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MASSAC COUNTY, IL – The Illinois State Police (ISP) have released the results of their investigation into Monday afternoon’s crash on Interstate 24 eastbound near Metropolis.
According to ISP, at 3:33 p.m. a Freightliner semi truck failed to slow down as it approached the workzone on I-24 eastbound at milepost 38, Metropolis Bridge.
The semi truck, driven by 28-year-old Antonio Wells of Hopkinsville, struck a 2006 Newmar RV. The RV then hit a Volvo semi truck.
Wells has been cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
A Western Star semi truck driving behind the other vehicles failed to slow down for the crash. As a result, it struck the Freightliner semi truck and a Ford Mustang.
The driver of the Ford Mustang, 18-year-old James Vanmeter of Joppa, Il, was transported to a nearby hospital after sustaining injuries.
The driver of the Western Star semi truck, 59-year-old Peter Primbetov of Naches, Wa, was also cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
I-24 eastbound was shut down for approximately 5 hours following the collision.
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Illinois State University President Terri Goss Kinzy announced on Tuesday that the school would start the spring semester with two weeks of remote learning in response to the surge in COVID-19 cases as the omicron variant spreads.
NORMAL — Illinois State University will join the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and other colleges in starting the spring semester with remote learning. The university plans to resume in-person learning on Jan. 24.
Courses will be delivered remotely from Jan. 10 to Jan. 21, President Terri Goss Kinzy announced in a message to the campus on Tuesday. ISU offices and facilities are still scheduled to reopen on Jan. 3. 
Illinois State University students Paul Jones, left, Keaton Eckstein, Max Marcionetti and Samantha Harmon study together at the State Farm Hall of Business after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker reinstituted an indoor mask rule on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. ISU will start the Spring 2022 semester with two weeks of remote learning. 
Winter session courses will also be moving online, spokesperson Rachel Hatch said.
The message cited the quickly climbing number of cases as the Omicron variant spreads as the main cause of the change.
“In our planning efforts, we are working to anticipate the potential impacts of this highly transmissible variant on our campus community,” Kinzy’s message said. “Out of an abundance of caution, Illinois State will begin the Spring 2022 semester with two weeks of online teaching and learning.”
While the university’s COVID dashboard is offline until January, Hatch said that the number of people tested last week was too low for meaningful data to be collected.
Students will still be able to return to on-campus housing as scheduled. However, all students, including those who have been vaccinated will have to provide a negative test taken within three days of returning to campus.
Faculty and staff will have up to a week after returning to campus to be tested, again regardless of vaccination status.
The university will also continue to require non-vaccinated students and employees to be tested weekly. While Kinzy’s message encourages campus community members to receive a booster and asks those who do to provide documentation, it does not add any additional requirements for those who have not received a booster.
Illinois State University President Terri Goss Kinzy delivers her State of the University address at The Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Kinzy announced on Tuesday, Dec. 21, that the university would start the spring semester with remote learning. 
“It is critical to know that while vaccinated individuals may still test positive, they are significantly less likely to have severe disease, require hospitalization, or die,” Kinzy’s message said. “ Vaccination is even more essential in the fight against the Omicron variant.”
ISU’s announcement comes a day after the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and University of Illinois Chicago campuses announced they would also start the spring semester with remote learning. UIUC will start with a week remote while UIC will start with two weeks of remote instruction. Both schools will require a negative test before returning to campus. 
Schools ranging from the University of Washington to Cornell University to Princeton University have adopted similar response plans as the COVID variant has expanded. More than 30 colleges have issued booster shot requirements in recent weeks, and others say they’re thinking about it.
Illinois Wesleyan will require COVID-19 vaccines for the spring semester except for those who receive official exemptions, as it had planned to do since early this fall. In its latest COVID-19 update, from Dec. 17, IWU is also encouraging students to receive their booster shots before returning to campus.
The University of Massachusetts in Amherst was among the first to require the booster for students, saying all students must get shots unless they have medical or religious exemptions.
“The boosters are our best protection,” said Jeffrey Hescock, co-director of the university’s Public Health Promotion Center. “This demonstrates that we take public health seriously, and our students do too.”
