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When the economy suffers, as it has in many rural Central Illinois communities, shoppers tend to become bargain hunters, looking for the best deals to help stretch their ever-thinning dollar. That has helped expand the market for discount stores.
The sentencing phase of the Brendt Christensen trial enters its fifth day Friday. Federal public defenders called eight witnesses Thursday in their effort to save him from the death penalty.
Prosecutors and police officers have been sending too much DNA to the Illinois State Police crime lab. People are waiting in jail as a result of the massive backlog. Plus, schools across Illinois badly need more teachers. One statewide program has been trying to recruit more of them, as early as high school. Also, earlier this year a prison in Danville removed 200 books from an education program library. But now, after public pressure, the books are back in the prison. And after more than a century, the Chicago Defender will no longer be available in print.
Every summer, thousands of Midwestern kids as young as 13 load onto school buses early in the morning to do one of the hottest, dirtiest temporary jobs out there. They are the corn detasselers.
On July first, Indiana became the latest state to add a work requirement for thousands of people who get health insurance through Medicaid. Similar programs in Arkansas and Kentucky have sparked concerns and court challenges.
