•June 24, 2020•
Lake Land College will present Wesley Wise, Bethany, with the 2020 Alumnus Achievement Award. Wise is also nominated to receive the 2020 ICCTA Distinguished Alumnus Award. Wise was recognized at the college’s Virtual Commencement Ceremony on June 18.
The Lake Land College Board of Trustees annually presents an Alumnus Achievement Award to an individual who has achieved outstanding success in his or her field of endeavor, has gained favorable statewide or national recognition or has performed services proven beneficial to society.
This year’s recipient, Wesley Wise, received the National Partnership Award from the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 2016 and the Emerging Buildings in Education Award from the Illinois Association of School Boards in 2019. Read More

•June 17, 2020•
Junior Livestock Expo to be held in September, 4-H General Project Show will proceed virtually
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Pritzker will issue an Executive Order cancelling the Illinois and Du Quoin State Fairs this year. The announcement of the cancellations has prompted the Department of Agriculture to offer a safe, creative way to ensure youth exhibitors still get a chance to showcase their hard work. The annual State Fairs, which attracted over 600,000 visitors combined in 2019, will return in August 2021. Read More

25 Years Ago This Week

Bethany High School spring awards were handed out.
In baseball the Mustangs had two players winning two awards apiece; Kevin Bowser was best pitcher and best offense award winner.
Scott Seeley was most improved and sportsmanship award winner. Adam Gurchiek was best defense and Shane Martin recognized for hustle.
In softball Amy Bagley was Most Valuable Player and highest batting average with .609.
Sam Ozier won best defense; Rebekah Steimel, most improved; Wendy Munch, best sportsman; and Jesi Brumleve the hustle award.
Track - Katie Phillips and Justin Lutz MVPs while Darla Gill won the sportsmanship award.
The Sullivan Country Club Ladies Golf Assn. held its annual meeting and awarded Jan Daily two brandy snifters from Slazenger Co. for her hole in one from last season. Her winning shot was on the fourth hole.
Behind the badge has two, now familiar, Moultrie County deputies joining the sheriff’s office. Gary Carroll of Bethany and Chris Sims of Sullivan. Read More

•June 10, 2020•
By Jim Nowlan and Robert D. Michaelson

This essay is not about who should be elected president in November, but about something arguably as important: How to avoid a sloppy election count, which could throw the nation into chaos.
Election counts have been politicized throughout American history. As we are both native to Illinois, we have beaucoup homegrown examples. Over the early history of Chicago, for example, honest elections were considered quaint. In an 1883 election in the Windy City, the second precinct of the Ninth Ward recorded 1,183 votes — from the total of 351 persons found to be living in the precinct. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and other distinguished Americans were among those who signed in as voters. Need we go on?
In 1960, most close observers concluded that intensely loyal precinct officials of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, knowing who buttered their bread, stole the election in Illinois for John F. Kennedy. JFK “won” Illinois by 8,858 votes out of nearly 5 million cast statewide, on a surge of suspicious late-night returns from Daley’s most reliable precincts. Read More

State’s COVID-19 Metrics Continue to Improve
By Jerry Nowicki
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki @ capitolnewsillinois.com

Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Insurance are calling on insurers to expedite claims and payments to businesses hit by looters in recent days.
“It is my expectation and the expectation of the Illinois Department of Insurance that insurance companies will do everything in their power to give their customers the resources they need to rebuild and get back on their feet as soon as possible,” Pritzker said. “To that end, my administration has been in consultation with major insurance companies on the quick and robust support they should provide Illinois business owners who have experienced property damage, including but not limited to riots, vandalism and looting.”
Pritzker made the announcement at a Chicago news conference Monday, where he was joined by Robert Muriel, director of the Department of Insurance.
IDOI released the Company Bulletin — a tool aimed at providing “timely, relevant, and helpful guidance” to insurance companies — requesting that insurers take specific measures to help businesses rebuild.
Per a news release from the governor’s office, insurers should “apply claims best practices consistent with the categorization of this event as a catastrophic event.” They should also expedite claims handling, and advance claim payments. Another expectation is “fair treatment of all policyholders, regardless of size.”
Insurers should also implement a moratorium on cancellations or non-renewal of impacted policyholders for 60 days and should “err on the side of the policyholder” when paying claims as a result of “riots, civil commotion, or vandalism” even if the policyholder was unable to make full premium payments during the period following the governor’s stay-at-home order.
Pritzker said as the regulators of insurers, the state has the ability to “write them up” during their licensing processes and processes of review. Muriel also said the department can levy fines and suspend licenses. Read More