Like ISU, IWU is requiring all students to be tested before returning to campus, including vaccinated students. IWU had planned on only requiring non-vaccinated students to test prior to retuning. However, vaccinated students only need to notify the university if they test positive, though it may request proof of a negative test later.
IWU spokesperson Ann Aubry confirmed the school plans to stick with the scheduled return but would monitor the situation.
This fall marked the start of the third school year hindered by the pandemic. Kinzy’s message acknowledge that students and employees may be feeling worn out and fatigued by the past 20 months. 
“I want to extend my most sincere appreciation for your flexibility and adaptability as we face yet another obstacle in our on-going battle against COVID-19,” Kinzy’s message said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. 
Since I started at The Pantagraph in August, my stories only span the later part of this year. Still, stepping into this new beat has given me a chance to cover stories that will have long term impacts on education, from pre-K through PhDs, in Bloomington-Normal. These past four months have also introduced me to people whose stories I am honored to have had the chance to share, at least in part. I hope you enjoy reading.
Three years after forming and two years after negotiations began, the Illinois State Graduate Workers Union ratified their first contract with…
Illinois State University students, faculty and staff came together with Jelani Day’s family and other mourners for a memorial service on Oct.…
As a teacher shortage has schools struggling to find applicants nationwide, area districts and colleges have tried to come up with ways to get…
Stuart Henderson was a protective service agent while in the Marine Corps, which led to him meeting, and protecting, many of the high ranking …
Governor J.B. Pritzker visited Heartland Community College’s temporary home for its Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage program in October. Th…
Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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Creating an education pathway for McLean County Unit 5 high school students has been a goal for Normal Community High School family and consumer sciences teacher Margherita DiVita since she started in the district 16 years ago.

As the curtain begins to close on 2021, city leaders are looking forward to a new year full of opportunities to create innovative programs and projects.
Illinois State University President Terri Goss Kinzy delivers her State of the University address at The Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Sept. 21. Kinzy announced on Tuesday, Dec. 21, that the university would start the spring semester with remote learning. 
Illinois State University students Paul Jones, left, Keaton Eckstein, Max Marcionetti and Samantha Harmon study together at the State Farm Hall of Business after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker reinstituted an indoor mask rule on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. ISU will start the Spring 2022 semester with two weeks of remote learning. 
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Digital Editor/Associate Producer
MARION, IL — Members of a local community want answers after an arrest was made over the weekend in Marion, Illinois. 
The Marion Police Department is investigating claims of excessive use of force after videos posted on social media show officers trying to detain a man. 
In the video, you can see officers are trying to get the man to put his hands behind his back. You can see him starting to resist before one of the officers starts punching the man and another officer uses a Taser on him. 
You can see that video, from WFCN News, above — but viewer discretion is advised as some may find it graphic.
The city of Marion posed a statement on its Facebook page, explaining its position on what happened that night. 
The statement says officers were called to Pookie’s Beer, Burgers, and Bocce in Marion after getting calls about bottles being thrown from a rooftop at cars. Once officers arrived, they called Marion Fire Department to come to the area to help get the suspect off the roof. That suspect was later caught and arrested. 
During the investigation, as officers and firefighters were trying to find the bottle-throwing suspect, officers say a man, who was not involved in the original incident, started interfering with the police investigation and — according to the officer’s report — was being hostile to officers, yelling, and causing problems with patrons at a nearby bar. 
The statement also says the man was standing in the roadway with two open bottles of alcohol. As officers walked towards him, the statement says the man then tried to get back in the bar, but was denied reentry by a female bartender. The man then pushed her to get back in the bar and get away from the officers, according to the statement. 
The statement goes on to say officers then used force to take the man into custody for battery. 
As the video shows, the man was put on the ground, where officers say he refused to comply with their “verbal commands and lawful orders” to release his hands from under his body so officers could handcuff him. 
The statement then says “after verbal commands and closed hand strikes failed, an officer used his department issued taser and was able to put the male into handcuffs and take him into custody.” 
