•February 22, 2023•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

It’s not every day I get an avalanche of mail from readers of this column.
But then it’s not every day I get my dander up and essentially call something stupid.
Last Sunday I wrote about a silly attempt to draw attention to a website that purports to help improve your writing.
The PR person who took that job is probably rueing the day it landed on his desk.
Writing Tips Institute says it polled 3,000 Americans on whether they would support a law protecting their states’ individual dialects.
My point: Illinois doesn’t have one dialect. Nor does it have two or three. And besides, how does one enforce a law that so clearly, as reader Dennis Nowicki pointed out, is an affront to the First Amendment of the Constitution?
“Right on,” he wrote, clearly putting himself in my age group. “There is no need for more laws that are near impossible to enforce and that further negatively impact free speech.” Read More

Pandemic-era program will expire on March 31, sparking redeterminations

•February 15, 2023•
By Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois
phancock @ capitolnewsillinois.com

As many as 700,000 Illinoisans may lose Medicaid coverage in the months following March 31, but the Department of Healthcare and Family Services says it is working to reduce that number and help those affected find health insurance elsewhere.
Medicaid is a health insurance program for poor and disabled people that is jointly funded by the federal government and the states.
A spending bill that Congress passed in December put an end to a pandemic-era rule that sent billions of additional federal dollars to states that kept Medicaid patients continuously enrolled in the program through the end of the public health emergency.
Under the program that will expire on March 31, those enrolled in Medicaid did not have to go through the normal process of reapplying every 12 months to determine whether they were eligible, even if there were changes in their income or household that would normally make them ineligible. Read More

•February 15, 2023•
Art from Here arrived at the Tarble Arts Center on February 10th, continuing the Tarble’s annual tradition of showcasing the creativity and expression of young artists in east-central Illinois. This year’s exhibition celebrates 40 years of collaboration with regional art teachers, presenting 134 artworks by 128 students across six counties—Douglas, Coles, Effingham, Edgar, Moultrie, and Cumberland. The exhibiting artists come from Arcola, Ashmore, Charleston, Effingham, Mattoon, Oakland, Paris, Sullivan, Teutopolis, and Toledo. This exhibition will be on view through March 11th, 2023. Read More

•February 15, 2023•

Citizens who are not registered to vote and cannot leave their home or Nursing Home/Assisted Living Facility because of a permanent physical disability can arrange for voter registration and voting by contacting the Moultrie County Clerk’s office.
The last day to register to vote before the April 4, 2023, Consolidated Election is Tuesday, March 7, 2023, with the exception of grace period registrations and transfers between March 8, 2023, and Election Day. Read More