Teshia Spencer’s 14-year-old daughter was experiencing shortness of breath. Spencer assumed allergies were the cause until a doctor diagnosed her daughter with asthma. The trigger, according to Spencer, was months of mold exposure in a house they rented in Springfield from January to July of this year. Spencer is one of several tenants who told […]
Molly Wallace
Molly A. Wallace is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, and is a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
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Safety net snaps
Kayla Brown said her family of four has been getting by on about $200 a month in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits since the sweeping changes made to the program’s eligibility and benefit calculations went into effect earlier this year. Before the change, she said her family received nearly $900 each month. “We’ve been getting […]
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Developers pitch solar farm to Divernon residents
A Dallas-based company hopes to build a 1,100-acre solar project between Divernon Township and Pawnee Township by 2029. Leeward Renewable Energy held an open house Wednesday at the Divernon American Legion, where community members and representatives of the company met to talk about the solar farm’s location, construction, environmental impact and employment potential. Henkle Branch […]
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Federal cuts are hitting Illinois food assistance recipients — and the farmers who feed them
President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” severely impacted two of Illinois’ most economically vulnerable groups: the hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans set to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food assistance this year and the small farmers who are losing them as customers. The bill, H.R. 1, made changes in who can receive SNAP benefits and […]
