CHESTER, Ill. (AP) - A Chicago-based prison watchdog group says a maximum-security prison in southwestern Illinois is getting increasingly dangerous. A report Tuesday by the John Howard Association says the Menard Correctional Center has too many inmates and too few guards. That makes for the state's worst inmate-to-staff ratio of all Illinois maximum-security lockups. The group says there have been 14 staff assaults since January 1st at Menard near Chester, southeast of St. Louis. The 133-year-old prison is designed to hold less than 3,100 prisoners, but it has 3,621. Its population of more than 2,000 convicted killers is more than any other Illinois prison. The Illinois Department of Corrections disputed the report, saying the size of Menard's inmate population must be taken into consideration when comparing it with other prisons. - http://goo.gl/sDQny
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Marion County Records First Ever West Nile Encephalitis Death
Marion County has recorded its first ever death from West Nile Encephalitis. Marion County Health Department Director of Nursing Shelly Yoder says the 74-year-old female from Centralia died late last month. In addition, Marion County has had two other human cases of West Nile confirmed this year. Both of those patients recovered without hospital treatment. Yoder is unsure why the Centralia area has been so hard hit this year and says as doctors become more aware of West Nile more testing is being completed. Yoder says the key to avoiding West Nile is to protect yourself against mosquitoes. "The best way of doing that is not to be outside when mosquitoes are most active which is usually between dusk and dawn.Also whenever they are outside you should wear shoes and socks, long pants and long sleeved shirts if possible, and apply insect repellent. Also in the home make sure doors andwindows have tight fitting screens, and eliminated any source of standing water around the home such as a bird bath, flower pot, or anything that may have water standing in it," Yoder said.She notesmost people only receive a mild reaction or no reaction at all if bitten by an infected mosquito. Ironically, the Health Department's Director of Environmental Health Melissa Mallow says no birds have been sent in for testing and no positive mosquito samples have been recorded this year. She notes the amount of testing has been reduced this year due to budget cuts. Mallow says the threat from mosquitoes should disappear after the first hard frost. - http://goo.gl/4lqNT
Attorney General Pushes For Extension Of 'Pill Pusher' Law
Attorney General Lisa Madigan is sending a strong message to people who buy pills for meth manufacturers. "If you purchase those pills for a meth cook, you are essentially cooking meth too. It carries with it a significant criminal penalty. I think there are a lot of folks who think they are not the actual cook they have nothing to dowith it. That is not the case," Madigan said. The attorney general is asking lawmakers to extend the bill which tracks pseudoephedrine purchases and limits the amount a person can buy in a 30 day period. More than 70,000 people have been denied purchases since the bill went into effect in 2006. Madigan says Illinois will, quote, "become a pill-shopper's paradise" if lawmakers don't extend the bill when they return to session at the end of the month. - http://goo.gl/To9Oc
Metro-East Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Removing Asbestos From Building
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) - Sentencing will be in January for a southwestern Illinois man who admits violating the federal Clean Air Act by having asbestos illegally removed from a former industrial site. Fifty-two-year-old Franklin "Al" Bieri of O'Fallon pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in East St. Louis to violating the Clean Air Act. Authorities say Bieri bought a seven-acre former Emerson Electric site in Washington Park and looked to demolish the asbestos-containing buildings on the site. Workers hired by Bieri for the job in April of last year didn't take proper safeguards in removing the asbestos or limiting its airborne emissions. The waste wasn't properly labeled to alert others of its danger. Bieri faces up to five years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines when sentenced Jan. 13. - http://goo.gl/zm4dY