46-year-old Jason Cox of Mt. Carmel has been sentenced to 6 years in prison on a meth possession charge. Cox was arrested last May by Mt. Carmel Police following a traffic stop in the 1300 block of West 9th Street. After K-9 KiKi alerted to the presence of narcotics in Cox’s vehicle, officers found a clear bag of suspected meth that later field tested positive for meth. He was released after being taken to jail and processed and given a notice to appear. But Cox failed to appear in court and was again arrested by MCPD in July on an FTA warrant. Appearing in court Monday, Cox was sentenced to the six-year term in the DOC on the Class 2 felony. He’ll be on one year of parole after his release.
Louisville man arrested for DUI and Reckless Driving
On April 2, 2025, at 3:42 p.m. Oakland City Police Chief Tim Gaines was conducting traffic control at the intersection of Morton Street and Franklin Street in Oakland City while students from the East Gibson School Corporation were being released from school. While directing traffic Chief Gaines observed a Black Ford Ranger traveling at well above the 25 mph speed limit and noticeably faster than other traffic. Chief Gaines stopped the vehicle and requested additional units while he placed the driver 25 year old Chance Roberts of Louisville, Kentucky into custody.
At the same time Gibson County Central Dispatch received a report of a suicidal subject who had taken a gun from the caller and left. Multiple officers were sent to the area, and when Deputy Wyatt Hunt arrived on scene he spoke with Mr. Roberts. While speaking with Mr. Roberts Deputy Hunt detected the odor of alcohol coming from the driver. At that point Deputy Hunt began a roadside DUI investigation. During the investigation a vehicle inventory was conducted of the vehicle in preparation for a tow truck to come take possession of the vehicle. As result of the inventory the missing handgun was recovered. Ultimately Mr. Roberts was taken into custody and transported to the Gibson County Jail where he was charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and Reckless Driving.
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Arrest made in fatal crash investigation
Multiple Deputies with the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office went to a residence in the 4800 block of North 200 West in rural Patoka to serve an arrest warrant on 41 year old Justin Hill Driving Under the Influence of Drugs. On January 24, 2025, Mr. Hill was involved in a fatal motor vehicle accident where it was determined that his Red Cadillac CTS failed to yield the right of way when crossing US 41 at Old US HWY 41 and the vehicle struck a Ford Escape that was Southbound on US 41. Deputy Wyatt Hunt worked the fatal accident and following department policy each driver submitted to a chemical test. Ultimately Mr. Hill’s chemical test indicated that he was under the influence of Methamphetamines. Deputy Hunt then submitted charging paperwork and ultimately received a warrant for Mr. Hill’s arrest.
Mr. Hill was taken into custody and transported to the Gibson County Jail where he was charged with Driving Under the Influence of Drugs.
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law
Students, women in trades advocate for more career and technical education
New study identifies unpaid internships, underrepresentation as barriers to entry
By JESSIE NGUYEN
& BRIDGET CRAIG
Medill Illinois News Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Argo Community High School sophomore Luciana Deir wants to go into construction after she graduates. Her classmate, Angelica Turza, wants to work in advertising and graphic design.
To get themselves on those paths, earlier this school year they tried to enroll in career and technical education, or CTE, classes at their school in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, even if it meant skipping lunch to fit these courses into their schedules.
“Are you sure you’d be interested in that?” was one of the things Deir said she had heard from the school’s academic counselors.
“Students are discouraged to take certain CTE classes – especially female (students) – in things like cars and autos … things that are seen as more masculine,” said Turza.
Deir agreed, adding she felt the discouragement from adults “takes away your potential.”
“Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you have less potential than a man,” she said.
Both enrolled in the CTE classes anyway. Then they took their concerns to the Capitol.
Deir and Turza were two of about 100 high school students from around the state who met with lawmakers in Springfield last month to call for more support and funding for CTE opportunities in high schools, vocational schools and career centers. The meetings were part of the 2025 AMPLIFY Conference by SkillsUSA Illinois, the Illinois chapter of a national nonprofit aimed at preparing students for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.
They also called to attention the need for more equitable opportunities for women in the trades, thus encouraging more female participation in the field.
A recent statewide study by SkillsUSA Illinois found high school students now have more work-based learning opportunities like apprenticeships and CTE programs than when the state implemented a plan to increase CTE opportunities in 2019 spurred by a federal law. But the study also highlighted continued barriers to entry into the trades, including unpaid internships and minority-based disparities, such as low participation from female and non-white apprentices in certain fields, continue to be barriers to entry into the trades.
