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ALTON - Rosetta Brown, the Alton Branch NAACP First Vice President and Alton Alderwoman had a great way to sum up the Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at the Greater St. James Baptist Church: "It was incredible." While it was zero degrees outside with a wind chill 20 to 30 degrees below zero, the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive and well in the confines of the Greater St. Baptist Church. People of all ages were present - from very young to even a person in her 90s. The energy of Dr. King appeared present during the Alton ceremony from every speaker and participant. One speaker and participant seemed to naturally flow from one to the next and the beauty was the ceremony encompassed participation from all age levels. Leon Smallwood-Bey, president of the Alton Branch of the NAACP, said he was glad everyone gathered on Sunday to honor Dr. King despite the incredibly frigid conditions outside. Inside the Alton church on Sunday, he said it was a grea

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WOOD RIVER - A man who made every Valentine’s Day and other occasion special for more than four decades has died. Jeffrey McElroy, owner of Jeffrey’s Flowers By Design in Wood River, left a lasting impact on the region. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced for the Wood River businessman. Kristen Burns, a marketing consultant for the City Of Wood River, said Jeffrey was the one who always handled flower arrangements for her kids during homecomings, proms and almost any family event. “He was a great guy,” she said. “I adored working with him. I never saw him when he didn’t have a smile on his face. "His work was always beautiful. He could make a bunch of daisies look beautiful. It was always so nice to see such a friendly face and such a sweet man. It is a huge loss for the community.” Wood River Mayor Tom Stalcup said Jeffrey was a friend of his family and Wood River in general for many years. “He was a great asset to the

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ALTON - A burst pipe at Bluff City Grill called for an emergency response on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. The Alton Fire Department responded around 2:30 p.m. at Bluff City Grill, located at 424 E. Broadway in Alton. The restaurant was closed at the time of the break. With a high of only ten degrees on Monday, burst pipes are a common concern in the Metro East. Temperatures are not expected to rise above 15 degrees Fahrenheit until Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, before dropping back down to single digits on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. The pipes at Greater St. James Baptist Church, the host of Sunday's Martin Luther King Ceremony also had a similar problem, the pastor reported at the beginning of the event. To avoid freezing and bursting pipes, keep your home above 55 degrees Fahrenheit if possible. Drip cold water in the faucets that are farthest from the main water valve. Open your cupboards to keep the pipes warmer. Open your outside valves and spigots, and close inside valves. If your

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ALTON - The Calhoun County Ferry Company announced on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, that the Golden Eagle Ferry and Winfield Ferry are closed until further notice. The Corps Of Engineers Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton reported on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, that the Mississippi River is still navigable despite very icy conditions with low temperatures. This morning, the Mel Price Lock and Dam reported three barges had navigated through and one is holding up at the present about upper Elsah, while another was pushing ahead at 5.5 knots by Pere Marquette and another at 5.56 knots past the Hardin Bridge. Riverbender.com will check on river conditions on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, with the frigid conditions predicted to continue through the day.

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ALTON - Joshua Young never gave up on the Alton Community Boxing Club. Now, his vision is a reality. Almost eight years in the making, the Alton Community Boxing Club finally has a permanent home at the YWCA in Alton, where boxers of all ages can come to practice their skills and build confidence. As a mentor, Young is a Difference Maker in the Riverbend community. “ shows what the true nature of Alton could be and what it is,” Young said. “It shows the harmony amongst the demographics, and the interactions are genuine. They all kind of come in and grow to become family. They go through things as family goes through, but that’s all family. It’s really an honor to watch these young people and these kids do their thing.” Young explained that the boxing club started informally in 2016 when a group of young people began boxing at the park. They called themselves “Fists Up, Guns Down” to “curb street violence and gun violence,”

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ALTON - Area residents who had to venture to work on this Martin Luther King Day encountered bitterly cold temps below zero degrees with wind chills in the negative 20-to-30-degree range on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Melissa Mainhart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis, said it had been about three years since the area had endured temps this cold for such a long duration. “The last time we had temps in single digits for multiple days like this was Feb. 12-17, 2021,” Mainhart said. “I remember that year the Grand Basin in Forrest Park froze over in that period.” “This is a really cold air mass. This has performed about how we forecasted. We didn’t get to the top 10 of cold temps or wind chills in most locations, but Columbia and Quincy recorded the fifth coldest wind chills at their locations.” Mainhart said the wind chill factors are so dangerous and that is why the National Weather Service in St. Louis has issued

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CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who has made community service a hallmark of her life, issued the following statement to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of serving others: “Decades ago, Dr. King asked us one of life’s most persistent and urgent questions: ‘What are you doing for others?’” Duckworth said. “He spread the message that if America was to become the more perfect Union that generations of Americans dreamed of, it would need to value a desire to do good over a need to be great. By volunteering our time on this National Day of Service or any day of the year, we have a chance to do good in our communities. And through service, we can say a small thank you to incredible Americans, like Dr. King, and every hometown hero, every mom or uncle, teacher or clergyman who turned their compassion into action to make this nation better, safer and more just for all.”

