LATEST NEWS

The National Weather Service in Lincoln has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southern Coles County in east central Illinois... Southern Moultrie County in central Illinois... Jasper County in southeastern Illinois... Eastern Shelby County in central Illinois... Cumberland County in east central Illinois... Northeastern Effingham County in south central Illinois... * Until 945 AM CDT. * At 857 AM CDT, severe thunderstorms were located along a line extending from near Sullivan to near Stewardson, moving southeast at 60 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees. * Severe thunderstorms will be near... Effingham, Neoga, Windsor, Stewardson, and Allenville around 905 AM CDT. Mattoon, Teutopolis, and Montrose around 910 AM CDT. Lerna around 915 AM CDT. Other locations in the path of these severe thunderstorms include Charleston, Toledo, Jewett, Janesville, Greenup, Hidalgo and Newton. This includes the following highways... Interstate 57 between mile markers 161 and 194. Interstate 70 between mile markers 94 and 125. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building.

Browse through the latest Mattoon, Charleston & Coles County employment postings and find your next career.

Read through the obituaries published in Journal Gazette/Times-Courier.

MATTOON — Registration will be open through Saturday, Aug. 3, for the 2024 Coles County Relay for Life's cancer survivor breakfast. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts. The annual breakfast is scheduled for 8-10...

CHARLESTON — Visitors to the Coles County Fair this week will be able to find pronto pups, french fries, shakeups, taffy and other returning favorite foods. The fair also is hosting two new food vendors as it continues through Sunday — one focused on homemade cinnamon rolls and the other on fresh fried chicken.

URBANA — One thing is for sure, if there is a farm field, insects will visit it. Having the skills to identify insects inhabiting crop fields across the Midwest improves one’s ability to identify and effectively manage insect pests while avoiding unnecessary interventions that may negatively affect beneficial insects as well as farmer profitability.

CHARLESTON — Emma Beurskens got to know more about the Coles County Fair's grandstand events and livestock shows last summer while accompanying her younger sister, 2023 Little Miss Grace Beurskens, to some of these activities. Now that Emma is the newly crowned 2024 Miss Coles County, she is putting...

CHARLESTON — The Coles County 4-H swine show had just gotten underway Monday morning when rain began to pour down on the fairgrounds. "I was standing in the hog pen when it started raining and even underneath everything was soaked because there was so much rain," said 12-year-old Chloe Ervin of Mattoon, noting that the high winds blew the rain sideways into the swine barn.

CHARLESTON — Emma Beurskens was crowned as the 2024 Miss Coles County on Sunday night during the opening day of the fair. Emma will serve alongside 2024 Junior Miss Miah Norman and Little Miss Paisley Winn as hostesses during the Coles County Fair, which will continue through Aug. 4. This role includes greeting the crowd at grandstand events and handing out ribbons at livestock judging competitions.

Eastern Illinois Foodbank Announces “Foodmobile” Food Giveaways in Coles County. Coles County, IL – Eastern Illinois Foodbank (EIF) is distributing food to area families facing food insecurity. The Foodmobile will travel throughout Coles County on 08/14/2024, with distribution sites and times and for each town listed at https://www.eifoodbank.org/help/mobile.html.

(OLNEY/NEWTON) The Embarras River Basin Agency, Incorporated (ERBA) is accepting applications for its Skills Training Employment Program, known at STEP, to assist those who need training for employment opportunities. ERBA will be assisting income eligible individuals who want to obtain a CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) or a Basic Welding Certificate. ERBA serves the nine area counties of Richland, Jasper, Crawford, Lawrence, Clark, Cumberland, Coles, Edgar, and Douglas. For more information, contact the ERBA office in any of the before-mentioned counties or call ERBA toll-free at 800-252-1152.

Warning: The following article includes mentions of self-harm. This is the second in a series of stories. Read the first story here. CHARLESTON, Ill. – Brice Fritz was naked, strapped down to a chair in a jail cell when a staff member monitoring her via video delivered 80,000 volts of electricity through the stun cuff on her leg. “I felt like I was being electrocuted,” Fritz told the Illinois Answers Project, recalling the incident at Coles County Jail in 2021. The cuff is a sort of shock collar for humans that the manufacturer describes as a wireless device to control detainees, typically used during court or transport.

CHARLESTON — Gates for the 120th annual Coles County Fair will swing open at noon Sunday at Charleston. The fair, which is being held July 28 through Aug. 3, will officially open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the south gate. Events for Sunday include a pony show and 4-H horse and pony show and an International Auto Daredevil Show. Monday features a 4-H swine and sheep judging and a WEIC talent show. The James Drew Show will be this year's carnival, including 15 rides, electric bumper cars, a sky wheel and a tilt-a-whirl. The carnival has been billed as "the biggest carnival to ever play east-central Illinois." At 8 p.m. Thursday Wendy Bagwell and the Thrasher Brothers with Hovie Lister and the Statesmen will provide family entertainment with gospel music...CHARLESTON — Nine area girls are among 18 vying for the title of 1974 Miss Coles County Fair Queen, held Wednesday July 31 at the Coles County Fairgrounds. Competing for the title are: Diane Butler, 16, of rural Charleston. She will graduate from CHS next year and plans to attend college; Kay Dorner, 20, of Charleston, a junior at EIU majoring in psychology and sociology; Gina Giffin, 17, a 1974 graduate of CHS. She plans to attend EIU in the fall; Also a 1974 graduate of CHS, Penny Hall, 17, of Charleston. Penny plans to major in business education at EIU in the fall. Debbie Hawkins, 18, of Oakland, is a 1974 graduate of Oakland High School. She will attend EIU this fall in elementary education; Barb Newhouse, 17, of Charleston, is a senior at CHS. Barb plans to attend Lake Land College; Also a CHS senior, Laura Ann Plunkett, 17, of Charleston, plans to attend college where she will major in art; Rita Stephens, 17, is presently attending EIU, majoring in history; Layla Tippit, 16, is a senior at CHS and plans to attend EIU after high school...MATTOON — A vending machine at the 8 Days Inn on south U.S. 45 was broken into between 10:30 a.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday. Mattoon police reports said the change box was stolen. Cyrus Eveland of 3113 Commercial reported to police that the juke box at the Brown Derby, 32nd and Commercial, was broken into between 5 p.m. Thursday and 10 pm. Friday. No other items were reported missing, according to police.

Richard Shawn Pruitt to Sandra Jean Reeves, both of Toledo. Raymond Wade Cox to Emily Josephine Montoya, both of Charleston. Kevin Andrew Smith to Megan Dawn Clabaugh, both of Lerna. Hugo David Duran Escalona to Maria Del Refugio Serrano, both of Mattoon. Dallas Mykael Wilson to Callan Joy Haldorsen, both...

CHARLESTON — The new Miss Coles County and her court are set to be crowned during the annual pageant on Sunday, July 28, at the fairgrounds. Pageant Director Tanya Getche said the event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Little Miss category for ages 6-9 followed by Junior Miss for ages 11-14 and then Miss Coles County for ages 17-21.

CHARLESTON — The Coles County Fair is set to offer a full week of carnival rides, grandstand entertainment and other activities from Sunday, July 28, to Aug. 4 at the fairgrounds. The fair will get an early start with Absent Ground and Jake Mauer concerts at 5:45 p.m. Saturday....

MATTOON, Ill. (WCIA) — On Monday, emergency responders in Coles County recounted an incident in May where they used a unique text-to-911 tool to locate a lost hiker and her child. Officials said that before 1:40 p.m. on May 23, someone reported to the Coles-Moultrie Emergency Communications Center (CECOM) that a family member and their […]