Jefferson County Coroner Roger Hayse says the child was pronounced dead at the scene following the accident that occurred around eight Friday night.

The child’s name is not being released pending notification of relatives.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the accident, called in a State Police Accident Reconstructionist to assist.   The coroner has scheduled an autopsy for Monday morning.

By MAGGIE DOUGHERTY
Capitol News Illinois
mdougherty@capitolnewsillinois.com 

Article Summary 

• Gov. JB Pritzker announced on Friday that he is directing the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to halt tax incentives for data centers starting on July 1. 
• The incentives have been in place as part of bipartisan legislation signed by Pritzker in 2019. 
• Pritzker called on lawmakers to pass comprehensive reforms in the veto session after they failed to pass a massive reform on data centers before the end of the legislative session last week. The bill would have required data centers to pay for and supply their own renewable energy and report water use.

This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. 

CHICAGO — In a surprise move, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Friday that he is putting a pause on all new state tax incentives for data centers and calling on lawmakers to pass new data center reforms during the fall veto session.

The governor has directed the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to pause all new agreements starting July 1, fulfilling a proposal he made during his budget address earlier this year. The data center tax incentives have been in place as part of bipartisan legislation signed by Pritzker during his first year in office. 

From 2020-24, there were 27 data centers that benefited by more than $983 million from these tax incentives, according to a state report.

 In his announcement, the governor cited growing impacts on energy affordability and water resources.

“Illinois has an opportunity to continue leading in technological innovation and economic growth, but we also have a responsibility to protect working families and local communities as the data center industry rapidly expands,” Pritzker said.

“I am directing my administration to pause the processing of data center agreements while we continue working with the General Assembly and stakeholders on a comprehensive framework that protects affordability, safeguards our natural resources, and ensures responsible growth across Illinois.”

The move comes after lawmakers failed to pass House Bill 5513, known as the POWER Act, by the spring session deadline on May 31, following months of committee conversations and advocacy from environmental groups. 

The bill would have required data centers to pay for and supply their own renewable energy, track and report water usage and enter community benefits agreements with the municipalities where they’re based. After the bill failed to pass, lawmakers said negotiations would continue over the summer. 

Advocates earlier lamented a ‘lack of engagement‘ from Pritzker on supporting the bill.

Read more: POWER Act data center regulation won’t move forward this spring | Glock ban, prescription drug board among measures that stall in final days

When it was clear the bill wouldn’t be ready for prime time by the spring deadline, lawmakers from both chambers sent a letter to Pritzker calling for a tax credit pause.

“We believe the responsible course of action is to pause the data center tax credits and exemptions in the FY 2027 budget until common-sense guardrails are in place,” they wrote in the letter, obtained by Capitol News Illinois. “It is not only fiscally irresponsible, but also unconscionable to continue to provide millions of taxpayer dollars to Big Tech corporations harming our climate, straining our grid, and making electric bills unaffordable for working families.”

However, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, told Capitol News Illinois earlier this week that the pause on data center credits did not have the support of the Democratic caucus to get through session, saying “not only did it struggle, it wasn’t even close.”

“Now, let’s be clear, we certainly hear people’s concerns about data centers. We’ve had numerous hearings about them. I represent parts of DuPage County, so I hear those conversations about noise, water consumption, and energy costs,” Welch said. “I know how hard our friends in the environmental energy space are working on this very topic. They’re complex issues that just don’t get done right away.”

Resource strain

Data centers have already put a major strain on energy infrastructure, driving up demand and prices for regular customers — and many more are seeking access to Illinois’ grid.

Actual and projected demand from the data centers raised costs by $13 billion over the past two energy auctions on the PJM interconnection, an electric grid that provides energy to 13 states, including northern Illinois. 

A February report from the Union of Concerned Scientists found those costs could increase by another $37 billion in Illinois alone over the next 25 years. 

Those rising supply costs have added an average of $12 per month to residential customers’ bills over the last four years, according to ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones. It would have been even higher, around $16 per month, absent ratepayer relief built into the state’s 2021 landmark climate bill.