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EDWARDSVILLE - The conflict between the Overnight Warming Location (OWL) and City of Edwardsville continues. The OWL, located at First Baptist Church at 534 St. Louis Street in Edwardsville, provides a space for unhoused community members to eat dinner, shower, sleep and have breakfast on nights when the temperature is forecasted to drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The City of Edwardsville has issued a citation requiring the church to submit a special use permit or pay $750 for every night they remain open. In a Facebook post that has over 400 comments and 1,000 shares, the OWL encouraged people to contact city officials to “speak and persist.” The OWL also shared their response to the City of Edwardsville’s request. “While we affirm and support the City’s responsibility and authority to regulate the commercial activities of businesses, it does not extend to regulating the religious activities of churches,” Pastors Drew Patton and

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WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) today congratulated the Taiwanese people following today’s successful democratic elections that resulted in a historic third consecutive term for the Democratic Progressive Party, led by President-elect Lai Ching-te and Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim, which favors strong ties with the United States. The Senators, who travelled to Taiwan in 2021 to announce a delivery desperately-needed COVID-19 vaccines, issued the following statement regarding the results: “Congratulations to the people of Taiwan on their elections. We look forward to working with the new President, William Lai Ching-te, his government and all the freely-elected representatives of Taiwan. “Just two days ago, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by nearly half its members commending Taiwan on this historic occasion. The ties between the U.S. and Taiwan are deep and strong. They have held fast

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GODFREY – Students new to Lewis and Clark Community College for the Spring 2024 semester were welcomed to campus Thursday for a New Student Orientation. About 100 new Trailblazers attended the event, where they were able to explore some of the many clubs and services available to them and speak with academic and financial aid advisors. Pictured, Student Ambassador Ben Thompson and volunteer Anthony Losch, both left, help new students find their classrooms and navigate their way around campus Spring classes begin Tuesday, Jan. 16. For more information on the programs available at L&C, contact the enrollment center at (618) 468-2222 or enroll@lc.edu . Visit us on the web at www.lc.edu .

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and 12 Senate colleagues in urging Senate Appropriations leadership to support funding for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail (IPR) grant program in the Fiscal Year 2024 spending legislation. While the committee-passed U.S. Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill included $100 million for this account, House Republicans have proposed zeroing it out, which would dramatically hinder ongoing work to improve rail infrastructure in the Northeast and across the country. The FRA recently awarded $93.6 million through this program to Amtrak’s Chicago Hub Improvement Project to revitalize Chicago Union Station. “While the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) provided five years of guaranteed funding for the Federal-State Partnership

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CHICAGO - Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 12 state attorneys general, urged the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act in the interest of public health and safety. “Illinois is one of several states that have established robust regulatory frameworks for legal cannabis sales,” Raoul said. “State-regulated cannabis industries protect consumers from the dangers of unregulated products and the illicit market. Rescheduling cannabis will remove obstacles for legitimate businesses and allow them to better collaborate with law enforcement and regulators.” In their letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, Raoul and the coalition of attorneys general explain that rescheduling cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III will allow the state-regulated cannabis industry to continue to set the standard for legal products. These businesses would be able to take ordinary

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), along with U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), in leading 22 senators in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, sounding their concerns about the Administration’s delay in finaliz i ng proposed rules to end the sale of menthol flavor in cigarettes and all flavors in cigars. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the proposed rules in April 2022, but has been working on this issue for more than a decade without finalizing a rule. “We are extremely concerned that the rule is now expected to be released in March 2024, which is two years after the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) April 2022 announcement of the proposed rule. Likewise, we are also awaiting a final rule to ban all flavors in cigars, a proposed

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ALTON - Soul Sanctuary will host their first Silent Book Club event for introverts and others who want company while reading. From 6–8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, people can come to Soul Sanctuary at Milton Schoolhouse, read and chat if they want. Stella Webb, owner of Soul Sanctuary , explained that the free event aims to provide companionship and encourage leisurely reading. “This is a whole new approach to book club,” Webb said. “It’s just more about camaraderie, more about just being around people. There’s no pressure to read the same book and have it ready by the same time.” Silent Book Clubs are gaining popularity around the world. The groups meet regularly and attendees read their own books, at their own pace, in silence for an hour. Socialization is optional after the quiet reading hour is done. As a minister and spiritual practitioner through Soul Sanctuary, Webb said she has worked with a lot of people who feel increasingly

