Featured

Abe's Gourmet Popcorn is growing; jewelry store closing

A small jewelry store at the corner of East Main and North High streets in Belleville is closing...

Ron Hettenhausen and his wife, Jo Ann Endres, at the bicycle shop on West Main Street.

Belleville bike shop owner is closing his doors

By this time next month, Ron Hettenhausen will no longer be peddling bicycles.

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Metro-east News

Members of the St. Clair County Special Services, a volunteer rescue group, pull a scooter out of the pond Monday morning at Centennial Park in Swansea.

Coroner identifies man found dead in Swansea lake

The man who drowned Sunday in Centennial Park after his motorized wheelchair accidentally plunged into a lake has been identified as Gerry Frierdich, a well-known photographer in Belleville. 13 minutes ago

Crime

2 die from overdoses in Madison County

Two recent deaths in Madison County were caused by drug overdoses, according to the coroner.

Hot Topics

St. Clair County tangles with landowners over widening Frank Scott Parkway

St. Clair County is continuing its two-year fight to use eminent domain to take land needed to improve a busy intersection at Frank Scott Parkway East and Old Collinsville Road in Swansea.

Sports

National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, from left to right, Tony La Russa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox hold their plaques after an induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center on Sunday, July 27, 2014, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

La Russa at Cooperstown: 'Being really lucky is a a Hall of Fame credential'

Frank Thomas choked back tears, Joe Torre apologized for leaving people out of his speech and Tony La Russa said he felt uneasy.

Features

FILE - In this June 19, 2014 file photo, Spain’s newly crowned King Felipe VI and his wife Spain's Queen Letizia wave to the crowd on a balcony of the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain. Spain's new King Felipe VI has ordered the palace's accounts to be audited externally and the results made public, in an apparent bid to clean up the royal family's tarnished image. A palace statement said Monday said the king had decided on a series of measures that include plans for a new code of good conduct, a ban on immediate royal family members working in the public sector and greater control of gifts received by the royal family. The palace had become embroiled in several scandals in recent years and Felipe said he intended to restore public trust in the monarchy.

New Spain king moves to clean up palace's image

Spain's royal palace accounts will be subject to external audits and the results made public under a series of measure ordered by new King Felipe VI in an apparent bid to clean up the royal family's tarnished image. 3 minutes ago

State|Region

“There’s a principle as old as the Bible,” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, seen here on July 22, 2014 in Chicago, said. “If you work 40 hours a week, if you’re doing your job, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.”

Quinn agrees to live on minimum wage income — for a while

Gov. Pat Quinn agreed on Sunday to briefly live on the equivalent of a minimum-wage salary as he rallies support for a Nov. 4 Illinois ballot measure on the issue.

Nation|World

A large pile of coal sits in front of train cars carrying coal at Dominion Terminal Associates’ coal terminal in Newport News, Va., on May 22, 2014. Over the last six years, American energy companies have sent more coal than ever before to other parts of the world, in some cases to places with more lax environmental standards. As the Obama administration weans the U.S. off dirty fuels blamed for global warming, energy companies have been sending more of America’s unwanted energy leftovers to other parts of the world, where they could create even more pollution.

Not in my backyard: US sending dirty coal abroad

As the Obama administration weans the U.S. off dirty fuels blamed for global warming, energy companies have been sending more of America’s unwanted energy leftovers to other parts of the world where they could create even more pollution.

Opinion

In context, Illinois unemployment rate isn't so good

Less is making Illinois' unemployment rate look better, but the Illinois Policy Institute explains that it's a distorted view. The unemployment rate dropped from 7.5 percent to 7.1 percent in June. However, the improvement is not because of job creation...

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