•March 20, 2024•

Fees increasing for the 2024-2025 school year

by Ariana R Cherry

Superintendent Shannon Cheek presented the winning bid to repair the Lovington Grade School parking lot at the most recent school board meeting. The winning bid was from Dunn Construction with an amount of $437,801, which also includes a $35,000 allowance. Cheek informed the board that the bid came in about $5,000 less than what had originally been estimated. The work also includes the entire replacement of the sidewalks and curbs that lead up to the building. “It is really needed and long overdue. We hope that the work is done before school starts for the next school year. It has been a long time coming,” commented Cheek.

It was also announced that fees will be increasing for the 2024-2025 school year. According to Cheek’s research, prices have stayed pretty consistent since the 2014-2015 school year aside from lunch fees. While the prices will increase, they still will be lower than several of the surrounding school districts. Cheek stated that most fees will see about a $5-$10 increase. Read More

•March 13, 2024•

Submitted by Janet Roney

program chairman

“Tales my Grandfather Told Me” will be presented by Steve Poland at 7 pm on Thursday, March 21, at the Moultrie County History Center on 1303 S. Hamilton, Sullivan. This will be the opening program of the Moultrie County Historical and Genealogical Society’s 2024 season.  

Steve’s maternal grandfather, Ray Misenheimer, was a great story teller. About once a year, he took his grandchildren on a tour of sites in his East Nelson Township neighborhood southwest of Allenville, spinning tales about the colorful people and events from long ago as they drove along. Steve, a great story teller himself, with a good memory, will share some of these stories. The public is invited to attend.  

•March 6, 2024•

North Dean, a Sullivan High School sophomore, recently received word that the entry they submitted to the 2023 Rachel Carson Intergenerational Sense of the Wonder/Sense of the Wild Contest tied for first place in the “Essay with a Photograph” division. They worked with retired SHS English teacher Becky Lawson on an essay called “Resilient Beauty” and submitted it with a photo that they took of wildflowers, the topic of their essay.  Read More

•February 28, 2024•

by Crystal Reed

Hi, my name is Crystal Reed and I have been the Writer for the Moultrie County News Progress since late July 2020. I have recently decided to resign my position at the publication and my last day will be Friday, March 1. When I made this decision, I weighed my options and did a lot of thinking about what I should ultimately do. In the 3 years and 7 months or so that I have served in this role, I have met many people and learned so much about the communities in Moultrie County.

However let’s back up and go back to 2020 for a minute. Some people are not aware of the circumstances of how I ended up in Sullivan and at the News Progress. Shortly after the State of Illinois was shut down in 2020, I was furloughed from my employer in Effingham. I can’t express to you how difficult that was for me, it was the first time since I got out of college that I was unemployed for longer than a few months or so.  Read More