UIUC confers degrees to 27 area residents

Despite a global pandemic, 9,261 students from the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois finished their degree programs to officially graduate. Among the recipients were 27 residents from The Sentinel's area of coverage.

Two students, Jocelyn Harmon and Nicholas Shapland, completed their education as double majors. Harmon, who graduated from the Gies College of Business, earned a second degree in Marketing. Meanwhile, Shapland completed the requirements his additional degree in Political Science.

Shapland graduated with High Distinction from his department in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Two other Unit 7 alumni in addition to Harmon, Madeline Wilson and Sierra Benson, were awarded High Honors distinction for their academic performance. High honor students finish their college degree with at least a 3.80 grade point average. Students with a GPA of 3.5 to 3.75 graduate with Honors.

Students with a GPA of 3.9 or higher are recognized with Highest Honors. Two undergraduates, Tolono resident Dawson Dodds and Ogden native Carly Frerichs, earned the academic titles upon graduation last May.

Highest honors are awarded to students upon recommendation by his or her department at the University through outstanding performance in course work and in supplementary activities of an academic or professional nature along with an undergraduate thesis or a special project of superior quality.

This year's degree recipients include:

Raghida Abdallah Yassine, St. Joseph
Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership

Mary Adams, St. Joseph
Master of Social Work

Nicolette Baccadutre, St. Joseph
Master of Education in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership

Cole Berry, St. Joseph
Master of Accounting Science

Ty Brown, St. Joseph
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Carly Delzell, St. Joseph
Master of Social Work

Kinze Ehmen, St. Joseph
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications

Alexander Izard, St. Joseph
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Michael Rajlich, St. Joseph
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

Erin Smith, St. Joseph
Master of Education in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership

Patricia Stevens, St. Joseph
Master of Education in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership

Carly Frerichs, Ogden
Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology

Max Daly, Sidney
Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Susan Mantell, Sidney
Master of Science in Nutritional Sciences

Nicholas Shapland, Sidney
Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Jesse Kiser, Philo
Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Gracie Schweighart, Philo
Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Sierra Benson, Tolono
Bachelor of Fine Arts in New Media

Dawson Dodds, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Finance

Dawson Dodds, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management

Jocelyn Harmon, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management and in Marketing

Tatum Hawkins, Tolono
Master of Science in Information Management

Keegan Payne, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

Younis Ramahi, Tolono
Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Lucas Stark, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Technical Systems Management

Katrina Widholm, Tolono
Master of Education

Madeline Wilson, Tolono
Bachelor of Science in Journalism

The list above is provided by the university and based on the address supplied by students. This list may not include individual graduates conferred after July 15. If you suspect a problem with this list, contact the University of Illinois at (217)333-1085 or them at News Bureau. Did you, your son/daughter or a grandchild graduate from a public or private university back in May or this month? Let us know by sending their 2020 college graduation information.

Former SJO baseball stars receive academic recognition at UIS

St. Joseph-Ogden alumni Colton Hale, from St. Joseph, and Mason Coon, from Ogden, are two of 675 students who earned Dean's List recognition for their work in the classroom at the University of Illinois in Springfield this past Spring semester.

Mason Coon takes a swing at a Murphysboro pitch during SJO's state semifinal game in 2016. Coon and Prairie Stars teammate Colton Hale were nominated to the Dean's List at UIS this semester. (Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks)

In order to qualify for the Dean’s List, the pair were required to take at least eight graded semester hours, maintained a grade-point average of at least 3.75 for the semester and did not receive an incomplete grade for any class they were enrolled during the semester.

Hale, who red-shirted the 2019 season, appeared in 18 games with one start in 2018. On the hill, he has collected an 8-1 ERA with one save. Opposing batters had .256 batting average against him.

In the 33-1/3 innings he hurled in his first season, the former Spartan struck out 42 batters. He earned his first NCAA postseason victory after allowing one run and two hits, and striking out three hitters for the Prairie Stars.

He appeared in four games this spring before the season was halted due to the Coronavirus.

