Attendance Up

 I see SIUC fall attenance is up over 12,000 this fall, reaching12,066.  While not historic, as the press release says and certainly a far cry from the rumored 2000 I heard last month. 281 students is still, as far as I am concerned,  within the standard deviation andnot large enough and not enough to be pointed to as evidence of a turnaround. After all, for a couple of decades, the university kept losing about that amount each semester and the administration said it was not large enough for concern.

Get an increase of 10% or better and the administration could point to their actions as having an actual effect.

Shooting Arrest Made

 Carbondale Police have made an arrest in the shots fired case in the Arbor District area over the weekend. Lalyn Frais, 19 of Carbondale, was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and resisting a police officer. Happily, although there was damage to a building in the area, no people were hurt.

Saluki Way Tax

 Back around 2009, city council passed the Saluki Way tax, increasing local sales taxes by .25% to help fund the replacement of McAndrews Stadium, remodeling of what is now Bantera Arena and helping cover the cost of the Studnet Services Building (which is not currently named after anything). The tax is supposed to raise about $1 million a year to help with repaying the bods issued to pay for all the contstruction and is scheduled to expire in 2027 or 2029. 

I certainly hope the council does not pass a resolution keeping the tax in place. Our current sales tax rate is higher than about 90% of the other sales tax rates imposed by other communities throughout the state and I have heard from several local restaurant owners they have lost catering business to restaurants in Marion and Murphysboro due to their lower tax rates.

Off Premises Signage

 The city approved 6-1 an amendment to an ordinance at its last meeting allowing for the placing of off premises signage along East Main and East Walnut between Washington Street and Lewis Lane. However, the businesses wanting to place off-premises signage must have frontage along those right of ways.

The same ordinance was a major point of contention when the city was working to get Kohl's to open a storefront in Carbondale. One of the things Kohl's insisted on was an amendment to the same ordinance allowing it to place a sign on Highway 13 pointing towards the Kohl's location on Giant City Road.

Shots fired

 Apparently shots were here in the West Cherry, West College, South Forest area east of Poplar about 4 this afternoon. Officers were still in the area about 7 p.m. walking down West Elm, I gather to see if they could get any more information.

Harbaugh's Cafe

 I see by their social media posts that downtown staple Harbaugh's Cafe has opened a location in Marion and is currently holding a soft opening with a grand opening sometime in September.  Glad to see they are dooing well enough to have a second location.

Moka Coffeehouse

 Looks as if downtown Carbondale will get a new coffeehouse in the near future.  No opening date posted yet but signage is up for Moka Coffeehoue in the empty Geologic Oddities space in University Plaza on S. Illinois.