Category Archives: Top Stories

Good Sense to See “Nunsense”

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Photo by Keith Stewart Reverend Mother Sister Mary Regina, played by Therese Kincade, gets wild after sniffing amyl nitrate, at first, by accident.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Reverend Mother Sister Mary Regina, played by Therese Kincade, gets wild after sniffing amyl nitrate, at first, by accident.

Farcical musical energetic, laugh-out-loud

By Dan Hagen
NP Theatre Critic

What’s black and white and treads all over the country?

That would be the musical “Nunsense,” a 1985 show that, with its sundry sequels and spin-offs, is really more an institution now. It’s even been converted to a drag show — “Nunsense A-Men.”

Dan Goggin’s musical didn’t start as a show, either, but as a line of greeting cards.

Its durability springs from the awe and fear Catholic schoolchildren have for nuns, and its comedy depends — as so much of comedy has from the beginning of time — on the subversion of authority figures. That subversion soothes any ill feelings left over from hands that might once have been smacked by rulers. Read More

Woman Falls From Second Story Window at Mason Point, Dies

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Dementia patient opens window, exits room

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

An elderly woman residing at Mason Point and who suffered from dementia, was found dead Friday, October 4 after appearing to have exited out a window of the second floor of the Collins building, which houses those with Alzheimer’s and other similar degenerative diseases, according to Moultrie County deputy coroner Dave Reed and Chief Deputy Sheriff Chris Sims. Read More

Suspicious Car Fire Under Investigation

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Photo by RR Best Sullivan Firefighters douse a Chevrolet Suburban after it suddenly caught fire early Monday morning in front of 315 E. Jackson. According to Sullivan Police Chief John Love, due to the suspcious nature of the incident, the Illinois Fire Marshal was called in to investigate.

Photo by RR Best
Sullivan Firefighters douse a Chevrolet Suburban after it suddenly caught fire early Monday morning in front of 315 E. Jackson. According to Sullivan Police Chief John Love, due to the suspcious nature of the incident, the Illinois Fire Marshal was called in to investigate.

Parked vehicle catches fire after sound of explosion heard

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Sullivan Fire Department was called early Monday morning for a car fire at 315 E. Jackson.

According to Sullivan Police Chief John Love, upon arriving at approximately 12:17 a.m., responders found a utility vehicle fully engulfed.

Love said that the vehicle was not running at the time of the fire and that several calls Read More

Color & Cardio Combo Helps Raise Money for Theatre

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Participants from Saturday's Dart for the Arts put a little funk in their step around Wyman Park in Sullivan.

Photo by RR Best
Participants from Saturday's Dart for the Arts put a little funk in their step around Wyman Park in Sullivan.

Skippers, walkers, and runners partake

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Parts of Wyman Park saw a colorful, if not temporary, string of runners, walkers, skippers, and the like Saturday evening for the inaugural Dart for the Arts 5k fundraiser.

Organized by Little Theatre company manager Mallory Murphy as a fundraiser for the Theatre, the event put a refreshing twist on what for some is an old habit, and for others, just plain boring.

Participants made their way through Wyman Park as volunteers hurled various colors of cornstarch at them, resulting in a rainbow of runners. Read More

After Nearly Three Years, Skatepark Officially Opens

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Photo by Darian Hays Lovington native Daniel Ledbetter was one of the first to give the new skatepark a go Monday.

Photo by Darian Hays
Lovington native Daniel Ledbetter was one of the first to give the new skatepark a go Monday.

Children in abundance Monday night for ribbon cutting

by Florence Hallford
Lovington Reporter

On January 29, 2011, two families from Lovington received news of a car accident that claimed the lives of Michael Martin and his two sons, Bryson and Braxton, as well as the children’s friend Dakota Hoffman.

As soon as the families and friends could begin coping with the loss, Chris and Candi Bennett, parents of Hoffman, began researching a way to honor the children.

Almost a year after the accident, the idea of a skatepark had surfaced, a way to reflect the childrens’ favorite activity: skateboarding. That January, the fundraising process began, and after a little more than another year, the Bennett family had raised $50,000, thanks in part to the surrounding communities. Read More

Groups File Requests for Rehearing in Ameren Transmission Line Case

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MoultrieMap

Courtesy of ATXI
The MCPO route, seen above in turquoise, redirects the transmission line almost entirely outside the county's borders.

Defend Piatt and Douglas Coalition to appeal decision on MCPO line

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The Illinois Commerce Commission may have approved parts of Ameren’s Illinois Rivers Transmission Project August 20, but various groups opposed to certain segments are fighting back with requests for rehearing.

The 330 mile transmission line that spans from Palmyra, Mo. to Sugar Creek, Ind. was approved, in part, August 20, including a segment proposed by a group of Moultrie County landowners that repositions what originally went through the county, almost entirely outside its borders. But various groups have either already filed or plan to file requests for rehearing, including the Defend Piatt/Douglas Coalition. Read More

Drying Soybeans Have Farmers Concerned

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Photo by RR Best Two dry ears of corn rest beside an already harvested plot of farmland Saturday, August 31 just north of Sullivan. The recent dry spell has prompted some farmers to take to their combines a little earlier than expected, while soybeans remain in desperate need of rain.

