If forecasters are correct, March could come in like a lion this year. Officials with the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky have placed S.E. Missouri and S.W. Illinois under a risk for severe storms Tuesday and Tuesday night and the entire region on Wednesday. Damaging winds and hail will be the primary weather threat.
This week marks the five-year anniversary of one of the deadliest tornadoes in Southern Illinois in recent history. An EF-4 twister hit Harrisburg, destroying homes and businesses, then travelled to Ridgway destroying more homes and demolishing the town’s historic Catholic church. Eight fatalities were recorded in Harrisburg with 108 people injured.
Illinois State Police and Saline County authorities continue to investigate an early morning shooting in Harrisburg on Saturday that left three people injured. The shooting happened in the 200-300 block of E. Dayton Street. All three victims survived their injuries. The names have not been released and a suspect is still being sought.
35-year-old Kenneth W. Corner of Spencer County, Indiana is due in White County Circuit in Carmi Wednesday to face charges he had unlawful sexual contact with a victim under the age of 13. Corner faces four felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault of a child under the age of 13. His bond has been set at $65,000. The charges were filed in 2015, but Corner was arrested until late January of this year.
Fairfield’s First Christian Church will host its Big Lunch this Saturday with serving from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. This week’s menu will feature ham with scalloped potato soup, sandwiches made with Doneta Colclasure’s World Famous sandwich spread and banana pudding. As always, the meal is entirely free.