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EDWARDSVILLE – Silas Curtis, a senior at Metro-East Lutheran High School, has earned the distinction of being named a semifinalist in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. Semifinalists are selected based on their scores on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The students with the highest scores in each state qualify to become semifinalists, a distinction earned by less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors. “I’m honored to receive this award, and I’m looking forward to college and beyond,” said Curtis, who is the son of Heath and Rebekah Curtis of Worden, Ill. Curtis now can compete to become a National Merit Finalist. This award is based on factors such as the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities and honors and awards received. Curtis must submit an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm his earlier performance on the

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Partnership Will Help Streamline Remodeling and New Construction Projects And Keep Budgets in Check EDWARDSVILLE – When home and business owners in the St. Louis Metro East take on a new building or remodeling project, they’re often forced to play middleman between their contractor and their interior designer. This lack of cohesion and communication between teams can result in missed deadlines, skyrocketing budgets, and disappointed clients. Through their new collaboration, two Edwardsville-based companies – Lantz Homes , a third-generation home builder, and Whitetail Design Studio , a renowned custom home design firm – are striving to erase the confusion and frustration of the traditional design-build process. By working side-by-side from project conception to completion, the partners can deliver the highest-quality results while ensuring the design plan stays on budget. “We feel this partnership is incredibly unique to the Edwardsville

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EDWARDSVILLE - Elementary education students at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville are preparing for their future classrooms by gaining valuable experience practicing instruction and communication skills with students at Eastwood Elementary in East Alton. “The CIED 441 course was developed to train teacher candidates on the foundational methods of teaching and learning elementary level mathematics,” said Barbara Martin, EdD, assistant professor of teaching and learning in the School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior (SEHHB). “It is designed around professional principles and standards, including the six basic precepts of equity, curriculum, teaching, learning, assessment and technology. These precepts are fundamental to a high-quality mathematics education.” The SIUE teacher candidates work with elementary students before the start of the school day. They engage the young scholars by creating games that are designed to practice math concepts suc

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GRANITE CITY - There was nothing that could stop Granite City's eighth-grade distance standout Landon Harris Saturday at the Illinois Elementary School Association Boys State Cross Country Meet at Maxwell Park in Normal. Harris recorded a time of 10:26 to capture the two-mile IESA state championship race. Harris, a Coolidge Middle School student in Granite City, slipped and fell at the start of the competition, but he jumped back up and sprinted to the front of the pack and never looked back. It was the first Granite City state distance title in boys' cross country. Harris posted his best time of 10 minutes flat at the sectional qualifier for the state meet. Landon Harris is a Stillwater Senior Living Male Athlete of the Month for Granite City. When he finished, his coach Tom Miller said Landon was exhausted but just ecstatic to bring home the state title in front of many in his family and hundreds of others present. Landon also takes an inhaler to meet and battles asthma. Miller

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It is very rare in this day and age for a family to celebrate five generations. Rena Reed, 92, recently was able to mark that significant birth milestone with her family. Rena's five generations of a family are shown above, from left to right, Rena Reed, Amber Smay, Brynn Huddleston, Mona Norton, and Baby-Zaviah White. Rena’s great-granddaughter, Brynn Huddleston recently had the family’s first baby in the fifth generation. The newborn is named Zaviah White. “We have a very close family,” Mona Norton said. “The baby was born on Brynn’s mom’s 40th birthday.” Rena Reed survived breast cancer when she was 75 and also had COVID-19 this past year and has struggled some with after-effects, but continues to be strong, Mona said. “She loves her family and all her grandkids,” Mona added about Rena. “She is one of the sweetest people I know.”

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EDWARDSVILLE – Beginning at noon on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, North Buchanan Street will be closed to all traffic at the intersection of Hillsboro Avenue. North Buchanan Street also will be closed at East Vandalia Street. This closure will allow for water main installation; the closure is weather dependent. Motorists should use alternate routes to bypass the closure. North Fillmore Street, North Kansas Street, Chapman Street and East Vandalia Street should be used as detours. The roadway will be reopened as soon as improvements can be completed. The work is part of the North Buchanan Street water main replacement project. The City of Edwardsville is in the process of replacing a very old 4-inch cast iron water main with a 12-inch water main on North Buchanan Street from East Union Street to East Vandalia Street. The City appreciates the cooperation and patience of all residents during this process. Please contact Public Works at (618) 692-7535 with any questions.

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PONTOON BEACH – The Illinois Department of Transportation announces a lane closure on IL 162 at the I-255 interchange beginning on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, weather permitting. Two-way traffic will be maintained by the use of temporary traffic signals. This closure is needed to perform bridge maintenance and it should be completed by mid-November 2022. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be alert for changing conditions, obey all construction signage, and refrain from using mobile devices while approaching and traveling through the work zone. The contractor on this project is Venus Painting Co. of Valparaiso, Indiana. For IDOT District 8 updates, follow us on Twitter at @IDOTDistrict8 or view area construction details on IDOT’s traveler information map on GettingAroundIllinois.com.

