June 25, 2014
by William C Bailey
School of Agriculture Western Illinois University
Labels are important – not just for clothing – but also for music, electronic gear and literature. Labels also are import for the food and agriculture industries. Over the past 20 years, consumer spending on organic products has grown from $1 billion a year to almost $30 billion. So it is safe to assume the organic label is important to many consumers. Read More
By Gerald Tilley
Social Security District Manager in Decatur
It’s summertime, and that means it’s time for popcorn, snacks, and blockbuster movies on the silver screen. Have you noticed that many of the heroes in theaters this year seem to be of a certain age? In fact, some of them are old enough they could easily be getting Social Security retirement benefits even as they continue to work—saving the world or otherwise.
by William C Bailey
School of Agriculture Western Illinois University
An interesting confluence of events could affect your pocketbook the next time you go shopping. Because of strong international demand for dairy products, butter prices are near record levels with the retail price of butter nearly 50% higher than last year at this time. A similar situation holds for beef. Prices are near record levels, with rib eye prices nearly 10% higher than last year and hamburger prices almost 50% higher. And, as the beef industry attempts to re-build the national herd from its smallest size in 60 years, beef prices are expected to continue moving up. Further, a new twist has recently been added which turns a lot of our thinking about eating red meat and dairy products on its head, potentially increasing demand just as prices are near record levels. Read More
By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist
It is time to begin to turn things around in Illinois. I think some positive elements are coming into place. And I have the sketch of a plan to do so.
Plan is the operative word or, better, implementation of a plan is the operative phrase.
As I have said in this space before, Illinois doesn’t do any planning, or big picture thinking, at the state level. We haven’t done so for decades, all the while we have been slipping relative to the nation in economic terms. Read More
by Sarah Hudson Pierce
I knew so little about our daddy because he was so sick during most of my childhood up until he died at home in bed in our front room on March 19, 1958
Our dad, Roy Earnest Hudson, was born on September 23, 1895, in Bethany, Illinois. He still seems like such a mystery having died 56 years ago when I was only 10 years old
I felt rootless and drawn to delve into the old family trunk because I sensed that there was much to be learned about our genetic lineage. I was very productive after the age of 30, in 1978, while I located living long lost relatives with the aid of directory assistance and our old family trunk which was full of old family pictures, letters, and other memorabilia. Read More
June 11, 2014
by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com
You’ve donned an awkward gown, perhaps tossed an even more odd-shaped cap, and you’ve been given a piece of paper.
You’ve graduated high school.
And in keeping with the line of customary traditions, I bequeath upon you a bit more wisdom–that is in addition to whatever your parents, grandparents, teachers, valedictorian, salutatorian, and the rest of the world has already heaved upon you: if you must leave, do so without cursing the place in which you grew up. Read More
by William C. Bailey
School of Agriculture Western Illinois University
A recent column on quinoa prompted a reader to alert me to a similar grain, which is grown in Illinois, named amaranth. I did some research and learned a lot about amaranth, which has been in the food chain for a long time. It was important to the Aztecs and can today be purchased at our local grocery store, under the name “Bob’s Red Mill Organic Amaranth”. I also learned it is referred to, in some circles, as ‘pig weed’, since it apparently has been fed to pigs. Given the choice, I prefer the name amaranth to pig weed – it certainly seems to have considerably more commercial appeal. “Bob’s Red Mill Organic Pig Weed” doesn’t really do it for me. Read More
by Kim Riedel
NP Columnist
It is summertime.
Well, not officially, but the temperatures have been nice and warm and even a little too warm; yet I am appreciating the beauty all around me. Flowers of all colors and shades are blooming, and early crops are coming in. Since all of my family (besides three of my kids) lives half the country away, I decided to share the beauty and excitement of my garden through Facebook, which I have never done before. It has turned into a fun learning experience as I have been getting comments and questions about different plants, flowers and crops that I have in my gardens. I found out that my purplish pink flowers that I have enjoyed for the last eight years are actually hardy geraniums; I had never thought of taking the time to find out what kind of a flower it was before, but now I am pleased to know that I love perennial geraniums. It has been fun seeing pictures my family has posted of their own plants in their gardens; sometimes it makes me feel that they really aren’t so far away. Read More
Shepherds Hooks No More?
My Memorial day was ruined this year when I went to put flowers on my parents’ graves, as I have for the last 15 years. I decided to write this to warn other people about picking grave sites. It is not a good idea to pick them in a privately owned cemetery, such as Moultrie County Memorial Park. Since my father was buried, three people have owned this cemetery, with their own set of rules. Read More
By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist
I’m sitting al fresco at an Indian restaurant on a trendy street near Fudan University in Shanghai, a cold draft Carlsberg in hand. As the well-dressed, handsome Shanghai residents stroll by, young parents with their one child in tow, I think to myself maybe I understand China a bit, but I don’t.
I recall that Napoleon once warned about awakening the sleeping bear that was China. The bear has been startled awake by the economic reforms of 1979. Hang on for the ride. Read More