The statement also says the investigation will review all available facts and evidence including witness statements and videos posted to social media. Any additional information will be provided as the investigation continues. 
You can read the police department’s full statement below: 
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Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW)
by: Aaron Chatman
GRAYVILLE, Ill. (WEHT) — The Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Criminal Investigation say they were requested Sunday to conduct a death investigation in Edwards County.
They tell us they found the body of a 41-year-old Tommy Burns while searching the 100 block of E. Sycamore Street. ISP say they found the deceased man around 2:04 a.m. after receiving information that led them to him.
According to the police, the official cause and manner of death are undetermined and will be released by the Edwards County Coroner’s Office once a final autopsy and toxicology report are completed.
Copyright 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BREMEN, Ky. (WEHT)- It just wouldn’t be Christmas without Santa or presents but nearly two weeks after powerful storms ripped through western Kentucky communities like Bremen, volunteers joined Santa to help spread special holiday cheer to the Muhlenberg County community Thursday night.
Allen Shemwell says he and his family lost just about everything, including a home and loved ones, but he says the outpouring he’s seen has been unlike anything else he’s ever seen in Bremen.
RICHMOND, Ind. – Indiana’s rural hospitals have faced unique challenges during this COVID-19 surge, and officials say many of them are busier than ever.
Some of these facilities are forced to divert patients an hour or more away if another hospital has room.
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — After nearly a year of work, traffic is now flowing in both directions on the new I-69 in Martinsville. Earlier this week, contractors opened 17 miles of free-flow highway to southbound traffic ahead of holiday travels.
This follows Gov. Holcomb joining local officials to mark the opening to northbound traffic on Monday.

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CARBONDALE, IL– On Monday at 7 p.m. officers for the City of Carbondale Police responded to the 700 block of West Main Street for a welfare check on the residents.
When officers entered they found 40-year-old Steven Lusk, and his wife, 41-year-old Montoya Moore, dead.
The Jackson County Coroner’s Office was contacted and will conduct an investigation into the cause of death.
According to Carbondale police, at this point in the investigation it is believed to be an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public.
Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact Carbondale police at  618-457-3200.
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By Debra Cassens Weiss
December 16, 2021, 11:49 am CST

Image from Shutterstock.
Looking for a law school with the best quality of life? Then you might want to consider the University of Virginia School of Law, which took the top spot in that category in rankings released Tuesday by the Princeton Review.
The Virginia school, which is ranked eighth by U.S. News & World Report, took the top spot in three categories, according to a press release. Besides best quality of life, they are best classroom experience and best professors.
The Best Law Schools for 2022 rankings by the Princeton Review, an education services company, are based on surveys of 15,000 students attending 168 law schools in the United States and of administrators at the schools. The rankings name the top 10 schools in 14 categories.
The quality-of-life rankings are based on students’ answers to survey questions on: whether there is a strong sense of community at the school, whether differing opinions are tolerated in the classroom, the location of the school, the quality of social life at the school, and the school’s research resources.
The top five schools in the category are:
The University of Virginia School of Law
The Vanderbilt University Law School
The Florida State University College of Law
The Samford University Cumberland School of Law
The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Some categories in the Princeton Review’s new law school rankings are filled with schools that snagged top spots in rankings by U.S. News & World Report, according to Law.com. But some categories—such as greatest resources for minorities and women—include many schools outside the U.S. News & World Report’s top 14.
Two Princeton Review categories—toughest to get into and best career prospects—are entirely made up of T14 schools, Law.com reports. And T14 schools snagged the top three spots in best professors and the top four spots in best for federal clerkships and best classroom experience.
The 2022 rankings rely on surveys of students and administrators from the 2020 to 2021, 2019 to 2020 and 2018 to 2019 academic years. The 168 schools are roughly divided into thirds, which each third getting surveyed every three years to prevent “survey fatigue,” said David Soto, senior director of content development at the Princeton Review, in an interview with Law.com.
Three Princeton Review categories are based on information from administrators. They are toughest to get into, best for federal clerkships and best for state and local clerkships. The other lists are based on student data only or a combination of student and administrator data.