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ST. LOUIS - "Pirate Quest for the Sunken Treasure," a family-friendly adventure, is open daily through October 31, 2022, with after-hours trick or treating on Fridays and Saturdays, October 21 & 22, and October 28 & 29. On the exciting treasure hunt inside the Aquarium, guests will take a self-guided tour through a highly themed wonderland of pirate ship scenes and treasure caves and grottos. Social media fans will love the Instagram-worthy photo opportunities throughout the transformed Aquarium during their journey. Visitors follow the quest's clues as they make their way through all of the marine habitats and hands-on animal adventures at the Aquarium. Along the way, they will find the Pirate Captain's journal containing treasure hunt hints as well as amazing animal facts and pirate jokes. Guests will explore elaborate scenes, including the Captain’s Quarters, a Shipwreck Canyon, and the Treasure Grotto. A spooky Secret Cave, Pirate Library, and a Pirate Hideout add to th

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GREENVILLE, IL - Greenville University invites potential students to campus for Scholarship Day, an opportunity to earn up to a full-tuition scholarship and the chance to get to know campus before their fall 2023 semester. One hundred percent of traditional undergraduates at GU receive institutional financial aid, and on November 18, students who attend Scholarship Day could earn one of the multiple full-tuition scholarships available. GU’s average financial aid package is $22,000 and all students who attend Scholarship Day are guaranteed to come away with a sizeable scholarship offer. All students have the opportunity to come to campus the day before and spend the night in the residence halls and interact with current GU students and faculty. Students interested in pre-nursing also have the option to tour the HSHS Holy Family Hospital nursing center Friday morning. Check-in for Scholarship Day begins at 8:30 am on Friday, November 18, at the Crum Recreation Center on campus.

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GRANITE CITY - Granite City Community Unit School District #9 announced a date change for the November Board of Education Meeting. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m., there is no student attendance on that date and all buildings are closed for Election Day. Therefore, the BOE meeting will be moved to Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the James J. Greenwald Administration Building at 3200 Maryville Road. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on the GCSD9 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GCSD9.net . For more information about Granite City School District #9, visit www.gcsd9.net .

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CHICAGO — As part of an ongoing effort to carefully roll back Illinois’s COVID-19 executive orders, Governor Pritzker today updated masking and testing requirements for healthcare facilities and long-term care centers. These new guidelines, which go into effect today, are in line with updated Center for Disease Control recommendations. Federal requirements remain in effect for those facilities. “Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our health care workers and residents, Illinois has done better at keeping our people safe with vaccines, boosters, and masking, which puts us in a position to continue to scale back health care requirements in line with the CDC,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “COVID-19 is on its way to becoming endemic, like the flu, but it still poses a real threat to our immunocompromised and disabled communities. Here in Illinois, we look out for one another—it’s what defines us as Illinoisans. Let us continue to live up to those

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CHICAGO – Parents and caregivers need to beware of more than just ghosts and goblins this Halloween. According to the Illinois Poison Center (IPC), accidental poisonings from Halloween candy are rare, but IPC manages cases each year involving dry ice, glow sticks, and more. “It is very rare to get poisoned from Halloween candy, but parents should still check their child’s candy as a safety precaution, especially with the recent increase in the use of candy-like products that contain THC or fentanyl,” said IPC Medical Director, Michael Wahl, MD. “While IPC doesn’t typically see poison incidents involving candy during this time of year, we do get calls about glow sticks, dry ice, and other potentially harmful items children eat.” Make sure Halloween is scary for the right reasons by following these safety tips from the IPC. Candy: Inspect your child’s candy after trick-or-treating. Discard candy with torn packages, holes, or opened

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ST. LOUIS – Dogtown Pizza is pleased to announce it’s a proud pizza provider of the St. Louis Blues and Enterprise Center . The partnership launched at the Blues season opener on Saturday, October 15, and provides Dogtown Pizza with three locations to sell their pizzas at all Blues home games and Enterprise Center events. “We are thrilled to welcome Dogtown Pizza to the St. Louis Blues family,” said Eric Stisser, VP of Corporate Partnerships at the St. Louis Blues. “Pizza and sports are a perfect match. We look forward to working together and positively impacting the game day experience for all sports fans.” The family-owned pizza company will always have cheese and pepperoni pizza at the arena and will rotate between other varieties. Fans can order half a pizza, which comes with its own box. What makes the pizza St. Louis-style is the thin crust, ingredients to the edge, and that classic tangy cheese St. Louisans love. “As lifelong

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ALTON - The City of Alton , Three Rivers Project of Sierra Club Illinois , and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) is calling for volunteers to help plant trees in many different Alton parks throughout autumn, the first of which will be at the Alton Marina and along Broadway Street, in downtown Alton on Monday, October 17. Building on a successful spring tree planting project, Alton is planting trees across the city thanks to a Recover, Replant, Restore! (RRR) grant secured by NGRREC from Trees Forever and the Swarovski Waterschool, along with private foundation funding obtained by the Three Rivers Project. The City of Alton secured additional support for this project from Ameren Illinois’ “Right Tree Right Place” program. To volunteer at the first tree planting session, RSVP at https://fb.me/e/232rJLQK7 . “The Recover, Replant, Restore! grant is funded through a partnership between Trees Forever, the Illinois Department o

