Nirav Shah
WUIS/ Illinois Issues

Polio-like Virus Hits Northern Illinois

It has stumped doctors and it's worrying parents: Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM). A rare condition that affects the nervous system and results in symptoms similar to polio. Illinois has ten clinically diagnosed cases of the virus that has now been confirmed in 22 states across the country so far in 2018. 

The entrance to the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
Andrew Gill/WBEZ

‘Beginning Of An Epidemic’: Email Shows State Waited 6 Days To Publicize Legionnaires’ Outbreak

Illinois public health officials delayed informing the public for nearly a week about a deadly 2015 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a state veterans’ home in Quincy despite knowing the facility was facing “the beginning of an epidemic,” according to internal emails from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office obtained by Illinois Public Radio's member station in Chicago, WBEZ.

In this Sept. 15, 2015 file photo, lead grower Dave Wilson care for marijuana plants in the "Flower Room" at the Ataraxia medical marijuana center in Albion, IL.
Seth Perlman/Associated Press

Adding Patients To Pilot Program Now Relies Largely On Courts

In July, Governor Bruce Rauner signed a measure extending the state’s medical marijuana pilot program from January 2018 to July 2020. But as a condition, Illinois' Public Health Director now has sole discretion over adding more qualifying conditions, leaving no power to a re-constituted panel of experts. Chicago Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin recently wrote on current efforts to add them, relying largely on court rulings tied to a series of lawsuits.

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