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To accommodate bridge painting, crews at 7 a.m. Monday will close the ramps from southbound I-255 to eastbound I-55/70 and from northbound I-255 to westbound I-55/70.

While no one sings like Chris Cornell anymore, there's a new collectible figure that certainly looks like him. Music merchandising company KnuckleBonz is releasing a mini statue of the late…

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A 2019 change in state law barred state officials from accepting gifts but it didn't apply to local elected officers like mayors and county executives

The Rolling Stones have shared a newly restored music video for "Child of the Moon," the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards-penned track that was a B-side to the hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Originally shot in 1968…

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The Illinois Caverns are open again for the season. The cavern season is from Sunday, April 23 to the end of October.

O'FALLON, Mo. -- Firefighters got a call from a concerned citizen Thursday about a duck hanging out by a sewer gate. They found baby ducks in the sewer. The first responders were able to save the ducklings. Pictures of the family reunion and rescue were posted to the O'Fallon Fire Protection District's Facebook page Friday.

The Army veteran and country hitmaker is coming to Chesterfield April 28.

EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville baseball senior Riley Iffrig is one of the of the most important players on the club and is also one of its leaders. currently hitting .340 and it tied for the team lead in home runs with Cole Funkhouser with four each and also is the team leader in RBIs with 24. In a game on Apr. 18 against Collinsville at Tom Pile Field, Iffrig set the tone for the game with a two-run homer of the right center field fence in the Tigers' 9-3 win, then the next day at Fletcher Field, he drew a walk and scored in Edwardsville's 12-0 win over the Kahoks. For his efforts both on and off the field, Iffrig has been named an iCAN Clinic Male Athlete of the Month. Iffrig, who plays for head coach Tim Funkhouser, felt strong after the first win over Collinsville, especially coming off a 5-1 loss to Jackson, Mo. on Apr. 16 in the Tigers' annual game at Busch Stadium. "I'm feeling good," Iffrig said in his postgame interview. "It was good to get out here and get a win, especially

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BENTON – A U.S. District judge sentenced a St. Louis woman to 12 months and one day in prison after she admitted to visiting Metro East credit unions and using fake identification documents to take out loans. Toneka D. Prince, 20, pled guilty to one count of falsely obtaining property owned by a financial institution and one count of aggravated identity theft. Prince was ordered to pay $9,800 in restitution, and after completing her prison sentence, she will serve two years of supervised release. U.S. Secret Service led the investigation with contributions from the Glen Carbon and O’Fallon police departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter T. Reed prosecuted the case. On June 24, 2022, Prince visited the First Community Credit in Glen Carbon to collect the cash from the approved loan. She presented a fake Illinois driver’s license with a victim’s real identifiable information and successfully obtained a cash loan of $9,800. She was not authorized to use the individual’s

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Rep. George Santos remains a fascinating study in how far you can get if you have zero shame about just making shit up constantly. By now you must know his backstory (er… stories) and how basically nothing he seems to say checks out. And now he’s actually trying to get legislation passed. Specifically he’s announced […]

by Anita Lee, Sun Herald

This article was produced by the Sun Herald, which was a partner in the Local Reporting Network in 2022. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

Mississippi has pumped millions of dollars into its declining oyster industry, hoping to revive what was once a dominant trade. But in a nod to reality, the state is about to move in a decidedly different direction: scaling back government efforts and leasing to private industry water bottoms where oysters grow.

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources currently manages and maintains most of those water bottoms, opening them to the public only when enough oysters are available for harvest. But there has been no such harvest on public reefs since 2018 because oysters are too scarce. Under a new law recently signed by Gov. Tate Reeves, Marine Resources will maintain only about 20% of permitted reef acreage for potential public harvest. The rest will be available for private lease.

The shift comes after a series of natural disasters, beginning with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, decimated Mississippi Sound reefs where oysters settle and grow to adulthood. The reefs are ecologically important to the Mississippi Sound and also once contributed millions of dollars a year in sales to the state’s economy.A recent investigation by

ProPublica and the Sun Herald, however, showed that the state’s efforts to address the crisis have fallen short. It found that Mississippi has spent more than $55 million to rebuild reefs since 2005, but did so in ways that did not respond to changing conditions.

The Department of Marine Resources, which regulates and oversees the state’s oysters and has advocated for more private leasing of reefs, has said it doesn’t have the money or staffing to maintain more than 8,112 acres of public reefs in today’s climate.