ComEd, which receives energy from the PJM grid, has nearly 100 data center requests in its pipeline. If all were to come to fruition, they would draw more than 30,000 megawatts — nearly 1.3 times higher than ComEd’s historic peak rate of less than 24,000 megawatts in July 2011. 

The requests from data centers seeking to access the grid in ComEd’s service territory are increasingly larger in size and scale.

“Really, it used to be the average size of data center applications are in the 150- to 200-megawatt range,” Quiniones said. “Now it’s 700- to 750-megawatt range. It’s because of those big training data centers.”

The huge surge in demand by data centers, which ComEd said has accelerated at an “exponential pace” since 2019, comes at a time when the state is facing projected energy shortfalls that are expected to drive up energy costs if not resolved.

Labor calls for ‘pause on pause’

Organizers from Climate Jobs Illinois and the Illinois AFL-CIO called Pritzker’s tax credit pause “shortsighted” and called on him to “pause his pause.”

The tax incentive legislation required data center owners and operators to require their contractors to enter into approved project labor agreements to qualify for the benefits. 

In a joint statement, the labor leaders accused Pritzker of issuing an order “to generate headlines, rather than practical results.”

“This pause does nothing to lower utility bills, protect the grid, or advance clean energy,” they wrote. “Instead, it will send billions of dollars in investment and thousands of union jobs to Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio — states that sit on the same electrical grid, where those data centers will be built anyway, just without Illinois workers protected by nationally leading labor standards and without the clean energy requirements we’ve collaboratively fought to establish here.”

Other legislative proposals

In addition to ordering a pause on the tax incentives for data centers, the governor proposed six other principles for reform.

Pritzker urged lawmakers to work with consumer advocates, labor organizations and environmental stakeholders to pass legislation in the veto session that would: require data centers to pay for the costs of their energy and water demand, require them to support the generation of new renewable energy, to track and report water use, to adhere to air quality standards and to enter agreements with the communities that host them. 

He also advocated for legislation that would allow utilities to prioritize power to residential and regular business customers in times of high energy demand.

“Data centers should temporarily go dark when the grid is strained to ensure reliable electric service for Illinoisans,” the proposal said. “Data centers that don’t supply their own clean energy could have their electric service interrupted when the grid is strained so Illinoisans’ lights stay on.”

ComEd CEO Quiniones told Capitol News Illinois in a recent interview that the utility also sees interruptible service for data centers as part of the solution to protecting energy affordability, along with more deployment of solar power and battery storage — both elements of a major energy reform package Pritzker signed at the start of this year. 

Consumer and environmental advocates applauded the governor’s announcement and said they expected to continue conversations with lawmakers.

Abe Scarr, director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group said “the devil is in the details” but that the organization supported the “direction” of the framework. Illinois Environmental Council CEO Jen Walling also cheered the news.

“We’re thrilled to see Governor Pritzker’s comprehensive framework to address the growing impact of data centers on our energy, water resources, and local communities,” Walling said. “We look forward to working with Governor Pritzker, state lawmakers, and other stakeholders toward our common goals: holding data centers accountable for their outsized impact on our natural resources and communities while prioritizing fairness, transparency, and Illinois’ clean energy future.”

Ben Szalinski contributed reporting to this story.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

Foundation Chair Myron Lloyd credits one of its members for leading the effort.

“Cheriya Tawseron has been very instrumental, along with our foundation board.  We had 37 teams this year, and the amount raised was $24,500, thanks to the participation of interested in town and enjoying the day. I want to say that through her efforts, the hospital has been given almost $600,000 towards capital improvements at the hospital since our beginning.”

Lloyd says they have no specific project now, but have asked the administration for three areas where the foundation could help improve care and the facility.

Hospital CEO Jim Timpe appreciates the foundation’s work.

“We are so happy that the Salem Township Hospital Foundation has taken such great care of the hospital over the past 25 years. This is the 25th Anniversary of this event, and the foundation has donated funds back every year during that quarter century.  We use it for programs and scholarships; it’s really a great way to give back to the hospital and community.”

The event is held annually at the Salem Country Club, which also helps in the preparations.

