Category Archives: Top Stories

Sullivan Schools Commended Once Again

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Earn performance award for 12th yearBrightStar scores2

by Jake Dilley
Reporting in Sullivan

Sullivan Schools have gone above and beyond to receive the SchoolSearch 2013 Bright Star Award for the 12th time in the last 13 years.
This year, Sullivan joined 90 other Illinois school districts (out of 866 districts) in receiving the Bright Star Award, which looks at districts whose students’ academic performance ranks in the upper one third of Illinois school districts but whose expenditure per pupil ranks in the lower one-fourth of Illinois school districts for the previous school year. Read More

Get Ready to Round Up! Round Two

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roundupfoodpantrySecond annual food pantry fundraiser hopes for success

by Christina Whitford
Sullivan Reporter

Imagine having to make the agonizing decision each month of how to provide food, utilities or medication for your family. For some families this scenario is often times all too familiar. But beginning the first full week in November, the IGA Round-Up, now in its second year, hopes to once again counteract this dilemma.

According to a recent study by Feeding America, 13.18 percent of residents of Moultrie County are food insecure, which means more than 1,800 of your neighbors may have to miss a meal or may struggle to provide a meal. But to counter that, many area people, businesses and organizations have come together to give back and insure that those in our community can provide these basic needs of life for their families.  Read More

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