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MORRIS – Illinois State Police (ISP) Director Brendan F. Kelly, joined by Illinois Statewide 911 Administrator Cindy Barbera-Brelle, Grundy County Sheriff/Emergency Telephone System Board Director of Electronic Operations Chris Kindelspire, and KenCom Public Safety Dispatch Director Lynette Bergeron, today announced the first counties to go live with Next Generation 911. Next Generation 911 moves emergency response communications to a more integrated information technology network. “The safety and wellbeing of Illinoisans has always been — and will always be — my top priority,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “That’s why we are transforming our emergency response system with modern tools like Next Generation. When there’s an emergency, there’s no time to waste — and Next Generation 911 will ensure that first responders like paramedics, firefighters, and police officers have the information they need to respond quickly and efficiently.”

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For the last 28 years of my life, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of being involved, in one way or another, in the annual rite of passage that comes with becoming a sixth grader. For most of us, this momentous occasion is simply a memory that we have stored away in our minds with all the other good and bad we experienced in our middle school years. But for me, being privy to the annual event of sixth graders learning how to use a combination lock has become a pleasant highlight in my career as an educator. Now, don’t get me wrong: as a sixth-grade homeroom teacher, the actual responsibility of making certain that these students learned how to manipulate a lock was not fun. The constant forgetting of the locker combination, the failing to remember if it was left first or right first, and the ever-present question of why it was necessary to pass that second number once was sometimes daunting. As a young teacher in my twenties, I would sometimes become easily frustrated.

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ALTON - With the first day of fall less than a month away, some area residents may be wondering why construction work has not yet begun where the old Shop 'n Save Gas Station was once located. For those with high anticipation of a Starbucks coming to Alton, the word as of now is that the popular coffee house business will still locate a new store on Homer Adams Parkway, but it will not be here by fall. Alton Mayor David Goins said Monday some environmental work is being done with the soil in the area, and the new Starbucks should still locate here in 2023. "There is a lot of excitement about Starbucks coming," the mayor said. “It is still in the works. Remediation is being done and has pushed construction back. This is something that started before I was elected. I know when it finally does come, residents will be very excited, and it will be a huge hit.” Starbucks started in 1971 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market. It was here where Starbucks opened its first

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PORTAGE DES SIOUX, MO. - Last Sunday, and for the past 50 years, The Blessing of the Fleet has been held in Portage Des Sioux, Mo., in front of the Shrine Of Our Lady of the Rivers. Alton Marina General Manager Karen Baker-Brncic, her staff, and other area boaters, always participate in the event. She said the Blessing of the Fleet each year keeps all 14 Marinas in Pool 26 connected. “We are one big family!” she said. “We raised a lot of money on the river Sunday to take care of our lady on the river. It was a great day as usual.” Baker-Brncic is retiring soon as GM of the Alton Marina. A large-scale party in her honor is set for Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Marina. The Blessing of the Fleet is a tradition that began centuries ago in Mediterranean fishing communities. The practice began predominantly Catholic but is now practiced by all Christians as a blessing from the local priest and pastors that are meant to ensure a safe and bountiful season. In most ports,

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ALTON - Illinois American Water broke an abandoned water service line around 10:30 a.m Tuesday on Belle Street at 8th Street and it caused a geyser for a period of time. The Illinois American workers on site went into the deluge of water and using a hammer, drove a "cut-off" shovel handle into the pipe to stop the water flow. Water service for customers was not impacted around the area. The water line leak was fixed and the workers resumed their tasks at hand, Illinois American Water spokesperson Karen Cotton said. Illinois American Water is currently working on separating storm runoff lines from the sewage system (per their agreement when purchasing the business) on Belle Street in Alton, and other areas in Alton. One continuous problem they have is running across old abandoned water service lines, but each time, the workers find a way to alleviate the problem.

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EDWARDSVILLE - During Monday’s monthly Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 Board of Education meeting, the Edwardsville NAACP awarded each District #7 elementary and middle school a grant for purchasing books for their media centers that illustrate and educate the beauty of diversity. The year’s grant totals $3,000. “The history of the NAACP embodies the spirit of collaboration and partnership while encouraging the celebration of diversity and unity,” said Edwardsville NAACP President Walt Williams. “It is with that same spirit that we work with District #7.” Williams, along with NAACP former president John Cunningham and NAACP branch member Debra Pitts presented the check to District #7 Superintendent Patrick Shelton and Board President John McDole. “Representation matters. It is important for all our students to not only see themselves in our staff but in the library when they pick up a book,” said Cornelia Smith, Director

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EDWARDSVILLE - Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn today provided further information in reference to the two males who tragically lost their lives at a construction site located in the 100 Block East Union Street, Edwardsville. The first victim was identified as one: Cody W. Toenyes White/Male – DOB: 05/17/2000 Bethalto, Illinois The coroner said Toenyes was pronounced deceased at the scene by Madison County Coroner’s Office Investigator Kyle Burgess at 7:24 p.m., August 19, 2022. An autopsy examination was conducted and the preliminary findings for Toenyes determined his death occurred because of possible asphyxia due to low environmental oxygen and drowning. A final cause of death will be issued upon completion of routine toxicological testing. Funeral arrangements for Toenyes are under the direction of Elias, Kallal & Schaaf Funeral Home, Bethalto. The second victim was identified as one: Jack M. Pfund Male/White – DOB: 01/10/2003 Edwardsvill

