News Progress

Photo by Mike Brothers
Moultrie Douglas Extension educator Cheri Burcham introduces Judy Brown to the first of the Memory Game story cards. Brown had a lion card, and she went to the zoo. Nina Glazebrook had to remember Brown’s story while adding her own story to the list as they traveled around the table at Mid-Illinois Senior Center in Sullivan last week.

•July 6, 2016•

By Emily Stutzman
For the New Progress

University of Illinois Extension is about helping people help themselves.” This is how Cheri Burcham, Family Life Educator with the University of Illinois Extension, describes her job in a nutshell.

Burcham has worked with Extension since 1998 and says that the chance to reach people of all ages, empowering them and assisting them in attaining a better quality of life, is what makes her career so worthwhile.

Burcham covers the five counties of Coles, Douglas, Moultrie, Cumberland, and Shelby and is one of the six Family Life Educators in the state of Illinois.

As a Family Life Educator, she is able to offer programs based on research from the world-renowned Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. She remarks that, “My job as an educator is to take the research from the University of Illinois and bring it to the public in a way that they can use in their everyday lives.”

One aspect of her job is using that research to work with parents and childcare providers. For instance, Burcham teaches workshops and programs for groups of people concerning healthy communication within families, helping them build healthy relationships and become stronger together. Although working in group settings and with presentations is more typical, Burcham affirms that she also aids individuals who come to her with specific questions.  Read More

•July 6, 2016•

By Mike Brothers

As the 60th anniversary of the Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan approaches motion pictures will return.

“This theatre opened to silent movies in 1928 so adding movies to the live performance schedule brings us back to our heritage,” John Stephens, Little Theatre executive director began.

Adding blockbuster movies to the existing live show season will help the theatre operate 52 weeks a year.

“We are excited about the possibility of adding a new revenue stream to help sustain the theatre through the year,” Stephens said, noting the five month three week season limits Little Theatre’s operations ability.

“When the season is over, the expenses for the operation continue,” he said of the reasoning behind initiating the $1.2 million capital campaign for the movie project and to help get the Little Theatre’s house in order. Read More

•June 29, 2016•

It is a tradition to take a look at the annual corn crop in the area and judge whether it is knee high in July.

Corn has grown especially well lately with the combination of rain and heat.

Some may say it is at the point where you can hear the stalks as they grow.

This year’s corn is far past knee high in July, as RR Best’s drone photograph of the Graven family illustrates. From the drone: Aubrey, Kennedy, Chelsea and Kenny stand in sky high corn.

“Driving between Tuscola and Sullivan and looking at various crops, the 2016 crop is off to a great start,” Moultrie Douglas Farm Bureau Manager Tyler Harvey said of the crop so far this June.

“It is amazing to see the growth and size of some of the cornfields for being in June,” he continued.

However, looking at the long range forecast, upper 80’s and 90’s is slated to stick around.

With this,some measurable rainfall is needed every few days to keep the crop growth at the level it is.

Harvey noted in a recent report that with the warm temperatures, wind, and sun, it does not take long for the moisture to be pulled out of the ground.

Photo by RR Best