QUINCY, ILLINOIS — Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in Quincy is now holding a ticket worth more than one billion dollars. The Illinois Lottery confirmed Thursday that the sole jackpot-winning ticket for Wednesday night's $1.04 billion Powerball drawing was purchased at the Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh at 310 North 36th Street in Quincy. The ticket matched all five white balls — 4, 26, 66, 67 and 69 — along with Powerball 9. The August 12 drawing ended a run of more than three mo

PIKE COUNTY, Ill. — Authorities have identified the teenage driver killed Thursday morning in a fiery collision involving a Pleasant Hill School District bus in rural Pike County. Pike County Coroner David Greenwood identified the victim as Isabella R. Johnson, 16, of Rockport, Illinois. The crash occurred on U.S. Route 54 west of 165th Avenue, approximately three miles from Atlas. Preliminary information from Illinois State Police indicates the school bus was slowing to pick

BARRY, Ill. — A teachers union representing employees in the Western Community Unit School District is asking a longtime School Board member to resign and is calling on the board to consider formally seeking his removal from office. The Western Education Association has filed a uniform grievance accusing Board Secretary James Broeckling of violating district policies governing board member conduct. Athena LaReau, an Illinois Education Association UniServ Director speaking on

BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — The City of Bowling Green is asking the community to help create a permanent downtown tribute to one of Pike County’s most accomplished native sons — legendary basketball coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. The city is raising private donations for a life-size bronze statue of Fitzsimmons that would be placed on the southwest corner of the downtown square beside the Bowling Green Annex Building. According to city officials, no taxpayer money will be used for the pr

CARROLLTON, Ill. — A Greene County man has been sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to a felony methamphetamine possession charge. Greene County State’s Attorney Craig M. Grummel announced that 57-year-old Donald G. Dawson was sentenced Monday, August 10, after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case stems from an April 12 incident in Greene County in which Dawson was found in pos

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Rural ambulance services across Illinois will have more options for keeping emergency crews on the road under a new state law aimed at easing staffing shortages in smaller communities. House Bill 5446, sponsored by State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer of Murrayville and State Senator Steve McClure of Springfield, allows qualifying rural and semi-rural ambulance services to use part-time employees along with volunteers and paid-on-call workers. The change

MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — Mount Sterling is partnering with the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority on an effort to turn long-vacant properties into new homes, with three city lots selected for the first round of development. The project is part of the land bank’s “Vacant Lots to New Homes Initiative,” which is designed to make it easier and less risky for developers to build housing on unused property in smaller communities. The three Mount Sterling properties are located at 5

WINCHESTER, Ill. — A 75-year-old Winchester man was arrested Monday after a private online predator-catching group says a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy engaged in sexually explicit conversations with him and investigators were provided the alleged communications. Gilbert E. Wellenreiter of Winchester was arrested by Winchester Police and the Scott County Sheriff’s Department on allegations of grooming and indecent solicitation of a minor. Jail records show Wellenreiter wa

LOUISIANA, Mo. — Louisiana City Councilman Woodrow Polston is raising a new question in the city’s ongoing debate over Flock Safety license plate-reader cameras: whether the agreement was ever formally approved by the Louisiana City Council. In a public statement Friday, Polston said he has found no record showing that council members voted to authorize the Flock camera contract before the system was placed into use. “Here is the bombshell about our Flock cameras in Louisiana

LOUISIANA, MISSOURI — Louisiana City Councilman Woodrow Polston is asking residents whether they would support keeping the city’s Flock Safety license plate reader cameras if access to stored camera information generally required a search warrant. Polston previously proposed removing the cameras, but said Saturday that he was contacted by a retired military police officer and former Pike County detective who encouraged the city to consider additional safeguards rather than el