News Progress

•October 22, 2025•

On Friday, October 17th, Okaw Valley High School students and supporters came out in a big show of pride for their yearly Homecoming Event. 

The Little End of Nothing
•October 22, 2025•

by Janet Roney

Traveling across frontier central Illinois was not an easy task, whether in a group of wagons, on a stagecoach, or by horseback. It was uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous. Since inns like Lovington’s Black Horse Tavern were scarce, travelers often found refuge with pioneer families in isolated cabins to avoid camping out on the open prairie.

Travelers never knew what to expect when stopping at an isolated cabin. My great-great-grandfather described his experience in his journal when he spent the night at an isolated cabin in southern Illinois in 1819. He and his companion had not seen a house since breakfast. It was after sundown, and they were desperate to find a place to stay. “I was at the door but for a short time, but saw enough to satisfy myself we had drifted to the little end of nothing.. The housewife was sitting near a little fire, her dress very dirty, a child on her lap...and in her mouth was a corncob pipe. She looked happy.”

•October 15, 2025•

Halloween is an annual celebration that many children and adults look forward to each year. From the mysterious and the macabre to the goofy and gregarious, Halloween speaks to people in many different ways. And with the opportunity to accumulate several pounds of sugary treasure after a few hours of trick-or-treating, is it any wonder celebrants love Halloween? While Halloween hijinks may be ideal fun for plenty of ghosts and ghouls, companion animals may not be so enthusiastic come October 31. In fact, Halloween can be a source of stress and even dangerous for many pets. Here are some things pet parents should keep in mind before Halloween.

•October 15, 2025•

Mental health and substance use issues are common. Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults lives with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. From 1999 to 2016, 630,000 people died from drug overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Give someone in your community a hand by learning how to recognize and respond when someone might need help with the free Mental Health First Aid workshop offered by the University of Illinois Extension and the North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center.  Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based program, where participants learn and practice a five-step action plan to identify common signs and symptoms of someone coping with mental health or substance use problems and how to help. Gain skills to feel confident interacting with a person in crisis and leave with resources to connect the person with appropriate care. Topics also include trauma, addiction, and self-care. This training is open to the public and is appropriate for anyone in the agricultural community. Participants will build skills by practicing with real-world, agriculturally based scenarios.

•October 15, 2025•

“Our new project is Hope in a Bag,” said Ellie Lehman, president of the East Central Illinois Red Cross Club. “We are providing comfort kits to kids who are survivors of natural disasters and home fires in our Red Cross Region.”