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ALTON - Illinois American Water continues very active work to separate the Alton combined sewer system and install new sanitary sewers continues. The area of 3rd Street between Belle Street and Piasa Street is still closed. There is considerable digging on 3rd Street in Alton as of Tuesday. "As was expected with one of the oldest and busiest streets in the history of Alton, the contactor has encountered some challenges since excavating started on 3rd Street," Illinois-American Water said again this week. "There are numerous old, abandoned utility lines, and even an old brick cistern was uncovered last week. To support safety, progress has been slowed some, resulting in a bit of a delay." Illinois American anticipates it will finish the 3rd Street part of the project in a few weeks, then Belle Street shortly after that. Below is other information about road closures – August 22, 2022: Piasa Valley Area: 9th Street is still closed from Alton Street east to George Street.

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WOOD RIVER - Amiya Hardin, a senior girls volleyball player for East Alton-Wood River Community High School, is expected to be one of the key players for the Oilers as the 2022 season gets underway in the next week. Last season was a very good one for Hardin, as she served up 50 points and 19 aces for EAWR, along with 183 kills, 25 blocks, 15 of them solo, 12 assists, and 72 digs in helping the Oilers to a 12-24 record in 2021. She's also won many awards and honors on her team the last two seasons and has also been named Honorable Mention on both the Prairie State and Cahokia Conference All-Conference teams. For her efforts on the court, Hardin has been named a Midwest Members Credit Union Female Athlete of the Month at EAWR. Hardin, who plays for head coach Bethany Billingsley, had played volleyball since middle school and enjoys playing the sport very much. "I've been playing volleyball since seventh grade," Hardin said. "My favorite thing about volleyball is you only get better

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CARROLLTON - Several individuals in Greene and surrounding counties have been charged with crimes ranging from battery to vehicle theft over the past month, according to the latest Greene County Jail Booking Report. David Moore, 50, of Alsey, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery of a peace officer and one count of resisting a peace officer, in addition to a Failure to Appear warrant in Greene County. He was arrested by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department on August 9 and remains in custody. Robert Sprague, 49, of Roodhouse, was arrested for battery by the White Hall Police Department on August 9, but has since been released on bond. Kyle Hoffman, 29, of Kane, was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle. He was arrested by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on August 9 and has since been released on bond. Douglas Hall, 35, of Roodhouse, was arrested for retail theft by the Roodhouse Police Department on August 2 and was given a Notice to Appear

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding reports by a former senior security employee at Twitter who is alleging widespread security failures at the company: “The whistleblower’s allegations of widespread security failures at Twitter, willful misrepresentations by top executives to government agencies, and penetration of the company by foreign intelligence raise serious concerns. If these claims are accurate, they may show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world. As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will continue investigating this issue and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations.”

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CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, IL – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Radhika Fox, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Deb Shore, EPA Region 5 Administrator and John Kim, IEPA Director, toured areas of Cahokia Heights that have been hard hit with legacy flooding and sewage issues and led a roundtable discussion with local officials and community members about efforts to address environmental injustice. Also joining Duckworth, Fox and Shore were: Chris Belt, 57th District State Senator; Latoya Greenwood, 114th District State Representative; Jay Hoffman, 113th District State Representative; Mark Kern, St. Clair County Board Chairman; Curtis McCall Sr., Mayor of Cahokia Heights; Joe Ahlvin, Senior Operations Manager; of IL American Water and members of the community. Photos of today’s tour and roundtable are available here . “For too long, communities like Cahokia Heights have unfairly borne the brunt of environmental injustice, which is why

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WOOD RIVER – Today, city council member Jeremy Plank commended the City of Wood River staff for prioritizing transparency by adding to the city website: city meetings agendas a calendar of events list of current projects “one-click” electronic payment of billings “In 2021, I launched ‘A Transparent Wood River,’ a plan to make our city more accountable and accessible to its citizens,” said Plank. “I appreciate the work of city staff for helping to make Wood River a leader in transparent local government.” “A Transparent Wood River” is an initiative inspired by the Ballotpedia.com Municipal Transparency Checklist . This checklist includes common-sense items the city should disclose on its website, including the city budget, audits, meeting agendas, open records information, contracts, and lobbying information. “As a city councilman, I will continue to prioritize transparency so our residents can see their

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EDWARDSVILLE – The Madison County Coroner’s Office confirmed the names of the two workers who died after becoming unconscious while in a manhole at a construction site in the 100 block of East Union on Friday, August 19, 2022, as Jack M. Pfund, 19, of Edwardsville and Cody W. Toenyes, 22, of Bethalto. The coroner's office said both men were pronounced dead at the scene at 7:24 p.m. on Friday, August 19. The Edwardsville Fire Department said the area where the two men were found had very little oxygen and there was a buildup of toxic gases. Jack Pfund is the son of Pfund Construction CEO and President Matt Pfund. Toeneyes is a CM grad.