Centralia City Firemen say the fire in a trash can in a bathroom of one of the rooms was apparently started by a discarded cigarette.   The fire was confined to the trash can, with minor damage to the flooring beneath it and some smoke on the wall around it.  A small amount of smoke also had to be removed from the bathroom and the hallway.

Firemen received the call at 11:43 Saturday night and were on the scene for about 40 minutes.  Residents were able to move back inside once the all-clear was given.

Salem Police arrested 36-year-old John Pope of South Marshall in Salem on a no bond Clinton County felony failure to appear warrant.

Two were arrested by State Police for allegedly driving under the influence.  22-year-old Cloe Pig of East 8th in Sandoval and 31-year-old James Mancinelli of East Chestnut in Odin were taken to the Marion County Jail but later released on a notice to appear in court.

Marion County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 18-year-old Kailani Calderon-Rosario of Northwood Lane in Salem for speeding more than 35 miles per hour.  She was released on a notice to appear in court.

(NEW YORK) -- International rescuers have indefinitely suspended the search for two gold miners believed trapped in a cave in Laos, nearly three weeks after they were reported missing with five others who were rescued, officials said.

International dive teams that converged on the country's Xaisomboun province, where monsoon flood waters trapped the miners last month, were heading back home on Sunday, a search coordinator told ABC News.

The cave system, according to the coordinator, has become too unstable to safely carry on with the search. The rescue coordinator said the hope of finding the two remaining miners is now very low.

While water in the flooded subterranean labyrinth has been pumped out and lowered to a manageable level, the coordinator said the entrance to the cave has become too unstable for rescuers to safely proceed with the operation.

A local rescue team will keep pumping water from the cave in hopes of a miracle, the coordinator said.

The operation was halted after rescuers explored a newly discovered 196-foot-deep shaft they had hoped would lead them to a chamber where they suspected the two miners might be. But no sign of the miners was reported.

A group of seven illegal gold miners entered the cave on May 19 and became trapped when monsoon rains flooded the cave's entrance, rescuers said.

The rescue team was able to pump enough water out of the system for four miners to crawl out of the muddy abyss on May 30, authorities said. A day earlier, a fifth miner was able to crawl and swim out of the cave after he was taught how to scuba dive, rescuers said.

In an interview with ABC News last week, Josh Richards, an Australian diver who was part of the rescue operation, said the two remaining missing miners could be in a sixth chamber, past the one where the five other miners were located.

But Richards said some of the rescued miners told officials that there were only six of them trapped in the cave, including one who managed to extract himself at the outset of the emergency and alert authorities.

Richards said that one possible theory is that eight miners entered the cave and three got out on their own and went into hiding because their mining activities are illegal in Laos and subject to prosecution.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(TOLEDO, Ohio) -- Twelve people were wounded, two critically, after gunfire broke out near an outdoor festival in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday evening, police said.

Toledo Police Deputy Chief Joseph Heffernan said it appears there were at least two shooters who "probably" began shooting toward each other, with the victims caught in the crossfire.

Lt. Dan Gerkin said the ages of those shot ranged from 14 to 61.

No suspects are in custody.

The incident began unfolding around 5:37 p.m. local time when police received a call for a shooting near the Old West End Festival, a community event celebrating the historic neighborhood.

Police said the investigation continues.

"We'll dissect what happened and who was responsible and certainly the motives are going to be one of them," the deputy chief said. "You know, why would somebody do something like this? It's horrible."

He added later, "This is a perfect example of when bullets start flying, they can go anywhere. They can strike anybody." 

George Kral, the city's director of public safety, urged anyone with information or evidence to come forward.

"There were several hundred people there tonight and everyone has one of these," said," he said, holding up a cellphone. "I know in my heart that footage is out there. So I am imploring my fellow Toledoans to look through your cellphone video and reach out to [the Toledo Police Department] and help them catch the people who did this." 

He added, "This is one of the most iconic festivals in Toledo, and it's a shame that something like this had to ruin it."

Anyone with information can text or call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.

Toledo, a city of about 270,000 people, is located in Northwest Ohio.

