City Beat

       • LAST WEEK’S big snowstorm that dumped a dozen inches of the white stuff on Macon County over two days sure made the health department’s advice to follow “social distancing” to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 a lot easier to observe for most people. After all, most county residents stayed at home during…

      The annual Saint Patrick’s Day parade will be held Saturday, March 17 at 11:00 a.m. in downtown Decatur. Social distancing will be observed and wearing a mask is encouraged to minimize the risk of being exposed to the virus or exposing others. The same as last year, vehicles only, no walkers, no…

       Due to redistricting Republican Congressman Rodney Davis’ home in Taylorville is now in the 15th Congressional District where he is running for re-election leaving his former 13th District wide open. Two Republican candidates with Decatur roots, Regan Deering and Jesse Reising, will be going head-to-head in the June 28th Primary Election to see which…

         MY longtime friend and Decatur Tribune Sports Editor J. Thomas McNamara passed away Monday morning. Treatment of his cancer had been stopped several days earlier because of cancer’s spread in his body. Tom was made comfortable in his final hours and his son, Brian, notified me that “Dad peacefully passed away…

       Republican Jesse Reising, a sixth-generation son of Decatur, former federal prosecutor, and founder of a successful veterans service organization has announced his campaign for Congress in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. Check out story elsewhere on this side for more information about Reising and his candidacy.       Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) who presently serves in…

       During its meeting Tuesday evening, the Macon County Board of Health reversed a decision made during a December meeting to change the daily COVID-19 data reports to weekly.      Good for the board in deciding the earlier decision was not a wise  one!  It was felt at the time the earlier…

       Monday’s COVID-19 weekly update from the Macon County Health Department had some staggering figures: • Newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases for January 3-9, 2022: 2,310 cases. • Hospitalizations on January 10, 2021: 49 Macon County residents — Vaccinated: 12 Unvac-cinated: 37. • COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic: 279 Macon County residents. •…

       I received a surprise when I stopped to pick up my usual turkey on whole wheat sandwich at the Subway location on North Park Street last week. The manager told me that it was the last day the business would be open.           Apparently, a lot of the customers of the business started working from…