Coon, who was named to the GLVC All-Academic team, played in 14 games, including two postseason games during his career at UIS.

Like Hale, he played in four contests for the Prairie Stars during the 2020 season. In his best outing, the 6-3, 190-pound southpaw recorded four strikeouts against Southern Indiana on March 8. Coon recorded a pair of singles and two doubles at bat during early season play.

34 area students make the Spring 2020 U of I Dean's List

Last week, the University of Illinois announced the students recognized outstanding academic achievement with the release of the Spring 2020 Dean's List. Thirty-four area students who studied at Illinois' flagship university were among the 13,183 earning recognition for their academic performance.

Students named to the UIUC Dean's List must complete coursework and grading to fall into the top 20% of a student’s college class or curriculum. Due to the complications from the Coronavirus pandemic, students who earned a spot on this semester's list took of 12 credit hours for a letter grade or received a final grade of "Pass" in classes that shifted to or was offered in a pass/fail format. Under normal circumstances, the University of Illinois requires students to have enrolled in a minimum of 14 credit hours. Classes taken pass/fail are not counted toward their academic standing for this award.

The list below does not include Dean's List honorees added after Jan. 27 or students who did not list their hometown as Royal, Ogden, Philo, Tolono, Sidney or St. Joseph with the University.

Benjamin Albrecht, Senior, St. Joseph / Kinesiology
Elanor Atkins, Freshman, Tolono / Animal Sciences
Cody Ayers, Senior, Ogden / Molecular and Cellular Biology
Sierra Benson, Senior, Tolono / New Media
Kathryn Bigger, Sophomore, St. Joseph / Elementary Education
Emily Bluhm, Sophomore, St. Joseph / Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Nicholas Cagle, Sophomore, Ogden / Economics
Max Daly, Senior, Sidney / Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Dawson Dodds, Senior, Tolono / Finance
Carson Florey, Junior, St. Joseph / Linguistics
Lauren Gherna, Senior, St. Joseph / English
Jocelyn Harmon, Senior, Tolono / Supply Chain Management
Evan Hawkins, Junior, St. Joseph / Advertising
Makenzie Heyen, Junior, Sidney / Graphic Design
Mason Housenga, Junior, St. Joseph / Physics
Ian Hulette, Senior, St. Joseph / Human Development and Family Studies
Riley Knott, Junior, St. Joseph / Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications
Kristen Kurtz, Junior, Ogden / Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Mark Maddock, Junior, St. Joseph / Political Science
Robert Malmberg, Senior, Tolono / Philosophy
Camryn McKee, Sophomore, St. Joseph / Political Science
Mira McLain, Senior, St. Joseph / Integrative Biology
Abigayle Mizer, Sophomore, Ogden / Political Science
Adalyn Parke, Junior, St. Joseph / Psychology
Keegan Payne, Senior, Tolono / Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
Allison Place, Junior, St. Joseph / Crop Sciences
Corynne Roberts, Junior, Ogden / Materials Science and Engineering
Abigail Schlueter, Sophomore, St. Joseph / Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications
Arthur Schmidt, Junior, Tolono / Technical Systems Management
Rylee Sjuts, Sophomore, St. Joseph / Undeclared
Benjamin Snodgrass, Junior, Tolono / Kinesiology
Ashlee Walters, Senior, Tolono / English
Israel Wells, Junior, Sidney / Kinesiology
Madisyn Welsh, Junior, St. Joseph / Social Work

Neither the post office or Congress wants to deliver

By Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

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Some of America's problems can be fixed easily. One of them, voting by mail in the November election, should not be one of them for Americans.

I suggest the polls remain open for at least two days. Every state should open their polls from 6am until 8pm. Some states already have later evening hours like California where residents may vote until 8 PM and in New York where voters can vote as late as 9pm.

Some states allow you to show up at the courthouse and vote early. It should be easy to vote on one of the voting machines like always if you aren't available to vote on November third.

Indiana will allow voters to come in as early as October sixth to cast their ballot. It's called "Absentee in-person voting". This would be a good idea for every state. You will never have more than one or two people in front of you when you vote early. Social distancing occurs, you pick the day and you know for sure your vote has been cast.

