On February 28 Rotary International District 6490 announced open enrollment for local sophomore, junior, and senior year high school and home-schooled students to attend the 2025 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a youth development and leadership experience, scheduled April 4-6, 2025 at the University of Illinois 4-H Memorial Camp in Monticello, Illinois. 

“The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an absolutely amazing, not-to-be-missed, action-packed weekend experience for sophomore, junior, and senior high school and home- schooled students sponsored by Rotary clubs located across Central Illinois,” said Tanya Walker, Rotary District 6490 RYLA Co-Chair and member of the Rotary Club of Arthur. “In addition to building lifelong friendships as well as developing social and interpersonal engagement skills, RYLA is a truly unique, fun, experience that encourages and enables youth leadership development, teamwork, self-confidence, self-esteem, business and financial management skills, mindfulness, and so much more,” added Walker. 

•March 5, 2025•

by Rihiannon Branch
FarmWeek

Consumers are experiencing the highest egg prices in history driven by increased demand and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which could keep the market elevated for a while.

The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the average retail egg price at $4.90 per dozen nationwide.

“That’s an all-time high and a lot more expensive than what consumers are typically dealing with,” Brian Earnest, lead animal protein analyst for CoBank told FarmWeek. “I think back 10 years ago when it was pretty common to see $1 per dozen or less.”

•March 5, 2025•

Daylight saving time begins this Sunday, March 9 and the American Red Cross asks everyone to turn their clocks forward one hour and test their smoke alarms.

Did you know working smoke alarms can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by half? That’s why it’s critical to “Turn and Test” and take these lifesaving steps to stay safe from home fires — the nation’s most frequent disaster:

Cannel

•March 5, 2025•

By Janet Roney

What in the world is Cannel?  Along with gold, silver, and plumbago, Thomas Jefferson wanted Isaac Hill to look for it in central Illinois in 1809-1811.  

I impolitely told you to go look up cannel yourself in a previous visit while I was in a snit over the thought that Hill’s guide was a hermit living in a hollow sycamore tree rather than Simon Kenton, “the greatest guide, hunter, and frontiersman of all time”. Sorry. If you are not one of the sweet souls who actually looked up cannel, cannel is coal.

•February 26, 2025•

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Lake Shelbyville will be performing dredging work on the North end of the lake in 2025. Work will include dredging of the Kaskaskia river channel, starting at the Whitley Creek boat ramp and heading towards the Illinois Highway 32 bridge, located south of Sullivan.