News Progress

•February 1, 2017• Moultrie County ended the year with the lowest unemployment rate of all surrounding counties at 4.6 percent. In December 2015 Moultrie County was leading the area at 5.0 percent. The seasonally adjusted Illinois rate was 5.6 percent in December 2016 compared to 12.2 percent at the peak of the economic cycle in January 2010. Unemployment rates fell in all surrounding counties with Vermilion County reporting a high of 7.2 percent unemployment in 2016 compared to 7.7 percent in 2015. Douglas County was second lowest with 4.7 percent, improving by 0.8 percent from 5.5 percent in 2015. … Read More

•January 25, 2017• By Trudy Lieberman Rural Health News Service Anyone facing a hospital stay for themselves or a family member should look at new data the government released right before Christmas showing that it http://khn.org/news/769-hospitals-penalized-for-patient-safety-in-2017-data-table/ penalized 769 of the nation’s hospitals for having high rates of patient injuries. The monetary penalties – a reduction for the year in their reimbursement for treating Medicare patients – do bite. Larger teaching hospitals could lose as much as $1 million or more. This is the third year the government has penalized hospitals in an effort to prevent avoidable patient deaths in hospitals, … Read More

25 Years Ago This Week Lady Redskin Stephanie Monroe was virtually unstoppable in the first few minutes of Sullivan’s contest against St. Teresa Thursday night. The senior guard had four steals, three layups and an assist within the first three and a half minutes to help the Lady Reds gain a 19-0 advantage. Sullivan won the contest 68-22 but went up against more formidable competition at St. Louis’ Visitation Academy on Friday as the Lady Reds suffered their first regular season loss in three years 61-45. Lacosta Meadows and Karissa Brosam, both of Sullivan, were among the Sullivan Preschool students who … Read More