(Hillsboro)--A new city council member was appointed during the Hillsboro City Council meeting Tuesday night. The council appointed Dennis McCammack. He will be the cities new finance commissioner. McCammack replaces Commissioner Richard Small who resigned in April.

Library Board Appointments

The Hillsboro City Council approved the appointments of Jim O'Neal and Trish Spellbring to the cities library board. Hillsboro Mayor John Downs also reported that he received another letter of resignation from the board this week. That matter will be handled at the next city council meeting.

Part Time Help

Following a closed session, the city council approved the part time hire of Ryan Kirby and Alan Satterlee.

New Truck

The Hillsboro City Council also approved a bid from Wright Automotive for a new pick up truck for the water department. The cost of the truck was over fifteen thousand dollars.

(Farmersville)--Authorities are investigating the armed robbery of the Farmersville Branch of the Prarie State Bank. According to reports from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Illinois State Police, a white male in his mid 30's entered the bank, displayed a handgun and demanded money. The individual left the bank after obtaining an amount of money and fled on foot. The subject was last seen getting into a silver car, possilby an Audi or Volksvagen. No one was injured in the incident.

The robber was described as being around five foot ten, medium build, and was wearing a black wind breaker hoodie. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, or Illinois State Police. They could also contact the Macoupin Montgomery County Crimestoppers at 1-800-352-0136.

Strong Winds extensively damaged buildings in Mt. Olive late Monday night.

Shortly before 10:30pm, a strong storm and high winds struck Mt. Olive destroying four buildings on Main street and extensively damaging 14 others. Included in the damage was the Mt. Olive Fire Department building.

Most of Mt. Olive was without power for an extedned period of time; however, most of the power was restored by 7:00am Tuesday morning.

High winds were also experienced in Staunton where the IGA store had a portion of the roof blown off and extensive damage was done to the business. Other damage in Staunton was limited to minor damage caused by downed trees and tree limbs.

No injuries were reported in connection with the storms.

(Sangamon County)--One person was injured in a single vehicle accident Sunday evening on Route 29 in Sangamon County. According to Illinois State Police, a vehicle driven by 35 year old Cari Ferguson of Cantrall was southbound on Route 29, near Andrew Road, when she left the road. Her vehicle struck a ditch embankment and overturned.

Ferguson was extricated from the vehicle by emergency personnel. She was taken by ambulance to St. John's Hospital for treatment of series injuries. Ferguson was cited with driving under the influence.

(Vandalia)--Five people were killed, and six others were injured when a van they were riding left a freeway and overturned. According to Illinois State Police, the five people died at the scene of the accident shortly before 10am Monday morning on Interstate 70 near Vandalia. Mark Zimmerman from Illinois State Police says many victims were ejected from the van.

Six others in the 15 passenger van were hospitalized. The accident remains under investigation.

(Hillsboro)--A new City Clerk was appointed during the Hillsboro City Council meeting Tuesday night. Cory Davidson was appointed to the position. He will be replacing Dave Boeher who will be retiring on June 7th.

City Pool
Commissioner Paul Smith reported that work is ongoing on the city pool. Plans are to have the pool open by Memorial Day. The Hillsboro City Council approved to hire lifeguard staff for the pool.

TIF District
The Hillsboro City Council also heard from Keith Moran from Moran Economic Development. He gave an update on the proposed TIF District in the city. According to Moran, the district would go from Brailey Street to McCammack Street. It would cover all of the downtown area, up to Capri IGA. Moran stated that he is still working out details with the Hillsboro School District regarding its impact.

Arbitration Case
Commissioner Chris Sherer reported that the cities arbitration case with the Police Union has been finalized. According to Sherer, the city did have the right to restructure the police department. However, the wrong officer was released. Sherer said that the officer was reinstated with a full year's back pay.

State Senator Andy Manar of Bunker Hill is calling for the creation of a task force to address the growing problem of heroin use among teenagers in Illinois.

According to Manar, there has been a recent upward trend in herion use in the last decade, especially among young, ruaral teenagers..

Macoupin County State's Attorney Jennifer Watson indicated that she has seen a staggering increase in heroin use over the past two years and in Macoupin County there have been nine herion overdoses in the last 18 months. Three of those overdoses resulted in death.

The task force will be responsible for studying the use of heroin in high schools and suggesting programs to help aid schools in addressing teenage herion use.

HB 946 passed out of the Senate Education Committee and now awaits approval by the full Senate.

(Raymond)--During the Raymond Village Board meeting Monday night, the board approved the 2013 motor fuel tax of over twenty eight thousand dollars.

Village President Dennis Held thanked Shawn Allen and Emily Battin for their many years of service to the village.

Raymond Village Clerk Vonnie Martin then installed Treasuerer Sally Broaddus, Village President Dennis Held, Trustee Bruce Poggenpohl, and new Trustees Greg Bernhardt and Bob Pennock to the board.

Committee appointments were also set: Trustee Kathy Summers will be chair of the Police Committee; Trustee Greg Bernhardt will be chair of the Finance Committee; Trustee Bruce Poggenpohl will be chair of Streets and Alleys; Trustee Scott Pinkston will chair Water and Sewer; Trustee Bob Pennock will chair Economic Development; and Trustee Joe Martin will chair the Golf Committee.