•March 16, 2016•
“Easter Eggstravaganza” for families of children fifth grade and under will be held at Smyser Christian Church 2-4 p.m. March 20.
Included will be fun activities for the whole family. Read More
Category Archives: News Briefs
Multimedia Artist Featured at Workshop
•March 16, 2016•
Multimedia artist John Borden Gabb will conduct Sullivan Art Club’s first workshop of the 2016 season Saturday, March 19.
The workshop will be held at St. Columcille Church hall located on the east end of the church at the corner of W. Jackson and McClellan streets. There is a dedicated entrance to the hall adjacent to the parking lot.
Gabb hails from the Effingham area and is the owner of Brush Hill Gallery. Many of his works which are vibrant and colorful are in private collections in the United States and abroad. Read More
Windsor FFA Member Takes First in Sullivan
•March 16, 2016•
Windsor FFA member Travis Fox competed in district proficiencies at Sullivan High School March 9 and placed first in his area.
He competed against four other FFA members in the district in the area of beef production placement. Proficiencies involve keeping proficient records on a supervised agricultural experience and participating in an interview over the SAE. Travis’s SAE involved working for his uncle in beef production.
The state level competition will be held April 2.
FFA Alumni to Begin Offering Scholarships
•March 16, 2016•
The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond (ALAH) FFA Alumni Chapter will begin offering scholarships this spring.
The scholarships are available to students who are entering either their first or second year of post-secondary education at a trade school, junior college, or university.
Students do not need to be agriculture majors to receive a scholarship. Read More
Social Security Offers Tools to Help Plan Retirement
•March 16, 2016•
By Gerald Tilley
Social Security District Manager in Decatur, IL
Achieving financial security is an important part of enjoying a satisfying retirement. Social Security has many tools to help you plan for your future.
A great first step is to visit www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. With a my Social Security account, you’ll get immediate access to your personal Social Security Statement, your earnings record, and an estimate of your retirement benefits at age 62, at your full retirement age, and at age 70. You can also verify your earnings are correct, since we base your future benefits on your earnings record. Read More
Thinking About Health: Prices for Medical Airlifts Can Hit the Stratosphere
•March 16, 2016•
By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service
Not many of us think about needing air ambulances. We don’t dwell on that possibility, but for people hurt in car accidents or who live in smaller or rural communities without medical care at hand, being airlifted to a hospital can mean the difference between life and death.
Increasingly, the service also can mean the difference between getting well at a price you can afford or at a price that could push you over a financial cliff. Air ambulances have become the centerpiece of a nationwide dispute over balance billing, a practice that requires unsuspecting families, even those with good insurance, to pay a large part of the bill.
In Nebraska a woman who was injured when her van rolled on a gravel road found herself with a $44,000 air ambulance bill. Her insurance paid most of the bill. A North Dakota man who got a $67,300 bill from a company that transported his wife to the Mayo Clinic had to pay more than $50,000 out of pocket. In Ohio, a man filed for bankruptcy because he owed $22,000 to an air ambulance company, which had placed a lien on his home. Read More
Don’t Push Your Luck on St. Patrick’s Day
•March 16, 2016•
If you are out celebrating, plan to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Illinois State Police and more than 150 local law enforcement agencies throughout the state remind motorists to avoid pressing their luck, celebrate responsibly and never get behind the wheel after drinking.
St. Patrick’s Day has long celebrated the roots of Americans with Irish ancestry, often including daylong drinking festivities at parades, pubs and house parties. These celebrations can turn deadly if someone chooses to drink and drive. Read More
Illinois Lags Behind Unemployment Recovery Average
•March 16, 2016•
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that Illinois’ unemployment rate in January rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.3 percent and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by +1,500, based on data released by IDES and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Illinois’ average job growth since employment recovery began in January 2010 remains significantly below the national average, and employment will not recover from the 2007-2009 recession until May 2016, according to IDES labor market analysts. The nation is currently 3.5 percent above its prior peak level of employment.
“When you compare job growth to most other states across the nation, Illinois has persistently lagged the national growth rate throughout the recovery period,” said Jeff Mays, Director, IDES. “Even with the upward revision to the 2015 jobs figures, we went from no growth to very low growth. At the same time, the nation grew twice as fast.” Read More
Wanabe A Writer?
•March 16, 2016•
Are you a writer or wanabe a writer? Third Thursday Wordsmiths is a group of writers of varied skills under the direction of Penny Weaver, editor of the Mattoon Journal Gazette. It is a great group of people sharing what each has written. The meetings take place at Flourishes Gallery and Studios on the third Thursday of each month at 140 ½ E. Main, Shelbyville, from 7-8 pm and all are welcome. To encourage the writing process in whatever form or style (paragraph, poem, character sketch, short story, etc.) topics for three months have been named. Participants can bring their writing to share and get feedback from the group. The following topics are: March 17-children at play, April 21-garden, May 19- summer vacation.
Millikin Radio Receives IBS Award
•March 16, 2016•
Millikin University’s student-run radio station 89.5 WJMU The Quad received its first Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Award at the 76th annual IBS Conference held March 4-6 in New York.
Millikin graduate Mallory Wiedenkeller, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in December 2015, won the IBS Award for Best Radio Documentary for her “Online Friendship” production. Senior Eric Shafer, a communication major from Springfield, Ill., was an IBS Awards finalist in the Best Show Promo category for his “90s on Tap” promotional segment piece.
IBS Awards finalists represent the top three to five percent of work submitted in their category to the National IBS from the previous year. This is the third consecutive year that WJMU has been represented by a finalist nominee and the first win for WJMU in the station’s 45-year history.
“When we create programming that can get nominated for awards it says a lot about the students and how efficient they are with their work,” said Sam Meister, lecturer of communication and WJMU faculty advisor. “We’ve had a great executive board for the last three years, and once those executive board students know their jobs then we can further develop the quality of production. We’ve got a lot of great resources and great support from the administration.” Read More