The stage for a fiasco is set for any kind of mail-in ballots this year.

It's a big issue. Some people want it and others don't. This is not the year to try it out. People are hollering social distancing and Covid-19. Yet, these same people are walking through Walmart without a mask.

One idea for handling the election day voting is to let Chick-fil-a handle the process.

I've never seen anyone take the orders of fifty cars and have all their food to them in ten minutes like they do at our local Chick-fil-a. Every time I go there, I think, "Wow, this being closed on Sunday is just killing them." I say that as a joke, of course, as their business is better and greater than ever.

The United States post office has timed their demands for money at the right time. They've declared they can't guarantee delivery of mail-in ballots on time because of lack of funds.

Can they ever really guarantee delivery? I mail stuff out priority mail occasionally and sometimes it shows up ten days down the road. The promised delivery time is sometimes much shorter than actual delivery. I would never depend on my vote making it to the courthouse via mail. Oregon uses mail entirely for voting. Washington state has a lot of mail-in votes.

I'm sympathetic with the needs of the post office. I think they should eliminate delivery and close the post offices on Saturday. This should save some money.

Go ahead and raise all the postage costs five percent. Many Americans pay their bills online. Christmas cards are going out online for many.

Oh, and someone needs to make sure Amazon is paying a fair price for delivery of their goods. Free delivery of Amazon products is not really free. Someone is paying the cost.

For seniors over 70 on minimal incomes, give them some free stamps very month to mail their bills. They're already hurting enough.

Some of America's problems can be fixed. Our greatest problem is fixing Congress. They are the greatest obstacle in solving most of our problems.

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Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.

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This article is the sole opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of PhotoNews Media. We welcome comments and views from our readers.

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Area youth football season suspended

"It’s with a very heavy heart that we have to announce that we are canceling our 2020 season," wrote Brittany Elliot on the SJO Youth Football Facebook page nearly two weeks ago. The decision mirrors others from youth football programs from the state due to mandates by state offices restricting youth sports competition.

Four days ago, Governor JB Pritzker announced new restrictions on youth sports in the state that would have ended the youth football program's season on August 15.

"I know our hearts break when we hear the word 'restrictions,' especially when it comes to our children's love for their sports. Whether this year is their first time on the court or it's their senior season - this isn't the news anyone wants to hear," said Governor Pritzker during his pandemic update this week. "But with rising rates of spread of the virus, with rising positivity rates throughout Illinois and the United States, this is a situation where the toughest choice is also the safest one. Therefore today, my administration is releasing new guidance restricting youth and adult recreational sports in Illinois. We have worked in consultation with the governing bodies of many of these organized sports programs, and collectively we hope that, when metrics and risks improve measurably, we will be able to restart these sports."

Elliot wrote the decision, made long before the governor's latest decree, was tough despite working diligently the past couple of months to figure out some way to salvage the season. She said it wasn't easy.

"We understand that football is an important outlet for our kids so we are going to continue to meet as a board and hopefully come up with some creative ideas to keep the kids involved."

The Spartan program is the smallest in the Central Illinois Youth Football League. Champaign, Danville, Rantoul and Urbana are the other league members that fielded teams from three age groups.

Money Matters:The taxing side of real estate investing

This is part 3 in this Money Matters series with guest columnist Jake Pence. You can read part one What's the best way to invest in your future here and part two on the importance of Liquidity and diversification.

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by Jake Pence, Guest Columnist

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For the majority of investors, taxation should never be the main driver behind an investment. However, taxation should absolutely be considered in an efficient investment portfolio. At the end of the day, how much money you keep is more important than how much money you earn.

The Internal Revenue Source (IRS) has written a painfully long book called, "The Internal Revenue Code" otherwise known as the tax code. The tax code isn’t painfully long and dense because of the many different ways the IRS can collect taxes. In fact, the collection of taxes is rather simple. If you make “X”, then you pay “Y.” Rather, the tax code is so long because of the many ways you can legally reduce your tax liability.

