•July 17, 2019•
United Way of Decatur & Mid-Illinois (UWDMI) is announcing investment in multiple Moultrie County programs and is looking forward to seeing measurable, community impact following the completion of the recent Community Investment Process.
Each year, UWDMI focuses on investing in the most effective, efficient, and integrated community programs in Moultrie County — programs that are moving residents towards self-sufficiency or that are allowing residents to live independently with dignity.
While UWDMI facilitates the Community Investment Process, it is Moultrie County residents who volunteer on the investment panel that choose where to invest the community’s resources.
Thanks to the generosity of Moultrie County businesses and individuals, the volunteer investment panel was able to invest the community’s resources in six local programs for the next two years. Read More

•July 10, 2019•

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said today that his office does not share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or any other law enforcement agency on the issue of a person’s legal status in the United States.
White made his comment in response to published stories saying that ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation use photos from drivers license offices nationwide as a means to identify undocumented persons. Illinois was not mentioned as one of the participating states. White’s statement serves to underscore this fact.
“If an individual is being sought by a law enforcement agency for criminal activity, we fully cooperate with authorities, but we do not specifically disclose the person’s legal standing.”[/s2If]

•July 10, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Mattoon’s Quadrangle Book Club. The club was organized Tuesday, May 25, 1943 at a 1 p.m. luncheon in the U.S. Grant Hotel and was originally named the Quadrangle Club. By its 50th anniversary in 1993 the name had changed to Quadrangle Literary Club and around 2012 it became the Quadrangle Book Club as it is known today.
The charter members of the Club were Mrs. J. N Judt, Mrs. Joseph Heiman, Mrs. Lawrence Daily, Mrs. D.H. Bone, Mr. Horace Batchelor, Mr. A. E. Arvedson, Mrs. Alice Edwards, Mrs. Walter L. Nash, Mrs. R. E. Crum, Mrs. Clarence Warren Dole, Mrs. J. R. Hashbarger, Mrs. Newland Tutwiler and Mrs. Paul Harris.
The officers were Mrs. D. H. Bone, President; Mrs. Walter Nash, Vice President; and Mrs. A. E. Arvedson Secretary/Treasurer.
It was customary in those days to identify women by their husband’s name, and they were so recorded in all the club’s minutes from 1943 up until 1957 when their first names began appearing in the records. Even the secretary began signing the minutes with her first and last name rather than as Mrs. D. H. Bone. Read More

•July 10, 2019•

I am Heather Ethell and I am very humbled and honored to introduce myself as the new principal of Sullivan Elementary School.
Prior to working here in Sullivan, I have served as an assistant principal, instructional coach, and classroom teacher. I am not just an educator, however, I am also a mother and wife.
This coming school year, Lauren, my stepdaughter, will continue to study nursing at Richland Community College and work as a CNA at Concordia Village in Springfield.
Starting this school year, my 10-year-old daughter, Avelyn, will be starting 5th grade at Sullivan Middle School and my 8-year-old son, Jeret, will be joining me here at Sullivan Elementary School as a 3rd grader. Read More

Photo furnished
DAISY Award winner Debbie Murray, RN

•July 10, 2019•
Debbie Murray, RN, was honored with the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses at Sarah Bush Lincoln on June 18.
Murray was nominated for making a big impression on a patient who was receiving ongoing care at SBL’s Advanced Wound Center. The patient’s daughter expressed her gratitude to Murray in the following letter:
“My mother has been receiving care at the Advanced Wound Center for the past year and a half. The wound center has been a tremendous asset to me as well as my mother. Debbie has been extremely knowledgeable and helpful, not only in her wound care but in coordinating my mother’s three doctors, pharmacies, home health and assisted living nursing staff. She is so timely and efficient in what she does. In one afternoon, she had everything organized and ready to go for my mother’s PICC line, pharmacy for the medication, and home health care set up. Read More