The top five in some of the other categories include:
The University of Virginia School of Law
Stanford Law School
The Duke University School of Law
The University of Chicago Law School
The Vanderbilt University Law School
The University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Chicago Law School
The Duke University School of Law
The Washington and Lee University School of Law
Stanford Law School
The New York University School of Law
Stanford Law School
The University of Virginia School of Law
The Duke University School of Law
The University of Michigan Law School
The Southern University Law Center
The University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law
University of the District of Columbia David A. Clark School of Law
The Florida International University College of Law
The University of California at Davis School of Law
Baylor Law School
The Syracuse University College of Law
The Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
The Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
Southwestern Law School
All the categories are listed here.

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Princeton Superintendent Jerry Girdner reports a high school student made a verbal threat on Thursday, September 16, 2021, allegedly about bring a weapon to school and causing harm to multiple students.
Girdner, in a letter Thursday night to Princeton patrons, wrote that students reported the incident to school administrators after school had been dismissed for the day. Information on the incident, according to Girdner, was reported to the local law enforcement which began an investigation into the validity of the statement.
Girdner explained school officials and law enforcement have exercised extreme diligence and taken all proper actions required by law to ensure the safety of students and faculty at Princeton. According to the Safe Schools Act, Girdner said students responsible for alleged statements of harm will be held accountable for quote “adversely impacting the education of students and face prosecution by law.”
Girdner suggested parents discuss with their children, the ramifications of such statements or threats. He added if parents or students have any information regarding Thursday’s incident, contact Princeton high schools’ office or the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department.
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The Princeton City Council approved a service contract and a Princeton Housing Authority Board member on November 8.
City Clerk Cory Willett reports the service contract was for $500 for the Princeton High School Band to play at a Christmas program on December 4.
Debbie Goodknight was approved for a four-year term on the Housing Authority Board.
Philip Wilson with McClure Engineering presented a wastewater report to submit to the Department of Natural Resources. The council said to go ahead and send the report.
The council approved a new bank account to be opened for Community Development Block Grant funds.
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Princeton R-5 Schools will hold parent-teacher conferences October 28^th from 1 to 7 o’clock.
Scheduled elementary conferences will be held in classrooms for preschool through third grade. Unscheduled conferences for fourth through sixth grades will be held in the gym. Questions about elementary conferences should be directed to the Princeton Elementary School principal’s office at 660-748-3335 extension 231.
No appointment is necessary for high school conferences. Grade cards will be available for pick up in the Princeton High School office before meeting with teachers.
No school will be held for the district October 28^th or 29^th.
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Jennifer’s interest in radio began at a young age. She started as a news reporter at KTTN in January 2017, but previously worked almost a year and a half as an on-air announcer and with news at the NPR affiliate KXCV/KRNW, which serves Northwest Missouri. Jennifer was born and raised in St. Joseph, Missouri. She received a Bachelor of Science in Mass Media: Broadcast Production with an Emphasis in Audio Production from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.

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One person was killed and another was injured in an accident early Monday evening one mile north of Mercer.
Sixty-four-year-old Gary Sexton of Liberty was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:45 pm. Receiving serious injuries was 71-year-old Merlin Hall of State Center, Iowa who was taken by ambulance to Wayne County Hospital in Corydon, Iowa.
Sexton was driving a pickup northbound on Highway 65 while Hall was operating a motor home, southbound on 65. Sexton was traveling without headlights on and his pickup crossed over the center line into the opposite lane. The pickup struck the driver’s side of the motor home and its towed unit which was described as a sports utility vehicle, Trailblazer. After impact, the Iowa vehicle went off the west side of Highway 65 and overturned and the pickup came to rest in the southbound lane.
Highway 65 was closed for several hours Monday night between Mercer and Route BB.
The report noted Hall was using a seat belt while Sexton was not.
Gary Sexton is the first traffic fatality during 2021 in Mercer County investigated by the Highway Patrol. Assisting were several troopers, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, Mercer County Ambulance, and Mercer County Fire and Rescue.
(Photo courtesy Mercer County Sheriff)
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