Local News

Two people died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle accident south of Vandalia on Saturday afternoon.

According to the Illinois State Police, the accident resulted in the deaths of Roger D. Johnson, 62, of Taylorville, and Betty G. Bowker, 72, of Edinburgh, Ind.

Johnson was the driver of one of the vehicles involved in the accident, and Bowker was a backseat passenger in the vehicle driven by Kimberly M. Streeval, 44, also of Edinburgh.

The words “hero” and “role models” are “bandied about kind of carelessly,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said in Vandalia last Wednesday.

Many times, a hero is described as a professional baseball player who hits a home run in the ninth inning, Quinn said while speaking at the unveiling of the “Portrait of a Soldier” memorial at the Kaskaskia College Vandalia Campus.

The Vandalia Main Street is looking for hay bales and corn stalks for next week's Corn Day celebration.

Anyone who is willing to donate or sell hay bales and corn stalks at a reasonable price should contact the Main Street office, 283-8751. Main Street needs about 90 hay bales.

Jarrod Snow, a student at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville who is serving an internship with the office of Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, sets up the "Portait of a Soldier" memorial exhibit at the Kaskaskia College Vandalia Campus on Monday. The exhibit, which includes portraits of 191 Illinois soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001, by Cameron Shilling. Quinn, along with some of the parents whose children are included in the exhibit, visited the KC Vandalia Campus on Wednesday afternoon to unveil the portraits.