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BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A southwestern Illinois judge says a Belleville AIDS organization needs to stop its needle-exchange program until it gets a special zoning permit.

Bethany Place's will have to conform with the city's zoning code, which doesn't allow it to dispense medical supplies.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A judge in southwestern Illinois is considering an AIDS service organization's challenge of a city's decision to bar the group from running a needle-exchange program because of a zoning issue.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that St. Clair County Circuit Judge Robert Haida took the matter under advisement after a hearing Monday. The judge will issue a written ruling.

The city sued in February, believing Bethany Place's needle-exchange program violates the type of operations allowed for that site under the city's zoning codes.

Bethany Place responded last month, arguing the city waited too long to complain.

The organization calls the city's move unfair and prejudicial to clients served by the program.

 

A former Boy Scout troop volunteer will be sentenced in May after being convicted of a dozen counts of sexual abuse involving a teenage boy.

St. Clair County jurors Thursday convicted 55 year old John Demers after less than two hours of deliberation.

The charges involved a teenager who said Demers had inappropriate contact with him between 2005 and 2011.

Demer's attorney says his client maintains his innocence.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A coroner is hoping toxicology tests determine what killed a southwestern Illinois teenager whose body was found on a bed near an infant.

St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone tells the Belleville News-Democrat that 19-year-old Dyilion Rojas was found dead Thursday in a home after someone anonymously called police to report a possible overdose.

The 6-month-old baby was found beside Rojas and was later turned over to a relative.

The connection between Rojas and the infant isn't clear.

An autopsy is planned, and results of lab screenings of his blood aren't expected to be available for weeks.

Belleville is getting a new grocery store, but only after a contentious city council meeting.

Fox 2 reports Mayor Mark Eckert cast the deciding vote at the meeting to approve 200,000 dollars in tax-increment financing for the Ruler Foods. Ruler Foods is a discount store owned by Kroger's. The TIF money will be used to tear down the vacant building on the lot. Eckert says demolition should begin in March and the store could open by September.