State Sen. Mike Thompson, of Pass Christian, who authored the bill, said he hopes private industry is able to replenish reefs in a commercially viable way, while also improving the overall health of the Mississippi Sound. “My hope is that water quality and habitat issues in the Sound will start getting right,” he said.

Thompson said he used the state of Louisiana’s more extensive private leasing program as a model for the Mississippi legislation. In Louisiana, private oyster grounds have rebounded from disasters because leaseholders can act quickly to restore damage and spend more time maintaining their investments.

Mississippi previously had a private leasing program for oyster farming, but most of the leased water bottoms were not being maintained. The approved legislation mandates that farmers work their leases or risk losing them. But it also gives oyster farmers more time to build up reefs, with 15-year leases as opposed to the current five-year lease terms. Leaseholders also will have first right of renewal on their water bottoms.

Thompson said Marine Resources has already mapped out lease areas where it will keep control and maintain established reefs. And it will put the revenue it receives from the leases toward oyster restoration projects. The law also sets out a process for Marine Resources to enter into and enforce the leases.

Joe Spraggins, executive director of Marine Resources, hopes the lease program will be in place by August. The agency will advertise for lease proposals and evaluate them with names of applicants removed, so the process will be fair, he said.

The state has traditionally used fresh shell or limestone to replenish the reefs created by oysters. But farmers put more effort into their reefs, planting shell or rock and raking or turning the material at intervals so that oyster larvae have clean surfaces to settle on.

Ryan Bradley of the nonprofit organization Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United expects interest in leasing to be high. He said he hopes Marine Resources will be transparent in setting up the lease program by notifying the public that it is available and posting information on its website.

Metallica's 72 Seasons video saga has come to an end. Since dropping their much-anticipated new album Friday, April 14, the metal legends have premiered a new visual every day to…

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GRANITE CITY - In honor of former Granite City High School and Grigsby Intermediate School Social Worker Christy Dawson , Grigsby will be celebrating its Second Annual Christy Dawson Kindness Week on April 24-28, 2023. Dawson passed away on March 31, 2021 after a battle with cancer. To ensure Dawson's legacy of kindness lives on, Grigsby has a week planned with fun events for students and staff: Monday - Be Kind to the Environment Wear brown, green or Earth Day shirt Pick up trash, plant flowers, make a birdhouse Walk more, drive less Make a craft with recycled materials Tuesday - Be Kind to animals Wear a shirt with an animal on it or animal print Make toys to donate to a pet shelter Help care for your pet Learn and educate others how our trash affects animals Wednesday - Be Kind to Self Exercise for 15 minutes Avoid complaining List 5 things you are thankful for Learn how to meditate or do yoga today Thursday - Be Kind to Family Help with dishes

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Bost voted today to preserve opportunities for women and girls in school sports. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act clarifies that schools receiving federal education funding would be in violation of sex discrimination laws if they allow biological males to compete in athletics designated for females. “Many parents are fed up with the far left pushing a gender identity agenda that’s out of touch with our values,” said Bost. "It is wrong to force women and girls to compete against biological males in school sports that were specifically designed for females. I have seven granddaughters, and I want to do everything I can to value them, empower them, and encourage them to achieve their dreams. For that reason, I voted to ensure that women and girls have a fair playing field in school sports.” The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which Bost cosponsored, passed the House 219-203.

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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate fell -0.1 percentage point to 4.4 percent, while nonfarm payrolls increased by +7,900 in March, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. The February monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +10,700 to +8,100 jobs. The February revised unemployment rate was 4.5 percent, unchanged from the preliminary February unemployment rate. The March payroll jobs estimate and unemployment rate reflect activity for the week including the 12th. In March, the industry sectors with the largest over-the-month gains in employment included: Professional and Business Services (+3,000), Leisure and Hospitality (+3,000), and Government (+1,600). The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll declines included: Manufacturing (-1,400), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-500), and Information

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CHICAGO - Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 18 states, today called for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles following the companies’ continued failure to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of vehicle thefts. The letter , sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), encourages the NHTSA to recall unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022 that have easily-bypassed ignition switches and lack engine immobilizers that make the vehicles vulnerable to theft. In a letter issued in March 2023 , Raoul and a coalition of attorneys general urged the companies to take stronger steps to address the safety concerns caused by vehicles’ vulnerability to theft. Because the companies have failed to address safety issues, Raoul and the coalition are now calling on the NHTSA to step in. The attorneys general argue that the vehicles’ systems remain out of compliance with federal standards an

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