Meating In The Middle: The Challenge of Lowering Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Farms
Cow guts are quite the factory. Grass goes in, microbes help break it down and make hydrogen, then other microbes start converting it to another gas. In…
How Many Patients Should a Nurse Care For?
Several Illinois lawmakers want to improve patient outcomes through legislation that would limit the number of people nurses can care for at any given…
Why Don’t More Doctors Help Cancer Patients Quit Smoking?
Most people knew James Strain as “Butch.” Dr. Cynthia Meneghini called him “Dad.” She remembers h im as a handyman who could fix anything. When she…
Grandparents Are Raising Their Grandkids. Blame Opioids.
Getting to Anne Polston’s house is a journey: first, you have to get to Liberty , a town about two hours southeast of Louisville. Then, there’s a…
Can Cannabis Help Patients In Pain Avoid Opioids?
Since February, patients in Illinois have been able to swap their opioid prescriptions for marijuana. And many are doing just that.
New Medicaid Coverage for Transgender Illinoians
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services will soon allow gender confirmation surgery to be covered by Medicaid. That procedure, most…
Struggling for Housing
In the course of reporting my previous story on the gap between wages and the cost of housing, I spent time following a case manager with the Southern…
‘If You Build It, They Will Come’: Saving Pollinator Habitat With Solar Power’s Help
From bees to butterflies , a worldwide decline in pollinators has entomologists trying to figure out how to help those bugs and the plants that rely on…
For Low Wage Workers Housing Is Out Of Reach
An estimated 10,643 people in Illinois are homeless according to federal data. Many of those are working – but still can’t make ends meet. For the…
Illinois lawmakers may regulate midwives in home births
A small but growing number of U.S. women are choosing to have their babies at home. In more than 30 states, including most of the Midwest, it’s legal for certified professional midwives–trained specifically in home birth–to assist them. Illinois is not among them; but the state Senate wants to study the issue. Carrie Vickery, vice president of the Illinois Friends…
How One Illinois Nonprofit Supports New Mothers, Promotes Safe Sleep
Across much of the Midwest, maternal and infant death rates are high—especially among African-Americans. So doctors, public health agencies and non…
Fentanyl Can Lead To Overdoses In Hospitals, Too
Experts often blame the painkiller fentanyl for skyrocketing overdose deaths among illegal drug users. Now a series of deaths at an Ohio hospital is…
Illinois Bill Aims To Help Children Get Mental Health Services
An Illinois Senate bill aims to help children who are at risk of entering state custody because of issues caused by untreated mental illness. The…
As Type 1 Diabetics Struggle To Afford Insulin, Eli Lilly Announces A Cheaper Alternative
Insulin is not a new drug, but even though it’s been around for nearly a century, its price continues to climb. People with Type 1 Diabetes have to take…
Illinois Gets A Break: New Tax Credit Could Boost Local Housing, Economies, But There’s a Catch
The Quad Cities are divided by the Mississippi River along the Illinois-Iowa border. They all took a big hit during the 1980’s farm crisis, and were…