A glance at the Illinois headlines today quickly illustrates how the economic crisis is rippling across the state.

Food pantries in Bloomington are "seeing more demand, but fewer supplies" and are cutting back their offerings a result.  The state, meanwhile, announced a $500,000 appropriation to the Illinois Food Bank Association to help alleviate this problem.  Food pantries in the Prairie State saw "a 30 percent increase in people needing food" between August 2007 and August 2008, and they expect to provide food for 900,000 Illinoisans this year.

"I never felt the crunch like this before," said Donald Hendricks of Lombard, who decided to forgo a trip to the hospital several weeks ago when two of his six children came down with a sore throat and fever.  He couldn't afford the gas money to drive them there.

Addressing concerned aldermen, Chicago Police Supt. Jodi Weis pointed to the economic strife and rising unemployment as part of the reason for the spike in homicides, which has left the city with a higher murder rate than New York or L.A. this year.

The Ford plant in Chicago is going from two shifts to one next month -- a move that will claim 790 temporary positions.  Thirty full-time employees will keep their jobs, but they'll also be asked to take on additional work previously covered by contractors.

Moody's issued data this week that found Illinois is one of 27 states already in a recession.  University of Illinois economics professor J. Fred Giertz predicted that, in the coming years, "We [Illinois] will likely mirror much of the nation when it comes to more mergers and acquisitions," which will add to the state's unemployment woes.

Finally, someone in Aurora has stolen $32,000 worth of road salt from a local company.  The owners says the price of the salt is currently three or four times what it was last year.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Chica Maravilla.