Featured

Peeps for breakfast and no jelly beans during Mass

Growing up, we had a few rules on Easter Sunday.

Real Estate: What's your neighbor's home selling for?

Recent real estate transactions for Madison and Monroe counties.

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Metro-east News

This photo, provided to the BND by the Belleville Fire Department, shows the car being lifted out of the Veteran's Memorial Fountain by a Petroff Towing boom arm tow truck.

Car ends up in Belleville fountain after crash

The historic Veteran's Memorial Fountain in downtown Belleville's Public Square suffered damage when a driver plowed into it early Saturday morning. 14 minutes ago

Crime

Neighborhood watch: Crimes of the week

Take another look at the top crime stories of the week at bnd.com. 2 hours ago

Hot Topics

Coroner identifies passenger ejected, killed in Marissa crash

A single vehicle crash early Friday morning in Marissa left one man dead and two others injured, according to officials.

Sports

Highland's Tanner Farmer celibrates after successfully defending his title at the 2014 state meet.

Highland's Farmer capped his career in memorable fashion

When Highland senior Tanner Farmer walked into the State Farm Center in Champaign in February for the IHSA state wrestling tournament, he did so as the defending Class 2A 285-pound champion.

Features

SWIC baseball player Derrik Watson spins and flips as he does a break dance move while dancing to the song "Happy" in a SWIC baseball dugout.

Because they're 'Happy': SWIC students have fun with Pharrell's hit song

It doesn't take much to make students happy at Southwestern Illinois College. 1 hour ago

State|Region

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2009, file photo, Illinois GOP chairman Pat Brady speaks at a news conference in Chicago. In April 2014, a crop of Republican officials who wanted to oust the former Illinois GOP chairman for his statements supporting same-sex marriage have been replaced in their party positions. Ideological shifts in the party's organizational structure come as Republicans in Illinois and nationally are working to expand and attract women and minority voters as they look to November.

Ill. GOP officials who wanted Brady out replaced

A crop of Republican officials who wanted to oust former Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady for his statements supporting same-sex marriage have been replaced in their party positions.

Nation|World

Flowers from the Netherlands decorate St. Peter's Square as Pope Francis arrives to celebrate an Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the the Vatican, Sunday, April 20, 2014. Francis is celebrating Christianity's most joyous day, Easter Sunday, under sunny skies in St. Peter's.

Pope Francis, huge crowd joyously celebrate Easter

Marking Christianity's most hopeful day, Pope Francis made an Easter Sunday plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to terrorist attacks against Christians in Nigeria and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to ... 7 minutes ago

Opinion

Easter stands the test of time

Today Christians around the world celebrate Easter, the ultimate story of second chances and new beginnings. 1 hour ago

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