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Story category: health
Culture a Key to Healthier Immigrant Communities
Story air date: Monday, May 21, 2012
The obesity epidemic in this country is running rampant, and it’s hitting Latinos especially hard. We continue our series on efforts in the region to increase health and wellness. Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers explores an effort at the University of Illinois that encourages Latinos to make cultural changes to stay healthy.
(Photo by Sean Powers/WILL)
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arts and culture • music • culture • health • peopleUrbana Schools Expand Nutrition Education
Story air date: Sunday, May 13, 2012
Snack time in elementary school may have once been a break from the day’s lesson, but now it’s part of it in the Urbana School District. Several elementary schools have adopted more nutrition education thanks to an initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Schools are chosen for the program based on the number of students eligible for free and reduced lunches. Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers explains as part of our series on efforts in the region to increase health and wellness.
(Photo by Sean Powers/WILL)
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education • healthInitiative Encourages Biking, Walking to School
Story air date: Monday, May 07, 2012
Ever sit through that conversation with your parents about how they walked 10 miles to school uphill…both ways? Well, a new generation may tell similar tall tales to their kids thanks to the “Safe Routes to School” program in Champaign-Urbana. As part of our series on efforts in the region to increase health and wellness, Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers reports on the program's activities in Champaign-Urbana.
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education • government • Illinois • United States • healthFracking: Energy Solution or Environmental Hazard?
Story air date: Thursday, May 03, 2012
Hydraulic fracturing – a process used to collect and extract natural gas – has been around for decades. But how and where it’s done today is new…and it has some worried about what it means for air and water quality. Several drilling companies have moved into southern Illinois to extract natural gas by using horizontal fracking, deep underground beneath shale. They could begin within a month.
Legislation in the Illinois General Assembly that has passed the Senate would allow the state's Department of Natural Resources to regulate hydraulic fracturing that cracks open fissures in southern Illinois' roughly 4,500-foot-deep New Albany Shale and other formations to get to trapped oil and natural gas. The legislation also would require energy companies to disclose the chemical makeup of the fracturing fluids and to test the integrity of the cement and steel well casings meant to protect groundwater during drilling.
Since October 2010, more than 100 bills across roughly 20 states have been introduced relating to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. David Morse from the Illinois State Geological Survey assesses the state of fracking with Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers.
(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)
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- Find out what other states are doing to regulate hydraulic fracturing
- More coverage on fracking from ProPublica
- “Fracking” Comes to Southern Illinois (Related))
- Is Fracking Making People Sick? (Related)
- New Study Fuels Hydraulic Fracking Debate (Related)
- Fracking Byproducts May Be Linked To Ohio Quakes (Related))
- A Debate Over Who Regulates Gas 'Fracking' In Pa. (Related)
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energy • government • Illinois • healthAnnual C-U Event Pushes People to Bike Ride
Story air date: Sunday, April 29, 2012
Tuesday kicks off the annual "Bike to Work Day" in Champaign-Urbana. If you don’t own a bicycle or if you have a bike that’s gathering dust, then this might be the right day to release the kickstand and take off. As part of our series on efforts in the region to increase health and wellness, Illinois Public Media’s Sean Powers recently ended a long-time hiatus from bike riding to share the stories of people in the community who are passionate about cycling.
(Photo by Sean Powers/WILL)
