Feature | Thursday, April 12,2007

The new environmentalists

The coalition to stop utility polluters broadens as outdoorsmen, pediatricians, and business developers join the fight.

Untitled Document Springfield activist Will Reynolds was part of a Sierra Club team that negotiated cleaner air from the city utility’s new coal-fired power plant, but his

News | Wednesday, February 7,2007

Outward bound

Exodus of Illinoisans may be slowing, study shows

By Joan Villa

Untitled Document What do Illinois, Florida, and California have in common? More folks left those states last year than moved into them, says St. Louis-based United Van L

News | Wednesday, January 17,2007

Opportunity’s risk

Explosion of ethanol production could tax available water sources

By Joan Villa

Untitled Document Abuzz with Friday’s news that corn had hit near-record prices, a small group of farmers and curious investors gathered at 1st Farm Credit Services in Norm

News | Wednesday, September 27,2006

The New Wind Rush

With the onset of electricity deregulation in Illinois, the market brightens for wind-power generation

By Joan Villa

Terry Gutshall was amazed for the second time. Back when he was principal of Bureau Valley’s shiny new high school, he was amazed to face electricity bills totaling a whopping $150,000 in the sc

News | Thursday, February 2,2006

State of the poor

New report shows Illinois poverty rate leads the Midwest

By Joan Villa

More than one in four people barely make ends meet in Illinois — a state where the poverty rate for adults and children is the highest in the Midwest, according to the

News | Thursday, October 27,2005

Slim pickings

The latest trend? Poverty — and it’s on the rise.

By Joan Villa

Mal Freeman graduated from high school 10 years ago and still dreams of becoming a registered nurse. She’s looked into a nursing degree at

Feature | Thursday, June 16,2005

Right of refusal

By Joan Villa

As soon as the morning-after pill Plan B came on the market several years ago, downstate-Illinois pharmacist Peggy Pace knew that she’d never dispense it. “It

Feature | Thursday, May 19,2005

Consider the alternative

By Joan Villa

Like many communities, San Antonio, Texas, has a split personality, says Latina student activist DeAnne Cuellar. Although Hispanics account for 70 percent of the population, they show up tim

Feature | Thursday, April 21,2005

The next BIG thing

By Joan Villa

When Liz Nichols first heard about alpacas three years ago, she weighed the potential income against the money she was making from the corn and soybean crops she raised on a