Photo by Mike brothers

Look up at the Sun

•May 8, 2019•

By Charlie McCarthy
for News Progress

Once upon a time there were three morels living under a very large tree at the edge of an old wooded area in Sullivan.
Mushroom hunter Mortimer Snerd was coming back through the timber and almost tripped over the 10 inch morel in the photograph.
Snerd’s search continued until he also found the eight inch and four inch morels within steps of the major find.
So far Mortimer’s 10 inch morel is the largest one harvested and brought to the newspaper office this season, but the season is still young.
“Everybody wants to know where to find mushrooms, and it’s pretty easy,” Mortimer began.
“First thing you need to do is put the cell phone down.
“You have to get out in the timber and exercise in order to find mushrooms,” he continued.
“Keep walking, and when you get around a big tree, stop and look down. They will be there waiting to be picked.” Read More

•April 24, 2019•

It was a beautiful weekend for Easter Egg hunting in Sullivan and Lovington with everyone getting plenty of plastic egg filled treats and several winning grander prizes. Read More

Rover Builder Lake Atchison

•April 24, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Lake Atchison from a young age was always curious about how things worked. “He was always taking things apart and putting them back together,” mother Nicole recalled.
A 2017 graduate of Sullivan High School, Atchison, a sophomore in mechanical engineering at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, has taken his youthful curiosity to outer space.
He was a member of Southern’s Moon Buggy Design team which competed in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Competition in Huntsville, Alabama.
“The most difficult part is deciding what you think you can accomplish in the given time,” Atchison explained his team’s strategy. “You are forced to make real-time decisions so we elected to do only three tasks.”
Each team, comprised of one female and one male, is given two excursions over the course, and the higher score is taken as the final score.
The competition is more than a race. The teams have seven minutes of available oxygen in which to complete a ¾ mile, 16 obstacle course. They must also perform tasks such as gathering soil and liquid samples, planting a flag or taking solar panel pictures. Read More

•April 17, 2019•
By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress
*CORRECTION: In amending the video gaming ordinance, the vote was to limit the number of licensed establishments to two, not the number of machines. We apologize about the error.

The Bethany village hall was filled to capacity for the April 11 Board of Trustees meeting with standing room only available.
After the call to order, Gregory McLain who read a letter of resignation from Village Mayor Bill Ashley Jr.
McLain then presided as Mayor Pro Tem. He announced that the selection of a new mayor would take place in the closed session.
Trustee Jonathon Book became acting village mayor following closed session.
The American Legion requested a Class E Liquor License. They are adding gaming machines and wish to open their facility to the public. A Class E license allows the sale of liquor in addition to beer and wine as they can now do under the Legion’s existing club license.
The village has one Class E license held by The Publisher.
There was a lengthy discussion between the board and representatives from the Legion. A motion was made to approve a second Class E License but failed to pass. Read More

Kathy Best
Photo by Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times
© The Seattle Times

•April 10, 2019•

Kathy Best has honored her profession and Sullivan becoming the first director of the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland.
The Sullivan High School graduate and daughter of Best Newspapers founders Bob and Marion Best joins the Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland this spring.
Best will launch the Howard Center, a multidisciplinary program funded by the Scripps Howard Foundation in honor of Roy W. Howard.
Working with the Merrill faculty and the nonprofit student staffed, Capital News Service, Best will help train the next generation of investigative journalists at a critical time in journalism and democracy.
Best is currently editor of The Missoulian in Missoula, Montana where she moved with her late husband, two-time Pulitzer winner Andrew Schneider in 2016.
At The Missoulian, Best encouraged young reporters to pursue ideas in partnership with digital skills while establishing partnerships with the University of Montana and Solutions Journalism Network. Read More