News | Thursday, May 10,2012

Lawmakers vote to keep supermax prison open

Panel’s 3-7 vote against Tamms closure isn’t final word

A panel of state lawmakers voted last week to keep the state’s “supermax” prison open, but the costly facility’s ultimate fate rests with the governor.

News | Thursday, May 10,2012

Coal curriculum

What is the state teaching children about coal?

By Patrick Yeagle

Illinois is a coal state – the eighth-largest producer of coal in the nation at 33.2 million tons in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Illinois Geological Survey estimates Il

News | Thursday, May 3,2012

No mandate? No problem.

Group pushes for health insurance exchange even if federal reform is struck down

By Patrick Yeagle

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of controversial federal health insurance reforms, advocates in Illinois are urging the state to implement the federal law even if it’s struck down.A

News | Thursday, May 3,2012

Not too young to know

Targeting STDs, teen pregnancy through better sex ed

By Patrick Yeagle

At least 21 children between the ages of 12 and 14 had the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia in 2006, according to the Sangamon County Department of Public Health.That startling fact illustrates

News | Thursday, April 26,2012

Incarcerated but innocent

Illinois Innocence Project expands work to free the wrongfully convicted

By Patrick Yeagle

When Jonathan Grayson went to the Kane County courthouse on March 6, he wasn’t expecting to walk out a free man. The 30-year-old had spent 10 years in prison for murder, and he still had another

News | Thursday, April 19,2012

Reformers: sex offender mandate would hurt Illinois

Other states shrugging off law because of costs

By Patrick Yeagle

As Illinois lawmakers debate a bill to increase registration requirements for sex offenders under a federal mandate, reform advocates say it would cost the state too much. They say many other states h

News | Thursday, April 19,2012

Early release would save $153 million

House committee mulls prison overcrowding solutions

By Patrick Yeagle

Putting a halt to early prison release in Illinois has cost the state $153 million a year, says one prison reform advocate. Meanwhile, inmates complain of cockroaches in their cells and a lack of reha

Home & Garden | Thursday, April 19,2012

Community gardens for a healthier city

Once-blighted properties now grow food

By Patrick Yeagle

In eras past, gardens were ubiquitous in America. During both world wars, gardens were wielded like a weapon, with millions of “Victory Gardens” planted in both private and public spaces a

News | Thursday, April 19,2012

Save the flags

Civil War battle flags not on display, but still public

By Patrick Yeagle

Behind the high barbed wire of Camp Lincoln in Springfield, in a nondescript brick building and sealed in a row of large, white metal cabinets sits a delicate, tattered silk flag bearing familiar gold

News | Thursday, April 12,2012

Getting kids ready for kindergarten

Continuum of Learning supports pre-k screening

By Patrick Yeagle

The beginning stages of a plan to improve education in Sangamon County are already showing promise, according to an upcoming report from the Sangamon County Continuum of Learning. The Continuum is wor