SACRAMENTO, Ca. — Jacey Cooper is the director of Medicaid in California, and she’s never been afraid of big challenges. She commuted two hours each way from Bakersfield to Los Angeles to complete her senior year at the University of Southern California after giving birth to twins. Just a few years later, at 27, she…
An independent expert who has monitored the mental health care was terminated reducing the transparency around an often failing system. CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Corrections has long faced accusations of abuse and violence toward people with mental illness and has continually failed to fill positions for mental health care workers. Now for the…
CHAMPAIGN – In response to bans in neighboring states, the Planned Parenthood clinic located in Champaign is now providing in-patient, surgical abortions. Clinic staff expect to see more anti-abortion rights protesters with the expanded service. “Here in Champaign, the protester activity has always been pretty mild,” says Champaign Planned Parenthood manager Jennifer Fetters. “However, now…
https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s4780019/audio/2022/09/kidsmedicaid-feature-web.mp3 Kathreen Friend is a pediatric registered nurse based in Doniphan, Missouri — a small town of about 1,800, just 15 minutes north of the Arkansas border. As the lone pediatric specialist in her county, it’s not unusual for her days to fill up with appointments. “I see a large volume of kids every single…
URBANA – Distribution of the new bivalent COVID-19 booster began last week across Illinois, including in Champaign County. The bivalent booster offers more protection against the Omicron variant because it combines the original strain of COVID-19 with the most recent one, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Previous boosters only protected against the SARS…
WASHINGTON D.C. — For the first time since the Nixon administration, the White House will hold a conference on hunger, nutrition and health, bringing together advocates, lawmakers and experts to come up with strategies to tackle food insecurity and diet-related health issues. The conference comes after a spike in food insecurity rates across the country…
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has proposed new policies for the state’s schools regarding how they treat transgender students, including restricting which bathrooms they can use and which pronouns they may go by. The Virginia Department of Education released its 2022 Model Policies online Friday, effectively rolling back the work of Youngkin’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph…
SPRINGFIELD – Vice President Kamala Harris came to Chicago Friday to rally voters who support abortion rights and urge them to turn out in the upcoming midterm elections. Speaking at a roundtable discussion on reproductive rights at the University of Illinois Chicago, Harris said the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade has…
INDIANAPOLIS — When DeAndra Yates-Dycus got a phone call that her seventh grader was shot, she rushed to the hospital, frantic, hoping she wouldn’t be asked to identify a body. The sheriff met Yates-Dycus and told her that 13-year-old Dre “did not do anything wrong. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong…
CHAMPAIGN — Undergraduates at the University of Illinois tested positive for COVID-19 in record numbers last week. Julie Pryde leads the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). She says that despite appearances, the University of Illinois simply joined the existing wave of cases when it reopened for classes this fall. “We’ve had high transmission for the…
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Lee Enterprises, along with Capitol News Illinois. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called patient abuses at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in rural Anna “awful” and “deeply concerning,” and he said the future of the facility depends on correcting poor conditions. Pritzker’s comments at…
CHICAGO — A kinesiology professor at the University of Illinois recently explored how Latin Dance can benefit the memory of older Latinos. Susan Aguiñaga is a kinesiology professor at U of I. Along with a team, she explored how Latin Dance can benefit the memory of older Latinos. Aguiñaga explained that there were two groups…
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending updated COVID boosters, for people ages 12 and older. These newly authorized shots are reformulated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines and they’re available at pharmacies, clinics and doctors’ offices around the country. Listen to this story here. The boosters target both…
This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois and Lee Enterprises . As Blaine Reichard rose from a breakfast table at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois, a worker ordered him to pull up his sagging pants. A 24-year-old man with developmental disabilities, Reichard was accustomed…
There were 50 lethal shootings in the city of Champaign between 2015 and the first half of 2022. Of those 50 victims, 15 were 20 years old or younger. At least 30 suspects were arrested in those shootings, and 15 of them were also aged 20 or younger. Those were some of the numbers revealed…