Sara Rutledge
Sara D. Rutledge, 78, of Sullivan, passed away at 12:35 a.m., Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon. Read More
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Obituaries 1-25-2023: Erica Peters
Erica Peters
Erica Lynn Peters, 35, of Mattoon, passed away at 4:36 a.m., Saturday, January 21, 2023, at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield. Read More
Obituaries 1-25-2023: Paul Meredith
Paul Meredith
Paul R. Meredith, 87, passed away Sunday, January 15, 2023, in Ormond Beach, Fla. Read More
Obituaries 1-25-2023: Ruth McCorvie
Ruth McCorvie
Ruth H. McCorvie, 99, of rural Bethany, passed away at 2:50 a.m., Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at Heritage Manor in Mt. Zion.
Private family services will be held with a public Celebration of Life at a later date. Burial will be in Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. Memorials may be made to the USO, Wounded Warriors Project or to the Bethany American Legion Auxiliary. Read More
Obituaries 1-25-2023: Velda Betzler
Velda Betzler
Velda LaVerne Betzler, 91, of Sullivan, passed away at 12:20 a.m., Saturday, January 21, 2023, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur. Read More
Students Recognized for Graduation
•January 25, 2023•
Lakeview College of Nursing recognizes students who recently received their academic degrees. Area graduates include the following:
Deanna Braden of Sullivan. Braden graduated and earned a bachelor of science in nursing degree through the college’s Charleston location. Braden is a 1990 graduate from Sullivan High School in Sullivan. She also previously earned two associate degrees from Lake Land College. She is the daughter of Clifford (Gene) and Mary Kirkwood of Bethany, and Charlie and Charolette Baxter of Mattoon. Read More
City Council Approves Professional Services Agreement for Wyman Park Improvements
•January 25, 2023•
by Crystal Reed
The Sullivan City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, January 23, with Commissioner Chuck Woodworth absent. They approved a professional service agreement with Chastain and Associates LLC for $83,850 for Wyman Park improvements, including a splash pad and tennis and basketball court improvements. This amount will be taken from the OSLAD grant the city was awarded.
Sullivan Fire Chief Larry Edwards requested TIF funds for the purchase of some engines to replace their aging fleet. Currently, they have a 26-year-old engine and a 20-year-old engine. The average life span of an engine is 20-25 years. Read More
Moultrie Moment of the Week
Pictured above is Stubblefield’s dealership on W. Jackson Street in Sullivan around 1963. Please submit photos to the News Progress for future consideration. Originals will be saved for return or forwarded to Moultrie County Historical Society. If you have any other information, please contact the Moultrie County Historical Society at 217-728- 4085.
‘Redundancy’ Argument Worth Repeating
•January 25, 2023•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer
In last week’s column I fielded a letter from a reader who feels headlines are often unfair to trains or, presumably, the engineers who operate them.
That’s understandable, given that trains cannot stop on a dime or swerve to avoid collisions. And that leaves people crossing tracks or their vehicles generally at fault when a train comes into contact with someone or something.
Former state Rep. Paul Froehlich came up with a few options he thought would cast the train and engineer in a better light:
• “Car stopped on tracks causes train collision”
• “Truck driving around lowered gate gets hit by train”
• “Train hits pedestrian running across tracks” Read More
ALAH School Board Approves to Seek Bids for High School Track Repair
•January 25, 2023•
by Ariana R. Cherry
"The track is not in good shape. It is beyond repair and beyond “sticking band-aids on it,” Superintendent Shannon Cheek said at the most recent ALAH Board of Education meeting. Cheek informed the board that the district has two options in repairing the track. One option is to take down the track and do minor repair for the subsurface and then go back and resurface the track. That option would make the track last awhile. The most expensive option would be taking the subsection down and repouring the track which would cost double. A motion was passed to allow Cheek to seek bids for the repairing of the track.
Those in attendance at the meeting got to see a drone in flight. Agriculture teacher Megan Beckmier had a couple of her students (Brodey Lowden and Nova Shoemaker) give a drone demonstration. She stated that there are a lot of opportunities with drones for agriculture. Her class has been learning about drones through a program called 4H Drones in Agriculture through the University of Illinois. The class is allowed to use the drones for four weeks. At the end of the program, students will get to create an obstacle course and fly it. Read More