Medical foods are vital for a rare disease. Why doesn’t insurance cover them?
Every day, Amanda Moller scoops powdered formula out of a can and shakes it up with water from her kitchen sink in University City, Missouri, a suburb…
Civil Rights Leader Urges Students: Keep Fighting, With Love
Earlier this month, Diane Nash told a full auditorium of University of Illinois Springfield students that she and fellow civil rights activists, “Loved…
Who Benefits From Video Court?
In 2000, Charles Davidson was arrested the day before the 4th of July for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Urbana Police responded that evening to a complaint of fireworks and came upon Davidson, who claims he made the complaint on behalf of his mother. According to court records, police accused the now 68-year-old…
Ask The Newsroom: How Are Early Voting And Mail-in Ballots Handled?
In the past, Ann Quackenbush would wake up early on election day to get to her polling place. The elementary school teacher in Champaign says it was often hard to make time to vote during a busy school day. For the primary last March, she tried something different – mailing in her ballot before election…
Why Illinois Data On Chronic School Absences Could Be ‘Meaningless’
Illinois schools will soon have to publicly report and be evaluated on a new performance measurement: chronic absence. But researchers and superintendents have raised questions about whether or not that data will be meaningful or fair. In Illinois, chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent — or 18 days — of a school year…
Technology Changing Access And Outcomes In Abortion Debate
Technology changing access and outcomes in abortion debate President Donald Trump has stood strongly behind the anti-abortion movement, and his Supreme…
Data Show Opioid Prescriptions Declining In IL
There is some good news in the fight against opioid abuse in Illinois. Doctors prescribed fewer opioids to patients in 2017 than 2016, according to numbers from the statewide prescription monitoring program. The database can’t track illegal narcotic use, but the drop in prescriptions is still widely seen as a good sign as the majority…
Hemp Program Underway In Illinois
Corn and soybean fields as far as the eye can see are the typical sights of summer throughout rural areas of Illinois. But next year, ‘fields of green’…
Obama Visits U Of I Campus, Urges Students To Get Out & Vote
In his first major political speech since leaving office, former President Barack Obama took aim at the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress — blaming them for inciting division and stoking fears in the country. Obama delivered the address at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, where he also accepted the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics…
The Cost Of Doing Business Across The Rural Digital Divide
Gary Smith has worked at the grain elevator at Okaw Farmer’s Co-op in Lovington, Illinois, for forty years. On his desk sit two computer screens, where…
Study: Cover Crops Reap Financial Benefits, Not Just Environmental
An increasing number of farmers is using cover crops to keep water, soil and nutrients from running off fields. But while many studies have shown the…
With Insulin Prices Soaring, Some Diabetics Turn to Dangerous Work Around
Nicole Smith-Holt’s son Alec was 23 when he started feeling sick. His muscles cramped. He was lethargic. He woke up multiple times every night to use…
Battling Drug Addiction: What Comes After Detox?
Like many states, Illinois is battling an opioid epidemic. Loran Owens, who lives in Franklin county in Southern Illinois, knows what the epidemic is…
The 1908 Race Riot & ‘Being Black At School’
Earlier this month, we reported on the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield and what’s being done to remember and reconcile 110 years after the violence broke…
Ask the Newsroom: Election Edition
You want to be an informed and confident voter this election season, and Illinois Newsroom wants to help. Our statewide public media collaboration is delivering you the highest quality information around the Midterm Elections. And you’ll be our guide. We’re launching our Ask the Newsroom: Election Edition project so you can ask us your pressing…