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LOUISIANA, MISSOURI — The Louisiana City Council will consider several personnel, legal and utility matters during its regular meeting Monday evening. Council members are scheduled to consider a contract for continued legal representation in a lawsuit filed against the city by Bryan Spencer. Bill Number 7260 would authorize Mayor Mark Haddock to execute an agreement with attorney Kevin A. Richardson and the law firm of Zick, Voss, Politte, Richardson and Brinker to continue d

ALTON, ILLINOIS — A Carrollton man was arrested by police Thursday following an online sting in Alton involving allegations that he attempted to meet someone he believed was underage. Aaron G. Settles was taken into custody by officers at the scene on July 31. Video of the encounter shows police placing Settles in handcuffs and leading him away. The operation reportedly involved online communications conducted through a decoy account before a meeting was arranged in Alton. Sp

BARRY, ILLINOIS — The 36-day strike at the Ascend Wellness cannabis cultivation and processing facility in Barry has ended after employees overwhelmingly approved their first collective bargaining agreement. Teamsters Local 916 representatives said all 279 eligible and available union members participated in the ratification vote. The agreement was approved by a vote of 224 to 55, meaning just over 80 percent of those casting ballots supported the contract. More than 300 unio

PERRY, Ill. — A Perry man is being held in the Pike County, Illinois Jail following his arrest Sunday night on domestic battery and parole-related charges. Phillip Embree, 35, was taken into custody after a family member contacted authorities at approximately 8 p.m. to report a disturbance involving Embree, his girlfriend, and his parents. Embree is charged with unlawful restraint, resisting arrest, violating the conditions of his parole, and two counts of aggravated domestic

LOUISIANA, Mo. — A lead generated by a Flock Safety license plate reader helped Louisiana police identify the driver involved in a July 8 hit-and-run crash that caused more than $3,400 in damage to a parked vehicle. The collision happened in the parking lot of a Louisiana business. Surveillance video captured the crash, but investigators were initially unable to clearly identify the suspect vehicle’s license plate. During the follow-up investigation, officers reviewed informa

LOUISIANA, Mo. — The Louisiana Police Department is responding to renewed questions and rumors about the city’s automated license plate reader cameras, clarifying both the number of cameras in operation and how the technology is used. Police say the City of Louisiana operates seven Flock Safety cameras, not 14 as some social-media posts and comments have claimed. Additional cameras in the area are operated by another law enforcement agency and are not owned or funded by the c

BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — The 2026 Pike County, Missouri Fair opens today at the Pike County Fairgrounds in Bowling Green, beginning five days of livestock competition, carnival rides, motorsports and family entertainment. Tuesday is Kids Night, with children age 12 and younger admitted free. Opening-day activities include the poultry show at 9 a.m., goat and sheep shows beginning at 5 p.m., the Little Mr. and Miss Pike County contest at 6 p.m., motocross dirt bike racing at 7 p.m

PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Several arrests involving allegations of violent crime, burglary and methamphetamine possession were reported by the Pike County, Illinois Sheriff’s Department for the week of July 20 through July 26. Phillip L. Embree, 35, of Perry, was booked July 26 on two counts of aggravated domestic battery, along with domestic battery, unlawful restraint and resisting arrest. Embree was also being held on an Illinois Department of Corrections warrant alleging a viola

BARRY, Ill. — The labor dispute at Ascend Wellness in Barry remains unresolved, with more than 300 Teamsters Local 916 members continuing their unfair labor practice strike that began June 25. Workers are seeking their first union contract and say negotiations have stalled over wages, health insurance costs, overtime, and what they describe as the company's failure to bargain in good faith. Union officials also allege retaliation against workers involved in organizing efforts

ATLAS, Ill. — Four people were injured Friday evening following a head-on collision involving a passenger vehicle and a semi tractor-trailer on U.S. Highway 54 near Atlas. According to the Pike County, Illinois Sheriff's Department, deputies were dispatched at 7:54 p.m. Friday to Atlas Hill, about one mile east of Atlas, after receiving reports of a head-on crash involving the two vehicles. The preliminary investigation indicates the driver of the passenger vehicle crossed th