The study was a joint effort by SkillsUSA Illinois and the P-20 Research and Data Collaborative at Northern Illinois University to assess the work-based learning landscape for high school students. Eric Hill, executive director of SkillsUSA Illinois, said the study indicates that school-based programs could use more support.
“We need to find champions in our local districts and give those champions resources to be able to better expand opportunities to our students and give them more apprenticeship opportunities,” he said.
Illinois efforts have been bolstered since 2019 by the Illinois Works Jobs Programs Act, which was included in Illinois’ $45 billion infrastructure plan passed during Gov. JB Pritzker’s first year in office. It includes three key programs: An apprenticeship initiative that provides trades and construction opportunities; a pre-apprenticeship program that supports underrepresented talents in construction; and a bid credit program that encourages contractors to hire more apprentices from more diverse backgrounds.
The SkillsUSA Illinois study noted progress but also ongoing challenges. It found Illinois saw a roughly 28% increase in new apprentices from 2019 to 2024, growing from 6,475 to 9,041 apprentices over these five years.
Female participation, however, only accounted for 14% of new apprentices last year, though that figure represents a doubling from 7% in 2019. Though the population of female apprentices is growing, women still have the lowest rates of participation in construction as well as installation, maintenance and repair, the two largest occupation categories over the past five years, according to the study. The number of new non-white apprentices also grew from 26% in 2019 to 46% in 2024.
Minority participants also have a greater presence in lower-paying occupations like health care support, transportation and food preparation, the study found. Last year, 88% of health care support entrants were non-white. Eighty percent of all health care support entrants for 2024 were women.
The apprenticeship study also found roughly 40% of students at surveyed schools participated in internships, though the majority of them worked in unpaid roles, which can “disadvantage underrepresented groups, further exacerbating inequities,” according to the report.
Hill said unpaid apprenticeships or internships can hinder students’ ability to pursue trades as a lifelong career, specifically those who are heads of household income earners.
“We’re asking them to give up the ability to have a paid wage to take an unpaid internship, and that is something that we have systematically got to get away from in the state of Illinois and across the country,” said Hill. “We cannot connect students to job opportunities if we’re not showing them the benefits of having a job — having a salary or having a livable wage.”
Organizations like the Illinois AFL-CIO and Illinois Building Trades Unions are working to increase female participation in apprenticeship programs and create pathways for long-term success in the trades.
These organizations have built sections within them dedicated to provide training, mentorship and advocacy for women pursuing careers in construction – dedicated to increasing female representation in the trades. Despite making up nearly half of the workforce, women hold less than 5% of construction and building trade jobs, according to the Illinois AFL-CIO.
One way to close this gap is by exposing students — especially young women — to career opportunities in the trades early on in their schooling, according to Marisa Richards, director of outreach and engagement at Painters District Council No. 30, which covers nine local unions in the northern half of Illinois. Many unions are working to bridge this divide by partnering with high schools and middle schools to introduce students to various skilled trades before they enter the workforce.
“The big push right now is also pre-apprenticeship — giving younger students, or people looking for a career change, the chance to test out different construction trades,” Richards said.
One major initiative toward these goals is the second annual “Tradeswomen Take Over Springfield,” an event advocating for policies that expand access for women in the trades. During the first week of March, which also marked national Women in Construction Week and the start of Women’s History Month, more than 200 tradeswomen gathered at the Illinois Capitol
The event, which coincided with SkillsUSA Illinois’ 2025 AMPLIFY Conference, brought together labor leaders, policymakers and industry professionals to address these challenges. Speakers included the Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, legislators and a lineup of tradeswomen leaders sharing their experiences and advocating for systemic change.
The tradeswomen also traveled to Springfield to lobby for House Resolution 161, which was non-binding but would technically express the official opinion and will of the Illinois House. It seeks to “affirm that the diversity of Illinois is its strength and that the workforce on publicly funded projects must reflect our state with work sites composed of those from diverse backgrounds, gender identities, races and experiences.”
The resolution, introduced by state Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernández, D-Cicero, who serves as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, also takes shots at President Donald Trump. It cites recent executive orders that “aim to reverse hard-won progress to diversity the workforce and will further entrench systemic occupational segregation, robbing women of economic security.”
