How Seeking Justice Retraumatizes Assault Survivors
Rape and sexual assault are issues that have dominated the headlines recently. The response to those stories – whether they are about Brett Kavanaugh,…
Top Illinois Artist Preston Jackson Urges Peers: “Get Some Guts”
Preston Jackson is a martial artist, an accomplished guitar player, an educator and professor-emeritus, and a visual artist who has studios in…
E-Cigarette Use Soars Among Illinois Teens
E-cigarettes are setting anti-smoking efforts back by as much as a decade. That’s what researchers found after analyzing this year’s Illinois Youth…
Cargill’s New Robot Herds Cattle So Workers Don’t Have To
Brad Churchill, a slaughter operations manager at Cargill Meat Solutions, has worked in the cattle industry for more than 30 years. He’s seen many…
Women Make Some Gains In Illinois Elections
This week’s election was expected to bring a second “Year of the Woman” to American politics. After Tuesday, here’s what that looks like in Illinois:…
Rural America is Growing, But Only Near Big Cities And Scenic Areas
For the first time in seven years, rural America’s population is growing. The annual U.S. Department of Agriculture report “Rural America at a Glance”…
Do Campus Sexual Misconduct Policies Allow Harassment To Persist?
Every college campus has standards and policies to prevent sexual harassment. But time and again, repeated complaints are filed against professors for…
Mac Miller Overdose Shows Fentanyl’s Deadly Power
Popular rapper Mac Miller is the latest musician to die after ingesting fentanyl — a grim tribute to the drug’s power. A coroner in Los Angeles says…
Midwest Voters Weigh In On Pot, The ACA And More
Health care was a big campaign issue across the Midwest, and Tuesday’s election results were mixed. Among the winners: medical marijuana.
Reporter’s Notebook: The Road To A Story
I’m used to long roads. I grew up at the dead end of a dirt one in rural Montana. For my latest radio story, I drove about 11 hours. Every person I interviewed was a stranger in a town I’ve never been. Mostly, I found them online. Don’t tell my mother. That latest story —…
High Schoolers To Help At Polling Places In Sangamon County
At the county health building in east Springfield, election judge trainees sit through a presentation and comb through packets of information. On…
Non-Profit Sues IDOC Over Censorship Of LGBTQ Publications
Knowing there were other transgender inmates in prisons in Illinois and across the country made Leila Lee feel as though she wasn’t alone. She said it…
Ag Co-ops Are More Than Seeds And Sales, They’re Boosting Rural Economies
Farmers started forming co-ops nearly a century ago, primarily to get better prices for their crops. They pooled their resources, put up storage bins…
Illinois Sex Ed Law Requires ‘Honor And Respect For Monogamous Heterosexual Marriage’
Lily Furgeson had a great experience in sex ed in middle school. Furgeson, who is a 17-year-old senior at a Chicago Public Schools high school, said her eighth grade sex ed teacher made sure to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities as part of their curriculum.
Illinois Early Childhood Educators Share Election Hopes
Preschool is a key part of building a solid foundation for lifelong learning, some experts even say it’s the most important part of a child’s education. And yet, it’s not considered by the state of Illinois to be as important as K-12 education, based on the way funding is allocated.