SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – The Crime Stoppers group in Sangamon and Menard counties in central Illinois is increasing its efforts at highlighting cold cases.

Springfield police officer Mike Badger is the local Crime Stoppers coordinator. He tells The State Journal-Register in Springfield (http://bit.ly/2dIXsDB ) that instead of featuring two cold cases a month the group will feature up to a half-dozen monthly.

Badger says the hope is to bring more attention to each case while the group is still offering $5,000 rewards for tips that lead to an arrest instead of the normal $1,000 reward. The enhanced reward program continues through the end of the month.

Badger says that by his count Springfield has 48 unsolved murder cases going back to the early 1970s.