone else’s sacrifice. Post has been through it before. In high school, she was diagnosed with kidney failure after a routine physical showed significant lost kidney function due to a complication from a birth defect. Post’s dad was her living donor then. She was 13 and thrived for almos
MADISON – A Madison resident accused of firing a weapon at three women and initiating a shootout has been released from custody while facing felony charges. Jasper A. Belt, 29, of Madison, Ill., was charged on April 6, 2026 with three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, each Class 1 felonies. Belt is accused of knowingly discharging a firearm in the direction of three different women on April 3, 2026. A petition to deny Belt’s pretrial release from custody was filed
ALTON - Isabel (Izzi) Grace Hough, a junior at Marquette Catholic High School, is being recognized for soccer, a sport she says has shaped her growth on and off the field. Hough said she began playing through Park and Rec in kindergarten and continued when Alton Irish began when she was in second grade. She said she has played club soccer since and is now with SLSG. In the classroom, Hough said she is a member of NHS, the National Honor Society, and has maintained a 4.0 GPA at Marquette. “My
ELSAH - Students and community members are invited to Principia College for the launch of their student literary magazine and a reading by a renowned poet. On Thursday, April 30, 2026, the creative writing program in Principia’s Center for Narrative, Meaning, and Media will host the event in the Marshall Brooks Library on campus in Elsah. From 5–6 p.m., attendees can join in a Q&A session with student editors of “Mistake House Magazine,” the college’s literary
EDWARDSVILLE — Marley Fox is emerging as the ace of the Edwardsville High School softball pitching staff as the senior continues her recovery from an early-season injury and delivers strong performances in the circle. Fox was sharp in early April during a doubleheader sweep of Quincy, when the Tigers won 15-0 and 17-2. In the first game, after allowing a leadoff single, she retired the next 12 batters in a row as Edwardsville earned a four-inning victory over the Blue Devils. She struck
GODFREY – Dual credit student Kimberly Price, of Civic Memorial High School, brought home the first-place prize, and $100 cash, in the 2026 “You Have a Voice!” humanities speech contest. The contest is held annually at Lewis and Clark Community College by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society and hosted by Elizabeth Grant, PTK Sponsor and Speech Professor. This year’s contest featured nine participants. It aims to give students an opportunity to share their thoughts
EDWARDSVILLE - Elementary schoolers in Edwardsville had a fun night of mathematics, games and engagement at their recent K–5 Math Night. On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 elementary school students and their families could come to Lincoln Middle School for the event. The Math Night, which had a glow theme, featured many math-based games and activities for families to complete together. “It was just a get-together to celebrate math and
MARYVILLE, Ill. — The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation has awarded the Maryville Fire Department a $19,508 grant to buy a LUCAS 3 Chest Compression System, replacing an older model and expanding access to updated resuscitation equipment, the department said Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The grant is intended to help the department maintain the tools it needs to respond effectively in emergencies as first responders continue serving the Village of Maryville. The new chest compression
The strange thing about routines is that they can make life feel freer, not more restricted. When you don’t have to decide everything from scratch—what to eat, when to exercise, how to start work—you save your attention for choices that actually matter. That’s why routines show up everywhere, from morning coffee habits to flight checklists. The hidden cost of “deciding everything” People often assume routines are boring. Spontaneity sounds more fun. But constan
On April 16, 1947, a ship loaded with fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate exploded in the U.S. port of Texas City, triggering fires, a tidal surge, and a chain reaction that destroyed much of the waterfront and nearby neighborhoods. The Texas City disaster became one of the deadliest industrial accidents in modern history, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. At the time, it exposed how quickly everyday industrial materials could become catastrophic when heat, confined storage, and emergency
EDWARDSVILLE - During the April 15 Madison County Board meeting in Edwardsville, board members approved a series of appointments, zoning items, and public safety purchases and recognized a Roxana High School sophomore who won a girls' state wrestling title. Roxana sophomore Chloe Skiles was recognized for being the 110-pound champion. She won the championship match by fall in 41 seconds over Zoey Dodgers of Franklin Park-North Lake Leyden. The coach also noted Skiles is ninth in the nation.
EDWARDSVILLE - The Madison County Board voted 20-3 on April 15, 2026, to deny Apollo Properties LLC’s request to rezone about 0.45 acres at 5429 Maryville Road in Granite City, blocking a proposed change from the B-1 Limited Business District to the R-5 Multiple-Family Residence District. The vote came during the board’s regular meeting in Edwardsville, where members were asked to approve a zoning map amendment for the property. The request had failed in the ZBA and the B&Z committees
GODFREY – The Avionics program at Lewis and Clark Community College has been awarded a $10,000 grant from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. Tom Steinmann, Dean of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at LC, said this funding will help provide new resources for students enrolled in the program. “This money has already been used to purchase additional hands-on flight instrument equipment for students, such as altimeters, vertical speed indicators and magnetometers,”
GODFREY – Lewis and Clark Community College and CJD E-Cycling will host a community e-Waste event from 9 a.m. to noon, Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2, 2026, in the Tolle Lane parking lot across from the college’s Godfrey Campus. Most items will be accepted for free, providing community members with a secure, Earth-friendly option for discarding used electronics. The following is a sampling of the items that will be accepted: Servers Switches, PC towers Printers Landline
CHICAGO – Illinois families are seeing relief from sky-high energy costs, thanks to Governor JB Pritzker’s landmark Clean and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) . Capitol News Illinois reported that CEJA has put $1.8B back into the pockets of ComEd customers across the state. And in the coming months, additional relief will chop off an average of $19 from Illinoisans’ monthly energy bills. In 2021, Gov. Pritzker’s CEJA legislation was aimed at creating jobs, sustaining Illinois’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the seventh week of Donald Trump’s unjustified and illegal Iran war, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) forced a vote on Senator Duckworth’s War Powers Resolution that would have immediately withdrawn American forces fro
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