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

Do you believe in the American Dream? Study finds little chance for some

Montel Thomas works with Derrica Branch, 10, at the Griffin Center. The center works with East St. Louis kids in hopes of giving them tools to succeed.

A majority of children born into the poorest families remain in poverty as adults, according to a national study conducted by Harvard University researchers that questions whether the American Dream is a myth.

The rise to the top of the economic...

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Featured

Madison County man dies after losing control of SUV

An Alton man died after the SUV he was driving went out of control and struck a traffic signal pole...

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

Recent real estate transaction for St. Clair, Madison and Monroe counties

Metro-east News

Eckert seeks to delay demolition of Meredith Home

As the deadline for a May demolition of the Meredith Home draws near, preservationists continue to appeal to developers and hope for an extension from Belleville officials.

Crime

Metro-east sweep yields 10 probation revocations

Probationers beware: Compliance is the law and if you break the law, you will pay the price.

Hot Topics

Off the beat: Dumbest thing ever said to a cop during DUI stop

He was pulled over with glassy eyes, slurred speech, a boozy smell, and he blew well over the legal limit on his BAC test, so 61-year-old Michael Moore probably couldn't say much to help his case.

Sports

SWIC's Erika McCaster feels pressure from Rend Lake's Marquita Hilliard.

SWIC earns berth in national tournament

The three-peat is complete for the Southwestern Illinois College Blue Storm.

Features

Dave Coles, right, of Belleville, met with Jim Crews, SLU's basketball coach, before the Feb. 28 game against DuQuesne. Dave coached Jim Crews' 7th-grade team in Normal.

Coach's coach: Belleville man got SLU coach off to a good start

Dave Coles and Ron Steen have been friends for more than 40 years.

State|Region

This photo provided by Papers of Abraham Lincoln project shows a note written by Abraham Lincoln. Historians believe they’ve unraveled the mystery of a cryptic note Lincoln penned that doesn’t identify the recipient by name and has a section clipped out. Researchers at the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project concluded Lincoln was writing to an ally to ask him to maintain a secret relationship with a political insider during the 1860 election campaign. Lincoln asked his cohort to "keep up a correspondence" with the person. The use of that phrase gave researchers their best clue. They ran it through a searchable database they are compiling of Lincoln’s papers and found several matches.

Historians unravel mystery of cryptic Lincoln note

The cryptic note penned by Abraham Lincoln identifies its recipient only as "my dear Sir" and has a small section carefully clipped out.

Nation|World

Oscar Pistorius, in the dock on the second day of his trial at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Pistorius is charged with murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentines Day in 2013.

Pistorius trial: Stunning testimony in 1st week

The testimony in the first week of Oscar Pistorius' murder trial was jaw dropping at times, and more riveting evidence is expected as the prosecution seeks to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the double-amputee athlete intentionally shot dead his... 19 minutes ago