Next week on Focus, we’ll talk with an Urbana man who has survived two bouts of cancer thanks in part to a bone marrow transplant, a University of Illinois grad who is pushing himself across the country in his racing wheelchair and much more.
This hour on Focus, we talk with personal finance expert Kevin Waspi about some good tricks to save money for things like a new car or a summer vacation. We'll also talk about when it's right to continue to save and when it's time to try and borrow money. Do you have questions about your personal finances?We also welcome your questions for Kevin whether you are just starting out and looking for advice on investing, thinking about buying a home or sending your children to college.
Do you have any money saving tricks that you recommend? We want to hear them!
Last week the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a price list for services at hospitals across the country. In East Central Illinois, the data showed that prices for the same procedures vary widely depending on which hospital you’re at in the area. This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with two health care finance experts about why this could be and who determines the cost for health care.
John Katsinas is a broker with the Barham Benefit Group in Champaign and works with Champaign County Health Consumers. He'll be here to talk with us about local insurance markets and how that influences the cost of services at local hospitals. Jim Unland, President of the Health Capital Group and editor of the Journal of Health Care Finance also joins us. He says the variance in price has to do with a "cat and mouse game" between insurers and care providers.
Join our free online social screening and discussion of this film that traces the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, Wonder Women! looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society's anxieties about women's liberation. The screening begins at 7 pm Wednesday, May 15.
The film goes behind the scenes with TV stars Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) and Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), comic writers and artists, and real-life superheroines such as Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna and others, who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
Wonder Women! explores the nation’s long-term love affair with comic book superheroes and raises questions about the possibilities and contradictions of heroines within the genre. Reflecting our culture’s deep-seated ambivalence toward powerful women — even in this so called post-feminist era — women may be portrayed as good, or brave, or even featured as “action babes,” but rarely are they seen as heroes at the center of their own journey.
University of Illinois Assistant Professor Carol Tilley has always felt strongly about the fact that kids need comics. And she’s not the only one. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk with Tilley about how comics played a huge role in her childhood and why she thinks it’s so upsetting that they are less widely available and more expensive than they once were. Award-winning graphic novelist and nationally syndicated cartoonist Josh Elder also joins us. He’s creating a new series of graphic textbooks for elementary and middle school teachers. We’ll talk with him and Tilley about what sets comics apart and why they’re useful in the classroom.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics the demand for translators will increase by 20 percent by 2020, but here in Illinois, the Illinois Department of Employment Security estimates that need will be even greater. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk with Terena Bell. She’s worked as an interpreter and now owns “In Every Language,” a company based in Louisville, Kentucky that provides translation and localization services and is also secretary for the Globalization and Localization Association, an international translation trade organization. Professor Elizabeth Lowe also joins us. She’s director of the Center for Translations Studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign which recently announced it will offer a new master’s program next fall.
When you go away to camp, you’re automatically part of a new community. You sleep in an unfamiliar bed in a room with unfamiliar bunk mates; you eat food you aren’t used to or go hungry. This hour on Focus, we’ll talk about how that “camp experience” can be good for kids. Michael Thompson is author of the book “Homesick and Happy: How Time Away from Parents Can Help a Child Grow.” He joins host Jim Meadows to talk about the things camp can teach children, lessons he argues parents can’t.
Katie Nolan also joins us. She’s a camp director at Camp Tapawingo near Peoria and Camp Peairs outside Bloomington. She’s been spending her summers working with campers for almost a decade and will tell us from first-hand experience what kids go through at camp.”
This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with University of Illinois Extension horticulture expert Sandy Mason and Extension lawn care expert Tom Voigt. We’ll talk about the best ways to groom a luscious lawn or the best alternatives if lawn care is a thorn in your side. We welcome your calls and questions!
Next week on Focus, we’ll talk about the magic of summer camp, the growing need for translators and why some are pushing for comics in schools.
Claudia Quigg founded Baby TALK in the late 1980’s in Decatur after having children of her own and realizing that even though she had a supportive group of friends, she needed advice and access to resources. Today the organization has a presence in 36 states and Canada and has more than 100 programs in operation in Illinois communities. This hour on Focus, host Jim Meadows talks with Claudia about why the earliest years of life, from birth to age 3, are so important and what resources her organization provides in East Central Illinois. We’ll also talk about the memories and lessons she’s taken away from working with families for more than three decades and about her new book "Let's Talk Kids: Becoming a Family."
Claudia writes a weekly column for the Decatur Herald-Review and has a weekly radio segment that airs on NPR member station WUIS in Springfield at 7:55 on Thursday mornings.
