St. Clair County

The makeup of the St. Louis region is changing. Here’s what the latest census date tells us about the population and racial demographic trends of the region — and what challenges local leaders must tackle to attract more St. Louisans in the decade to come.

Starting at the barge terminal near Fayetteville — about 15 miles southeast of Belleville — the pipeline would run roughly 16 miles north to deliver fuel to the Metro East base.

St. Clair County Regional Superintendent of Schools Mark Eichenlaub will retire at the end of the month after 36 years of work in public education.

Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson said the numbers may drop in the next eight weeks but he doesn’t expect that to continue. A jail spokesman said the jail population could even increase in the long term.

Illinois became the first state in the country to abolish cash bail on Monday, but the courts remained slow in the Metro East.

State lawmakers passed and the governor signed the criminal justice reform back in 2021. Originally scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2023, lawsuits slowed the SAFE-T Act's enactment. The legislation includes the elimination of cash bail.

Six interagency law enforcement task forces, including the St. Clair County-based Metro East Auto Theft Task Force, received grant funding this spring to combat car thefts through an initiative of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias’ office.

Illinois quit collecting property taxes from disabled veterans in 2015, but that has cost Metro East school districts and other taxing bodies near Scott Air Force Base hundreds of thousands — or sometimes millions of dollars.

The 77-year-old didn't pay his property taxes, and St. Clair County foreclosed his home. His story reveals a series of breakdowns in a system that struggles to deal with people who don't fit into traditional society or follow all its rules.

County officials took yet another step in the process of transferring the 22.5 acre property from private to public control.