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JERSEYVILLE - Jersey County Clerk Pam Warford said the early voting turnout in Jersey County has been “pretty good” so far this election cycle, citing more than 300 in-person early voters and 350 mail-in votes as of Monday afternoon. She also said the county’s new “permanent vote-by-mail” option which launched earlier this year has proven even more popular than expected. Warford said that based on the early voting turnout so far, there seems to be slightly more interest this election cycle compared to the primaries earlier this year. “We’ve definitely been busier overall, but the general election will have a higher overall turnout,” Warford said. “There’s about as much interest or more as there is in a typical general election.” Slightly more votes have been cast via mail-in ballots so far - Warford said 350 ballots have been sent back out of 900 that were mailed out by her office. Earlier this year, her office

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EDWARDSVILLE – Over the past year, the City has picked up the pace in its quest to become a more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community. Consider these recent steps: Edwardsville has a Bicycle-Pedestrian Master Plan, which was crafted over months of research, public input and data collection and approved by the City Council in August. Nearly 3 miles of multi-use paths are in progress, planned or have been completed as part of the Route 66 Trail, which will connect to points along the expansive series of Madison County Transit trails. The City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee is fully up and running, and in October marked one year of regular meetings as an all-volunteer group geared toward helping Edwardsville keep the momentum going. The steps are part of a concerted effort to enable residents and visitors to easily, safely consider alternative transportation to get around. One of the key next steps is a “Bicycle Friendly Community” designation,

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ST. LOUIS - The victim in a homicide that occurred in the 9400 block of Bagley Drive has been identified as Wade Lee, 46 years of age, of the 9400 block of Bagley Drive in St. Louis, Missouri 63136. St. Louis County Police Crimes Against Persons detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred in the 9400 block of Bagley Drive which resulted in the death of an adult male. On October 16, 2022, at 6:44 PM, St. Louis County police officers from the City of Jennings Precinct responded to a call for service for an assault in the 9400 block of Bagley Drive. Responding officers located an unresponsive adult male suffering from injuries inside the residence. The male was pronounced deceased on the scene. The injuries were incurred as a result of an altercation. St. Louis County Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons detectives are conducting the investigation. The investigation is very active at this time. Additional information will be disseminated as it becomes available.

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CHICAGO – Employees at a grocery store in River Grove are buzzing with excitement after selling a $4.85 million winning Lotto ® ticket over the weekend. The winning ticket was sold at Rich’s Fresh Market, located at 3141 N. Thatcher Ave. in River Grove, and matched all six Lotto numbers in Saturday evening’s drawing, 8-12-14-22-27-36, to win the jackpot. “We know who bought the winning ticket – he is one of our regular customers,” exclaimed Lucas Bujak, General Manager of Rich’s Fresh Market. “The gentleman came into the store on Sunday morning and began inserting his tickets into the Lottery machine. One of my employees jokingly asked him if he won, but before he could answer, the customer almost fainted,” said Bujak. And then according to his employee, a few minutes later, the customer began shouting, “I can’t believe it, I actually won the Lotto jackpot – I guess I can now quit my job.” This

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JERSEYVILLE - Jenna Eschbach, PhD Candidate in the Plant & Microbial Biosciences Program at Washington University in St. Louis, is a 2022 National Institute of Health F31 Fellowship Award Recipient. Jenna is an extremely talented student and has received accolades throughout her entire time in Jersey schools and now at the prestigious Washington University in St. Louis. She was also an honors student during her time at Truman State University. The National Institute of Health (NIH) created the highly prestigious F31 Fellowship Award to provide promising predoctoral students an opportunity to receive mentored research training while they complete their dissertation research on human health-related topics. F31 Fellowship Award recipients must be finished with classes and in the dissertation research stage of training while enrolled in a PhD program. Miss Eschbach is the daughter of James and Acinda Eschbach of Jerseyville, was the 2013 Jersey Community High School valedictorian and

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TROY - "The Flagman's Mission Continues" volunteers have requested help to set up 1,500 flags and take them down for the Traveling Vietnam Wall Display. Help is needed for Tuesday, October 18, in Troy, for a patriotic display of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. The takedown of the flags will be on Sunday, October 23. The AVTT Traveling Vietnam Wall is being hosted at Truck Centers, Inc. Training Center, 2376 Formosa Road in Troy from October 20 to October 23. All are welcome to experience this 80 percent scale replica memorial in support and remembrance of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country in combat during the Vietnam War. Starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 20, the wall will remain open 24 hours a day until closing at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 23. Locator services to find where the name of your loved one or Comrade on the wall will be available daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Staging for the motorcycle escort will be at the Pierron, IL., Exit 30 on I-70

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