38-year-old Wayne County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Riley was killed in the line of duty on Wednesday (December 29). He was a three-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department and served as a corrections officer and patrol deputy. Services will be held Tuesday (January 4) at 11 at the FCHS gymnasium, and visitation will be Monday from 3 to 7, with a first-responder walkthrough at 6. You can hear more details in our obituaries later in the newscast, as well as read them all on wfiwradio.com. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Sean Riley Benefit Fund at Trust Bank in Cisne. Burial will be in Cisne Cemetery, and the community is asked to show their support by lining the procession route. On Tuesday, January 4th starting at approximately 5:30pm, Fairfield Memorial Hospital staff will be gathering on the front lawn of the Hospital for a candlelight prayer vigil in memory of Deputy Sean Riley. The public is invited to attend this event. In the event that the ground is too wet, the event will be moved to the Dr. Scranton Memorial Drive. Parking is available in the Hospital's parking lot and at the Medical Arts Complex parking lot located at 213 NW 10th Street in Fairfield. A collection will be taken for anyone wishing to donate to the Memorial Fund established for Deputy Riley's family. For any questions, contact FMH Administration at 618-847-8243 or FMH Marketing Director Shauna Williams at 618-847-8242. Currently IDPH is reporting total cases of COVID-19 at 2,149,548 with 27,551 variant cases. To date there have been 27,821 confirmed deaths and 3,196 probable deaths. The current 7-Day Rolling Average for case positivity is 10.2% with test positivity at 14.4%. Total tests performed in Illinois is 44,469,630 and 19,176,277 vaccines administered. The Marion County Sheriff's Department reports a vehicle stolen during a burglary about two weeks ago at Daggs Auction Service on the Route 161 Extension near Johnsonville in Wayne County has been recovered in Iuka. The sheriff's department received a tip Thursday the pickup truck was located at a home in the 600 block of Camp Street in Iuka. A number of items were reported stolen during the break-in including a large amount of money. Video footage is being reviewed to try and develop suspects in the case. The Marion County Sheriff's Department and Coroner have announced the identity of the man found dead in a creek north of Alma on Wednesday afternoon. The man is 46-year-old Jeremy Snell of Effingham who was reported missing to the Effingham Police Department on November 15th. Marion County Sheriff's Deputies say Snell's vehicle was located at about the same time parked on Route 37 with its flashers on near the Orchard Road intersection. The body that was found in the creek was about a quarter mile away off the Orchard Road. The sheriff's department had searched both sides of the highway around the car including the location where the body was found in the creek but found nothing at the time. Sheriff's detectives feel heavy rains may have washed the body up to the area where it was found still mostly hidden from sight by the landowner Wednesday afternoon when he was checking his property. Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon says an autopsy has been scheduled for Monday to try and learn more about the cause of death. The cause is currently listed as undetermined, but so far nothing has been found to indicate foul play. Judge Mark Stedelin reduced the bond of a 25-year-old Salem man being held in the Marion County Jail on two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child. Joshua Roedl had his bond cut from $100,000 to $50,000. Public Defender Craig Griffin claimed the $100,000 bond was oppressive and didn't consider Roedl's financial ability. Roedl also pleaded not guilty during his appearance on Wednesday in Marion County Court. He waived formal arraignment and demanded a jury trial. Roedl was arrested in November for committed alleged sexual acts against a four-year-old girl at his residence. Salem Police say there was only one incident and that no other children were involved. New estimates from the US Census Bureau suggest Illinois is continuing to lose population. The latest estimates released last week, pegged the state's population at 12,671,469 as of July 1, 2021, down by 113,776, or 0.9%, from the official 2020 census. Several factors contributed to the change, but the single largest was domestic outmigration. According to the data, 122,460 people moved from Illinois to other states during the period from April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, while only 5,766 people moved into the state, a net loss of 116,694. The Census Bureau routinely estimates national, state and county populations each year following a decennial census using a variety of data sources. But those estimates have been off in the past. In 2019, for example, the Census Bureau estimated that Illinois had lost more than 51,000 people since the 2010 census while the official 2020 census showed the state had lost only about 18,000. On a percentage basis, Illinois had the third largest population decline, behind the District of Columbia, at 2.9%, and New York, at 1.6%. Idaho, Utah and Montana had the largest percentage increases. On a numeric basis, Illinois also had the third largest population decline, behind New York and California. Texas, Florida and Arizona had the largest numeric population increases. A recent survey of bankers in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states shows the economy remains strong in the region, but some bankers say they are worried about how inflation will affect farmers. The overall economic index went from 67.7 in November to 66.7 in December, but any score above 50 indicates growth. The report, released last week, tabbed inflation as a main concern and reason for the decline, as land costs and the price of supplies needed by farmers are anticipated to continue climbing in 2022. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming were surveyed. School districts across Illinois will split more than $54 million in federal funds to buy meal programs impacted by coronavirus-driven disruptions in the supply chain. The effort is part of a $1.5 billion nationwide campaign to assist nearly 100,000 schools through the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation. Most of the money in Illinois will be distributed in cash payments for schools to buy unprocessed or minimally processed domestic food, including fresh fruit, milk, cheese, frozen vegetables, and ground meat. The USDA will also spend $10.2 million in Illinois on 100 percent domestically grown and produced food products for the state to deliver to schools to offset supply chain bottlenecks. Another $7.3 million will help schools buy domestic local food through a regional effort. The minimum wage in Illinois increased another dollar on Saturday, January 1st. The new wage will be $12 an hour. Minimum wage workers are being encouraged to keep a close eye on their paychecks in the new year. Any time worked in 2022 must reflect the new $12 an hour minimum wage. Workers under 18 years old and who work fewer than 650 hours in a year will earn a minimum wage of $9.25 per hour beginning January 1. The youth minimum wage rate will gradually rise to $13 an hour by 2025. River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 20.54 feet, above the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 11.57 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 19.45 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 15.10 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 22.07 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 17.93 feet.