Feedback: Noble Charter Schools Story Hit A Nerve
Earlier this month, we posted a story about discipline practices inside Noble Network of Charter Schools , which educates approximately one out of 10…
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The Surgeon General Wants Us All To Carry Narcan, But It Can Be Hard To Get
It was a scheduling mishap that led Kourtnaye Sturgeon to help save someone’s life. About four months ago, Sturgeon drove to downtown Indianapolis for a…
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Illinois Prison System Spent Less Than $300 On Books Last Year
Every Sunday, a group of women meets in the basement of a church in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood to sort and package boxes of books. The boxes are sent to women
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Will Illinois Face Another Budget Impasse?
Passing a state budget is arguably the most important thing the Illinois General Assembly does every year — or at least should do every year. After last year’s drama — when a two-year standoff ended with a Republican revolt against Governor Bruce Rauner — it’s an open question about how things will go this year….
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Hog Producers Brace For Trouble Due To China’s Tariffs On Imports
Updated April 4 to clarify the export percentage — China matters to the U.S. pork industry, as more than a quarter of all hogs raised here are shipped…
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For Chronic Pain, A Change In Habits Can Beat Opioids For Relief
There’s a growing consensus among pain specialists that lifestyle changes can be more effective than drugs in managing chronic pain. But the alternative approach requires patient commitment.
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Culture Shock: Teachers Call Noble Charters ‘Dehumanizing’
The trend toward school choice has educators across the country looking at Chicago’s Noble Charter Schools — an award-winning network of mostly high schools that specializes in helping inner-city kids achieve the kind of SAT scores that propel them into four-year universities. But despite its prestigious reputation, Noble has a peculiarly high teacher turnover rate….
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Students Across Illinois March Against Gun Violence
Thousands of students, teachers, parents and victims carried signs and marched across Illinois in the cold, snow and sleet on Saturday as part of the nationwide March for Our Lives against gun violence. The marches were largely led by students, many of them moved to action after last month’s high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
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U of I Graduate Workers Strike Hinges On Tuition Waivers
Hundreds of classes have been canceled and dozens more relocated as a strike by graduate employees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign continues into a second week. On Tuesday night, graduate workers occupied the office of university president Tim Killeen. Strikers have a variety of demands, but one of the most contentious points focuses on the future of…
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Lawsuit Alleges Illinois Prisons Improperly Censored Criminal Justice Newsletter
The publisher of a newsletter about the criminal justice system filed a lawsuit this week against the Illinois Department of Corrections alleging that multiple state prisons barred inmates from receiving all or part of several publications.
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Even With No Budget, Illinois Spends And Spends
Gov. Bruce Rauner is scheduled to unveil his fourth budget proposal Wednesday in a speech to the General Assembly. Illinois lawmakers only enacted a budget for one of the three years he’s been in office. That led to service cuts and some layoffs, but the state didn’t collapse. For most people, life went on as…
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As States Embrace Cannabis As Opioid Alternative, Science Lags Behind Policy
Across the country, states desperate to prevent opioid addiction are considering medical cannabis as a solution.
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Schools Are Using Poverty Simulations To Build Empathy. But Do They Work?
About 100 teachers and school support staff spent the better part of three hours inside a junior high school gymnasium in rural, east central Illinois in early January. They were role playing people living in poverty.
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Dem Candidates For Gov In Lockstep At Justice Forum
Five of the six Democrats running for governor were in Peoria over the Martin Luther King Day weekend. They were making largely similar cases to voters at a forum on criminal and economic justice. The five candidates seem to agree on a lot of big picture policy ideas, so Democratic voters will have to decide…
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Education Board Calls For Swift Action On School Funding
If you’ve seen Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign commercials , you might think the school funding issue was settled last summer. But as often happens with…