HR 161 also claims the Trump administration has weakened entities like the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission so those agencies can no longer “ensure safe, respectful and harassment-free work sites that uphold workers’ rights.”
The resolution, which is awaiting a hearing in the House Labor and Commerce committee, is sponsored exclusively by Democrats, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, who signed on as a chief co-sponsor last month.
The proposed resolution also mentions that 64% of U.S. student loan debt is held by women, a fact that makes “apprenticeships a vital career pathway to economic stability as apprentices earn while they learn.”
The push for more funding and support for CTE programs goes hand in hand with broader efforts to ensure equitable access to the skilled trades, particularly for women.
Tiffany Beard, a technology education teacher and SkillsUSA advisor at Morton High School near Peoria, said she’s thankful SkillsUSA provides students and teachers alike a pathway to advocate for more exposure and support for a career path in trades.
“The empowerment that students have in an organization like this is astounding. They grow so much from being in a position where they feel like their thoughts, their ideas and their voice matter,” she said. “It’s the best choice I’ve ever made.”
Passionate trades students like Kinleigh Brummett also see the importance of skills-based learning during the two-day AMPLIFY conference.
An audio/video production program student at the Capital Area Career Center in Springfield, Brummett said besides technical skills, students also learn workplace and personal skills like dressing professionally or speaking actively at job interviews through the SkillsUSA framework.
“That helps us in the future, not only in SkillsUSA and school, but also to help future jobs and things like that,” Brummett said. “That’s why we’re here today … to find funding and more support for schools like this.”
Jessie Nguyen and Bridget Craig are graduate students in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and fellows in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Raoul says ‘I do not want to go to Washington,’ rules out bid for U.S. Senate
Illinois attorney general says he can do more by staying in his current job
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
While many Illinois Democrats wait anxiously to hear whether U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will run for reelection in 2026 or step down after five terms in the Senate, at least one incumbent officeholder appears to be ruling himself out as a potential successor.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Tuesday he is not interested in running for that job, or any other elected position in the foreseeable future.
“I do not want to go to Washington. I want to stay here,” Raoul told a luncheon audience at the City Club of Chicago. “And this is no knock on Sen. Durbin or Sen. (Tammy) Duckworth. I truly believe what I do on a day-to-day basis (as attorney general) has more impact than what I could do as U.S. senator.”
Durbin, who turned 80 in November, currently serves as the Democratic whip in the Senate, the second-highest ranking position in the caucus, behind Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York. But he is widely expected to announce in the coming weeks whether he will run for another term, and there has been rampant speculation in political circles about who might succeed him.
Raoul, 60, has become the target of much of that speculation in recent months by joining numerous multistate lawsuits that seek to block many of President Donald Trump’s executive orders and other policy initiatives.
Those include Trump’s efforts to halt the recognition of birthright citizenship that is recognized under the 14th amendment; to freeze the distribution of federal funds previously appropriated by Congress; to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, and to terminate the employment of tens of thousands of federal employees.
But Raoul, who served 15 years in the Illinois Senate before being elected attorney general in 2018, said emphatically Tuesday he does not want to be considered for Durbin’s seat, insisting he can do more to counteract the Trump administration from the attorney general’s office than from anywhere else.
“I know that the attorney general's office, and it's in every state, produces more than a single U.S. senator can for its constituency,” he said. “So why would I leave doing something more important to doing something — I’m not saying unimportant — but less impactful?”
Durbin himself has come under criticism from fellow Democrats, including Gov. JB Pritzker, for voting last month in favor of a Republican-backed spending plan that averted a partial government shutdown but also provides for implementing massive spending cuts over the next 10 years.
Pritzker called that vote “a huge mistake,” but Durbin defended it by telling reporters at a March 18 event in Taylorville, “I have never voted for a shutdown and I didn’t last week.”
In his comments Tuesday, Raoul said the budget vote caused a rift within Democratic circles nationally, but he said he would not second-guess Durbin or any of the other Democrats who voted to let the spending package go through.
“I don't know how I would have voted on the continuing resolution,” he said. “But I'm not going to drag anybody over the coals without a very healthy, well-informed debate about everything that they were facing in that moment.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, left, answers questions from City Club of Chicago CEO Dan Gibbon during a luncheon appearance Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Credit: City Club of Chicago)
2025 Wabash County Consolidated Election Results
Voter turnout just 8% in Wabash County.
