// a href = ./ //

St. Charles officials are now urging residents of West Alton to prepare for a possible evacuation. The area is expected to flood, but the severity remains to be seen. Residents should be making plans to secure their homes and property if an evacuation order is necessary.

A hearing is scheduled for tonight in Ballwin to determine the future of an indoor shooting range.

The American Arms and Supply Company will ask the zoning commission to change the city codes to allow for the indoor range to be built on the site of a former Rothman Furniture.

The Planning and Zoning Commission meeting will be held at the Ballwin Golf Course Clubhouse starting at 7 p.m.

CHESTER, Ill. (AP) - A southern Illinois judge has ordered a mental evaluation of a man accused of setting a house fire that killed four children.

The mental fitness examination for 33-year-old Derrick Twardoski was requested Monday by James Kelley, his Randolph County public defender.

A hearing on the testing's outcome is scheduled for June 20.

Twardoski has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the May 10 deaths in Percy, a village about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis. The fire killed siblings ages 12, 9 and 5-year-old twins.

The county's state's attorney, Jeremy Walker, has said he doesn't consider the fire random. Although he's declined to say why authorities suspect Twardoski set it or whether Twardoski knew anyone who lived in the home.