•November 26, 2025•

The Hour House recently announced its commitment as a participant of the 2025 Gift Responsibly Campaign, joining lotteries and community organizations across North America and around the world to raise awareness about the risks of underage lottery use. The campaign is organized by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) and the International Center for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University.

Research shows that the earlier a person’s participation or exposure to gambling is in childhood, the more likely they are to develop a gambling problem later in life. Gambling exposure during childhood is often through some form of lottery product, such as lottery tickets or scratch-offs. Often, these items are given to a child by an adult who is unaware of the associated risks.

•November 26, 2025•

Silas Hortenstine, a Biological Sciences major from Gays, received the East Central Illinois Section of the American Chemical Society Outstanding Poster Award at the 10th Annual East Central Illinois ACS Undergraduate Research Conference on November 8th at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Hortenstine presented research conducted in the Beck Research Group. His project, supported by an NIH R15 AREA grant (R15GM152890), examines factors that affect carboxylesterase-mediated drug metabolism.

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•November 26, 2025•

Moultrie County has been issued a tentative property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000, according to David Harris, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR). The property assessment equalization factor, often called the “multiplier,” is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments among counties, as required by law. This equalization is particularly important because some of the state’s 6,600 local taxing districts overlap into two or more counties (e.g., school districts, junior college districts, fire protection districts). If there were no equalization among counties, substantial inequities among taxpayers with comparable properties would result.