By USDA SPRINGFIELD – Corn: Planted area is estimated at 10.7 million acres, down 3 percent from last year. Harvested area, forecast at 10.45 million acres, is down 4 percent from 2021. Based on August 1 conditions, the Illinois corn yield is forecast at 203 bushels per acre, up 1 bushel from 2021. Production is…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – In his final months of his final year (the 24th) as Illinois secretary of state, Jesse White was called upon to perform an important duty: serve as grand marshal of the Illinois State Fair Twilight Parade, which was Thursday, the opening day of the fair. The Jesse White Tumblers made…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – The state’s annual showcase of agriculture – the Illinois State Fair – is now open. At Thursday’s ribbon-cutting, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton – tasked with, among other things, heading up a rural affairs commission – talked about the state’s top industry. “All year we have been looking forward to this…… MORE
The birth of a baby is exciting, but for two-month-old Corbin Sarsany of Springfield, it was a little too exciting.… MORE
After the latest deposit, the state’s rainy day fund just surpassed $1 billion.… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – Springfield might get another national monument. The National Park Service is studying the sites and stories of a race riot from 114 years ago, a riot credited with leading to the creation of the NAACP. Dan Duster, a great-grandson of journalist and civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, cheered on…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – You can color Gov. JB Pritzker “gobsmacked,” and when was the last time you heard a governor use that word? He reacted to Wednesday’s unveiling of the 101st edition of the butter cow, an Illinois State Fair staple. Sculptor Sarah Pratt of Iowa has finished her sixth creation for the…… MORE
By Dave Dahl SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is defending the FBI’s raid on former president Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. “I feel certain, not knowing any details directly, that they wouldn’t have taken an historic and monumental step without thoughtful consideration and checking all the boxes,” Durbin said at an unrelated news…… MORE
Now that gubernatorial candidate State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) has drawn more criticism for comparing abortion to the Holocaust, Republicans all over the state are being asked about it.… MORE
Illinoisans can sign up for permanent mail-in voting starting Wednesday.… 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…