Photo furnished
Moultrie County Farm Bureau Treasurer Lucas Roney explains the several types of equipment farmers use throughout the year to Sullivan third grade students.

•April 11, 2018•

The Moultrie County Farm Bureau held their annual Ag Education Farm Tour Friday, March 16 at Mike and Joel Reedy’s farm in rural Lovington. More than 100 students went through farm machinery, farm safety, chemical look-a-like, seed and livestock stations.

The farm tour gave local schools a chance to bring their pre-school and third grade classes out and learn about a day on the farm. The children learned about seed, fertilizer, equipment costs and the steps the farmer takes in preparing the fields from planting through harvesting the crops.

Students were also taught about chemical look-a-likes presented by Angie Welker from the University of Illinois Extension.

Jonathon Manuel from Champaign SWCD demonstrated the rainfall simulator which visually taught students how rainfall is affected by the type of surface it connects with and how water runoff occurs on particular surfaces.

Okaw Valley FFA led the livestock and ATV safety stations.

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Sullivan Rotary Receives Donation from First Mid. Pictured left to right are Brad Pullen, Sullivan Community President, Sullivan Rotary President Dan Fultz, and members Joe Keller, George Levi and Doug Smothers.

•April 11, 2018•

Investing in the communities it serves is important to First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust, and in 2017 First Mid employees volunteered more than 18,000 hours within its 37 communities in Illinois and Missouri.

First Mid recently recognized the top five volunteers and donated $500 each to the charity of their choice.

Brad Pullen, Sullivan Community President, was a top volunteer and has selected both the Arcola Junior Football League and Sullivan Rotary Club to receive donations from First Mid. The Arcola JFL promotes having fun, learning the fundamentals of football, safety, teamwork and sportsmanship for boys and girls starting in fourth grade.  Read More

•April 11, 2018•

English scholar Dr. Jad Smith will discuss how science fiction writer Alfred Bester combined elements of modernism and popular pulp fiction to transform the field of science fiction on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 9 am in the Coleman Hall Auditorium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. The talk is free and open to the public. Read More

•April 11, 2018•

By Wendell Potter,
Rural Health News Service

Access to dental care is a serious and worsening health problem in rural America. But now many states are beginning to enact legislation that could ease the pain.

The federal government says 63 million Americans live in dental deserts — areas where few if any dentists practice — and that more than half of those who live in the deserts are in rural areas.

Hundreds of counties throughout the United States have no dentist, meaning residents often have to drive long distances for dental care. https://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/topics/shortageAreas.aspx

Nebraska is among the states with a severe shortage of dentists, at least in its rural areas. The state has designated more than half of its 93 counties as general dentistry shortage areas. In 2012, according to a study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, 20 Nebraska counties did not have a single dentist. (https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth/chp/research/2013-access-to-oral-health-care-in-nebraska.pdf) Read More

•April 4, 2018•

Students from Sullivan High School visited Booth Library on the campus of Eastern Illinois University recently.

The students were conducting research for AP English papers on debatable topics such as the death penalty, legalizing marijuana and abortion. They took a tour of the library and were given a demonstration on finding resources both on the bookshelves and through the library’s online database. Read More