News, sports and weather for Belleville, IL | Belleville News-Democrat & bnd.com

Kimberly Fowler with her 11 year-old son Kobie Fowler, who is being bullied at Wolf Branch School where he's a sixth grade student.

Feds investigate bullying complaint in Swansea school district

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A man has been arrested after police said he started a fire in St. Libory and then attacked a firefighter...

Ed Eversman, vice president of the American Postal Workers Union Southwestern Illinois Area Local 407 in front of the Belleville Post Office. A postal workers union is planning to picket along the sidewalks Friday outside Ben's Crafts & Floral because the downtown Belleville retailer houses a new post office.

Postal workers to picket Ben's in Belleville over in-store post office

A postal workers union is planning to picket along the sidewalks Friday outside Ben's Crafts...

Metro-east News

Carlos Garrett (far right) is taken with other prisoners to the fourth floor holding cells of the St. Clair County Building to await their court hearings. Immediately to the left of Garrett is St. Clair County Prisoner Transport Officer Jason Jenks (back to camera). Jenks escorted the group of prisoners from the St. Clair County Jail to the Courthouse.

Police chief: Centreville did poor job of keeping evidence in murder case

Centreville Police Chief Steve Brown testified Thursday that the chain of custody regarding the evidence in a decades-old murder case "was not adequate."

Crime

Jury: Belleville man sexually assaulted 12-year-old relative

A Belleville man was found guilty of one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse Thursday in the assault on a 12-year-old female relative.

A federal judge sentenced Dennis Charles Toenjes Sr., 66, to three years of probation after pleading guilty to the charge of receiving gratuities in connection with his former role as a U.S. Air Force contracting official at Scott Air Force Base.

Sports

Nebraska's Walter Pitchford, left, chases a loose ball with teammate Terran Petteway, right, and Illinois' Malcolm Hill (21) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Champaign, Ill., on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014.

Former metro-east athletes making their marks at colleges

Freshman Malcolm Hill's playing time has increased in recent games as he and a talented group of freshmen try to build a stronger basketball program at Illinois.

Features

Tim McCarver (center) chats with friends and fans Sunday before the 2014 Baseball Writers of America dinner Sunday in St. Louis.

Tim McCarver to be in Cardinals' television booth

Baseball broadcasting still is in the cards for Tim McCarver. 26 minutes ago

State|Region

State Farm raises Illinois insurance rates

Several years of severe weather is costing Illinois homeowners more for insurance through one major carrier. 2 hours ago

Nation|World

CORRECTS TO JUDGE HAMILTON, NOT COLLINS IN SECOND SENTENCE - Colleen and Boby Middleton, the parents of victim Robert Middleton, speak to the media after hearing regarding Don Willburn Collins at the 359th Judicial District Court with Judge Kathleen Hamilton on Thursday, March 6, 2014, in Conroe, Texas. Collins, now 28, accused of dousing Middleton with gasoline and setting him on fire in 1998 when he was a teenager, can be tried as an adult for murder after the victim died from his burns nearly 13 years later, Judge Hamilton ruled Thursday. (AP Photo/ The Courier, Jason Fochtman) MANDATORY CREDIT

Experts: Case of burned Texas boy problematic

Now that prosecutors have persuaded a judge that a Texas man accused of setting an 8-year-old boy on fire as a teenager can be tried as an adult for murder, securing a conviction in a case where the victim died 13 years after the attack could prove... 10 minutes ago