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Story category: people
WILL Connect: The Economy, Tracking New Directions for Displaced Workers
Story air date: Thursday, August 27, 2009
In central Illinois, many employers large and small have downsized or closed altogether, forcing thousands of laid-off workers to consider new options. In our latest report as part of our outreach project “WILL Connect: The Economy”, AM 580’s Jeff Bossert looks at the retraining of workers. Ingenuity and government-funded training are giving many of them a jump on a new career, or a better shot at an old one:
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business • economy • education • peopleWILL Connect: The Economy, Meeting Those Who Asked for Help
Story air date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Organizations that help the poor in east-central Illinois are giving out more and more assistance. But there may be many people who for some reason or another have not made that call for help. In the latest of our series of stories in connection with the outreach project “WILL Connect: The Economy,” AM 580’s Tom Rogers introduces us to people who decided to make the leap and reach out for aid, and people who encourage others to do so.
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economy • labor • peopleWILL Connect: The Economy, Looking at the Burden on Food Banks
Story air date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009
With the economy shaky and unemployment up, more people are turning to food pantries for help in getting enough to eat. In east-central Illinois, food pantries -- and the regional food bank that supplies them -- say more people are coming to them for help, some of them for the first time. AM 580’s Jim Meadows reports.
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economy • lifestyle • peopleA Student Reporter's Experience in Georgia
Story air date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Terrell Starr’s summer in the republic of Georgia has ended earlier than he had expected. Fighting between Georgia and Russia has prompted the University of Illinois graduate student – and former AM 580 news intern – to leave Georgia for neighboring Armenia, along with hundreds of other Americans who evacuated on Monday. Starr talked with AM 580’s Tom Rogers about his experiences over the past week.
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people • Russia • University of IllinoisA Pivotal Former Mayor Leaves Rantoul
Story air date: Friday, July 11, 2008
It’s been 20 years since the federal government announced that Chanute Air Force Base would be closing its doors. That cost over a thousand jobs and decimated Rantoul’s population, but the effort to redevelop the land has produced a number of success stories. Katy Podagrosi served as Rantoul’s mayor through much of that time. This week, the village’s leader for more than 12 years -- and resident for nearly 50 -- is leaving the community. She spoke with AM 580’s Jeff Bossert (click below for the full interview)