Former Wayne City police chief pleads guilty to corruption charges
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A former Wayne City police chief appeared in federal court Monday and admitted to selling forfeited items confiscated by the department for his personal benefit.
Anson Fenton, 46, of Belle Rive, pleaded guilty to one count of misapplication of property from federally funded programs and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office strongly supports our police, but we must take decisive action when things like this happen,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “By taking unauthorized possession of forfeited property for his personal benefit, the defendant used his position of trust as police chief to deceive the community he was sworn to protect.”
Asset forfeiture is a legal process to confiscate the means or proceeds of a crime and can apply to money, vehicles, real estate and more. Wayne City stores forfeited items at the Wayne City Police Department until city officials pass an ordinance to authorize the sale of the property.
As police chief, Fenton was responsible for safeguarding, documenting and preserving property within the care, custody and control of the Wayne City Police Department.
"No one is above the law, especially those charged with upholding the law, and the Illinois State Police will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement at all levels to protect the public's trust," said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly.
According to court documents, Fenton sold two motorcycles, a 2017 Harley-Davidson and a 2000 Harley-Davidson, valued at more than $5,000 and kept the proceeds without authorization from the Wayne City Board of Trustees.
He also traded one 2022 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle for a 1991 Ford Mustang for his personal benefit. He admitted to driving the Suzuki over state lines to complete the sale from Wayne City to Alexandria, Virginia.
For the charges, Fenton could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and fines up to $250,000 per count. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on July 30 at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.
Wayne City is a village in Wayne County in the Southern District of Illinois.
The Illinois State Police is leading the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Howard is prosecuting the case.
Mayor Urges Prep Ahead Of Possible Historic Rains
From Mt. Carmel Mayor Joe Judge:
The City of Mt. Carmel Public Works Department will be doing everything we can to keep storm drains clear and make sure all of the critical culverts are clear. With that being said….
We urge all citizens to take precautions ahead of this extreme rainfall. Please clean your gutters, check sump pumps, and clear out drains and culverts around your home to be sure they’re clear before the water starts backing up. Older homes with block basements are very prone to flood and we suggest that you elevate valuables that are stored there.
If you have to get out in the weather do not drive into flood water and if you see City Crews and they are stopped clearing street drains please give them room.
If you have a floor drain in your basement, today would be a great day to check your backflow prevention valve, also known as “check valve”. Unfortunately there are times that storm water infrastructure just cannot keep up with the amount of rainfall in a period of time and this will cause backups. A backflow preventer can stop those backups from happening.
Please keep watching for updates on WSJD and other social media for more information.
Traffic stop leads to arrest of duo on drug charges
On March 31, 2025, at 3:34 p.m. Gibson County Deputy Eric Powell conducted a traffic stop on US 41 near County Road 800 South after observing a Gray in color Ford Edge failing to maintain its lane of travel. Upon approaching the vehicle Deputy Powell identified the driver as 40 year old Carla Embry of Harrisburg, Illinois. While speaking with Ms. Embry Deputy Powell detected multiple clues that drug activity was or had recently taken place in the vehicle. At that point Deputy Powell asked for Sgt. Loren Barchett and his K9 partner Duke to come to the scene to assist in a roadside drug investigation. At the conclusion of the investigation Ms. Embry as well as 46 year old Paul Abshear of Henderson, Kentucky were taken into custody and transported to the Gibson County Jail.
Upon arriving at the jail 40 year old Carla Embry was charged with Possession of Methamphetamines, Possession of Paraphernalia, and Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated. 46 year old Paul Abshear was charged with Possession of Methamphetamines and Possession of Paraphernalia.
Assisting Deputy Powell in his investigation were Deputies Wes Baumgart, Sgt. Loren Barchett, and his K9 partner Duke.
All criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Delays In Monday's Big Trash Pick Up
There’s been a hiccup in the Spring big trash pickup in Mt. Carmel. At yesterday’s City Council meeting, garbage commissioner Susan Zimmerman said some areas in Mt. Carmel may see their trash picked up later than usual this week…
And, if you forgot to set your big items out, Zimmerman said you’re out of luck if the truck has already been past your house…
The electronics recycling day in Mt. Carmel is coming up on Saturday, May 3rd.