Riverbender 🕸

EDWARDSVILLE – Tuesday marked an eventful evening for the Edwardsville Fire Department, with a new firefighter sworn in and a current firefighter promoted. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, longtime Firefighter Joey Cruz was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, while Jacob Hatcher was officially sworn in as the department’s newest firefighter and paramedic. Cruz was honored at the last City Council meeting with an Employee Excellence Award for giving an educational fire

ALTON - The community is invited to Lincoln-Douglas Square for the 32nd annual Community Tree Lighting. Festivities kick off at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, with the arrival of Santa Claus. You can enjoy caroling, cookies, hot cocoa and speeches until 6:45 p.m., when Mayor David Goins turns on the lights on the tree. The free community event aims to bring people together, collect donations for The Salvation Army, and foster holiday spirit. “There’s all kinds of fun and

GRANITE CITY – Two area men were charged on the same day with knowingly possessing stolen vehicles, yielding felonies against both in Madison County. Jason R. Warden Sr., 45, of Granite City, was charged on. Nov. 13, 2025, with a Class 2 felony count of offenses related to motor vehicles. On Oct. 27, 2025, Warden allegedly possessed a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox bearing an Illinois vehicle registration number, which he was not entitled to possess, while knowing the vehicle to have been stolen.

ALTON - First Presbyterian Church will host the first concert in its “Music at the Riverbend” series this weekend. At 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, community members can gather at First Presbyterian for “An Autumn Serenade,” a free concert featuring musicians from across the region. The church will host several concerts throughout the next few months. Music Director Mark Brooks is looking forward to kicking off the experience on Sunday. “We’re really

O’FALLON, IL. — The hospice team of HSHS Home Care invites community members to join them at a candlelight memorial on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 5 p.m. in the HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Chapel, 1 St. Elizabeth's Blvd., O’Fallon. The service will be a time to honor and remember during the holiday season the memory of loved ones lost. Everyone attending is invited to bring a photo of their loved one for the memorial board during the event. Other candlelight memorials

JERSEYVILLE – Emergency agencies from Jersey and Calhoun Counties are inviting the public next week to share their concerns, learn about available assistance, and more following severe storms and flooding earlier this year. The City of Jerseyville announced Thursday morning that the Jersey and Calhoun County Emergency Management Agencies and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency have prepared a “Multiagency Resource Center” (MARC) which opens to the public on Tuesday,

WASHINGTON – As open enrollment for 2026 individual market health insurance plans has begun and Americans across the country are facing astronomic increases in their monthly premiums for next year, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke on the Senate floor about the health care affordability crisis, which has been manufactured by congressional Republicans as they refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits. These tax credits lower

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting. He began by commenting on the Trump Administration’s judicial nominees who received a “Not Qualified” rating from the American Bar Association (ABA). Durbin then condemned President Trump’s blanket pardon of the January 6 rioters, some of whom have

DUPO – The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that both northbound and southbound Illinois 3 will be reduced to one lane from Stolle Road to Interstate 255 in St. Clair County beginning, weather permitting, Friday, Nov. 21, for pavement patching. Motorists can expect delays and should allow extra time for trips through this area. Drivers are urged to pay close attention to detour signs in work zones, obey the posted speed limits, refrain from using mobile devices and

ST. CLAIR COUNTY - A 35-year-old Collinsville woman died Tuesday morning, Nov. 18, 2025, in a four-vehicle crash in a construction zone on Interstate 64 in O’Fallon, the St. Clair County Coroner's Office said. Courtney Brannon was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred around 8 a.m. Tuesday in the eastbound lanes of I-64 near mile marker 14, close to the U.S. 50 exit, according to St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye and Illinois State Police. Brannon was driving a Ford

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation, the FSMA Fee Technical Corrections Act , to make it easier for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct food safety inspections and recalls by collecting fees from food manufacturers and importers in order to better support the agency’s efforts to prevent foodborne illnesses. In 2010, Durbin led Congress in passing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) to expand FDA’s mission

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) and Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee—and U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) introduced two bipartisan bills aimed to help strengthen aviation safety and support our aviation workforce by fostering transparency surrounding medication guidelines, improving access to mental health care and protecting job security for our nation’s

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is accepting public comment through Jan. 31, 2026, about the abandoned mine lands reclamation projects that have been selected for work through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). IDNR’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Division has applied for $75.7 million for land and water reclamation work at 44 abandoned mine sites throughout Illinois to reclaim in the next five years. IDNR will continue to be eligible

JERSEYVILLE - Orchardist Charles Godar’s Jerseyville cooper shop suffered catastrophic fire damage on the night of November 16, 1925. For the past few months, there had been multiple break-in attempts, and Godar had replaced broken padlocks several times. No one connected with the cooper shop was there when the fire began, and authorities believed it was arson: “it was supposed that either by accident or design the person responsible for the repeated removals of padlocks caused

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in leading 24 Senate colleagues to introduce the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that will repeal a provision — quietly added into the Senate government funding bill by U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) at the last minute — that allows Senators to collect

CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Education entered into interagency agreements with the U.S. Departments of Labor, State, Health and Human Services, and the Interior as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. Under the agreements, six Department of Education offices would be transferred to agencies unrelated to educating the United States’ youth and young

EDWARDSVILLE - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville- SIUE sits atop all NCAA Division I athletic programs for Graduation Success Rates (GSR), ranking #1 nationally among public institutions in the annual report released by the NCAA on Wednesday. In the metric that tracks academic success among Division I student-athletes, SIUE is tied for first among public institutions and tied for 17th nationally. The GSR for SIUE student-athletes in the cohort is 97 overall. Seven SIUE programs earned

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At today’s Republican-led Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out her Republican colleagues for holding this highly partisan hearing in attempt to distract the American people from the pain Republicans continue to cause for millions of families by refusing to help stop ACA premiums from skyrocketing at the end of the year. To underscore the urgency of the looming health care crisis Republicans are trying to evade, Duckwort

GRANITE CITY – The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced that repairs on eastbound Interstate 270 between Illinois 3 and Riverview Drive in Missouri will require lane closures starting, weather permitting, at 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21. One lane will remain open. All lanes are expected to reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, Nov. 24. Motorists should expect delays and are encouraged to use alternate routes during this lane closure. Drivers are urged to reduce speed, be alert for changing

EDWARDSVILLE — A 43-year-old Edwardsville man was arrested Tuesday in connection with an investigation into the distribution and possession of child pornography, authorities said. Merl Lamoreaux was taken into custody following an inquiry that began Aug. 18, 2025, after the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) provided information to the Edwardsville Police Department. The investigation led to multiple charges filed by the Madison County State’s Attorney’s