By Blake Haas BLOOMINGTON – New jobs could be coming to the twin cities with a new Internal Revenue Service facility. This week, U.S. Representatives Eric Sorensen and Jan Schakowsky joined U.S. Senator Dick Durbin in a letter to the IRS supporting a new taxpayer correspondence print and mail management facility in Bloomington. According to…… MORE
The updated harvest forecast shows 198 bushels of corn per acre and 61 bushels of soybeans per acre in Illinois. … MORE
With a big assist from the weather, the Illinois State Fair reports its largest attendance since the current tabulation practices were adopted in 2015.… MORE
Senate Judiciary Committee chair U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wanted to show his colleagues what’s being done in Illinois to ban book bans… MORE
A longtime Downstate lawmaker known for his fiery floor speeches and piercing wit has passed away.… MORE
A big blue bus (pictured) rolled up to Fairview Elementary School in Springfield Wednesday afternoon.… MORE
Whether you believe in it or not, the head of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency blames climate change for the frequency and severity of the weather the last several years.… MORE
There were 6.7 days suitable for field work during the week ending September 3, 2023.… MORE
There were 6.5 days suitable for field work during the week ending August 27, 2023. … MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – A Black man whose most famous books were published in the 1940’s has been named Illinois’ favorite author. A survey for stoicquotes.com names the favorite authors of each state. Richard Wright wrote Native Son and Black Boy, and Springfield librarian Kathryn Harris can’t argue. “The time and the stories he wrote about kind…… MORE
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…