Individuals are able to reduce their tax liability if they perform actions that the government likes. One of the government’s favorite actions is providing housing to the public; therefore, there are many great tax benefits for real estate investors. One of the great real estate tax benefits is depreciation.

Real estate depreciation allows you to deduct the costs of a property over its useful life (as determined by the IRS) which reduces your taxable income. This is known as a “paper loss” because on paper it looks like the value of your investment decreased when, in reality, the value of your property likely increased due to appreciation and you collected monthly cash flow from the property if your income was greater than your expenses.

The tax benefits of real estate are very powerful and warrant their own article; however, this is how the wealthy stay wealthy. They buy real estate and legally reduce their taxable income, so they keep more of their money and then use that money to buy more real estate. It’s not complicated, and it’s 100% legal.

When it comes to taxation, real estate is the belle of the ball; however, stock market investors are able to place investments in tax efficient accounts and control the timing of their capital gains. The main tax benefit available to stock market investors is the ability to defer taxes through retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and IRAs. Additionally, you are able to choose the timing of the taxation by electing the account to be a “traditional” or "Roth" retirement vehicle.

With a traditional IRA, you are able to deduct your contributions in the year they are made, but you must pay taxes on them once you withdraw the funds. This is ideal for someone who thinks they will be in a lower tax bracket once they are retirement age. You contribute after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA, so this is ideal for someone who thinks they will be in a higher tax bracket once they retire. If you hold a specific stock for longer than a year, then you are no longer subject to the highest capital gains tax and this will allow you to keep more of your earnings.

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About the author:

• Jake Pence is the President of Blue Chip Real Estate and a consultant for Fairlawn Capital, Inc.. A 2019 graduate from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, he is a 2016 graduate from St. Joseph-Ogden High School where he was a three-sport athlete for the Spartans. You can view his latest acquisitions and advice on his YouTube channel here.

Junior high sports back, new restrictions will limit 2020 fall season

There are a lot of happy 7th and 8th grade athletes in Illinois now that junior high sports is back.

After canceling the fall activities of golf, softball, baseball, and cross-country for 2020 season during their meeting on July 23, the Illinois Elementary School Association board of directors reversed that decision a week later. Following in the footsteps of the Illinois High School Association, who announced a major schedule change of sports seasons in response to the strict parameters set by the governor and Illinois' public health department, the IESA approved a plan for the return of regular-season contests in these three sports with a limited post-season championship.

Baseball, softball and cross-country teams are cleared to start practice on August 3 and can play in their first game or contest on starting on August 15. All meets and games previously schedule on or before the 15th must be canceled or rescheduled. The new plan also limits team to a maximum of two contests per week with no tournaments or events with more than three teams. Baseball can play three games a week if one contest is a doubleheader.

In its official release, the association stressed that "It is a very fluid plan and circumstances/guidelines/mandates may change any part of the plan at any time."

The board also approved a modified plan for for all remaining junior high sports and activities. The plan is a blueprint providing schools, administrators, coaches, parents, and officials with information to plan for the remainder of the athletic and academic year.

Incorporated into the changes, winter sports will run from January through March. Competition for boys basketball, girls volleyball, wrestling, and cheerleading would be played during this period.

Spring sports, which will include girls basketball, boys and girls bowling, and boys and girls track and field, will start in February and end in May.

The fall post-season will include a regional-only level of the state series for softball and baseball to be held the week of September 21 and a sectional-only for cross-country sometime between October 10-17. Golf will have a sectional tournament on Wednesday, September 9.

St. Joseph grade and middle school registration starts next week

The St. Joseph grade and middle schools will open registration for the 2020-21 school year next week from August 3rd through August 7th. This year, the district will not host the traditional single all-day registration at the Middle School as in the past.

The district will offer on-line registration this year and encourage everyone who is able to register using the website. Parents who are unable to register on-line can do so in person August 3-7 from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. The school district asks those individuals registering in person to observe social distancing guidelines.

Parents should receive an e-mail this Sunday with instructions to access the on-line registration system and how to make required payments.