Mayor: City Hall Reopening After Stay At Home Order Is Lifted

As of now, the stay at home order in Illinois expires April 30th. If there is no extension to the order, Mayor Joe Judge said Mt. Carmel City Hall will reopen to the public immediately after that. He said, however, the COVID-19 situation is a very fluid one and information that might have been true last week or even yesterday, might not be true today.

In other reports related to COVID-19 at last night’s city council meeting, Judge thanked city workers for the small amount of time employees have missed and the hard work they continue to put in during the crisis.

Wabash District #348 April 2020 Personnel Matters

Here are the personnel actions taken Monday night by the District #348 school board. Board President Tim Schuler said the board should delay making any other hiring decisions on new positions until the COVID-19 pandemic ends and the district has a clearer idea of what their finances will look like.

US 50 Crash Involving Salem Police Officer Injures Two

ISP TRAFFIC CRASH ALERT

The Following Preliminary Information is Being Released by Illinois State Police

District 12

WHAT:                      Two Vehicle Injury Traffic Crash

WHERE:                   US 50 Eastbound at Radio Tower Road, Marion County

WHEN:                      April 19, 2020 at 5:28 p.m.

VEHICLES:              Unit 1- 2017 Grey Ford SUV – Police Vehicle

                                    Unit 2- 1995 White Dodge Truck

DRIVERS:                Unit 1-Blake Phillips, 28 year old male from Salem, IL – transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries

                                    Unit 2- Mark Huelsmann, 41 year old male from Centralia, IL – transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries

PRELIMINARY:     A preliminary investigation indicates the following occurred:  Unit 1, a Salem Police Department vehicle, was eastbound on Route 50 near Radio Tower Road in Marion County. Unit 2 was also eastbound on Route 50 and was traveling in front of Unit 1.  The driver of Unit 1 attempted to pass Unit 2 in order to initiate a traffic stop on an offending vehicle up ahead, at the same time Unit 2 attempted to turn left into a driveway  Unit 1 tried moving back into the driving lane to avoid Unit 2 but was unsuccessful. Unit 1 struck Unit 2 in the passenger side rear bumper. Both drivers were transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The roadway was closed for approximately 1.5 hours during the crash investigation.       

Princeton man arrested on OWI charge

On April 18, 2020, at 12:09 a.m. Owensville Deputy Town Marshal Jason Wright conducted a stop on a Silver 2005 Chrysler passenger car in the 400 block of East Walnut in Owensville. Upon speaking with the driver who identified himself as Juan Carlos Sovia Bega Officer Wright detected the odor of alcohol coming from the driver. At that point Gibson County Deputy Michael Rose assisted Officer Wright in performing a roadside DUI investigation. During that investigation Deputy Rose was able to determine that the driver had given a false name and was in fact 24-year-old Daniel Anotino Zetina. At the conclusion of his investigation Deputy Rose placed Mr. Zetina into custody and transported him to the Gibson County Jail where he was charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and False Informing. He remains in custody on a $650 bond.

All Criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Evansville woman arrested on DUI charge after being stopped by off duty deputy

On April 19, 2020, at 12:16 a.m. Off duty Gibson County Deputy Bryce Jutzi observed a Black 2010 Toyota Rav failing to maintain its lane of travel and conducted a traffic stop in the 12000 block of South 200 East. Upon approaching the vehicle and speaking with the driver 53-year-old Kelly Miller of Evansville Deputy Jutzi believed Ms. Miller may be under the influence of alcohol. At that point he contacted Deputy Michael Rose who was on duty at the time and with the assistance of Deputy U.B. Smith they conducted a roadside DUI investigation. At the conclusion of their investigation Deputy Rose placed Ms. Miller into custody and transported her to the Gibson County Jail. Upon arriving at the Gibson County Jail Ms. Miller was charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated. She has since posted a $650 bond.

All Criminal defendants are to be presumed innocent until, and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

City Officials Advise Water Customers Not To Let Bills Go Unpaid For Too Long

If you’ve taken advantage of the city of Mt. Carmel’s moratorium on charging late fees on unpaid water bills and discontinuing water disconnects for non-payment, officials advise it would be in your best interest to pay at least a portion of that bill.