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CARROLLTON - Several drug-related arrests have been made by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and departments from surrounding counties over the last month, according to the latest Greene County Jail Booking Report. Pamela Gordon, 50, of East St. Louis, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of drugs and a “Failure To Appear” warrant in St. Clair County. Gordon was arrested last night at 11:40 p.m. by the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, where she remains in custody. Erica Adams, 34, was arrested by the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department last night at 9:04 p.m. and remains in custody. She was charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and illegal transportation of alcohol by a passenger. Krista Burrows, 28, of Rockbridge, was charged with posession of a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine, a “Failure

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GRANITE CITY – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today hosted a roundtable discussion with public safety leaders and officials at Granite City’s City Hall focused on the challenges our law enforcement officers face and her efforts at the federal level to ensure they have the resources they need to keep communities safe. Duckworth also spoke to the officials about her bipartisan Public Safety Officer Support Act that President Biden signed into law last week. Photos of today’s roundtable are available here . “It takes a special person to get up every day determined to keep our streets safe and protect our little ones from danger,” said Duckworth. “With the spikes in violent crime we’ve seen in communities from Highland Park to Uvalde—not just in places like Chicago as some people want you to think—this is everyone’s problem because it happens everywhere. We need to better support our officers and communities, which is

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ALTON - Amoriah Gray, the 7-year-old author of the children’s story “Amoriah’s Magic Afro Puffs,” held a book signing at the Boys & Girls Club of Alton on August 10. With this being the final stop on Amoriah’s summer book tour, her mother Angela Gray said the event was “a huge success.” “Amoriah's Book signing at the Boys & Girls Club was a huge success. Several parents purchased books and T-shirts,” Gray said. “Other parents took information cards with her website to order later. Some of the Boys & Girls staff even ordered.” In addition to copies of her book, T-shirts, coloring kits and more were up for sale at Amoriah’s latest book signing event. Gray said they also custom-made some T-shirts for the Boys & Girls Club of Alton. “To show our appreciation to the staff for everything they did for Amoriah this summer, we made shirts from our small business, Luv2Express Tees & More,” Gray said.

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WOOD RIVER - Girl Scout Troop 130 and 792 spent the last year planning, preparing, and implementing projects that both benefited Partners for Pets in Troy. Troop 130 titled their project “Shelter Helpers - A Project for Partners for Pets” and Troop 792 titled their project “Care for Critters.” Both troops learned recently that their projects met all of the requirements for the Silver Award and they will be presented their awards at the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois’ annual Recognition of Excellence Awards Ceremony in May of 2023. Troop 130 Silver Awardees are Somona Acheson of Wood River, granddaughter of Kathy Acheson, KayLynn Buttry of East Alton, daughter of Dustin and Janet Buttry, Hope Carter of Wood River, daughter of Carmen Elfgen, and Melina Luebbert of Hartford, daughter of Ted and Kristie Luebbert. Troop 792 Silver Awardees are Julia Heil of Carrollton, daughter of Jeff and Jean Heil, and Elisabeth Preston of Edwardsville, daughter of Samuel

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GLEN CARBON - Girl Scouts 193 received one of the organization's highest honors recently by earning a Girl Scout Bronze Award. Amber Donnelly, a spokesperson for Girl Scouts Troop 193, said thank you to Lowe's of Glen Carbon for donating pallets to the service project. The project was to build a goat playground and the Girl Scouts also collected $127 to donate toward the upkeep of animals at Willoughby Heritage Farm. Willoughby Heritage Farm is located on 40 acres of bluff line prairie and woodland overlooking the American Bottom at 631 Willoughby, Collinsville. The farm has more than 30 acres of wildlife preserve complete with hiking trails. Donnelly said the Girl Scouts in the troop and adult volunteers made the project a success with their dedication to the cause. For the Girl Scout Bronze Award, it is suggested a minimum of 20 hours of building a team, exploring the community, choosing a project, planning it, putting a plan in motion, and spreading the word about the project.

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ALTON - Alton’s Fall City-Wide Litter Clean-Up will be held on Saturday, September 10th from 9:00 a.m. until noon, rain or shine. The community is invited to pitch in by picking up bags, gloves, a free donut, and directions to areas that need cleaning. Registration stations are open from 8 am-12 pm and located Downtown at the corner of 3rd & Belle St., and in Middletown at Fast Eddie's Chicken at 7th and Central Ave. At 9:00 a.m., groups are departing in Upper Alton from Taqueria Maya at 621 College Ave and North Alton from Joe K’s Restaurant, located at 2530 State St. If needed, groups can pick up supplies at Great Rivers Tourism Center, or Jacoby Arts Center two weeks prior. Alternatively, volunteers can simply pick up litter in their neighborhood and deposit it in their trash & recycle bins. The bi-annual cleanups are coordinated by Pride, Incorporated, collaborating with Alton Main Street who share the vision and understanding that litter-free streets are essential

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