Two small towns in rural Illinois recently lost their Walmart stores -- more than three decades after the retail giant came in and pushed out mom and pop shops. Now, the communities have lost convenience as well as major property and sales tax revenue. Some see it as an opportunity to revitalize main street, while others are not so optimistic.

Legislation aims to improve working conditions for temporary workers as the need for them increases. There were more than 840,000 workers employed by staffing agencies in Illinois in 2015, according to the American Staffing Association.

It’s the time of the year when department stores stock their shelves with different outfits for Halloween, including costumes of other cultures. Sexy Geisha, Hey Amigo Mexican man and replicas of Native American headdresses are some real life examples of cultural costumes and they can be found on various Halloween websites.

Cultural costumes have led to a controversial dilemma over whether or not they are racist, sexist and perpetuate cultural appropriation.