In a message posted to its website, the festival announced that further events planned for Sunday were cancelled.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

During their 25 years of marriage, they were blessed with the birth of five children. Keri Jo Garrett and husband Dan of O’Fallon, Kathi Sue Rhodus and husband Tim of Carlinville, Kelly Lynn Cobetto and husband Willie of Hillsboro, and Michael Craig Chitty and wife Shelley of Borden, IN, and daughter Julie Ann Chitty.

Also surviving are granddaughters, Mallory Prindable and husband Alex, Hannah Seifer and husband Clay, Emily Rork, and Annie Rhodus. Surviving grandsons include Quinn Milner and wife Hana, Trevor Rhodus and wife Jess, Adam Rork, Ethan Chitty and wife Caylee, Logan Chitty and wife Anna, Cade Chitty and wife Taylor, Luke Chitty and wife Syndey. Jo was blessed with seven great-grandchildren: Harrison Cook, Ayla Chitty, Cameron Chitty, Lenora Chitty, David Chitty, Bennett Chitty, and Liam Seifer.

Jo was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents Ray and Kate (Craig) Smith, John and Mary Ann (Chrisman) Maxwell, step-grandmother, Matilda Baker Maxwell, her daughter Julie Ann Chitty, as well as aunts and uncles who added to Jo’s joy as a child.

On November 27, 1992 Jo was married to Charles Robert Stallings of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, who brought to the union his children Marcie Woytus and husband Bob of St. Charles, MO and Jamey Stallings and wife Kim of Papillion, NE and grandchildren Amanda Kindler and husband Adam, Dana Jacques and husband Mike, Tyler Woytus, Meghan Stallings, Kathleen Murphy and husband Rigel, and Rebecca Stallings along with twelve great grandchildren Kayla Kindler, Hannah Kindler, Morgan Kindler, Josie Kindler, Mason Jacques, Levi Jacques, Nick Neeley, Nate Neeley, Parker Stallings, Calliope Neeley, Evelyn Murphy, and Adeline Murphy.

Jo was a graduate of Carbondale Community High School and attended SIU-C until her marriage. Following a number of leadership roles at Salem First Baptist Church, one being the Church Clerk from 1983-2004, Jo worked many years at Salem National Bank and retired after 16 years of service with the City of Salem as the City Clerk in 1996. Following retirement, Jo was appointed to serve on the Salem Planning Commission and was a charter member of the SCHS Academic Foundation. She and Chuck enjoyed traveling during retirement and cherished time spent with family and friends.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, June 12, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Salem Baptist Church in Salem, Illinois, with Pastor Andy DeWitt officiating. There will be a time of visitation at the church on Friday from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service. Interment will be private and held at the Wolf Creek Cemetery near Marion, Illinois. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Salem First Baptist Church or the Alzheimer’s Association and will be accepted at the church or Crouse Funeral Home, which is assisting the family with arrangements.  Online condolences and memories can be left at www.CrouseFH.com.

Salem Assistant Fire Chief Bill Fulton says a neighbor first spotted the fire, and the building was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

Fulton reports Copple had just recently moved to the area and was storing items in the barn along with his son, who was in the process of moving to his own new home in rural Centralia.

The damage was so extensive that a backhoe was used to spread the burning materials to help put the fire out.

The cause of the fire is listed as undetermined, but Fulton says it may have started in a refrigerator.

Salem was assisted on the scene by Kell, Odin, and Centralia Fire Protection District, with Kinmundy-Alma standing by at the Salem Fire Station in the event of another fire.

The fire call came in at 5:40 Saturday morning, with firemen on the scene until around 9:30.   They were called out to a rekindle early Saturday afternoon.

The Centralia City Fire Department had already responded with mutual aid when it was determined the fire was actually in the city.   The departments provided an exterior attack  to knock down the flames since the home was already condemned.

The cause of the fire is suspicious, as there were no utilities serving the building.

The fire call came in at 7:20, with firemen on the scene for about two and a half hours.   Sandoval Firemen also responded to the scene, while Irvington covered the Centralia District station and Odin the Centralia City Station.

Firemen work on the fire in the 200 block of East 16th Street. Photo by Tim Ferguson.

Smoke pours from a condemned home on East 16th following a Saturday morning fire. Photo by Tim Ferguson.