The Wayne County Retired Teachers Association will meet today at Bob Boyles Hall on the campus of Frontier Community College in Fairfield. Lunch will be served at 11:30, followed by the program and business meeting. Cost of the meal is $12.00. The Wayne & White County Farm Bureaus are pleased to announce that Katie Peters has joined their team as their new Ag Literacy Coordinator. Katie will be responsible for presenting agricultural lessons to students in 13 elementary schools through the two counties. Katie will also lead the organization's Safety Days and Summer Ag Institute programs, while working to raise awareness and support for the Ag in the Classroom program. Katie received her Master of Business Administration Degree and her Bachelor of Science Degree in Agribusiness Management from Murray State University. She also has Associate Degrees from Rend Lake College in Agricultural Business and Agricultural Production & Management. Prior to joining the Farm Bureau team, she worked for the US Postal Service as a rural carrier assistant and in various roles in her family's business, Indian Creek RV in Norris City. Katie and her husband Chris reside in rural Enfield with their son. Katie began her dues on August 1. On 07/31/2022, at approximately 2:30 PM, Fairfield officers conducted a traffic stop in the 1500 block of West Main Street on a blue Dodge truck. The driver, Brandy M. Best, 36 was cited for failing to secure her 3 children in appropriate seat restraints. On 07/30/2022, at approximately 10:57 PM, Fairfield officers conducted a traffic stop at the corner of Mt. Vernon Road and Petroleum Blvd., on a 2008 Dodge truck. The driver, Anthony M. Garrison, 33 of Fairfield, was wanted on a Wayne County warrant for domestic battery. Officers also knew Garrison was wanted for questioning by Wayne County deputies for a previous incident. During a search, officers located suspected methamphetamine. Garrison was transported to the Wayne County Jail pending an appearance before a judge for setting of bond. On 07/30/2022, at approximately 2:05 AM, a Fairfield officer observed a male subject identified as Robert J. Crnovich, 51 of Fairfield, on bicycle in the 100 block of West Main Street. Officers confirmed Crnovich was wanted on a Wayne County petition to revoke warrant for possession of methamphetamine (Cash Bond $1520). Crnovich was taken into custody and transported to the Wayne County Jail pending posting of bond. On 07/29/2022, at approximately 11:40 PM, Fairfield officers responded to the 500 block of Mill Street to investigate the report of a domestic disturbance. During the investigation, officers discovered the male subject, Charles B. Conlin, 37 of Mattoon was wanted on a Wayne County failure to appear warrant for driving while license suspended/revoked (Cash Bond $345.00). Conlin was taken into custody and transported to the Wayne County Jail pending posting of bond. Johnsonville Community Days sponsored by the Johnsonville Ruritan Club will be held August 5th – 7th. On Friday, August 5th will feature the Truck and Tractor pull and Bingo. Saturday's events will include the 5K, the truck, car, motorcycle, and tractor show, a mud bog, and Farm Follies. Entry fee for the truck, car, motorcycle, and tractor show is $10 and you can enter by calling Lawrence Pennington at 618-673-2138, Samantha Robertson at 618-919-0083 or Rick Matthews at 618-835-2681. The event wraps up on Sunday, August 7th with the Community Church service, presented by the Cisne FFA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that it will indefinitely extend the deadline for producers to return the pre-filled applications for Phase One of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP). A new deadline will be announced after the last Phase One applications are mailed and provide at least 30 days following the mailing. Continuing to build on the initial mailing of pre-filled applications in May, the Department will continue using existing information in USDA and crop insurance files to send additional pre-filled applications starting this week for potentially eligible Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) participants. Once applications from eligible NAP producers are returned, these producers are expected to receive about $105 million in ERP payments for eligible losses from 2020 and 2021 disasters. USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now mailing pre-filled applications to NAP producers through ERP to offset crop yield and value losses. To receive a relief payment, producers should complete and return the applications by announced deadlines. Producers are expected to receive assistance direct deposited into their bank account within three business days after they sign and return the prefilled application to the FSA county office and the county offices enters the application into the system. While most crop insurance customers that may be eligible for ERP Phase One received the pre-filed applications in May, there are some who should expect to receive a form in August including: Producers who had an eligible loss in 2020 that had been recorded in the crop insurance records as a 2019 loss (e.g., prevented planting claims); and Producers with policies that required additional information before being able to calculate an indemnity for 2021 losses (producers with 2020 losses would have already received that application). Policies that required additional information include Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO), Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX), Margin Protection Plan (MP) or Area Risk Protection Insurance (ARPI). Producers without risk management coverage through crop insurance or NAP and those with shallow losses may be covered by the forthcoming Phase Two of ERP. USDA estimates that Phase One ERP benefits will reach more than 5,200 producers with NAP coverage for eligible 2020 and 2021 crop losses. This emergency relief complements ERP assistance recently provided to more than 162,000 producers who had received crop insurance indemnities for qualifying losses. Nearly 13,000 additional crop insurance customers will also receive pre-filled applications in August to cover eligible 2020 losses described above and for producers with more complex policies where indemnities could not be calculated for 2021 previously. For more information on ERP eligibility, program provisions for socially disadvantaged or historically underserved producers as well as Frequently Asked Questions, NAP applicants can visit FSA's Emergency Relief webpage and program fact sheet. State Climatologist Trent Ford says last month may end up as one of the top 20 wettest Julys on record, although rainfall totals varied widely across the state. Ford say rainfall was one to six inches above normal in most areas north of I-80 and South-Central Illinois totals were three to nine inches above normal. Especially high precipitation was seen in Elgin, the Metro East area and Olney. Conversely, drought conditions persist in East Central Illinois counties. As far as July temperatures go, Ford says Northern Illinois was one to three degrees below normal and southern half of the state was one to three degrees above average. River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 25.78 feet, above the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 6.55 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 16.69 feet (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 15.40 feet, and the Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 24.87 feet. The Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 6.87 feet. Today's crude oil price is $89.89. The September crude oil price is $93.31 down $0.59 from yesterday morning.