At this afternoon’s City Council meeting, City Clerk Rudy Witsman stressed that water bills are not being forgiven, they will have to be paid at some point. In addition, Witsman said disconnections for unpaid bills will resume soon and the longer customers put off paying at least a portion of the bill, the deeper their hole gets. Witsman stressed that even partial payment is better than no payments at all.

Earlier this month, the city announced water disconnects and late fees were being waived through the end of April because of financial hardships some residents might be experiencing from the pandemic.

Local Farmers Flying Through Spring Planting

Perhaps lost during all of the negative aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic…one sector of essential business is striving this Spring. Dry weather this month has allowed area farmers to get an earlier than normal start on Spring planting. In fact, a lot of farmers could even be finished planting by May 1st according to certified crop advisor Mike Wilson of Wabash Valley Service Company….

This year is almost the polar opposite of the 2019 planting season as record rains kept many farmers out of the fields until June….

Wilson’s comments came during last week’s Valley Update segment on WSJD.

IL Public Health Officials Announce 1,151 New Cases of Coronavirus

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,151 new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 59 additional deaths.

• Boone County: 1 male 70s

• Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 male 40s, 2 females 50s, 1 male 50s, 6 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 6 males 70s, 3 females 80s, 10 males 80s, 2 females 90s, 2 females 100+

• DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s, 2 females 90s

• Jackson County: 1 male 80s

• Jasper County: 1 female 80s

• Kane County: 1 male 80s

• Lake County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 unknown 50s, 1female 60s, 2 males 70s, 1 male 90s

• Livingston County: 1 female 80s

• Macon County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s

• Madison County: 2 males 80s

• Will County: 1 male 80s

Cass and White counties are now reporting cases.  Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 31,508 cases, including 1,349 deaths, in 95 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.

For all personal protective equipment (PPE) donations, email PPE.donations@illinois.gov. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.

*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered.

WGH COVID-19 Daily Update - 4/20/2020

COVID-19 DAILY UPDATE

Today, IDPH released there are 31,508 positive cases throughout 95 counties in Illinois and 1349 deaths. Wabash County has had one positive case. Please continue to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously and take all precautions to maintain social distancing recommendations. Wash your hands frequently and isolate yourself if you are not feeling well.

If you are experiencing any symptoms and are concerned about COVID-19, we encourage you to call our 24/7 COVID-19 Hotline at (618)263-6233. WGH has plenty of testing capacity and continues to test daily through our drive-thru testing, which is available at Wabash General Hospital in Mt. Carmel and WGH’s Albion Medical Clinic in Edwards County, Illinois. If you would like to see a provider about your symptoms, please call (618)263-6233 to schedule an appointment to be seen in Wabash General Hospital’s Respiratory Clinic, which is open seven days a week from 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

Wabash General Hospital’s Convenient Care Clinic continues to offer virtual visits in order to protect patients, visitors and staff and to offer a convenient way to communicate with our providers. Please call (618)262-8621 to schedule a virtual visit in the Convenient Care Clinic. You do not have to be an established patient of Wabash General Hospital to use this service.

All of our offices, including our Grayville and Albion locations, remain open and will continue to treat all who seek care at each location. We have taken measures to protect patients coming to our offices. Please call the office to make an appointment prior to arriving. All patients being seen at one of our clinic locations in person, should stay in their vehicle upon arrival and check in by calling the office. The office will contact you when we have an exam room ready. All of our primary care offices, orthopaedic & sports medicine office and oncology office are still offering virtual visits.

Please continue to watch our Facebook page for updates. We continue to take pride in serving you and your loved ones for all health and wellness needs.

Prep Work Underway For SR 64 Project West of Princeton

If you’ve recently traveled on Indiana State Road 64 west of Princeton, you might have wondered the purpose of the orange fencing that has been put up in the last 10 days. Jason Tiller is a spokesman for INDOT’s Vincennes office and he tells WSJD that the fencing is to “delineate wetlands for the upcoming SR 64 Rehab Project” scheduled to begin late this summer. The $5.8 million project encompasses 3.6 miles of highway.