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Local News

  • Despite some uncertainty, 2008 had some successes

    A word that could best describe 2008 in Vandalia and Fayette County is “uncertainty.”

    In the past year, rains that came often and early caused Fayette County farmers to be uncertain about this year’s crops.

    Area residents employed at Orgill’s distribution center were uncertain about the future of their jobs for an extended period. In July, those workers learned that Orgill will close the local center when it opens a new distribution center in Missouri.

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  • York will get to argue on conflict of interest

    A rural Ramsey man who was found guilty of first-degree murder in October will have the opportunity to argue for a new sentence.

    At a hearing on Tuesday morning, Fayette County Resident Circuit Judge S. Gene Schwarm appointed Vandalia attorney Marc Kelly to represent Michael York in future court proceedings.

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  • Warrants issued for Vandalia burglaries

    Warrants have been issued for two individuals in connection with a string of burglaries in Vandalia, and the investigation into those burglaries is continuing.

    Vandalia Police Chief Larry Eason said on Monday that his department received reports on Dec. 11 of several burglaries to vehicles and residences in an area between Fourth and Sixth streets, north of Randolph Street.

    On Dec. 17, Eason said, the VPD made a controlled buy of an item stolen during the burglaries.

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  • Statehouse will reopen

    Local residents who were excited about planning local activities at the Vandalia Statehouse to honor the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln in 2009 can now get busy making those plans.

    Vandalia Mayor Rick Gottman learned late Thursday that the state had accepted an offer from the city that allows for the reopening of the Statehouse.

    That offer includes a gift of up to about $35,000 from an anonymous donor. The money given by the individual to the Old Capitol Foundation is enough to pay the annual salary of a second employee at the Vandalia Statehouse.

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  • Jury finds Vandalia man guilty of sex crime

    A Fayette County jury last Thursday found a Vandalia man guilty of criminal sexual assault.

    That jury deliberated a little more than five hours before returning a guilty verdict in the case of Taylor D. Killen, 18.

    Killen was charged with the Class 1 felony on March 3 of this year by the office of Fayette County State’s Attorney Stephen Friedel.

    The charge alleges that Killen sexually assaulted a female under the age of 17.

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  • Firefighters quickly extinguish blaze

    Brownstown firefighters quickly extinguished a fire at the home of Anthony Lach mid-afternoon on Monday. Vandalia firefighters were called to the Lach home, located in the Brownstown Fire Protection District, south of the intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Ill. Route 185 and the 68-mile marker of Interstate 70. The VFD then had the Brownstown Fire Department dispatched. According to fire officials, Lach was soldering in the home when some insulation caught on fire.

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  • Breaking News-Wednesday at 4 p.m.---Statehouse will reopen

    Vandalia Mayor Rick Gottman announced late Wednesday afternoon that the state has accepted an anonymous donation from a local resident and will reopen the Vandalia Statehouse.

    The donation to the Illinois Historic Preservation, which is being channeled through the Old Capitol Foundation, will pay the salary of a full-time employee at the Statehouse.

    The IHPA issued the following press release on Wednesday afternoon:

     

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  • Vandalia's Looking for Lincoln exhibits dedicated

    It has only been several years since the state initiated the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition Project, bringing into the project about a dozen Illinois communities having some Abraham Lincoln history.

    And as project director Nicky Stratton met with representatives of each community, she told them that the work to better promote Lincoln’s time in Illinois would be a learning process for everyone involved.

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  • State Supt. OK's St. Elmo, Brownstown consolidation petition

    About two years after officials in the Brownstown and St. Elmo school districts began studying the consolidation of the two districts, they have been given permission to put the issue before residents of the two communities.

    Regional Superintendent of Schools for Bond, Fayette and Effingham counties Mark Drone announced mid-morning on Tuesday that the petition for a consolidation referendum had been OK’d by the state superintendent of education.

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  • New Vandalia school tax levy OK'd

    Following a 45-minute public hearing in which four individuals expressed their concerns about rising school taxes, the Vandalia Board of Education on Tuesday passed a levy that asks for a 6.32-percent increase in property tax assessments for residents of the district.

    State law requires such a “truth in taxation” hearing anytime a district’s taxation level increases by 5 percent or more.

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