HARDIN, Ill. — The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office has announced that Deputy Jeremy Gwartney has accepted a full-time position with the department following a new policing agreement with the Village of Hardin. Gwartney was sworn in as a deputy on May 12, 2026, by Judge Charles H.W. Burch and was initially hired on a part-time basis. He transitioned into the full-time role after the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office and Village of Hardin signed an intergovernmental agreement on

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A former Dot Foods employee from Winchester has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the Mount Sterling-based food distributor of failing to pay hourly workers for all time worked. Brenden Clanton filed the lawsuit July 13 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. He is represented by attorney Robi J. Baishnab of Nilges Draher LLC, an Ohio employment-law firm. According to the complaint, Dot Foods allegedly viola

BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is seeking disciplinary action against the peace-officer license of a Pike County sheriff’s deputy accused of misrepresenting details surrounding a 2024 arrest. A complaint filed July 15 against Deputy Christina Moser alleges she included inaccurate information in a probable-cause statement following the February 4, 2024, arrest of a motorist accused of driving the wrong way on U.S. Route 61. According to the complai

PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — Pleasant Hill Community Unit School District Number Three has received a $25,000 grant from the Tracy Family Foundation to support its Literacy Excellence Initiative. District officials say the funding will help strengthen literacy instruction and support the continued use of high-quality teaching practices throughout the school system. The grant will be used to improve reading achievement, strengthen classroom instruction and provide additional literacy

HARDIN, Ill. — The Village of Hardin and Calhoun County have signed an intergovernmental agreement that will add another full-time deputy to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office. Under the agreement, the Village of Hardin will pay for the additional deputy in exchange for 40 hours of scheduled police protection each week and extra patrols within the village. The agreement increases the sheriff’s office from four full-time deputies and the sheriff to five full-time deputies and

PITTSFIELD, Illinois — A federal judge has dismissed, for now, a lawsuit filed by a state prisoner against the city of Pittsfield, Pike County and several current and former county prosecutors. John Resor, 36, of Quincy, was convicted in Pike County in 2022 of aggravated domestic battery and two counts of aggravated battery. The two aggravated battery convictions later were vacated by an appellate court after judges found that Resor’s attorney provided representation that fel

MEREDOSIA — Village officials plan to test assigning a Meredosia police officer to the Meredosia-Chambersburg school several days a week while keeping the officer available to respond to calls elsewhere in the community. Police Chief Derek Suttles recommended that the village not sign a memorandum of understanding with the school district for a dedicated school resource officer. Under the proposed agreement, the district would pay half of the officer’s salary, but the officer

GRIGGSVILLE, Illinois — A missing 17-year-old with autism was found safe Monday night following an extensive search involving law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency personnel and community volunteers. The Pike County, Illinois Sheriff’s Department was notified at approximately 5:40 p.m. that the teenager had been missing from his home on South Stanford Street for more than an hour. Multiple agencies and volunteers responded and searched Griggsville and the surround

MEREDOSIA, Ill. — Meredosia-Chambersburg school officials say a masked man broke into a contractor’s trailer on school property, marking the district’s second break-in in about a month. Principal Kirk Graham told the school board that surveillance video shows an older man wearing a hood and face covering using bolt cutters to break the lock and latch on a box trailer behind the school. The trailer belongs to a company completing roof work at the school and was being used to s

WINCHESTER, Ill. — Winchester Community Unit School District has approved naming its new multipurpose building the Kerr Ballard Legacy Center following a $1 million donation that will cover most of the project’s cost. The anonymous donation came from a Scott County, Illinois couple who had a close relationship with James “Kerr” Ballard, an 11-year-old former Winchester student who died in an ATV accident nearly five years ago. The donors requested that the money be used speci