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SWANSEA — Commissioner Dennis Blick retired Monday night, May 5, 2025, after 44 years of service to the Swansea community, the Swansea Police Department announced. At the Swansea board meeting, outgoing Mayor Mike Leopold honored Blick with a special award recognizing his leadership, dedication, and commitment to public safety. The department expressed its gratitude for Blick’s tireless service and the lasting impact he has had on the community. “Thank you, Commissioner Blick, for your tireless service and the lasting legacy you leave behind. You’ve made Swansea a better, safer place — and we will never forget it,” the department said in a statement. Blick’s retirement marks the end of an era for the Swansea Police Department, which praised his decades of commitment to the safety and well-being of residents.

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Although there won't be a parade, America's birthday party goes on with a performance from country singer Russell Dickerson and a spectacular fireworks display.

BETHALTO - Civic Memorial High School’s graduating seniors declared their next steps at CM Next Day. On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, the Class of 2025 gathered in Civic Memorial’s auditorium to celebrate their futures on their final day of school. Principal Justin Newell announced each student’s plans for after graduation, and the students cheered each other on and celebrated the end of their K–12 career. “CM Next Day is about taking ownership of your future,” Newell told students. “Whatever path you’ve chosen, please go all in.” The students had a wide range of plans for after graduation, with many students declaring nursing as their major, others enrolling in cosmetology school, and one student planning to study mortuary science. Students from Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 will be attending schools all over the country come fall. Newell expressed his pride in each senior who walked across the stage. He encouraged

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One year after a federal judge ruled Missourians were being illegally denied food aid by the state, the Department of Social Services has made “no progress” in addressing the problem, the judge wrote in a scathing order this week. “The excessive call wait times and denials based on the failure to provide a reasonable opportunity […]

St. Louis police are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating four suspects who broke into two bars last month in Midtown and Grand Center.

A St. Peters man told police he was doing "the Lord's Work" when he stole a car and crashed it at high speed. It was all in an effort, he claimed, to rid the vehicle of a "demon."

SPRINGFIELD - Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias unveiled the Springfield Flagship Center today, designed to improve the DMV experience and offer more services to Central Illinois residents. The Springfield Flagship Center, located at the site of the Secretary of State’s former driver’s facility, 2701 S. Dirksen Parkway, operated since 1975 as a standard DMV until it closed in July 2022 for renovations and repairs. The Flagship Center now offers 32 full-service counters, or more than twice as many the former facility. In addition, each of those employees has now been cross-trained, enabling them to offer drivers and vehicle services at every station, which will reduce wait times and get customers out the door faster. The employees staffing the new Flagship Center were transferred from three relocated local DMV facilities. Those facilities include the DMV facility located at 316 N. Klein Street; the DMV facility located at 1650 Wabash Avenue; and the Vehicle

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A fatal motor vehicle crash involving three vehicles occurred Tuesday evening in the 3200 block of Baumgartner Road near Blackforest Drive, St. Louis County police said. Officers from the South County Precinct responded to the scene at 6:58 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 2025, and found the crash had resulted in serious injuries to an adult female occupant of one of the vehicles. She was transported to a local hospital but later died from her injuries, according to the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Crimes Against Persons and Accident Reconstruction detectives, who are leading the investigation. The circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation, and authorities have not released additional details at this time. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

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GODFREY - Kids of all ages and the young at heart could enjoy the annual Big Truck Day at Glazebrook Park. From 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, community members could explore an ambulance, fire truck, school bus, trash truck, helicopter and more at the Big Truck Day festival. This annual event allows kids to climb into the trucks and explore them. “We’ve got a lot of different cool trucks here, and I know the kids are going to touch all of them,” said Chris Logan, Godfrey’s Parks and Recreation Director. “A lot of these kids may see them on TV or driving down the road, but they never really get to get that close to them. This is a chance for them to come out and do that.” Logan explained that this event welcomes hundreds of families every year. They also see a few school groups come through for field trips. “It’s kind of a nice thing they can have in their calendar and it’s an outdoor event they can plan

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Thousands of cases of "Yellowstone" baked beans have been recalled.

This has always been the truth. And it has always been ignored by people like Donald Trump, who combine “if it bleeds, it leads” media narratives with the always-exploitable fear of “others.” Whether a migrant is in this country legally or illegally, the odds of them committing criminal acts are much lower than those for […]

ALTON - The Three Rivers Project of Sierra Club Illinois is calling for volunteers to support the Monthly Workdays at the Wadlow Town Center’s creek restoration area, formerly the Robert P. Wadlow Municipal Golf Course in front of the Alton Regional Multimodal Transportation Center that houses Amtrak. This activity will repeat throughout the year on the second Saturday of each month, except for August, when it will be on the second Sunday. The Wadlow Workdays will give local community members the opportunity to take action to protect the environment here in the Metro East by removing litter and invasive species from the creek restoration area , and to maintain the native flower and forb gardens along the trail. Community members are invited to register for this event at https://sc.org/MayWadlow . “The Metro East is home to a unique ecosystem that contains three great rivers, oak-hickory forests, rich floodplains, and endangered nesting yellow-crowned night herons. Removing

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Police said a man broke into a home and attacked two people with a knife. One of them was able to gain control of the weapon and fatally stabbed the intruder.

BELLEVILLE/SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) announced today the expansion of the Domestic Violence Co-Location Program (DVCLP) into Sangamon and St. Clair counties. First launched in Winnebago and Lake counties in 2019 and expanded into Cook County in 2022, the DVCLP is an innovative and collaborative partnership between DCFS, domestic violence agencies and other community partners aimed at building DCFS’ capacity to effectively respond to and meet the needs of families experiencing domestic violence who are also involved with the child welfare system. Under the partnership, a domestic violence advocate employed by Sojourn Shelter and Services will be housed in the DCFS Springfield field office in Sangamon County, and an advocate employed by the Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois will be housed in the Belleville field office in St. Clair County. These advocates will consult with child welfare professionals as

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The state's newest case of the contagious disease was in New Madrid County, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said.