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GRANITE CITY - Over the span of just four days, two different individuals were both charged with retail theft from the same Walmart located at 379 Pontoon Road in Granite City, according to recent Madison County felony court filings. Christine E. Weldon, 56, of Granite City, was charged with retail theft under $300. Court documents state Weldon stole clothing items with a total value not in excess of $300 on Dec. 18, 2023. Weldon had previously been convicted of Forgery on Sept. 12, 2016 in Madison County. In this most recent case, she was charged with a Class 4 felony. Court documents indicate she was released upon her signature of a Conditions of Pretrial Release Order. Four days earlier on Dec. 14, 2023, Jamiah L. Sullivan, 24, of O’Fallon, was also charged with retail theft from the same Walmart. Court documents allege Sullivan stole “toys and household goods” with a total value greater than $300. Sullivan was charged with a Class 3 felony and has since

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GRANITE CITY - A Granite City man previously convicted of a felony has been charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, according to recently filed Madison County court documents. Chistopher G. Landreth, Jr. was charged with one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon on Dec. 8, 2023. According to court documents, the felony Landreth has previously been convicted of was Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine, which he committed in 2019. Court documents also specify the weapon in this case as an RG .22 revolver. Landreth was charged with a Class 3 felony. Court documents indicate he was released upon his signature of a Conditions of Pretrial Release Order. The issuance of charges is based solely upon probable cause and is not an indication of guilt. All subjects charged with criminal offenses are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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EDWARDSVILLE – The City is asking the organizers of an overnight warming location in Edwardsville to apply for a special use permit to operate as a means of ensuring the safety of all involved. City officials have been communicating for months with the organizers of an overnight warming location at 534 St. Louis Street to help them navigate zoning processes that would apply to many property uses in that zoning district, including an overnight warming facility. City officials have made ongoing attempts since October to provide guidance on the applicable requirements and even hosted a meeting in early December between the overnight warming center organizers and concerned residents in the hopes of furthering understanding and communication. The City is not asking anything of the overnight warming location organizers that would not be required for any property use that falls outside of Edwardsville’s zoning guidelines. It is the City’s stance that a special use permit i

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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Police (ISP) is targeting vehicle theft, hijacking, and related violent crimes using a $10 million Illinois Vehicle Hijacking and Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council grant from the Illinois Secretary of State. “With the use of increased patrol presence, air operations support, automated license plate readers, investigations, and forensic services, the Illinois State Police is dedicated to stopping vehicle thefts and hijacking crimes,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. From October through December 2023, ISP missions resulted in the following: Vehicles recovered – stolen and/or hijacked 251 Stolen vehicle arrests 19 Hijacked vehicle arrests 0 Firearms seized as a result of stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery 16 Missions targeting stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery and related violent crime 53 K9 used for stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery and related violence

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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Police are advising the public about winter conditions that will create dangerous travel conditions in much of the state, with significant snow totals, severe cold and high winds continuing into the weekend. Slick and slippery conditions, reduced visibility, subzero wind chills and much longer travel times are expected. “Before heading out during any severe weather event, always ask yourself: Is this trip necessary or can it be postponed?” s aid Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman . “The team at IDOT will be out in force, but the public should be prepared for extremely difficult travel these next few days. Expect trips to take much longer than usual and please make sure you are ready should your vehicle break down.” If you must travel, please drive according to conditions, slowing down, increasing braking distances and allowing more space between you and other vehicles.

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GODFREY - Blake Sonka with Blake Sonka State Farm in Godfrey recently discussed his office’s new location on Godfrey Road and more as part of a North Alton-Godfrey Business Council Spotlight . Sonka said a new building was recently built for his State Farm office located at 3052 Godfrey Road, Unit A, directly across the street from their former location. The building, featuring white siding and a red roof, stands just south of The Plant Stand. He added that work in the parking lot is being finalized as the business officially moves into its new home. Sonka has been with State Farm since 2016, working with a different agent in Edwardsville before becoming an agent himself and opening his Godfrey office in 2019. But he said some of his team have been with the company for over 25 years and have been there for several of their customer’s major life milestones. “I have two amazing team members, Glenda and Sherry, that were there for 25 and 28 years, and

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