Thousands of low-income families throughout Illinois could lose food
aid if Congress passes the deep cuts to federal assistance currently
being proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the
findings of a report released this week.
Obama administration Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has
added to the list of counties classified as disaster areas due to the
historically destructive summer drought. The majority of American
counties are now deemed disaster areas, including 98 of 102 in Illinois, with the
urban and suburban counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane and Will not getting
the designation.
Gov. Pat Quinn pushed
for the disaster designation. After all, it’s hard for government to
immediately respond – neither Obama nor Quinn can make it rain – and the
disaster tag indicates acknowledgement of a serious problem.
The 17th Congressional District race between U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling
(R-Colona) and Democratic nominee Cheri Bustos of East Moline is a
nationally-watched battle. This is not only because the race is close,
but also due to a bevy of high-profile local issues.
Christopher Willis of the Associated Pressdoes some good digging into the state budget passed by the General Assembly last May, uncovering
a few state grants Democratic lawmakers slipped in for pet local
projects.
But the headline “Special grants helped state Democrats
pass budget” could be a bit misleading. As Willis points out, grants are
the exception in the state budget, and such pet spending has especially
decreased since the General Assembly impeached Rod Blagojevich as
governor in January 2009. Read more »
The U.S. Senate's current version of the farm bill cuts money for the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food
stamps, by $4 billion over the next decade.
The following is an op-ed from Celeste Meiffren, field director with Illinois PIRG.
When Congress turns to reauthorizing the federal Farm Bill this
summer, you might think that only farmers should care. But in reality,
the decisions they make impact all of us, because there’s a real risk
Congress will maintain a broken status quo that lavishes taxpayer
dollars on the junk food ingredients that are helping to fuel the
obesity epidemic. Read more »
Thousands of low-income families throughout Illinois could lose food
aid if Congress passes the deep cuts to federal assistance currently
being proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the
findings of a 
Obama administration Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has
added to the list of counties classified as disaster areas due to the
historically destructive summer drought. The majority of American
counties are now deemed disaster areas, including 98 of 102 in Illinois, with the
urban and suburban counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane and Will not getting
the designation.
Christopher Willis of the Associated Press 
The following is an op-ed from Celeste Meiffren, field director with 