News Progress

•February 20, 2019•

Moultrie County Health Dept.’s outside revenue growth helped the county’s health service agency finish the fiscal year in the black.
Health Dept. Executive Director Angie Hogan presented the annual report to the County Public, Safety and Welfare committee Feb. 6.
Hogan pointed out an $8,000 nontax revenue increase helped the Health Dept. finish the Dec. 1, 2017-Nov. 30, 2018 year $5,463.34 in the black.
Some 30 percent of the annual health dept. revenue comes from the $129,719.38 tax levy, with 70 percent from other sources. That includes $199,805.35 in state grants and contracts plus an additional $96,089.86 in miscellaneous revenue, fees and contracts.
Expenses for the fiscal year totaled $420,151.25. That included $227,077.22 in salaries, $180,527.62 operating expenses, $8,675.13 rent, utilities, waste, and $3,871.28 for equipment. Read More

Photo by Ellen Ferrera
OVES pitched in pennies to help patients. From left: Teacher Kathy Doty, Principal Heidi Vander Burgh, and Counselor Paula Coffer hold a collection box for Pennies for Patients.

Giving Back but Looking Forward

•February 13, 2019•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

OVES Principal, Heidi Vander Burgh has a theme this year of “Giving Back but Looking Forward” for her 157 students.
When the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) contacted her with their program, she saw an opportunity to implement her theme.
The LLS’s program is called Pennies for Patients, and each student is given a little cardboard box to fill with 500 pennies each of four weeks. There are various prizes the students may win depending on how much they raise each week. Read More

Helen and Eugene Rowe

•February 6, 2019•

By Jazzy Rowe
for the News Progress

Eugene Rowe is going to celebrate his 99th birthday with Ansar Shriners in Springfield.
Rowe joined the Shriners back in the 1940s with Free Masons friends, and although he hasn’t been active in the past few years, the 16th annual Ansar Shrine Chili Cookoff at Boondocks in Springfield is on his birthday Feb 17 so he figures he might go.
Gene and wife Helen lived in Sullivan since 1974 where he has enjoyed being a faithful St. Louis Cardinal and University of Illinois fan. Now Helen is gone and Jasmine, their cat of 18 years, keeps him company.
“I brought the cat home from John Carroll’s welding shop, but I made them agree to take it back if Helen didn’t approve,” Rowe says of the day he brought Jasmine home. “I took her inside and told Helen the deal I had made at the welding shop. She looked at the cat and looked at me and said ‘You’re not taking that cat back’ and Jazzy stayed.” Read More