Scott Stuntz

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn wants to give Western Illinois University even less money next year than it received this year.

The governor’s budget address called for a funding decrease of 2.5 million dollars for Western. In response WIU President Jack Thomas  sent a letter to staff telling them to prepare for the cuts.

The City of Macomb is saying little about the disputed election in the city’s second ward. Mayor Mike Inman read a brief statement during the  city council meeting on Monday.

The state of Illinois is no longer in a drought but that’s not the case for the rest of the tri states.  The USDA’s Drought Monitor had categorized Illinois as having drought conditions since April of last year until its update on March 19th.

A couple of experts believe the federal spending cuts known as the sequester will hit Illinois “harder than average.”

US Senator Dick Durbin of  Illinois recently introduced a bill to help the nation prepare to deal with the effects of future droughts on the Mississippi river.

In Iowa and Illinois last year 5 people died in hunting incidents.  Though  the majority of deaths did not involve firearms.

Despite large amounts of snow recently, Iowa is on track to get an average amount of snow this winter. A pheasant biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources said that could make it a good year for pheasants.

The federal sequester will affect federal funding for state program and that includes public broadcasting in Iowa and Illinois.

An environmental activist thinks the Illinois Agriculture Department has too much control over the approval process for large scale hog farms.

The latest such facility proposed for this region is in Adams County.

Recently released numbers by the USDA show that the drought affected crop yields last hear differently across Western Illinois.

Corn yields in McDonough and Mason counties were down thirty bushels per acre from last year.  Adams and Pike County were down 60 bushels while Mercer County was actually up twenty.