Photo by RR Best
Two dry ears of corn rest beside an already harvested plot of farmland Saturday, August 31 just north of Sullivan. The recent dry spell has prompted some farmers to take to their combines a little earlier than expected, while soybeans remain in desperate need of rain.

Corn looks to benefit from recent spell, yet likely to see lower market prices

by Ian Murphy
NP Contributor

Wet and dry, cool and hot, up and down.

Inconsistent weather this growing season delayed the planting of corn and soybeans and could draw the crop harvest into late October

Clint Robinson, a member of the Moultrie County Farm Bureau board, said he waited until May 15 to plant corn and waited into June to plant soybeans because of the excess moisture in the soil.

Last year he planted during the last week of March and first week of April. Read More

OV Alum Becomes Kansas State Assistant Coach

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After being a student of Bruce Weber’s at UIUC, Yoder continues to learn at Kansas

Photo Submitted Dustin Yoder (left) is seen here at Kansas State University with close friend Michael Corum. Yoder was recently promoted by Kansas State Men’s Head Basketball Coach Bruce Weber to video coordinator.

Photo Submitted
Dustin Yoder (left) is seen here at Kansas State University with close friend Michael Corum. Yoder was recently promoted by Kansas State Men’s Head Basketball Coach Bruce Weber to video coordinator.

 

by Derek Pope
Bethany Reporter

Dustin Yoder, a graduate of Okaw Valley school system, was recently given an assistant coaching position for Kansas State’s basketball program. The announcement came in late August following a move by head coach, Bruce Weber, which made Drew Speraw the director of basketball operations and Yoder the team’s video coordinator. Prior to receiving the position, Yoder was a graduate assistant during Kansas State’s groundbreaking 2012-2013 season, during which the Wildcats finished with a 27-8 overall record and received their first ever regular season Big 12 championship.

“These are well deserved promotions for both Drew and Dustin,” Weber said in an announcement. “I think staff continuity and chemistry is very important, and both guys were critical to the success we had last season.”  Read More

County Clerk England Honored with Zone Three Clerk of the Year

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Now to compete for statewide honor

Photo by Keith Stewart Moultrie County Clerk Georgia England was honored recently with clerk of the year for zone three, which comprises 21 counties in central Illinois. She will now have the chance of being selected as Illinois’ Clerk of the Year as one of four finalists. If selected, she could go on to be chosen as Illinois’ elected offical of the year.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Moultrie County Clerk Georgia England was honored recently with clerk of the year for zone three, which comprises 21 counties in central Illinois. She will now have the chance of being selected as Illinois’ Clerk of the Year as one of four finalists. If selected, she could go on to be chosen as Illinois’ elected offical of the year.

by Barry Featheringill
Sullivan Reporter

Moultrie county clerk Georgia England was overwhelmed when at the zone three monthly meeting of Illinois Association of County Clerks & Recorders (IACCR) she was named “County Clerk of the Year”. So overwhelmed in fact, that upon returning to her office in Sullivan, she almost forgot to tell her staff.

England had no idea that she would even be nominated for the honor.

Zone 3 is made up of 21 counties (of the 102 counties in the state of Illinois) covering the east central counties from Clark to Christian then north to Woodford and then back to the state line at Kankakee.

In September all 102 county clerks will be voting on the county clerks of the year from all four zones of the state of Illinois. The county clerk selected as clerk of the year for the state will then compete for elected official for the year for the entire state competing against elected officials such as county treasurer, county coroner, and circuit clerk from all four zones

In 2001, when England’s husband Gerald, who was county clerk at the time, passed away, Georgia recalls her former boss Steve Wood telling her jokingly that she could do the job as he knew her work ethic and “if she didn’t take the county clerk position, she was fired”. Read More

Moving It Out of Moultrie

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ICC approval of transmission line, denial of parts, likely to be appealed

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

MoultrieMap

Courtesy of Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois
Moultrie County, show here, went largely unaffected by the Mt. Zion to Kansas portion of Ameren's Illinois Rivers Transmission Project that was approved, in part, Tuesday morning by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

In its expected order Tuesday morning, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved the Illinois Rivers Transmission Project, including the Mt. Zion to Kansas segment that largely detours around Moultrie. The approval came in the form of issuing a certificate of public convenience and necessity, but not without condemning the 150-day expedited procedure, though legally taken by Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois to complete this process.

At the open meeting held in Chicago, the commission voted 3-1 in favor of granting the certificate to ATXI, with chairman Doug Scott the lone opposition, while commissioner John Colgan was absent. Scott did begin the discussion by clarifying that his office had four edits to the order, all of which are inconsequential to the Mt. Zion-Kansas route itself. Read More