Simmy Wood

Aug 15, 2024 | wcia.com | Simmy Wood

DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — The Decatur Family YMCA and the Decatur Police Department are celebrating their long-standing partnership and the success of two community events. Officials said 2,000 backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed for this year’s Backpack Attack event. These backpacks were given to kindergarten through sixth grade students across Macon County. Meanwhile, the Shop With a Cop program gave 75 area children the opportunity to shop at Kohl’s with local law enforcement.

Aug 15, 2024 | wcia.com | Simmy Wood |Bradley Zimmerman

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A 26-year-old Springfield man was sentenced to 19 years in prison after he was found to possess more than 200,000 pornographic images of children. 19 years is one year less than the maximum that Adam J. Heintzman could have received for his crimes. Prosecutors said the sentence was based on the number of images he had, the “sadistic and masochistic conduct” depicted in the images, the transfer of such images to minors and the ages of the children involved.

Aug 15, 2024 | wcia.com | Simmy Wood

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — $32.6 million in federal funding is going to the University of Illinois to help advance cancer research. The money comes through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Precision Surgical Interventions program. It will benefit the invention of new imaging techniques that will allow surgeons to remove all remaining microscopic cancer cells before the end of procedures.

Aug 15, 2024 | wcia.com | Simmy Wood

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — The Illinois Department of Transportation is putting $9.5 million into local planning efforts and transportation improvements across the state — including Central Illinois. The money will be distributed through 20 grants that will benefit the overall Illinois Long-Range Transportation Plan. Specifically, IDOT is supporting projects that focus on asset-management strategies and performance-based planning and programming.

Aug 15, 2024 | wcia.com | Simmy Wood

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — A 34-year-old Springfield father suspected of shooting his two-year-old daughter has been released from custody, police said. On Aug. 8 around 11:15 a.m., a two-year-old girl was brought to HSHS St. John’s Hospital by her father, 34-year-old Averill F. McDonald. The child was shot in the leg and had a graze wound on her head.